Summer Bass Kayak Tournament Fishing Ends with Great Results

Summer Bass Kayak Tournament Fishing Ends with Great Results

With August closing the doors on long hot sun lit days also came the end of my competitive summer bass fishing for 2017. I could not be happier with my results.

 The first of these two tournaments was the Kayak Bass Fishing August State Tournament. I finished in sixth place. This was not bad since I only fished half as much as previous months. I watched the weather closely and went to water I knew well and fished hard, very hard. There was no one pattern that did the heavy lifting this month. To be honest, I do not like to fish a single pattern if I do not have to. I have a stack of rods with me with different rigs and I like to use them all when possible. My best day came using my Ardent elite reel and Kovert Denali Rod. I was rigged with a Shur-Set Bladed Purple and black jig and a Crabby Bass Lure black/white belly frog body combo. This rig lit them up when my surface frog bite died. I managed to have a 20 fish day when I watched other fisherman come and inform me they had a tough time.(click on images to preview)

The second of the two tournaments was the KBL Trophy Bass Challenge. This was a season long tournament for the longest combined length of 5 fish. My biggest was a mammoth toad caught in my first week of competition. She was 22 inches long and was tricked into a massive strike with a Roxanne crank-bait from Aurora Lure Co. Three out of the remaining four Smashed into a Colorado bladed spinner-bait. The last destroyed a Shur-set bladed Jig and Big Hammer combo. I also lost four fish during the season that would of moved me forward, one which was heart breaking and I believe would of been my personal career best. The great beast launched itself skyward and tossed my spinner bait back at my yak. I will tell my kids how it winked at me right before it went back to the depths. I finished in second! (click on images to preview)

I fished 7 online tournaments this season so far and finished in the top ten of 6 of them!!! Below are my stats so far for this season.

I could not have been this successful with out my family and a team of great sponsors supporting me. Without whom I would not be so dialed in this season. I would like to sincerely thank all of you.

Diablo Paddle Sports
Gillz Fishing Apperal
Pivothead Glasses
Denali Rods
Ram Mounts
Frogg Toggs
Crabby Bass Lures
Shur-Set Tackle
Notchgear Hats
Mythic Gear Drysuits
Beardhead  Head Wear
Softscience Shoes
Daves Tangle Free Weights
Aurora Lures

Spring Cold Front Flood Bass

Spring Cold Front Flood Bass

It is May, the temperature is 43 degrees and falling (Beardhead weather to be sure), wind is 20 mph and we have seen more rain then we have in a few years. Everything in my body was saying, stay on the couch and binge watch some Netflix. The problem was I was bored out of my skull. 

So I figured I would just make a fast run over to a local lake. This lake I fish often when I have little time. It use to be great but after years of no management and poachers it is just the shell of it's former glory.

I knew the fish before the storm were building beds. But now after all this water and cold where did they go and were they even thinking of feeding again?

When I decide to go on a quick trip I usually grab one or two rods and one or two presentations. I like to see if I can guess a pattern before I leave my garage. Sometimes I am right on and other times I am the Mayor of Skunkville. So I grabbed my swim jig rod and a worm rod, both armed with new Ardent Reels. I brought a Shur-Set Tackle Shimmy Jimmy white and blue bladed Jig with a white swim tail and a shaky head with a 7 inch black worm.

My hope was the fish put the feed bags back on and moved in close to shore to get the yummy morsels the flood water was bringing into the lake. But lets face it with a major cold front, rain, and dropping temps, bass having a case of lock jaw was just as possible.

So I threw the blade bait along the shore as tight as I could and moved it fast looking for reaction strikes. It paid off big. I landed 4 of 6 of my fish on the Shur-Set Bait. This bait will SHUR be a go to from now on. I picked it instead of a standard chatter bait because the Shimmy Jimmy's profile was broader and its wiggle was wider. I added the largest swim tail I had to make the bait more visible and put off a wider wake n shake in the chocolate milk I was fishing in.

Whenever I came to brush or even a stick in the water I flipped the shaky head black worm combo. I like black in any situation but most of all in stained water. This presentation scored me two more fish and one lost.

It just goes to show no matter how crazy the weather you can still have an awesome Angling Adventure. 

Shur-Set Tackle can be found here: http://shur-set.com/
Ardent Reels can be found here: https://ardentoutdoors.com

Shur-Set and Crabby Bass slam early summer bass

My blog has a new sponsor Shur-Set Tackle! They make a wide variety of superior tackle for the discriminating angler. Jigs, Swim-jigs, Blade Baits, Weights, Stand-up and Football jigs to name a few.

Chunsum and I went out for the very first time with their Biscuit Jig in 1/8oz. We started with a Producto worm and scored 4 fish immediately. We were stunned at how sharp these hooks are. I set on one fish and the hook went through its hard tongue like a hot knife through butter. I set the jig on another and it actually went through the bass’s gill plate.

We switched to Crabby Bass plastics and caught several more fish on their Zipper, Craken, and Jerk baits. The Shur-Set Biscuit jig really had these baits standing straight up. The Biscuit and Craken was my favorite as the jig allows the many arms on this creature bait to flair out perfectly.

This was a first and fantastic showing from Shur-Set. I am expecting great things in the future!