The NSKA tournament on Lake Fort Smith for 2018 is in the books, resulting in a strong turnout on a cloudy day in the Boston Mountains. Warmer weather combined with fish moving shallow made for a day where the lake gave up a decent number of fish to the 64 anglers who took to the water.
Tournament Results
A historically stingy Lake Fort Smith was a little better this time around with 49 (77%) of anglers carding a keeper. Limits were still pretty tough to come by with only 14 (22%) of anglers turning in five keepers. Christa Hibbs won her second NSKA Lake Fort Smith tournament in a row with 81.5″, while Cole Sikes took 2nd with 73.5″ and Declan McDonald finishing 3rd with 71.5″ total. Big Bass was won by Josue Rodriguez with a 20″ Largemouth.
The top ten anglers were:
- Christa Hibbs
- Cole Sikes
- Declan McDonald
- Shane Oakes
- John Evans
- Craig Wood
- Ryan Paskiewicz
- Toby Bogart
- Dwain Batey
- Roy Roberts
Angler Recaps
Top finishers Christa Hibbs, Cole Sikes, Declan McDonald and Shane Oakes share what worked for them and how they got results on the tricky Lake Fort Smith:
In general what part of the lake did you fish?
Christa – I fished mainly the upper part of the lake the majority of the day.
Cole – I primarily fished Shepherd Springs but did dabble in the mid-lake area.
Declan – I started my day on the north end of the lake I wasn’t getting bit there so I moved to the south end towards the dam and fish there the rest of the day.
Shane – I fished the upper end creek and creek channel. I selected this area because it best suits my style of fishing, which is some current along with a channel that has various types of structure and depth. With the water temperature around 56-57 degrees I figured some bigger fish could possibly be hanging out on structure along the mouth of the creek.
What were the main baits that worked for you?
Christa – The baits that worked for me were a topwater early in the morning and a small crankbait throughout the rest of the day.
Cole – All but one of my fish came on a jig by our sponsor Slowtown Custom Lures. My one other fish came on a red squarebill.
Declan – I threw a ned rig most of the day just popping it off the bottom hoping to get it in front of fish so they would bite.
Shane – I used some typical pre-spawn/spawn baits in that they were big bodied dark colored baits that big females do not want near their beds. Unfortunately, I mostly came across small males.
Any particular approach or strategy you wanted to employ to try to win?
Christa – My main approach was to find where the fish were holding and adjust to them. I wasn’t able to pre-fish prior to the tournament to try and search. Once I found some I noticed they were full of eggs and found a 100 yard stretch of bank that I picked through for a few hours to pull my keeper fish out of.
Cole – My main approach to the tournament was to try and capitalize early. The lake is decent in size but I knew the banks would get pressured quickly so catching as many as you could early would help. Also, I focused on the west side of Sheppard Springs because it had less blown up debris from the recent heavy rains.
Declan – My main strategy was to go out and throw my confidence baits and I knew the muddy water would only hurt, so I just tried to stay confident and cover the same spot 2 or 3 times.
Shane – As all of those who were at the final weigh-in now know, and much to the displeasure of one competitor in particular, my approach was to launch from a [very] public access point in the upper end of the creek in order to get a jump on the competition. With almost 60 competitors on this body of water I felt getting a limit as early as possible was going to be the key. From there I could focus on culling. For the most part this worked out, except that I was culling 12 inch fish with 12.5 and 12.75 inch fish and simply couldn’t find the bigger ones.
What do you think the key was to your overall success?
Christa – The key to my overall success was being able to adjust to the fish throughout the day. My topwater bite died once the wind picked up. Next I picked up the small squarebill and they were wanting it ripped through the wood and rock with a pause. My biggest fish reacted best with a fast retrieve and with the bait deflecting off of the rock and wood.
Cole – My key for overall success was to “fish slow, fast”. When I know they are shallow and tight to cover, I try to make as many cast by the cover and only move jig a few times before making my next cast. Typically the fish will hit my jig within the first couple of seconds. Also, I finished out my limit around 1:30 with 66” and knew I would need a kicker to have a chance to win. Most of the anglers were working their way back to the ramp so I took advantage of that and headed the opposite direction to less pressured water. I found some good spawning pockets earlier in the day and fished those for a kicker. I flipped my jig into a tight-narrow opening of the log jam and hooked into the 19 inch kicker. She took me under the logs and I had to keep my line tight and work my kayak back to get to her. Luckily for me she stayed pegged and I was able scoop her in the net. Little did I know I needed two more kickers to catch up to Christa! Congratulations Christa Hibbs!
Declan – I think the key to my success was my confidence, going into this tournament I knew from previous events that it was going to be a finesse bite and I felt that I could catch a limit.
Shane – With as tough as this lake has been on all of us over the last several years I wouldn’t say any of us had an edge, except maybe one lady angler. I simply like this lake and have a lot of confidence when we come here because of the many memories made as kid, fishing it with my best friend when it was known as Lake Shepherd Springs.