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This is ANGLR's 3rd annual look back at the past year's tournament season. It's a reflection on the good, the bad, the ugly, and how to improve on them for the next season. I fished 15 live tournaments, as well as a handful of online challenges. The focus of this article is the live events, but occasionally I'll throw in some side notes regarding notable online tournaments in italics.
The overall feel of the 2017 season was somewhat of a crescendo. Early season successes were few and far between - a stark contrast to consistent early success in 2016. But as summer and fall came, results got better. And the season was capped off by high finishes in the Georgia State Championship, and the KBF Trail stop at Pickwick/Wilson Lakes. But before I can get to the good stuff, let's take it all the way back to February.
1. Peach State Kayak Anglers - Paradise PFA, 2/4/17
My first tournament of the year took place in Tifton, GA. In February, there is usually a solid 15 degree increase in temperature from the north Georgia mountains to the south Georgia swampland. So, forty people were excited enough to make the trek south and fish a February pond-hop tournament. Hopes for warm weather were foiled by a cold front that hit the night before the event, and it affected the bite. I fished one of the most remote ponds first, and was there by myself. I threw a topwater toad and had at least a dozen bites. Unfortunately, the bass biting in this pond were all under 10 inches, and I could only land two even with the use of a trailer hook. As I was pulling my kayak out of this pond, I broke the tip off my favorite rod as it caught against a bush on the shoreline. This rod had an extra-fast tip and I was forced to replace it with a moderate action rod, and this would end up affecting my day in a really negative way. By the end of the day, I would have enough bites for a small limit, but setting the hook on a worm rig with a moderate action rod was a challenge, and the hooks were not penetrating the fishes' jaws well enough to keep them pinned. I turned in only one small fish, but still managed 18th out of 40. I also broke my new iPhone that day, so it was a costly trip.
Looking back, I should have used a different rod as a replacement for the one I broke. If I had done that, I'm confident I could have at least posted a limit. The rod I broke was a custom built rod, and luckily had a warranty. I have the rod back now. Check out NaPo Custom Fishing Rods.
2. Peach State Kayak Anglers - Lake Blue Ridge, 3/4/17
In 2017, the old adage about March held true as it came in like a lion. This was only my second time on Lake Blue Ridge, and my first experience with getting ice in my spool and rod guides. Luckily, the wind was calm and the day warmed up nicely. However, the bite did not warm up with the bluebird skies and flat water. I started the morning using finesse presentations with various colors, and had one bite early on a green pumpkin worm, but the fish wasn't on long enough to get a hookset. I took this as a sign that the fish didn't really want that color. I switched worm colors several times, never going back to green pumpkin. I started covering lots of water with Shad Raps, an Alabama Rig, and a coffin-bill crankbait. I never got another bite. After the tournament, I met back up with a friend who launched at the same spot as me. He finished in the money fishing a green pumpkin worm.
In hindsight, I should have stuck with the color and presentation I was using when I got bit, even though it was a short strike. Cold mornings, bluebird skies and calm water in early March should have been a dead giveaway to go finesse and work slowly, but a sense of tournament urgency set in and I overreacted. It was a grind, and sticking with finesse presentations should have paid off, even if the bite was slow. Instead, I was dealing with my first tournament skunk in nearly two years.
3. YB3 Kayak Anglers - Lake Varner, 3/18/17
After a couple of disappointing finishes, this tournament ended up being one of the highlights of the year. I had never fished the lake, but I knew tales of the quality of bass that come from it. We launched in a steady light rain, and the first place I paddled was what I figured to be one of the most obvious community holes on the lake. Some of the pedal kayakers beat me to the general area, but there were multiple places within the large feature that could possibly produce fish. I found an empty spot and began fishing. Not more than five casts in, my line went taut and I set the hook. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary at first, as many fish swim upward after being hooked. The fish didn't feel heavy until after it surfaced and we got a look at each other and she made a run for the bottom. This would easily be a personal best if I could land it. After several more runs, the fish wore out enough for me to get the net under her. She measured in at 24 inches and 7.5 pounds, shattering my previous personal best of 21"/6.23 lb. I then knew if I could catch a limit, I'd be in the money.
