Ketchin' For Kids Tournament Recap, 11/14/15

The night of Friday the 13th, I arrived in Tunnel Hill at my childhood home just before 10:00.  I went inside the house, dropped my duffel bag, and went to the garage to look for a digging tool.  Even seven years after my father's passing, I still keep some of his tools around that house.  I found a mattock and walked through the woods behind my late grandmother's house next door.  I used to grow a garden down there when I was in my teens, and near the edge of it I would throw out scraps that would make good compost.  However, I never used the compost to fertilize my garden.  This is where I dug worms for fishing in local ponds.

I knelt down, headlamp shining, and broke the earth around where I estimated the old worm bed might have been.  Sure enough, I found a dozen or so small earthworms, and put them into a pimento cheese container with a handful of dirt, punched some holes in the lid, and got ready for bed.  In my head, bluegill had already been checked off the list. I would buy minnows the next morning for crappie, and use my artificial lures to chase bass.  As I laid in bed, I realized it may have been the first time I had stayed at that house by myself in the last seven years.  I slept well.

The Ketchin' For Kids tournament is held annually, and hosted by Tullahoma's Grace Chapel and the Southern Mid-Tennessee Kayak Anglers.  The tournament raises funds for local families in need around the holidays.  Most of the prizes in the tournament are not cash, but items available via raffle.  Each entrant gets one raffle ticket for their entry fee, and additional tickets are earned by catching fish.  Up to three tickets are earned for each bass, and each additional species earns one extra ticket.

Early on the morning of the 14th, my plan was partially thwarted when the store I planned to buy minnows from had a "FOR RENT" sign hanging on the door.  I quickly drove to a local sporting goods store, but the only live bait they sold was worms.  I already had my own worms, so I headed back downtown to Grace Chapel for the 9:30 a.m. captain's meeting.  Everyone paid up, turned in their toy for the Tullahoma Fire Department to donate to Toys for Tots, and threw a lure or pack of plastics in the pot for the drawings.  Pastor and fellow kayak fisherman Frank Cole, and SMTNKA's John McClenney reviewed the rules, gave us our identifiers, asked a blessing for our fun and safety, and sent us 33 anglers on our way at 10:00.  We could go to Normandy Lake, Woods Reservoir, or Tims Ford.

I had recently fished the backwaters of Woods during the River Bassin' National Championship, so I had already decided I would go to Woods.  I parked on a point near the Arnold AFB FamCamp and Pumping Station area and was on the water by 10:30.  Having never caught a smallmouth bass, it was both my goal and my plan to fill out my bass limit first, which would hopefully include that elusive first smallie, then go after other species before I had to go back for the 4:45 p.m. check-in.  Launching at 10:30 was a blessing, because the low was 31° that morning.  It was probably around 50° at launch, and the water temperature was around 62°, which was fairly encouraging.  The wind was forecasted to be 5-10 mph, but it was more like a steady 10 mph with gusts to 15-20.  This made it difficult to hold in one spot very long, and made me do a lot more paddling than casting.  After I caught my first bass, a 13.25" largemouth, at 12:30, I realized this was not a day in which I was going to be able to anchor down and catch a limit out of one spot.  These fish had moved out of the pockets where they feed on baitfish in the fall, and had begun their migration back to their deeper winter haunts - they were on the move, and it wasn't to feed.

It was 2:30 before I caught another bass, another 13.25" largemouth, on a bluff wall off a channel bend near the pumping station.  I would have to leave by 4:30 to make the 4:45 weigh-in, so at that point, I reluctantly temporarily abandoned my quest for a smallie.  I picked up my ultralight, and tossed one of my pimento cheese container worms near the bank close to the area where I had caught the previous largemouth.  After several nibbles over about 20 minutes, my bobber finally disappeared and stayed under, and I reeled in the bluegill I was so sure I would catch.  It was tiny, but it was a ticket.  The rest of my time was spent covering water fairly quickly as I made my way back to the truck, hoping to fill out my bass limit.  I never caught a third bass, and didn't get to fight one of those "brown fish" I was so looking forward to fighting.

I milked my time on the water for all it was worth, and walked back into Grace Chapel with no time to spare.  I was the next-to-last person to get back to the church.  I turned in my photos and took my tickets, and shortly the raffle drawings began.

Grace Chapel and SMTNKA did a great job of getting prizes donated for the drawings.  There were two tables full of prizes ranging from hand-poured plastics and locally made crankbaits, to an overnight guided kayak fishing trip and a Duckett Ghost rod.  The sooner your ticket number was called, the better your pick of the prizes.  The only catch was - once you ran out of tickets for the smaller prizes, your chances were lessened for the two major prizes - a FeelFree Lure 11.5 kayak, and an Orion Cooler.

