Bassmaster kayak series Susquehanna event

[Susky River Rat]

This event is in about 3 weeks. For the current forecast of heat and no rain I would expect it to be the bass master wading series.  There should not be much boat traffic for these guys/gals to deal with which is good on their part. 
 

anyone here participating?

[FryDog62]

I grew up fishing smallies in rivers, sounds like with low water levels my Autopilot would be dredging bottom the whole time…  too bad for the tournament, never know hope for rain👍

[TnRiver46]

It was that way a couple years back when Nolan minor aka @everythingthatswims won it (or at least I think he won). Lot of wading and he used a cicada type topwater 

[Susky River Rat]

@FryDog62 we would need a couple inches  more than likely. 

[Koz]

I won't be attending. I thought about it, but it's a long drive from Georgia. It would also get expensive very quickly between travel, accommodations, food, and tournament fees.

 

However, on FB I did see posts about anglers renting houses and looking for roommates. I may do that next year. I'm really looking forward to seeing the 2025 schedule. Unfortunately, I spoke with the TD and BASS will not be expanding the number of events next year and will stick to 5 events and the championship. That seems ridiculous to me since they are drawing 200+ anglers for most tournaments.

[Susky River Rat]

@Koz it’s a body of water that can get you in trouble very quickly when you do not know it. That’s a haul from GA for sure. I saw Ike is signed up. I think he does it almost every year. 

[Susky River Rat]

River is jumping up about a foot for the tournament!

[Koz]

220+ anglers in the tournament. That’s fantastic. Lots of anglers over 90” so it’s anyone’s game. Ike was in the 80’s.

 

It should be a wild finish tomorrow.

 

I’d bet most of the anglers near the top have stripped down, light kayaks with rear mount motors or just pedal drives.

 

Through practice and the first round there were a bunch of reports of damaged kayaks from hitting rocks. Pedal drives and motors took a beating. Kristine lost her three batteries by 8:30 am but is still in fifth place.

[Susky River Rat]

@Koz I thought they couldn’t run motors at all except for practice? The susky is 100% brutal. It was lower a week ago.

[Koz]

1 hour ago, Susky River Rat said:

@Koz I thought they couldn’t run motors at all except for practice? The susky is 100% brutal. It was lower a week ago.

All Bassmaster Kayak events allow motors but there are thrust limits and you can mount and run only one motor.

 

The Hobie series has a mix of open and no motor events.

[gim]

2 hours ago, Koz said:

220+ anglers in the tournament

That’s a lot. I’ll be sure to check these results tomorrow.

[Susky River Rat]

@Kozahh I am thinking of the hobie series that has been run in previous years. I was probably 6-7 miles from the last launch they can use. 

[Susky River Rat]

this is the quote from the leader of day one. Also one of the many reasons the river can be extremely hard to fish at lower levels.
 

 

One primary area, a spot where heavy current meets slower-moving water, produced several key bass. With the bass sitting in 2 feet of water or less, topwaters, spinnerbaits and swimbaits were key choices for Rabbitt. He isn’t exactly sure why those bass are there other than the area is loaded with baitfish. 

[Susky River Rat]

Top 5 with an hour till lines out 

[TnRiver46]

Minor is @everythingthatswims’s brother 

[gim]

5 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Minor is @everythingthatswims’s brother 

 

That guy won.  By 1/4 of an inch.

[Susky River Rat]

@gimruis the top 3 were very close.
 

Interesting all of them were talking about crushing it on top water. I was drop shotting at the edge of a channel today.

[Koz]

The top 5 were all within 3/4". That's a tight finish.

 

[gim]

13 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

Interesting all of them were talking about crushing it on top water. I was drop shotting at the edge of a channel today.

 

No offense but I'd much rather be topwater fishing than drop shotting.  Its like the two most complete opposite ends of the fishing spectrum.

[Susky River Rat]

@gimruis you and me both lol. That’s just what was working for me that day. 

[Choporoz]

Seems like a pretty small number of kayak bass anglers really dominates the sport.  I applaud those hammers.  But I also am a bit uneasy.  This is an individual sport, but I think that many of the top anglers derive (almost unfair?) benefit from their 'informal teams'.  

    I am not really proposing no info sharing, because that's impossible to enforce.... I am not even certain there is a problem, but I sense there is.  

[Susky River Rat]

@Choporoz I do not think that really matters. You have a lot of people who have home field advantage on that river. That should far exceed what they could discover during the practice time and talk about. The river fish move so much. The hot spot today can been vacant tomorrow. 
 

I can honestly tell you I didn’t come close to the size of those fish caught this weekend for me. Different area different pattern but, they are still that much better. 

[Choporoz]

I wasn't talking specifically about this tournament,  but in general.   

    I'm glad some local PA and MD sticks cashed checks.... I know a few and they are really, really good.  But even here, look at the top 20 and there are non-local pros that are so consistently at the top of the leaderboards anywhere, that it gives me pause.

[Susky River Rat]

@Choporoz I’m sure some are absolutely sharing info. You can also treat this as the same as FFS. Still have to get them to eat. 

[gim]

I watched some footage on this event and that looks like an awesome river to fish.  It reminds me of the small river I often fish here in midsummer, except bigger and wider.  All shallow water close-combat fishing against hard fishing river smallmouth.