I would only catch one other fish that day, but my first one was easily enough to take Big Bass honors and still yield a handsome payout. What I would do differently would have been to stay at that same spot and grind out a couple of more bites there. That's what the winner did after witnessing my big catch early.
Additionally, KBF and TourneyX were doing a Costa "See What's Out There" online contest where the top competitor from each state would win a spot in the 2018 National Championship. With a 24" bass as a foundation, I knew I had a decent chance to win Georgia's spot. After adding some nice some Etowah River spotted bass to my stringer the following Sunday, I finished 10th in the country, but was bested by another Georgia angler, Ron Champion, who finished 9th. I was disappointed, but getting beat by Ron is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. Many other kayak anglers have found themselves in that situation. Qualificaton for 2018 would have to wait...
4. KBF Open & National Championship - Kentucky & Barkley Lakes, 3/31-4/1/18
April would bring three consecutive KBF tournaments, the first being the National Championship, which I had qualified for in 2016. (The Open was held in conjunction with the Championship, and was the first opportunity to score 2017 AOY points).
Coming off my big bass title at Varner, I was excited to try and repeat that feat a few times at these monstrous lakes. For the competitive kayak angler, these are the dates that sit in the back of your mind all year. $35,000 guaranteed first place payout. 300+ anglers. It's what all the practice is geared toward. In 2016, I placed 91st out of 232 anglers. Although I was not close to winning, I proved to myself that I could hang with the big boys, especially on day two. Faced with only 3 hours of decent fishing before a nasty cold front killed the bite, I jumped from 141st to 91st with a good limit by 9am.
The 2017 derby was to be a Friday-Saturday event and I took off that Tuesday around lunchtime to make the 5 hour drive. I'd scout and prefish all I could during the next 2.5 days, and hope to find some good spots. On Tuesday, I scouted and bank-fished in a small creek, where I caught a Tennessee citation rock bass, but no big largemouth. Later, I fished a main lake point and creek mouth for about an hour, with no bites.
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| 10" TN angler citation rock bass |
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| Pre-fishing keeper |
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| Calm morning on Kentucky Lake |
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| Exploring the back of a creek |
What I did regret was going back there again the next day, hoping for a better result. Knowing that the 2018 Championship would be on Kentucky & Barkley again, I should have used Day 2 to go and explore a new area, so I could familiarize myself with some more water - essentially prefishing a year in advance. Instead, I repeated my Day 1 performance within 1/4 of an inch. Even with the disappointing 157th place finish out of 362 anglers, it was still a fun week hanging out with my friends from Reel Krazy and PSKA, and meeting some new friends. By the time I got home, I was sick from sleep deprivation as the judges were overwhelmed with fish submissions from holding two simultaneous tournaments, and the results weren't announced until the wee hours of Sunday morning. Kurt Smits won the tournament, making it back-to-back years for Ohioans to take home the title.
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| Reel Krazy Representing at the Championship |
5. YakAddicts/Reel Krazy/PSKA/KBF Trail - Three River Throwdown, 4/15/17
Being a self-proclaimed river rat, I was really excited about this tournament. The YakAddicts (Shane Williams and Everett Park) worked with Upson County's Sprewell Bluff Park and KBF to host a tournament on three of Georgia's finest river fisheries - The Flint, The Ocmulgee, and the Chattahoochee. I had never fished the Flint or Ocmulgee. I had only fished the upper and metro Atlanta stretches of the Hooch. The eligible Chattahoochee water for this event was the stretch between West Point and Columbus.
Luckily, my work took me to the Lagrange and West Point area the week before the tournament, and I was able to bank-fish a couple of spots on the Hooch below the West Point dam. I was able to land a couple of fish, and also got some valuable local knowledge at GLL Marine. I made the decision to fish the Chattahoochee.