I had four tickets in hand - one for my entry, and three for the fish I caught.  I got pretty lucky and had two of my numbers drawn within the first 10 or so called.  I scored a $50 Hook1 gift certificate and a Backwater Assault Hand Paddle - pretty good pull for a 4" bream!  One other number was called (matching my entry ticket), and I got a few packs of plastics to go on top of the other prizes.

I had one ticket remaining when it was time for the cooler and boat giveaway.  It was the ticket for my first bass.  I did not win the cooler but I was still in the running for the boat.  Pastor Cole called out 5 numbers to be the finalists for the kayak, and my number was not in them.  The finalists could either stay in the running or auction off their ticket. I had already decided I would sell my ticket had I been a finalist.  It was pretty fun to watch all the mind games being played as the field got narrower and narrower.  No one actually ended up selling their ticket, and a winner was decided.  

This is definitely a tournament I look forward to fishing again, although even with one under my belt, I don't know what my strategy will be.  A multi-species tournament is a different ballgame than being 100% focused on bass fishing.  One thing I do know - I seriously need to get this smallmouth monkey off my back sooner than later!

Allatoona After Work, 11/6/15

An unseasonably warm November Friday afternoon found me heading as far as I could toward the dam at Allatoona Lake.  Cooper's Branch is a lot farther from home than Little River, but I had to find some clearer water.  Torrential rains had turned the upper reaches of the lake into chocolate milk. However, I knew my days were numbered for finding bass in the shallows, and I had to get out while I could.  Daylight Savings had said goodbye a week ago, and I only had a couple of hours of daylight  to make something happen before I went home and cleaned up to go to dinner.

This was my first time launching from Cooper's, and I found it to be one of the prettiest areas I had  seen on Allatoona.  I turned upstream, northward from the ramp, throwing a chatterbait along some rocky bank until I went back into a cove.  I hung up the chatterbait, eventually losing it.  As I was trying to get it out of the tree it was stuck in, I noticed a nice bass hanging out in the blowdown, and figured I would take my chances on that being the pattern.  I started hopping coves and throwing my confidence bait near blowdowns - a trick work on a 1/4 oz Owner shakey head.  I ended up catching three bass totaling over 40 inches - one largemouth and two spotted bass.  This picture is actually the smallest of the three fish, but I wanted to share it because I got it right at sunset, and naturally, it's the best photo of the three (with a little help from Instagram, of course).

Halloween fishing

I joined John Fasnacht and Mike Niles, a couple of tournament fishing friends, at a small private lake for this trip.  I was excited to know that there were some lunkers lurking in this place, from the stories  John had told me when we were launching at sunrise.

The lake is only about 7.5 feet deep at its deepest point near the small dam, so I started how I normally do, tossing spinnerbaits and a chatterbait up near the banks.  I didn't have any luck for about the first 45 minutes, when I switched to old reliable, the shakey head.  I was over the deeper water near the dam, and there was a decent dropoff at the edge of some riprap.  I started getting a few bites and was able to land my first fish there near the dam.  I kept working my way counter clockwise around the lake, and went on to catch 7 more bass and a crappie, my first from the yak, that day.  I found that the fish were hitting mostly on the steeper banks on the north and west sides of the lake.  Woody cover or rocky cover didn't seem to matter that much; they just liked a steeper bank.

The big highlight of the day was Mike catching a 6.5 lb TOAD that measured out at 23" on the hawg trough.  Looks like a trophy in my book!

It was getting colder and windy, and Georgia was playing Florida that day.  I thanked John and Mike for the invite as they left around 11:30, and I stayed and fished until about 1pm.  I wanted to be able to match Mike's feat, but 13.75" was the biggest bass I was able to coax into taking my lure.  After seeing how the game turned out, I figured I should've just kept fishing.

2015 Tournament Year in Review - A Dozen Lessons

Saying I got a lot out of fishing tournaments this year would be an understatement.  And sitting here on November 1st, I never dreamed I would have accomplished what I managed to accomplish. In my first full year of kayak fishing, and first year fishing any type of tournaments, I ran the gamut of outcomes - getting skunked and finishing (tied for) dead last several times, and finishing as high as third.  I caught big bass in a large tournament co-hosted by four different clubs, and qualified for national championships in two different trails!  I fished one of those championship events last week, and the other is coming up in March of 2016.  So, how did I manage to get to this point?

