The first summer event of the year was the 2022 NSKA NWA Tenkiller event, presented by H2 Heat and Air as anglers made their way to Oklahoma for the sixth event of the season.

One thing everyone could agree on when it was over – it was a HOT day, and for many the fishing was as hot as the weather.

Tournament Results

The 48 anglers who took to the water were ready to take on some high water conditions, flooded ramps and a last minute deluge a few days before the event. That didn’t keep the field from catching the heck out of bass on this Saturday.

Overall it was a strong outing, with an amazing 41 of 44 (93%) turning in a limit, and a Fish Per Angler (FPA) of 7.5 which made it one of the stronger events of the year.

Vince Minnick took home the win with 89.50″ on the day, Roy Roberts finished 2nd with 89.00″ and Dwain Batey finished 3rd with 87.75″ for the event. The top ten was a set of strong totals with all over 80″ for the tournament.

Big Bass was also won by Vince Minnick with a 20.75″ Tenkiller Smallie – what a great catch!

The Top Ten:

1. Vince Minnick
2. Roy Roberts
3. Dwain Batey
4. Billy Bowden
5. Jacob Webber
6. Josh Landreth
7. Jordan Rozenblum
8. David Byrd
9. Cody McCarter
10. James Shumate

Angler Roundtables

Our top finishers – Vince, Roy and Dwain shared how it went down on Tenkiller:

Where did you go and why?

Vince – I chose to go down by the dam to hopefully get into some cleaner water since the area got hit with more rains during the week.

Roy – I went to snake creek. I haven’t been to Tenkiller in at least 5-6 years and hadn’t done well the time I did go. So I just picked a ramp that looked like it had a lot of options nearby.

Dwain – I went mid-lake because I didn’t pre-fish and I really have only ever been to two areas on Tenkiller before.

What were the techniques or baits that caught most of your fish?

Vince – After catching my 1st Smallmouth, it spit up a small crayfish which got me to change to a Strike King coffee tube in green pumpkin with purple fleck. Figured it out that the bigger fish were in the 11ft-14ft depth where there were some flooded bushes and rock. The fish were on the outside edge of these bushes.

Roy – I caught four fish on a spook early. After that I went a couple hours up shallow without any luck so I moved out to what I think was the old bank line, about 10-12 foot deep and started using my graph to stay on the edge of bushes or rocks. I found one pocket that was absolutely loaded with all types of fish and bait in that depth range. The only thing I could get bit on was a drop shot and for about two hours I could call my shot. I ran out of finesse worms and the heat was getting to me about noon so I tried a few different things but never could get back on anything.

Dwain – I caught fish on topwater and a swim jig.

What’s the story on your best fish of the day?

Vince – The boat traffic was getting bad back close to the area I put in but there was a main lake point that I had a fish hit topwater when I started the morning and I decided to go back and fish it. It was probably around the 3rd or 4th cast on this point that I got hung up on the rock on the bottom. While in the process of getting it in-hung the fish bit the tube. At first I thought I was hung up on something else as it was heavy and didn’t really move…then all of a sudden all I could do was just hang on. I thought I had a big drum hooked until it surfaced. This all happened at 1:30 and I had a couple of bass boats wanting to move in on me like they always do. I honestly was about to give up since it was hot and I hadn’t gotten a bite in over an hour. You have to keep telling your self to never give up…it could always be that next cast! I was very lucky.

Roy – My best fish was on the topwater early. It came out of bush and torpedoes my spook but didn’t hook up. A couple twitches later it came back for another swing. Rarely see one that big come back for a second look so I felt lucky!

Dwain – My biggest fish actually came out of cover to look at my topwater about two hours before I caught her, she didn’t commit but she was very wide across her back so I made a mark on the graph, and when I came back by I was lucky enough that she bit about 20 yards from where I had first seen her. My other big fish also ate topwater for me but this one literally ate my bait with no line out, right at the boat, I just let the rod flex while I fought the fish and managed to miraculously get the fish in somehow despite being short-lined so badly.

