After a Covid-19 induced ban on tournaments on Beaver Lake by the Corp, NSKA anglers were finally able to hit the water for a day-long fishing expedition on the Dead Sea. Some of the recent tournaments on Beaver lulled anglers into a comfort zone and the predictions for this tournament had big totals and big bass in mind. Not so fast…this is post-spawn Beaver Lake.
Tournament Results
It was a mixed story for the 60 anglers entered into the event, with a lot of fish caught, but size was hard to find. A very good 92% of anglers turned in at least one keeper, with 75% turning in a limit. Ryan Paskiewicz took first place with 79.5″, Craig Wood second with 78.5″ and Tyler Zengerle took a leisurely route to third with 78.25″ on the day. Ryan Paskiewicz also won “Big” Bass with a 19.25″ largemouth, followed by Tyler Zengerle’s 18.75″ 2nd place Big Bass.
The top ten finishers were as follows:
Ryan Paskiewicz
Craig Wood
Tyler Zengerle
Chris Needham
Jeriamy Vann
Billy Bowden
John Wofford
Jason Kincy
Chad Warford
Devon Esry
Ryan’s “Big” bass on the day took home the money. I can’t figure out how that camera orientation worked on this photo.
Angler Recap Roundtable
Top three finishers took a few minutes to share how it went down on Saturday.
What section of Beaver did you go to and why?
Ryan – I fished the south end of Beaver. I prefer dirtier water and have more experience and confidence on the south end. I hadn’t actually been to the area I fished but it set up to my strengths so I gave it a go.
Craig – I like the stained water of the War Eagle arm and it is an area i know fairly well. I targeted pockets of wood and brush on the main lake and avoided coves.
Tyler – I chose to go mid-lake, below Highway 12. I am very familiar with the area I chose to fish, as I have fished there a numerous amount of times. I always prefer the water color and the types of structure that surround that area. As a shallow water angler, it allows me to fish my strengths and fish with confidence.
What were the main type of baits you used (category is fine) to catch most of your fish?
Ryan – I caught my fish on four different baits. I found a few keepers early on topwater. When that dried up a bit I began throwing a Slowtown jig and a 12” Ol’ Monster worm. My big fish came on a jig. Late in the day I did some cranking deeper and caught a few but couldn’t upgrade. I caught 20+ fish on the day and was fortunate to find a kicker. I did lose one off the board that i thought was going to haunt me. It would have given me two more inches. Thankfully it didn’t!
Craig – I had a shaky head, Whopper Plopper, crankbait and a swim jig tied on. The swim jig by Slowtown Custom Lures did all the work, I caught over twenty bass during the tournament.
Tyler – My main baits were pretty simple. I used a jig made by Slow Town Custom Lures in green pumpkin. I also Texas-rigged a Burner Worm (speed worm) and Bacon Rind (creature bait), both made by Gambler Lures.
How many rods do you carry for a tournament and how many are spinning vs baitcaster?
Ryan – Too many! I brought 12 on this trip. I hate retying. I used 5 of them on this trip. I carry 3-4 spinning setups and 8-9 casting.
Craig – I carry four Trinity Fishing custom rods that I build, and my heavy action rod is my jig rod.
Tyler – I carry 11 rods. 8 of those are baitcasting and 3 spinning.
What’s one thing you have in your kayak on tourney day that people might not think to take or have handy?
Ryan – Super glue and an extra measuring device. I also carry a spare charging battery for my phone.
Craig – I don’t really carry anything special on tournament day except for a exceptional lunch – usually a Dagwood sandwich cut in six pieces so I can munch on it while moving spots.
Tyler – I’m just going to say…I’m always thankful to have Dude Wipes with me and it stinks when I don’t. Besides that, I always have a socket set for my drive, and an extra measuring device (Fish Stik) just in case I lose my Ketch overboard.
Heavy Hitters Update
Beaver Lake was stingy when it came to big fish which made it difficult for anyone to really make a big move this week. Time is running out to put some big fish on the board. I was lucky to extend my lead for the moment a bit with a decent 18″ addition to put me at 93.5″. Michael Burgess (87.75″), Cole Sikes (86.75″) and Justin Phillips (86.5″) are still in the hunt but they need to haul in some tanks coming up to take over the lead. It appears that with Ryan’s “Big” Bass from this week he’s creeping into contention but needs two or three more big fish. Or, maybe someone else will smash’em in the next events to come out of nowhere for the lead – anything can happen!
AOY Update
The Angler of the Year race took an interesting turn this week as the top contenders all came up a bit short in earning any meaningful AOY points. In fact, most of the leaders missed a huge opportunity to gain on the field, but since the top four in the rankings all had a difficult day, there wasn’t much movement at the top. Some other anglers really helped their chances to have a shot to get into the mix, especially
Watch for my AOY Breakdown later this week where we will break down some hidden data, handicap the field vs upcoming schedule, and I’ll make a prediction for the AOY winner this season.
Here are the top 25 if the Classic were held today. Green indicates a “good” points total, yellow “fair” and pink “poor” and needs replaced by a better score. Dwain Batey and Jason Coleman are the only anglers with all Green and Yellow for each event thus far.