Growing up fishing with live bait for crappie, I only caught the occasional bass while casting out minnows under bobbers, or bumping the bottom along the Little River channel on Lake Weiss.  Occasionally, I would get dropped off at a local pond and chuck Shad Raps and Texas rigged worms until I caught enough largemouth to know how much fun it could be. Perhaps that's the reason I gravitated to bass fishing when I bought my kayak.

Luckily, I know enough about fishing to know that fish, no matter the species, relate to certain features on a body of water.  Usually, bass can be caught in the same places one could catch crappie, bluegill, catfish, perch, etc, etc... I just had to study the seasons and how a bass's habits relate to those changes.

I took my new Diablo Paddlesports Amigo out on a few local lakes including Allatoona, Hickory Log, Lanier, Carters, Carters Re-reg, and Acworth over the fall and winter of 2014.  During that time, I went through the fun process of getting my boat rigged just the way I wanted - only to figure out after every trip there's always a way to build a better mousetrap. More GearTrac, more rod holders, more lanyards, more Ram mounts, more money.  Only on my trips in the dead of winter did I come away empty-handed.  I was able to catch fish, or at least get a few bites, on almost every trip, except Carters and Lanier.  More on that later.  At some point, I decided to search out kayak fishing tournaments and try my hand in 2015, and so it began - the the successes, the failures, and the lessons learned from each.  

One of my favorite sports writers recaps his visits to different cities for games with a numerical chronology of events.  I'm going to do something similar with my tournaments and the lessons learned.

Lesson #1: Carters Lake, 2/28/15. Don't forget you don't have a motor. 

That island on the channel bend 2.25 miles from the launch may look great on Google Earth, but is it worth the hour-plus paddle?  The first tournament of the year came on the tail end of an winter storm - a joint event on Carters Lake hosted by Reel Krazy and Chattanooga Bass Yakkers.  The temps were in the 40's and the sun eventually peeked through the cloud cover, but the remnants of the snow and ice were all over the place at launch. The road down to Doll Mountain ramp was slick and so was the ramp.  When I saw 30 other anglers were crazy enough to show up in this crap, I knew I was in the right place.  These are my people.  I had prefished this general area a month prior and got skunked, but I consulted with a buddy who fishes Carters quite a bit and got a lead on a really good spot about 0.8 miles from the ramp, and some other decent points and pockets close by.  I went there first and fished for about an hour and a half, didn't get a bite and went to my Google Earth honey hole that I was convinced would put me in the winner's circle.  You know...the one 2.25 miles from the ramp.  That spot also did not pay off, and I was rewarded with an hour paddle into the wind to make it back to weigh-in just to tell the tournament director that I didn't catch a fish.  Turns out, only two fish were caught that day among 31 anglers, which is pretty much unheard of even on the worst day.  So, my skunk put me in a tie for third (that's optimism, folks).  But, what would have happened if I had allowed myself an extra hour to fish instead of digging my paddle in the water?  Maybe that 15.25" fish that would have won me the tournament.  In the future I knew I would look for good spots closer to the launch.

Lesson #2: Lake Tobesofkee, 3/21/15.  You can do this!

My second tournament was my first one on the River Bassin' trail, the brainchild of Georgia's own Drew Gregory.  This particular stop in Perry, GA was one of the few that allowed a flatwater option, Lake Tobesofkee in Macon.  Since I was relatively new to the sport and didn't have a shuttle partner, I  opted to fish the lake.  Also, even though I'm an experienced whitewater kayaker, I had never taken the Amigo out in current at that time.  And the water is still darn cold in March.  The lake was a no-brainer for me on this tournament, although now, I would opt for a river.  I researched the lake as I normally would research, checking satellite imagery and marking spots.  I managed my time wisely and lo and behold, I landed my first tournament fish!  It was a nice 16.25" spotted bass caught on a square bill crankbait.  I lost a smaller fish near the boat on a paddle tail fluke in the same spot.  However, I finished 15th out of 32 anglers.  Although I went home empty-handed, my confidence was up and I couldn't wait to do this again.

Lesson #3: Lake Lanier, 4/11/15.  It could always be worse.

This was one of my worst days fishing of all time.  It was GKF's Spring Shootout on Lake Lanier.  We launched from Balus Creek Park, and I immediately went way back in the creek to some of the fishiest water I've ever seen.  Bass were busting on bait everywhere I looked.  I didn't bring a topwater lure. I both got skunked and lost a rod and reel that day.  I lost my favorite spinnerbait.  I got five bites and couldn't set the hook on a fish. At the weigh-in, I drank a beer, met some fellow anglers, and realized I just spent the day fishing while a lot of other people were digging ditches, roofing homes, and sitting in cubicles.  It could always be worse. By the way, Fish Tales in Flowery Branch is a cool little spot for some post-lake grub and beverage.