AOY Race Update

The Angler of the Year race is going to go down to the wire, as usual. Looking like nobody will have enough of a lead to relax going into the Classic event. The top anglers on the list are fairly steady at this point with some dark horses with three good scores in positions to make a late run if they knock it out of the park in the next two events. Right now Kyle, Dwain, Ryan, Terrill and Craig are a tier above everyone else in the AOY race – with Kyle and Dwain in the best position for now. Going to tighten up, hang on!

As for the top 25, there are a lot of anglers with a lot to fish for to make the Classic this year. There are literally a dozen or more anglers currently out of the top 25 who can make it in with two decent events to finish the season. Keep fishing and keep catching, you are not out of it!

Heavy Hitters

If you aren’t in the race by summer for Heavy Hitters, then you are not going to catch up generally. Bigger fish tend to come in the spring more often, so it’s hard to make headway late in the season – but not impossible. This always gets tight at the end of the year, and there definitely could be some surprises.

Right now I’m making the bold prediction that Ryan Paskiewicz is going to be the Heavy Hitters champ for 2022. We’ll see how it plays out!

Next event is the Road Runner, watch for a big preview article coming to outline the most productive waters based on tournament history.

Once upon a time, Beaver Lake was being called the Dead Sea – but in the past year or so it has put out some really large winning totals in NSKA NWA kayak tournaments. We’ll see if this continues when NSKA returns for the Crucible in August on Beaver, but once again the winner of the Beaver South event put up a huge stringer.

As the day began for the Capps Men’s Cuts Beaver Lake South tournament, there was hope that it would be a good day of fishing. In pre-fishing a lot of fish were being caught and there was a big warming trend. On the downside however, it was at or below freezing at lines in and we had to also contend with a 160+ boat tournament.

Tourney Results

Overall it was a great day for fishing, and a lot of fish were caught by the field. Most anglers caught a fish (95%) and a really strong 84% of anglers caught a limit. I don’t have all of the numbers, but that limit percentage has to be close to an all-time high for a full field tournament. Because of the many, many culls, the Fish Per Angler ratio was a robust 5.95, compared to 2.99 in March. The FPA for previous April events on Beaver were 4.66 in 2019 and 6.05 in 20`17. Bottom line is the Dead Sea is pretty good in April.

This event was taken by Kyle Long who won 1st place with 89.75″ and also a 21 Big Bass. Vince Minnick took 2nd with 83.75″ and Dwain Batey 3rd with 80.75″ total.

Here are the top ten finishers:

1. Kyle Long
2. Vince Minnick
3. Dwain Batey
4. Jason Kincy
5. Craig Wood
6. John Evans
7. Zeke Stevens
8. Terrill Standifer
9. Ryan Paskiewicz
10. Chris Needham

Yaks vs Boats

As mentioned above, there was a 168 boat TEAM tournament (2 anglers) on Beaver Lake on the same day. How did our top five finishers compare to the team boater results? Using the TourneyX weight calculation, here’s how our anglers would have finished in the boat tourney using their estimated weights: Kyle Long 16.78lbs (7th $), Vince Minnick 13.3lbs (14th $), Dwain Batey 12.06lbs (24th $), Jason Kincy 11.23lbs (35th) and Craig Wood 10.85lbs (37th). Pretty good representation by the single yak angler vs a team boat tourney. Good fishing is good fishing!

Angler Roundtable

As is tradition with NSKA, the top finishers gathered to look back at their day on the water and to share some of how they made it happen. Glad to have Kyle Long, Vince Minnick and Dwain Batey in this edition of Angler Roundtable.

What general area of the lake did you go to and why?

Kyle – I went to the river. It’s an area that I have some confidence in early but there are long stretches of unproductive water and it’s not good for me for most of the year. Pre-spawn it seems like there are some big ones here and there and I thought a kicker or two would be key for this event.