I planned to get to the river early, paddle nearly a mile upstream from my launch, and start fishing in the mouth of a small creek. However, that plan was thwarted when Georgia Power decided to generate at 12,000 CFS until 9am the morning of the event. Despite my best efforts, I could not make enough headway against the strong current, and paddled up as far as I could to a large eddy, and rested there until lines-in time. Within the first 15 minutes, I landed a 17" spotted bass that put me in first place for a short time. The good day continued, and I ended up finishing a respectable 24th out of 91 anglers with a total of 75.75". I had one 12.5" fish in my stringer that I could not cull, so that kept me out of the top finishers.
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| A nice spot from the Hooch at sunrise |
6. Tennessee Valley Kayak Anglers/KBF Trail - Chickamauga Lake, 4/22/17
Chickamauga has to be my favorite flatwater fishery. It has something for everyone no matter your fishing style. Not to mention the 15 lb-plus Tennessee state record largemouth was pulled from there just a couple of years ago. Anglers at this event could take advantage of the largemouth spawn and the shad spawn. I fished two different creeks on this day, both of which I was familiar. Both produced numbers, but not the size I needed to win. I caught a lot of fish, but finished in the middle of the pack, 25th out of 52. I got one decent keeper off a Nichols spinnerbait during a shad spawn, and the rest off a trick worm fished on a shakey head near docks, laydowns and stumps. I think the winning bites were probably found deep, and I was catching mostly males guarding fry back in the creeks. Some competitors fished alongside some of the 12 finalists in the Bassmaster Southern Open that day.
Although I'm familiar with Chick, having a chance to pre-fish for this tournament would have helped me tremendously with finding better quality fish. Late April is a big transitional time for bass, and they are scattered all over.
During April, I entered the monthly KBF online state challenge for Georgia. My bass from Three River Throwdown, as well as a couple of other side trips, helped me clinch my spot in the 2018 KBF National Championship. This was a huge relief, as my goal was to qualify before my son was born in May.
7. Reel Krazy - Brushy Branch Park, 6/3/17
My son, Jeremiah Thomas Middleton, was born on May 19, so I took a tournament hiatus for the entire month of May for baby prep, and enjoying priceless moments with my wife and our perfect, new little family member. It was a life changing day, and I can't imagine life without him now. My wife is a champ of a mom, and gave me the green light to fish Brushy with my Reel Krazy buddies on June 3rd. They were certainly a bit suprised to see me roll up to the captains' meeting.
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| JTM at 2 weeks, 6/3/17 |
8. Reel Krazy/Peach State Kayak Anglers - Upper Chattahoochee River, 7/1/17
This was a redemption tournament. In 2016, I fished the Upper Hooch in a YB3 tournament, topped 51 inches with my best 3 fish, and still managed to finish out of the money by virtue of a double tiebreaker. Conditions were awesome that day, and the river was fishing great.
That was not the case for this tournament. The area got 1.5 inches of rain the day before, and the water looked like chocolate milk. It was beyond stained; it was just plain muddy. The tournament was almost called by the directors, but the river crested well below flood stage, and would drain out quickly. It was never at an unsafe level, but fishing conditions were far from ideal.
I wrote briefly about this tournament in a previous post, because it was my sister-in-law Cam's first tournament.
Usually when water is high and muddy, fish will go to the bank and hold tight to cover. So, that's where I started - beating the bank with a loud buzzbait, a chatterbait, and dark colored plastics with lots of appendages and scent. I was getting nothing.