Lesson #4: Lake Acworth, 4/18/15.  Catching the fish is half the battle.

Getting it to sit still on the hawg trough long enough to take a photo is the other half.  This was another stop on the Reel Krazy Kayak Fishing Tour.  I only caught one fish that day, and it was not very big.  I can't tell you exactly how big it was because it flopped off my hawg trough into the water before I could take a picture of it.  My reaction could probably have been heard as far as Cartersville. I lost a nice one at the boat on a spinnerbait near the end of the tournament, too.  Skunked.

Lesson #5: Nickajack Lake, 5/9/15.  Don't be afraid to hold down the fort.

Here's a positive lesson. It's a new lake. It's a big tournament for the regular season - 4 club joint tournament with 42 anglers. Reel Krazy, Chattanooga Bass Yakkers, Southern Mid-TN Kayak Anglers, and Tennessee Kayak Anglers.  You've done the research and made a plan.  You get to the first spot and have a limit by 8:30.  It's clearly a good spot, so pick it apart.  Make a cast to every single feature.  Anchor down. Stay there for 6 straight hours.  Win big bass. Take home $200.

I actually finished 13th overall, but the big bass pot was almost as big as the first place pot since there were so many anglers in this one.

Lesson #6: Possum Creek (Chickamauga Lake), 6/27/15.  Home, sweet home!

The lesson here is fish the tournaments held on your "home" water!  It's comfortable and you'll be confident, which is huge. My folks own a house on Possum Creek, so I just went into this one confident.  I knew where to find fish and had a good idea what they would bite.  I finished 3rd and only missed winning by an inch.  I even had a little fan club and personal photographer on Mom's dock for a bit!

Lesson #7: Soddy Creek (Chickamauga Lake), 7/18/15.  Pay attention, wear a PFD, and stay visible.

I didn't do well in this tournament.  The fish were biting but I could only catch small ones - just like it was during my pre-fishing.  The lesson here is not so much about catching fish. Every once in a while, you'll hear kayak anglers' stories about some animosity, or just plain stupidity from bass boat fishermen or pleasure boaters.  To this point, I had not witnessed such activity. Most people on the water are there to have a good time and usually mind their own business, and exercise common courtesy.  However, sometimes, for reasons unknown, people find it hilarious to buzz by kayakers.  It did not happen to me, but a fellow competitor that day.  I was fishing a point just on the inside of the mouth of a cove, and another angler had just exited said cove and headed back to the main creek channel to move to another spot when a bass boat sped by and put him on a pretty big wake.  It could be that they didn't see him.  It could be they were ignorant about courtesy on the water.  It could be they were just plain a-holes.  Either way, it's a lesson in "defensive paddling." Pay attention, ALWAYS wear your PFD, and outfit your rig with a visibility flag/light when you're on a body of water where motorboats are present.

Lesson #8: Etowah River, 8/1/15.  Travel light on the river - it's tiring enough already.

This was the Cartersville River Bassin' stop.  The put-in and take-out is not always going to be as easy as a gentle-sloping ramp.  You may be portaging low head dams, big rapids, or shallow rock gardens.  You may be paddling upstream to get back to a spot into which you want to cast multiple times.  River fishing is tiring, so travel light! You probably won't need your fish finder and battery.  While I may carry five rods on a lake trip, I will only carry two on the river - one for soft plastics/jigs and one for moving baits like chatterbaits, cranks, and spinnerbaits.  I can store these horizontally on the Amigo and not worry about snagging them on overhanging limbs.  You won't need that heavy Yeti cooler seat - just use the regular one and lower that center of gravity for moving water.  I love fishing rivers and did well in this tournament, finishing 7th out of 43 anglers.

Lesson #9: Terrapin Creek, 8/22/15.  Fish everywhere!

Yes, there were a lot of fish caught, but they weren't everywhere.  There was a certain pattern that it took me way too long to figure out that day.  When I did, I starting catching much better quality fish.  I had a nice limit, but just managed 6th out of 15.  Fish both the moving water and the slack water to figure out where the big fish are.

Lesson #10: Tennessee River, 8/29/15.  Plan your logistics in advance, and get some sleep!

Another River Bassin' stop, and I fished just below Chickamauga Dam on the Tennessee River.  I had a good day, finishing 13th out of 37, but boy was I tired! I did a lot of last-minute decision making for this one. Try to have your plan in place several days before the event.  Have a back-up plan.  Have a Plan C.  Rivers can have multiple personalities depending on weather, dam releases, etc.  Rig your boat and rods on Thursday.  All this prep won't take away all the anxiety of tourney-eve, but knowing your ducks are in a row will help you sleep better on Friday nights.  Now all you have to do is go fishing.