Vince – I chose to go to Monte Ne for a couple of reasons. First, I am familiar fishing this arm of the lake and had several spots that I generally can catch some if they are there. Second and most important was I was scheduled to meet my family after the tourney at the Monte Ne Chicken place down the road from the launch for dinner! Dinner was especially good too after being on the water all day.

Dwain – I chose to fish way up the river, I just like that area and it fishes different, it’s hit or miss this time of year, but I enjoy fishing there and was willing to face the consequences if it didn’t pan out.

How did you catch your biggest fish? Anything notable on the catch?

Kyle – My biggest and the only one of my 5 in my final bag came on a black and blue Jackhammer. The water was definitely dirty there. Maybe 8” of visibility. I casted it up to a root ball and on the end of a super shallow point and the bass ate it immediately but it was hung in a stick. Luckily the stick broke off and I got it in but there were a few tense seconds for sure.

Vince – My biggest fish was caught on a Strike King 7in Finesse Worm on a Neko Rig. Several key fish came off this rig along with catching a limit early on the new Strike King Chick Magnet. The water was pretty clean in the area and was a point on the north side had after getting sun on it I had that feeling to hit it and the timing was right because 3 of my largest moved up on it and were hungry. I had to say a few words to a bass boat who just didn’t understand I was fishing this point and had to say it several times before he left. Funny thing was I caught the biggest fish right as he pulled by me to leave!

Dwain – I caught my biggest fish on something I’ve never thrown before, I normally don’t fish anything new in a tournament situation, but I didn’t follow that rule this week. Despite catching fish on it, I think there’s a lot to learn about where and how to fish this thing. I’m not going to say what it was right now, maybe after I figure out the details of fishing it.

What is the fishing technique you are best at? And what’s your worst?

Kyle – I feel like if I can catch them on a spinnerbait or a fluke I’m gonna have a shot. Mostly because I’ve gotten to be a pretty accurate caster with those baits and I pride myself on that part of it. If they want it deep cranking or on a jerkbait…I’m definitely vying for the middle of the pack at best.

Vince – Best technique is finesse fishing so throwing the spinning rod was a technique I am comfortable with. I would say my weakest technique is throwing the crank bait and sticking to it until finding fish that wanted to bite. I learned that positioning the cast was key in catching my limit fairly quick in the morning. I also suck at throwing a jerk bait so I did that for a while and guess what, I still suck at it!

Dwain – My best technique, which could mean many things, but I’m going to say fishing a weightless fluke. My worst would probably just be something I don’t care for using or don’t use very often. I would say maybe that would be a lipless bait.

I finished in 4th place, to see how I caught more than 20 fish during the day on a fluke, A-rig and more – watch the video.

Heavy Hitters Update

We’re now more than 1/3 through the season and the Heavy Hitters race is taking shape, but nobody has put it on lockdown quite yet. Terrill Standifer has a chance to really build a lead if he gets another 20 on Table Rock, for now he’s in the best position.

Things WILL tighten up, and there are many, many anglers still in the running. If someone has at least one yellow or green highlight, they only need four more good fish to win. And, if you have a 20+ already, all the better. For now, Terrill is the one to catch and history says for past winners that it is better to get a lead and hold it than to chase it down from behind.

Angler of the Year Race

Three tournaments in the books and we’re seeing some familiar and some new names in the top ten. More than any other award, the AOY can change the most during the year. Each season event counts, plus points for the end of season Classic Championship.

Right now Terrill Standifer is the only angler with three ‘green’ scores, considered good for AOY points rankings.

Any angler who has at least two in green already is still in excellent shape since you get to drop a couple of scores. For example, below is your top ten if we dropped the lowest current score. This looks a bit different and illustrates that it’s going to be a season-long race! Literally almost everyone is still in the hunt if they go on a hot streak.

Table Rock is up next on April 23, an event that is concurrent with the MoYak and All-American series events. See you on the water!