Beaver Lake was the scene for a record turnout for a kayak bass fishing tournament in Arkansas as kayak anglers went toe to toe with bass boaters and held their own. A recent warming trend plus some dirty water on the normally clear Beaver Lake made for some high numbers in fish caught on a partly cloudy March Saturday for the Natural State Kayak Anglers (NSKA).
The southern third of Beaver Lake felt in spots a little crowded as 82 kayak anglers hit the water south of the Hwy 12 bridge along with 98 glitter rockets motoring around all of Beaver Lake in their event. (see how kayaks stacked up vs motors below) Even with all of the activity on the lake, there were many fish caught on the day. I didn’t do very well, catching a small limit and finishing 23rd, but some of these anglers really knocked it out of the park.
Beaver Lake South Results
Overall there were strong numbers for the anglers. A solid 34 (41%) anglers turned in a limit, and only 18 (22%) failed to submit a keeper. These numbers are above the norm for Beaver. Baron Meek took the win with 85.75″ followed by Cole Sikes with 82″ even for second place. Tyler Zengerle turned in 77.25″ for third and Andrew Newsome had 77″ for fourth place.
Big Bass was won with a fat 21.75″ largemouth caught by Bill Campbell. Second place Big Bass was caught by Justin Phillips and was 19.75″ long.
Here are the top ten finishers:
- Baron Meek
- Cole Sikes
- Tyler Zengerle
- Andrew Newsome
- Cody Milton
- Bo Sarratt
- John Evans
- Dwain Batey
- Kyle Long
- Declan McDonald
Angler Beaver Lake South Recaps
Here’s how the top finishers did their thing:
Baron Meek (1st) – I ended up going to Natural Walk, because I had a friend recommend this spot and I liked the water clarity. The main baits that worked for me were a red Spro Rock Crawler, and a fire tiger Wiggle Wart. I didn’t throw anything else all day long, because I knew I could get the right bites with it. I knew that if the water temps warmed up enough to be around 50-53 degrees, I could get a crankbait bite going, so the first thing I did was check my fish finder and it was 52. So, I knew they’d eat a crankbait. I fished until I found the specific type of rock and contour required, and then I dialed them in at about 9 o’clock. I only had about 72 inches at about noon, and I managed to find a 18, 17, and a 15.5 to cull my smaller fish and bump me to the top of the standings. It was a beautiful day, and a great day to be on the water.
Cole Sikes (2nd) – I started the day off near Beav-o-rama which is between Blue Springs and Twin Bridges. I decided to go there because I figured it would have less pressure and the water color should be decent. I caught a small limit there with my jig on transitions from bluff to gravel. Around noon I moved locations to War Eagle Marina. Water color was much dirtier and was able to catch quality in that area. I caught all of my fish on a 1/2 ounce Slowtown Custom football jig in green pumpkin and purple. The strategy for me was just to hit as many transition banks to catch a limit and hopefully a kicker. Other than that, I didn’t have much a plan. I had only about 64” at 1:45 and I was able to catch three quality fish and cull four times in the last two hours. I then stumbled on a spot where I caught a 14.75, 16.5, 17.5 and 18 all in roughly 20 minutes. I was literally thinking about calling it a day early and heading home but sure glad I stuck it out and kept grinding!
Tyler Zengerle (3rd) – The day before the tournament, I told myself I was going to Fish Hickory Creek. That night, I decided to hit up War Eagle marina instead. I’ve never been there before, but something told me to just go. I figured Hickory Creek, Twin Bridges, and Blue Springs would be heavily pressured by the other anglers, so I wanted to stay away from them. It worked out because as far as I could tell, I was basically the only one there. Three of my biggest fish were caught on a Texas-rigged Gambler Lures 6” Burner worm in Junebug color, and the rest of my catches were on a 2-Tap Tungsten lipless crank. My first plan of action was to stick to what I know, Texas-rigs and crankbaits. I found banks where depth dropped from 4-10ft and fished those drop-offs. I also caught my first Striper that morning which was pretty interesting. I fought it for about 10 minutes and I was hoping I had hooked into absolute beast of a largemouth…but it wasn’t.
Andrew Newsome (4th) – I put in at Natural Walk hoping I could find some water that had cleared up a little. I had check down there Wednesday and it was still pretty muddy so I knew it was a gamble. I went into the tourney expecting to flip around brush to get bites but for some reason that wasn’t working for me so relying on past experience, I pulled out a red craw pattern wiggle wart and started hitting some chunk rock banks. Within a few casts, I caught my first one. I switched back and forth with a few different baits but was only able to get a bite on the wiggle wart so I rode it out the rest of the tourney. Most of my fish came between 8:30 and 10:30 with one cull later on around 2:00. Overall, it was a really great day with limited mistakes and I consider myself very blessed to have had such a good finish. Can’t wait for the next one!
Kayaks vs Boaters
Heard a lot of stories about bass boats cutting off kayaks during the day, and I had one zoom in right in front of me to flip some wood and then zoom out again. A lot of the boaters don’t respect the kayak angler, but how did the two tournament results compare? Not too bad. The boaters had use of the entire lake and kayak anglers only had the upper 1/3 to fish, but the top anglers weren’t too far off. Using estimates to evaluate the weight, Baron had approximately 14.6 lbs which would have placed him 7th of 98 and Cole Sikes would have finished around 10th, both in the money. Bill’s Big Bass also likely would have taken the big fish prize in the boat tourney with an estimated 6.17 lbs. Not to bad for the yak anglers.
Here is the score sheet from the boat tourney with Baron’s totals calculated on the side.
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