Lesson #11: Savannah Bay (Chickamauga Lake), 9/12/15.  If you make a long run and find fish, refer to Lesson #5.  

After the Carters Lake debacle in the very first tournament, I put an cap of approximately one mile on the run that I'd be willing to make from the launch point at a tournament. One spot I had picked out for this event was about 1.2 miles away from the ramp, and I decided to go for it about 20 minutes into the tournament after I didn't pick up an early morning topwater bite along the shallow grass lines near the ramp. I got there and pulled my entire 3-fish limit within 500 yards of each other near a channel bend with deep water access, including an 18.5" toad in 20' of water.  All within an hour and a half. Instead of holding down the fort (lesson #5), I slowly fished my way back to the ramp hoping to get a cull or two as I mosied my way back through lower-percentage water.  In hindsight, I should have stuck it out in that area, then high-tailed it back to the ramp when the time came.  Nevertheless, I finished 3rd in that tournament, the final event of the Reel Krazy season, and solidified a qualifying spot for the KBF National Championship next March!

Chickamauga Lake 

Lesson #12: Elk River, 10/24/15.  Be thankful for your opportunity, and remember your support system.

The River Bassin' National Championship was hosted by Caney Fork Outdoors in Silver Point, TN.  From that "home base," the Tournament Directors created a boundary map of fishable waters all within an approximate 1.5-2 hour drive from Silver Point.  The tournament is open to all anglers, but to qualify to win River Basser of the Year, you must fish at least three prior events.  I had fished the Perry, Cartersville, and Chattanooga events, but didn't rack up nearly enough points to compete for RBOY. The local events were only paying out cash for the top two or three, and the host would raffle off a Jackson kayak, which was a big draw.  However, the National Championship was paying out for the top 20 anglers, lots of sponsors were on board for places and additional raffle prizes, and I was really looking forward to the event.

However, there was a slight wrinkle.  I had bought my wife and myself tickets to a Sturgill Simpson concert on the night of October 24th.  The concert was in downtown Atlanta, and I knew there was no way I'd be able to fish that day in Central Time, attend the weigh-in, and make it back to Atlanta while losing an hour going back into Eastern time.  So I thought the season was over for me, except for one last tournament benefitting Toys For Tots in mid-November.  

Fast-forward to Friday, October 23rd.  Sturgill is playing the first of his two Atlanta shows and loses his voice.  He posts on his Facebook page at 11:30pm that he will replay his shows in December.  My wife tells me, and says "I guess you can fish wherever you want tomorrow." My plans to fish locally suddenly turned into a mad dash to register for River Bassin', print my identifier and start planning.  At 3am, I went to sleep.  At 4:30, I got up.  At 5:00 I left.  I arrived at 6:50 central time for the 7:00 put-in at the Elk River in the headwaters of Woods Reservoir, just inside the southwestern boundary provided by River Bassin's directors.

Running on adrenaline alone, I made my way up a beautiful river lined with trees brilliantly hued with all the splendor of Autumn.  It was flat, barely moving water, which was the plan since I couldn't throw together a shuttle at 12:30am.  I had to do the upstream-and-back-downstream run, and the Elk was the closest drive from home.  I fished some deeper bends and managed a small limit by 10:30, culled a couple of fish that afternoon, and made it to Caney Fork in time for the 3:30 weigh-in.  I placed a respectable 29th out of 77 anglers with only 38.25".  Caney Fork and the adjacent Big Rock Market did a nice job hosting the tournament.  Big Rock has delicious BBQ, and locally-based Calfkiller Brewery was also there providing refreshments.

That morning before I left, I left my wife a note on the fridge thanking her for being so understanding, and being patient with what I know is an obsession.  I enjoyed every moment of that day except for the drive back home, and didn't take a second for granted.  Whether it's your wife, girlfriend, parents, sponsors, or whomever - be thankful for your support system and your ability to get out and enjoy fishing - whether it's competitive or not. And if you believe in God, thank Him for His many blessings and the ability to enjoy the fruit of His creation.  This final lesson may just be the most important of all.

Looking ahead, November 14th will most likely be my final tournament of 2015.  It's hosted by Southern Mid-TN Kayak Anglers and it's called Ketchin' For Kids.  Woods, Normandy and Tims Ford Lakes are eligible waters, and it benefits Toys For Tots.  It's a multi-species tournament, but my goal is to catch my first smallmouth.  Maybe I'll put all these lessons to good use.