Championship tournament day 2.
At the conclusion of day 1, I was happy to be in second, but I wasn't real happy with my spot. I hadn't even seen any bigger fish, and several people had caught at least a couple 16-17 inch fish, while I was struggling to find 15's. I took the same route as the night before and pondered the idea while watching catfish rods. Caught another pretty nice one and came to the conclusion, I'd rather hope some bigger fish moved in than try to find bigger fish in new water I hadn't fished.
The morning of day 2 was much calmer than day 1, almost no wind at all, not really ideal for smallmouth fishing. And after 30 minutes of fishing with no bites, I was getting concerned. I got to the same pillar I'd caught 3 of my 5 off of the day before and fired my tube. While I was watching my line, I never saw any movement, but it seemed to not sink long enough. When I tightened the line, sure enough, it was moving for deeper water. The hookset was nice and solid with lots of weight, and to my surprise, a good largemouth wallowed on the surface. After a much calmer battle than my fish the day before, I scooped a 17" largemouth in the net.
I continued working the pillar and nabbed 2 more small keepers off of it, but nothing I wanted to have by the end of the day. The previous 2 days, I'd had somewhat of a trailing boat, a deep V that seemed to follow me everywhere and fish right on top of me, today proved to start out no different. The arrived shortly after I caught my 3rd keeper and jumped right in front of me shortly after. I had 1 real nice one practically lick a jerkbait right next to the kayak but not hookup, but I had very little action for a while after that. I got tired of following the boat and dealing with their antics, so I made the tough decisions to make a long move.
I fished a few quick spots along my move and caught a couple tiny keepers, but again, nothing I wanted at the end of the day. My tube bite from the day before seemed to have evaporated, so I was switching between rods trying to get bit. I finally caught a 15.5" in the back of a nearly dry pocket to make a decent cull.
Then, despite the sun and calm conditions, I started fishing a spook on a shallow rock bank. I had a good fish blast it and miss it, then the next cast, it connected. I fought the fish to the boat, reached with the net, and my line broke. I'm guessing the 20lb braid must have contacted a rock with zebra mussels when the fish dove, but my favorite spook and the fish was gone. I made a switch to one of the only other topwater walkers I had, and first cast had an even bigger fish swipe and miss, then hook up, only to come off just as fast. It was like getting punched in the gut, but I had something going at least.
Around the point, I had another big smallmouth chase my bait all the way to the boat last minute but not eat, then caught a largemouth that was a small cull. A little further down that same bank there was 1 little tree in about 3' of water. I pitched a Yamatanuki at it and caught a smallmouth that was a little over 14" that gave me a decent cull. Next pitch to the same tree, I caught a 15.75" smallmouth.
There was at least one more in that tree that wanted to eat, but all it did was chase the Yamatanuki to the boat, and swirl on a topwater.
At this point, I figured I had the exact same length as what I had the day before (77"). Not bad, but I knew I had to make up 6.5" to catch first and then some extra to pass him. It seemed like every tree I passed had fish on them and the next cove over, I knew had a few trees, so I started pedaling hard since I only had about a hour left. I rounded the point and there is a transition in the rock on the bank a quick drop. I was going to cruise by, but for some reason, I grabbed a rod and made a cast. My bait barely hit the water when a big smallmouth ate it. Didn't even have my Gopro running, that's how committed I was to skipping this bank. I did the unsmart thing and turned the camera on during the fight though. I was shaking so bad by the time I got that fish in the net, I couldn't hardly unhook it. It wasn't a monster by normal standards, but an 18.25" fish in the conditions we had, was a giant.
Now I was over 80", I was given myself a chance, especially if I could get another good one. Maybe 50' down the bank, I saw a big one tracking my topwater, I worked it carefully, watching her close, then nab the bait. She shook her head a couple times, and was gone. Put my head back down and kept casting.
I got to my area with the trees, a few trees and a beaver dam, I was going to cull here. 15 minutes later, I hadn't had a bite and time was running out fast. I turned around and headed back to the bank I'd caught the big one and lost the other. Halfway down that bank, a fish nipped at my bait but got stuck. I could tell by the swirl and pull, it was a good fish. With less than 30 minutes left, I slid the net under a 17.50" smallmouth.
I caught 2 more fish that didn't help before the finally buzzer sounded. I had given it everything I had. I know I could have culled out those 2 15's with a little more time, or a little better luck, but it just didn't happen this day. I ended with 161" for 2 days, 84" on the day. It turned out to be good enough to put me in 2nd for the tournament, sending me to the Bassmaster Kayak Classic in March next year. It also was the final solid finish I needed to secure the AOY race, and my big smallmouth was the big fish of the day Sunday, which won me a Hobie inflatable lifevest. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed when I found out all I needed was another 2.50" for first place. I know I had that hooked or nearly hooked many times during the day. I told the guy that won to make sure he watches the video whenever I get it done so he can see how many close calls he had ?
