Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 7, 2021 Global Moderator Posted April 7, 2021 This last Saturday was the day, my first kayak tournament. I've been preparing for it since I got my new kayak late last fall and the nerves were there just like every tournament I've ever fished. It's a lot different not launching in a big group at the same area. We could launch at 5:30, lines in was 6:30. I had a pretty good ways to go where I wanted to fish so I launched about 5:45. After the 15-20 minutes of peddling to my spot, I got to sit and enjoy the sunrise and mentally prepare myself for the morning. The lake we were fishing was the power plant lake I've spent countless hours on. I knew how, where, and with what, I just needed to execute. I've heard the lake had been fishing brutally tough. The last tournament I'd heard of out there took less than 10lbs to win on a lake that usually takes high teens to mid 20's to win on. I started the morning with a Ned rig, homemade 1/16oz chartreuse head with a green pumpkin/orange 10,000 Fish Sukoshi bug, 6' 10" ML/XF St. Croix LTB, 2500 Daiwa Tatula LT, 20lb Flash Green Smackdown with a leader of 8lb Seagur Gold Label. The water was up a few feet from recent heavy rains. It took me a little bit to locate exactly where the old waterline was. It took me almost a hour to get my first bite, and it was a long ways from what I was hoping for but I was on the board and I was really just hoping to get 5 fish. With the fear of getting skunked on my home lake out of my mind, I relaxed a bit and I had an idea of where the fish were sitting. 20 minutes later, I got my second bite, and this time it was what I was looking for. 10 minutes later, I caught another 14" fish. 45 minutes went by with nothing so I switched to the 1/8oz Slider with a green pumpkin/orange flake Croc-O-Gator Ring Craw. I was fishing it on a 6' 10" M/F LTB, 3000 Daiwa Tatula LT, and 8lb Tatsu. After 45 minutes, I struck again with the slider head. I was not 2 hours into it and nearly had a limit. I wasn't sure how everyone normally uploaded their fish but at that point, there was 1 person with a 14.5" fish on the board of the other 21 anglers. Another 20 minutes with the slider and I stuck a super fat fish that gave me an early limit. 20 minutes after that one, I culled out my morning dink with a 15" fish. I had a long lull so I went back to the Ned and got another one that culled out the 14 incher that was 18.75". Then I went on a hot streak of catching drum and sunfish. I finished out the long riprap bank I was on and although I had another spot I wanted to fish, the quickly rising wind changed my mind. I turned and went back down the riprap hoping to pick up one I missed or had moved up. It was about 11am at this point, I had until 2:30 for lines out, a limit over 80", and there was only one person with 2 fish on the board. I fished maybe 100 yards when I hooked my hardest pulling fish of the day. It was a good kayak bass, not overly fat but plenty long. My biggest of the day and culled out the 15" fish. After that, working to cull out a 17.75" fish was a struggle. I caught a couple dinks, and a super fat 17" fish that I thought was going to do it. There's a shallow, spawning pocket with a feeder creek near where I launched so I kicked over there for the last hour when the wind really got strong. I picked up one more dink and while flipping laydowns with a beaver, stuck a good one that went nuts. It looked long and lean, I thought I'd culled up, but it ended up being just short of 18". I got tired of fighting the wind and pulled the plug on the day about 30 minutes early with a limit of 94" (and 21.18lbs by my digital scale). The leaderboard had second place at 80" but there was still 30 minutes of fishing and a hour left to upload pictures. There would be no last minute heroics by anyone on this day though. I was very pleased with how I fished. I did not miss a single bite all day and did not lose a single fish while fighting it. Not a bad way to start my kayak tournament season. The win automatically qualifies me for the clubs end of the year championship and the national championship also. 23 Quote
Biglittle8 Posted April 7, 2021 Posted April 7, 2021 Congratulations! Man, I was nervous just reading your post! You were really on the fish and had a solid strategy. Good luck in your future tournaments! 1 Quote
Super User BrianMDTX Posted April 7, 2021 Super User Posted April 7, 2021 Now THAT’S a way to begin fishing yak tournaments! Congrats on the W! 1 Quote
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted April 7, 2021 Global Moderator Posted April 7, 2021 Nice!!! 1 Quote
Super User gim Posted April 7, 2021 Super User Posted April 7, 2021 These kayak tournaments fascinate me. When you catch a bass, you simply lay it on a measuring device, take a photo, and send it in? Is that how the scoring system works? Is there a minimum length to enter a fish? Based on your story, that's what I can gather. And then whoever has the most length at the end wins, right? So weight is completely irrelevant it seems. Good story telling by the way. It made me feel like I was there. 3 Quote
Fishingmickey Posted April 7, 2021 Posted April 7, 2021 Way to go Bluebasser! Don't ya love it when a plan comes together! Great job on your pictures, they don't look like "first tournament pictures". I've been doing the kayak tournament scene for about six years now. Fishingmickey 1 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted April 7, 2021 Author Global Moderator Posted April 7, 2021 20 minutes ago, gimruis said: These kayak tournaments fascinate me. When you catch a bass, you simply lay it on a measuring device, take a photo, and send it in? Is that how the scoring system works? Is there a minimum length to enter a fish? Based on your story, that's what I can gather. And then whoever has the most length at the end wins, right? So weight is completely irrelevant it seems. Good story telling by the way. It made me feel like I was there. Everyone gets an identifier (the number/letter combo you see in all my pictures), the night before the tournament and it must be in all the pictures and readable or the fish is DQ'd. Minimum length is 8". We use the Fishing Chaos app and your score for each fish is submitted and scored by a judge. Lengths go by the 1/4" and you round down if it doesn't cross the next mark up. Weight is irrelevant, it's all based off the 5 longest fish. It's really well run and thought out and puts the care of the fish at the top of the list instead of hauling them around all day. 5 1 Quote
Hawkeye21 Posted April 8, 2021 Posted April 8, 2021 Congrats! Kayak tourneys are a completely different animal and a blast to fish. I have my first kayak tourney of the year in two weeks. 1 Quote
Super User Bankbeater Posted April 15, 2021 Super User Posted April 15, 2021 Congratulations! Nice going! 1 Quote
928JLH Posted April 16, 2021 Posted April 16, 2021 Awesome! Reading your post gets a fellow yaker pumped up.Congrats! 1 Quote
BassNJake Posted April 19, 2021 Posted April 19, 2021 Great job on the win and an awesome write up!! 1 Quote
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