Then Cam caught the first fish of the morning - a shoal bass in the dead middle of the river. Suddenly, it made sense. The river was up, but it had crested. The water level was falling now, and they had pulled back out to the middle. I followed Cam's lead and caught my first fish, another shoalie. Cam worked one chute for almost a half hour after getting a short strike, and her patience was rewarded as she caught a nice 17.25" shoal bass. Nearby, I caught another small shoalie. We were both ecstatic to have found some semblance of a pattern in such unfavorable conditions. Around lunchtime, I rounded out my limit with a 16.75" spotted bass - the only fish I caught near the bank, and my best of the day. Cam never got her third fish, but I told her not to worry. I didn't think there were many fish being caught by the 17 anglers that decided to brave the conditions. It turned out I was correct. I had the only limit, and won the tournament. Cam finished second anchored by her big shoalie, the second biggest fish caught in the tournament. We were very excited to call and tell the rest of the family we finished 1-2!
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| Keeping the winnings in the family! |
9. Reel Krazy/KBF Trail - West Point Lake, 7/15/17
This was a tournament that a lot of anglers didn't get too excited about. It was ICAST week, it was blazing hot, and it was West Point in July. However, I got to prefish it one morning before work, and was able to quickly catch some fish with the help of some advice from a professional angler. I went in excited with a good plan. The plan was perfect, but the execution was not. My morning started off with my fishfinder not working. It wasn't a disaster, but I did want to target certain depths, and I also had a submerged pond dam I wanted to fish that day. I wouldn't be able to pinpoint it without my electronics having never fished that area of the lake. Nevertheless, I continued with the plan. I could execute most of it without the fishfinder. My first bite of the morning came quickly. Something big hammered my worm and I set the hook, only to break off at my leader knot. I re-tied and caught one small bass before I loaded up and left that spot to go across the lake. At the next spot, another good fish slammed my bait and again I broke off at the leader knot. I had no idea what was happening. I caught two more small fish on straight braid. My double-uni leader knot had failed a handful of times in the past, but never on a fresh knot, and definitely not twice in one day. Later, I was able to borrow some heavier test fluoro from a fellow competitor, and caught one more fish before weigh-in. I had four bass, and needed five. My two best of the day broke off because my knot was weak. I tested it again when I got back home with different spools of fluorocarbon, PLine and Seaguar InvisX. The double uni was again breaking consistently on hard hooksets. Since then, I've tried the FG and Alberto, and have stuck with the Alberto. I have not broken off at the knot since. The FG is exceptionally strong, but way too time consuming and much more difficult to tie than the Alberto. Even with the malfunctions and the near heat exhaustion, I finished 9th of 27. Jim Clark saved some kittens.
10. Reel Krazy - Etowah River, 8/5/17
I did not finish in the money in this tournament. I was only 9th out of 19 anglers. But it was one of those days every angler dreams about. It was one of those days when you get to your spot and everything happens like you envision it. It was tournament day and I was catching one bass right after the other - probably a 50-60 fish day. I added a redeye bass to my Georgia Bass Slam list. I had a 50 inch limit and only finished 9th. Everyone else had a great day, too. I love fishing the Etowah anytime, but that day was one for the books.
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| The Thunderdome |
11. Reel Krazy - Terrapin Creek, 8/26-8/27/17
Here's another one I mark on the calendar when the schedule gets released. 20-30 fish days are the norm, and there are big ones in there too. Reel Krazy always has at least one two-day tournament, and this was it. We fished Saturday, stayed at Shane Young's house and watched the Mayweather-McGregor fight, and went back fishing Sunday. This was a best-five fish stringer tournament. It's always a late season tournament, and usually attendance starts going down near the end of the season, as was the case here. We had 16 anglers fish the event. I was 5th or 6th after the first day with around 80 inches. Remember Brushy, when I got leapfrogged at the end? On this Sunday, I was the last angler to take out, and it paid off with a 16.75 inch spot that culled my smallest fish from Day 1, caught with 20 minutes left in the tournament. I saw the fish suspended under some debris and casted a finesse worm over a tree branch so it hung right in front of the fish's face. It almost immediately grabbed the bait and I crossed its eyes and brought it into the yak. It vaulted me into 3rd place and into the money. I also caught a fat redeye that Sunday, which earned me an Alabama trophy citation. She inhaled a Whopper Plopper 90 fished near rocks in current.
