Well, the 2nd Annual KBF Open wrapped up this past weekend at Santee Cooper. It was held the same time frame as the FLW event that also took place. FWIW, we had scheduled ours over a year ago before FLW made their schedule. Apparently, some of the FLW guys were not too pleased with our presence. I had prepared for this event for close to a year now researching every possible spot that would be fishable given the instability of the weather this time of year. I had narrowed it down to five spots and felt good about my plan for the tournament. Tournament week came and so did the cold front - three nights in a row of falling temps reaching below freezing. The bite window was literally an hour in the morning and an hour right after lunch. Having a full moon was not the best either.
I fished hard and qualified with a two fish limit on day one ending up in 14th place. I fished hard the second day going for broke and chasing some deeper fish on some structure but came up empty. By the time I headed back to my spot from the previous day to catch the second window, someone had just pulled out of it with a three fish limit. I needed three fish to improve my standing, but I ended up only catching one more qualifying fish and ended up in the top 30 out of 120 kayak anglers. The largest fish overall for the event measured was 24.5" and was caught by a new kayak angler on the first day of the tournament.
I'm already making plans to purchase a Navionics card (thanks WayneP btw) to help with next year's event planning. We are hitting Kentucky Lake for the 3rd Annual bass Open. Should be a challenge, but I am up for it.
All fish were caught using a PowerTeam Lures Sick Stick in Kitchen Sink color holding tight to wood - a deadly bait for picky bass in tight cover. Apparently, the chain pickerel like it as well. I landed a 21" and a 22" in a dormant lily pad field on the flats as well during the event. Fished day three in a private big bass event and ended up landing three fish, including a nice 3lb fish. If I had landed those three the previous day, I would have ended up in the top 12. Alas, it paled in comparison to the 7lb 9 oz slob someone else caught.
Still good times though.
I planned my fish and fished my plan. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I did learn later that I was the only person from VA that qualified for day two of the event. All the other VA guys didn't even catch a single fish. Apparently, they pre-fished and shut the area down by doing too much catching. My approach off not fishing my target area apparently was the right way to go.
Tight lines!
