The annual NSKA Road Runner was predicted to produce a lot of fish and big limits – and it delivered. The Kentucky Derby of the NSKA schedule produced a dark horse lake which ran away from the field in producing the big limits.
What makes the Road Runner the premier event is that every angler can pick the body of water where they feel like they have the best chance to catch fish. Previous statistics showed that Beaver Lake would play into the top totals, but this year it was Siloam City Lake which stole the show.
NWA Road Runner FPAA and Results
As expected, there were a lot of fish caught and most anglers found success on a beautiful May Saturday. Almost all of the 60 anglers who participated (93%) turned in a keeper, with a strong 65% (39) turned in a limit. A very big indicator of how successful anglers were on the day was the high FPAA (Fish Per Angler Average) of 5.22 for the event. This compares to a FPAA of 3.72 for Beaver Lake South and 2.5 for Lake Fort Smith.
First place on the day went to Bo Sarratt with a whopping 93.5″ (Siloam City Lake) followed by Dwain Batey with 87.50″ (Siloam City Lake). Third place was Carson McBride with 85.25″ (XXX) with Roy Roberts taking fourth with a total of 83.25″ (Siloam City Lake and Illinois River). Big Bass on the day was a 22″ giant caught by Justin Brewer at the big bass factory known as Lincoln Lake.
The top 10 was as follows:
- Bo Sarratt
- Dwain Batey
- Carson McBride
- Roy Roberts
- Josh Goforth
- Robert Murphy
- Justin Brewer
- JeriamyVann
- Josh Sherrill
- Chad Warford
Top Angler Recaps
The top finishers Bo Sarratt, Dwain Batey, Carson McBride and Roy Roberts shared how they made the most of their day on the water:
Where did you go and why?
Bo – I went to Siloam City Lake because it is the lake I fish the most in my kayak and I have some confidence in the fact I have caught some big fish there.
Dwain – I wound up fishing at Siloam Springs City Lake. It was not in the plan, but I had a phenomenal day on the last day we could practice there and made a last minute change of plans.
Carson – I went to Hickory Creek because it was muddy and the water was up and I knew the big fish would be moving, and Beaver historically is the winner of this tournament.
Roy – I pre-fished Elmdale and Lincoln and couldn’t get on anything solid. I wanted to fish Beaver but the wind and boat traffic changed my mind. I decided I would just fish the Illinois river and its tributaries. I figured the river bite would be good all day so I started my day on Siloam City Lake because it was nearby. I was looking for a topwater bite early before I shuttled over to the river.
In general how did you catch your fish? early? Late?
Bo – I caught my fish doing all different stuff. I started out with a spook in the morning with no luck. Once the wind started blowing I went to an area where I had caught some pre-spawn females the Sunday before the tourney in hopes that they would still be around. They were. I was able to catch two of my 18” fish there. At 11:00 I found an 18.5” fish on a bed that I caught the first flip. In the afternoon I only caught two fish but they both culled a couple 15 inch fish I had and the last one was the 21.25 incher.
Dwain – I caught fish all day long, and even caught my largest at 2:00 pm.
Carson – I caught my fish flipping buck brush with a beaver and a Rage Menace and with a chartreuse spinnerbait. All of my fish were in 3ft or less of water. I caught some fish early but still caught them all day.
Roy – Early I caught my fish at the lake on a frog, later at the river I was having success on a crankbait and Ned rig.
What was the one fish you caught that was critical and what did you catch it on?
Bo – Obviously, the big fish I caught at the end of the day was a game-changer. I caught that fish at 1:30 and culled up about 5.5 inches. Once that happened I knew it was going to be tough for anybody to catch me. I caught that big fish on a swimbait rigged on a 1/4 oz War Eagle grubber jighead.
Dwain – That last fish that I culled up with at 2:00 gave me 3 more inches, and secured 2nd place instead of 3rd so that fish would have to be the key fish. I was catching fish on a YUM soft plastic in practice, and had a secret backup bait which turned out to be the only bait that I got bit on during the tournament. I have a few more fish to catch for an online event currently running so I’m not going to spill the beans on my backup bait that became primary in the tourney, sorry. Overall it was a great event, and it was good to see City Lake show out that way because that’s not normal, while it has a lot of fish they are really hit or miss. It could have just as easily been the worst place to be that day. It was a big gamble that just happened to be a good one.
Carson – One fish I caught that was critical was a 17.75″ at the end of the day and gave me a 5.25 inch cull. He was way, way back in some buck brush and I almost never got him out.
Roy – I was catching lots of 12-14 inch Smallmouth, not able to cull up much. At about 1:00 I caught a 18.5 inch Kentucky on the Ned rig and that was a huge momentum swing and help for me.
If you didn’t win, what was something you would have or wish you had done differently?
Dwain – ]I fished clean and caught a phenomenal number of fish for city lake. I don’t know of anything that I would have changed. I didn’t catch any fish on a crankbait which is unusual for me so I guess I could wish that was working for the tourney.
Carson – I would have set the hook harder on a real nice one I hooked about midday. It wasn’t a great hookset and the hook popped out when he turned.
Roy – Obviously looking back I probably should have stayed at Siloam all day. I had 4 quality bites there early but missed 2 of them. I stuck with my original game plan and had a blast catching around 50 fish on the day so no regrets.