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| Sight-fishing moneymaker from Sunday |
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| Alabama citation redeye bass |
12. KBF Trail - Guntersville, 9/23/17
I finished 47th out of 68. This day was such a disaster, it got its own blog post. Read it here:
13. Georgia State Championship - Ocmulgee River/Lake Juliette, 10/7/17
The 2017 Georgia State Championship was designed to test the all-around skills of the participants. Originally, it was a two-day tournament scheduled for October 7th and 8th. Day 1 would be on Lake Juliette, and Day 2 would be on the Ocmulgee River. Traditional times of safe light - 3pm each day. Hurricane Nate saw to it that this plan would not work, as it was scheduled to pass through middle Georgia overnight Saturday the 7th and into Sunday the 8th, bringing high winds and heavy rainfall.
The tournament directors called an audible, and announced the championship would be a one-day event on the 7th, and weigh-in would be extended to 5:30pm. Best 5 fish, your choice of venue. River, lake, or combination of the two.
After having taken the Wednesday before the tournament off work to prefish Lake Juliette, and catching one bass in 14 hours, it was a no-brainer for me to fish the Ocmulgee. (Although I could fairly say I eliminated a lot of "unproductive water" on Juliette). My sister-in-law Cam had earned a roll-down spot in the tournament, so she and I set out for the launch below Jackson Dam, along with our buddy Allen "Cornbread" Starling, the runner-up from last year's State Championship on Lake Sinclair. Starting out with a prop bait, I caught a small shoalie and a 15" largemouth rather quickly after launch.
Usually a staple of mine in the river, the shaky head was not very effective on this morning. I was in a long stretch of slack water pitching it into every laydown. I had tacked on a 13.75" spotted bass, but nothing else seemed to even look at it. I took a minute to think about the situation, and something strangely told me to throw a Rebel Pop-R. I reluctantly tied it on my spinning setup and started casting way into the older blowdowns - the ones with mainly large branches and not little twigs - so I wouldn't get snagged. Lo and behold, I started catching fish - they were blowing up on it! Turns out they were sitting up in the water column, not on the bottom. I got my limit around 10:30, then started slowly culling out the 10's and 11's. The popper worked until nearly noon when the clouds lifted. It was a strange gut feeling I had to throw that bait - it's not a confidence bait for me - never has been - but the situation just seemed right, and it worked out beautifully for a couple of hours.
Midday, when the topwater bite ended, I went back to the 1/4 oz shaky head before I would realize I needed to go lighter and quieter. I caught a few on it; all small shoal bass in the swift water. Finally, with about 30 minutes left to fish, I tried something else. My last fish of the day was my best, and it came on an ultra-finesse presentation on the downstream side of a deep hole full of visible giant bass. It was a 16.5 inch shoal bass, probably the runt of the litter I saw in that hole, but still a welcome addition to my stringer. I did not have a big kicker fish, but I was consistent enough through the 14-16 range to have a limit of 75.5 inches.
At the takeout, we had another slight issue. We were cutting it close on time to make it back to weigh-in, and it was a long boat-carry to the parking lot at the takeout. Cam's kayak was light and easy. My Amigo and Allen's Big Rig were not light at all. Exhausted, we hurried to load our boats and gear, and Allen got us back to Juliette Park in record time. When the time came to announce the top five, I was genuinely shocked, and honored to have finished in fifth place out of 39 of the top sticks in the state. With Clint Henderson winning it all, Jason Alford in 2nd, and me in 5th, Reel Krazy had three anglers in the top five.
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| Reel Krazy representing at State |
For a more thorough review of the tournament, and a little about Clint's winning strategy, please see Jon Hummel's article in the November 2017 issue of Georgia Outdoor News.
