The new year and new season for NWA NSKA is finally here and the first event is in the books. As usual the Dead Sea caused problems for most who were looking for a limit, while at the same time we saw some anglers drop the hammer on the pre-spawn bass. Beaver Lake North, presented by Slow Town Custom Lures, was a great success.

Some changes came to NSKA this year with a membership feature which qualifies anglers for AOY and Heavy Hitters as well as other perks. As such, we’ll keep a close eye on those races, while at the same time we welcome anyone to fish an event regardless of their experience in competitive kayak fishing. Welcome everyone who is new or has been around for a while!

Beaver North 2022 Recap

Overall, Beaver Lake was a bit stingy this time around but once again allowed a big number at the top. That’s why I love Beaver Lake. It’s not easy, but you can still find some good ones! Looking at the numbers, only a paltry 25% (17 of 67) of the field turned in a five fish limit. This is the lowest limit percentage in a couple of years on Beaver, so if you didn’t catch five…don’t worry about it – it was hard fishing. The FPA (Fish Per Angler) was very low at 2.99, compared to 4.02 in August 2021 on Beaver Lake. Watch for more on FPA and tourney history in a future post.

Ryan Paskiewicz took the top spot with a very strong 87.75″ followed by James Haeberle with 84.50″ and then Cole Sikes with 82.50″ on the day. In a bit of an odd turn of events, there were four 20s caught in this event and James Haeberle took the Big Bass prize with a 21″ tank.

The Top Ten finishers were:

1. Ryan Paskiewicz
2. James Haeberle
3. Cole Sikes
4. Andrew Newsome
5. Justin Brewer
6. David Byrd
7. Terrill Standifer
8. Aaron Hinton
9. Jacob Webber
10. Kyle Long

Angler Roundtable

What makes kayak fishing way more awesome than boat tournaments is the willingness of top anglers to help others and share a bit more info on how they caught’em. Ryan, James and Cole joined me in a roundtable look back at how it went down:

Roughly what part of the lake did you go to and why?

Ryan – I went to Rambo sort of on a whim. Was going to fish Coose but the wind would have been more than i wanted to deal with, so I decided to try something I hadn’t fished much but has a reputation of producing solid limits.

James – I launched at Ventris because I know that area well and that the wind would be blowing in that direction, keeping the bait moving.

Cole – I chose to go to Big Clifty because I found a pocket that had thousands of shad in it. My fear going into the tournament was that the shad might move out or someone else might have found the same thing. Luckily, the shad were still there and I had it all to myself all day. I was able to catch the bulk of my limit by 7:30 and then my fish must have gotten full off of shad and my bite got tough. Ended up making a move mid-day and made a couple small culls.

Any key techniques or baits you used?

Ryan – I love jig fishing and caught my kicker first thing on one. I came around the corner and it was a flat leading to a point with wind right into it. I picked up a jerkbait but I realized I hate jerkbait fishing in a kayak. Because of this, I then decided to chuck a spinnerbait around the flat and landed three fish pretty quickly. I stuck with that almost exclusively, minus specific jig targets from time to time. The key was rolling it slow on bottom. It’s great to have this start, in the last two years I’ve either zeroed or finished WAY towards the bottom in the first tournament. In those two years I’ve ended up finishing 3rd or 4th in AOY race.

James – I told myself that if I don’t get a bite on an A-Rig in the first hour I was going to put it up and move on. At 5 minutes till 8:00 I got my first bite and 10 minutes later I caught the biggest fish I ever submitted in a tournament. So I locked it in my hand and fished it all day.

Cole – My primary bait was an Alabama Rig. I was just slow rolling it just beneath the shad balls. I could see on my graph that most of the fish were positioned underneath them. I also picked off a fish on a spoon and crankbait as well.

Advice for those who didn’t do well in tourney one for the rest of the season?

Ryan – My advice is out the head down and continue to fish hard regardless of the outcome. Put in the work, fish with confidence and you’ll be fine.

James – In the past I have always stressed about everything in tournaments and always made mistakes that would cost me. My advice is to have fun and don’t stress the outcome. Just go fishing and enjoy the day. Let the cards fall where they may. Learn all you can every tournament and keep building on that knowledge. It won’t take long and you will start seeing a huge improvements.

Cole – We have all been there and have struggled at tournaments, my recommendation is to keep your head up and keep grinding. Whether your preseason goal was to win AOY, qualifying for the Classic, finishing in the money, or finishing in the top ten, there are still many opportunities ahead to reach your goal.

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Trash Fish Pot Winner

New to NSKA events this year is the Trash Fish Pot which rewards the angler who catches the largest non-scorable fish species. We got off to a huge start here when Robert Murphy caught a 32lb striper that was an absolute monster. Robert shared some of his story and how a boater helped weigh it and snag the photo.

“After catching the fish and taking some pictures myself I was about to release it and saw a boat slow-trolling in the little pocket with boat docks in it. So, I asked if they would take a picture for me. With no hesitation they reeled in there lines took a picture and weighed it,” Robert explained. “We tried to let it go but it wouldn’t go back down so they said if you don’t want it we will take it or take it to our dock and ill bring you ice and a cooler to keep it good till you get off the water.”

How did the bite feel? “When it hit. It hit next to the boat and all I saw was a big flash and line stripping out of the reel. At first I thought please be a bass, but after about 3 seconds of line pulling out with extreme speed I thought oh, that’s a striper. After 10 seconds I was thinking, dang that’s a BIG striper! After about 15 seconds I realized I was in for a ride.”

It took Robert 20-30 minutes to get that striper in because he was using 10lb test line. He hooked it on his hand painted jerkbait and had it hooked well, it wasn’t getting off. What a great first Trash Pot story!

Heavy Hitters Update

This is the third year for the Heavy Hitters title, the recognition that goes to the angler who catches the biggest five fish from various tournaments throughout the year. The Heavy Hitters title is sponsored by Steadfast Plumbing this season – thankful for their support! It’s not too late to get involved in Heavy Hitters if you missed the first event, it’s best five events and all you need is an NSKA NWA membership.

Here is the current top ten, but we’re just getting started. Getting a 20+ on Beaver Lake is a huge advantage, so those anglers are off to a great start. The full list of Heavy Hitter rankings will be posted to the NSKA group facebook page.

Next up is Pumpback, presented by Nightengale Cabinets on March 26, hope to see everyone out there!