14. KBF Trail - Chickamauga Lake, 10/21/17
Another KBF trail event took place at Chickamauga Lake, this time in the fall feed-up. I fished my favorite creek. The fog was so thick that morning, it was impossible to see even 50 yards for the first couple of hours. I caught a couple of fish at the mouth of the creek near the river ledge, including my best one of the day. I ended up wishing I had stayed at the creek mouth, because they were stacked in there, and I just needed to wait it out for them to start feeding. Instead, I went back into the creek and got a small limit of 65" by lunchtime, good enough for 16th out of 50 anglers. All but one angler finished below 80 inches in this event, a very slow day for Chick. Bites were mostly on the fluke, with a couple of shaky head and crankbait (Rapala DT6) fish mixed in.
15. KBF Trail - Pickwick & Wilson Lakes, 11/11/17
I took off work Friday 11/10 to get in a quick prefishing session for my final tournament of 2017. Jim Ware (River Goat Kayak Adventures) and I decided to work together in our prep for this one. I was going to be able to prefish, and he had gotten some advice from a friend who was familiar with the area, so we decided to share information and make the best decision we could with our limited knowledge of the lakes. When I got to the spot I had picked out using Google Maps and Navionics, I caught two fish in 20 minutes, less than 200 yards from the ramp. One was a long, but skinny smallmouth. I explored a nearby bay for a while. Lots of fish in there but none were eating. I then left and drove to one of the spots Jim's friend had shared with him. I caught fish there as well. One was a big largemouth. I decided on the second spot since it seemed to have primarily largemouth, and would offer more protection from the wind, and less chance of bass boat traffic. I called Jim and gave him the fishing report, and met up with him at the captains' meeting.
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| Long & skinny is alright in kayak fishing! |
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| Pickwick Sunrise |
We launched in the same general area; only separated by a long peninsula. I had my limit, including an 18.5" largemouth, by 8:30 that morning, despite temps near freezing. I kept catching fish, occasionally culling, and I was sitting in first place well into the day, in a see-saw battle with a competitor fishing the same area of the same creek, Robert Null from Cookeville, TN. Robert and I would take turns fishing areas, basically on a rotation all day. We would end up getting passed at the top, but he ended up fourth with 79" and I ended up sixth with 76.5". It was a great way to end the season, with my best finish in a KBF event. Jim and I used teamwork as our plan in picking a spot, and unexpectedly, Robert and I used our own teamwork as well - strength in numbers in breaking down unfamiliar water.
Any angler that's been in the game a while knows it's hard to win a tournament. As was evidenced by my day on the Etowah River, it could be one of the best fishing days ever, and you still get outperformed. My total winnings from 2017 were less than 2016, but I still feel like I became a more well-rounded and complete angler. I became better at fishing the moment and reading the conditions, rather than leaning on certain baits like a crutch. I improved my topwater and dropshotting, and regained confidence in the spinnerbait.
In 2018, I will still be fishing competitively, but less focused on chasing AOY points, both in KBF and local trails. Still, I should have an exciting tournament schedule. I have some certain destinations in mind that I want to fish, and I'll try to schedule trips when there is a tournament.
Focusing on destinations may mean fewer tournaments overall, but will mean more Saturdays with my family.
I have some specific goals such as going smallmouth fishing in the Susquehanna River, and completing the entire 10-species Georgia Bass Slam. I'll be chasing fish for the Slam while I'm in tournaments. I will be in Paris, Tennessee the fourth week in March, grinding it out against some 800 other anglers for a chance at $100,000, and I can't wait. It's serious business, but also like a vacation with my fishing buddies. I want to keep participating in the Georgia DNR's shoal bass study in the Upper Chatthoochee basin. I want to get better with lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, and regain confidence in jig fishing. I want to be involved with keeping my local rivers clean. I want ANGLR's website to include an online shop, as well as linking to my blog. We now have six shirt designs (2 dri-fit and 4 tees), twelve color combos in the trucker hats, and six different stickers.
ANGLR's audience and product line is growing, and I want to keep churning out quality original content that's both entertaining and educational. 2018 should be a fun year. Stay tuned, and tight lines, y'all!
Great write up my friend!
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