In last week’s tournament preview article there was no indication in the predictions we would see the huge limits turned in by the top finishers. Almost sixty Natural State Kayak Anglers fanned out across five lakes on a hot Saturday in the Ozarks. The five lakes fished were Elmdale, Bob Kidd, Crystal, Lincoln and a late addition of Siloam City Lake due to the size of the field. On a hot summer day the fish weren’t supposed to cooperate, but the leaderboard provided historically big catch totals.
Rance Richardson displays his 21.25″ bass on Lincoln Lake. Rance had a one day total of 102.75″ – Kayakfishingfocus.com
Tournament Results
The last time the NSKA held a Draw 4 event, Lincoln was the skunk of the group of lakes with almost everyone drawing that lake having a terrible outing. The tournament in 2018 was radically different as Lincoln lake showed out for anglers who were fortunate enough to draw that lake. Of the 58 total participants of the Draw 4 event, 50 (86%) submitted a fish, with 28 (46%) turning in a limit.
Rance Richardson won on Lincoln Lake with a NSKA record 102.75″ followed by Cole Sikes with 94.5″ and Carson McBride in 3rd with 86.25″ also on Lincoln Lake. The top 10 anglers looked like this:
Rance Richardson – 102.75″ (Lincoln)
Cole Sikes – 94.5″ (Lincoln)
Carson McBride – 86.25″ (Lincoln)
Jason Kincy – 84.25″ (Lincoln)
Jason Thomas – 78.5″ (Siloam City Lake)
Chad Warford – 78.25″ (Bob Kidd)
Josh Sherrill- 76.5″ (Lincoln)
Jason Adams – 75.5″ (Elmdale)
Kyle Long – 75.5″ (Elmdale)
Tyler Zengerle – 75.25″ (Siloam City Lake)
Big Bass was a tie between Rance Richardson and Jason Kincy with 21.25″, however Rance Richardson won the tiebreaker to take the title for the day. View all of the NSKA Draw 4 Results on TourneyX.
Lincoln Lake 21.25″ largemouth tied for first for Big Bass. – Kayakfishingfocus.com
Angler Recaps
The anglers in the money for the day provide a recap of how they got the fish to bite and how they assembled their limits.
1. Overall what approach worked for you in catching your fish?
Rance – I started the morning half way down the dam trying a Whopper Plopper, after a few casts and no luck I quickly moved to a squarebill and medium diving crank bait that I always have good luck on at Lincoln. I tried different plastics with no luck so I decided to stick with the crankbaits and cover a lot of water. Both gave me fish but the bigger ones came off the medium diving crankbait in water 5 feet or less.
Cole – My game plan for the day was to start out fishing shallow and then move out deeper once the sun came out. I started the day off really slow and only had two small dinks and a 15 incher at 10 a.m. I moved out deeper and that’s when I started catching the better quality fish. I was catching them in 10-15 feet of water on a SlowTown Custom jig.
Carson – My approach to this tournament was to try and get a limit early. Which I did, so I just kept fishing and hoped for better bites. All my fish came off of a jig in shallow water around shaded areas.
Jason – My initial plan to burn the banks early with a buzzbait didn’t pay off, and finally worked my way around to the back of the lake and caught some small ones on a Bandit 100 squarebill. I kept trying some of the soft plastics I had planned on but they didn’t yield any catches and when I’d go back to a squarebill I’d catch one. The last couple of hours things really slowed down so I switched to a jig around rocks and that netted me a couple of late culls.
2. All of the top anglers were on the same lake, did that change how you were fishing or mindset knowing others there were doing well?
Rance – I didn’t change the way I was fishing. Cole was making me nervous toward the end when I saw him catch a big one and the leader board was turned off so I didn’t know how close he was.
Cole – I knew Rance was on fire so I knew I needed big fish to even have a chance. I started fishing the deeper rock piles where the fish were not pressured and it paid off for me. I broke off on two other 20+ inch fish that would have made things interesting! It was a really awesome day watching the other guys catch big fish all around me!
Carson – It didn’t change my mindset at all I just kept on doing what I was doing because I knew it was working and I had a ton of confidence with it. I knew the fish were biting based off of what I had heard so I just kept grinding at it.
Jason – I’d had a very slow start and only filled in my limit at around 10:30. Compared to what I was seeing from Carson and Rance (even took a photo of Rance and his big one) I was discouraged and felt like I was out of it. When I finally caught a big one, that let me know maybe I could still make a run at a decent total.
3. Describe your biggest fish catch of the day.
Rance – Biggest one of the day was around 10 a.m. toward the back of the lake. It was very shallow in full sun light so I stuck with that pattern the rest of the day and it was working all around the lake.
Cole – I caught my biggest fish around noon in about 15 feet of water next to some of the big rocks offshore. I knew it was going to be a big fish the way she bit. I set the hook and I was almost certain it was an 8 pounder when I hooked into her because she was so heavy. It turned out to be a 21” fish but pretty sure it weighed at least 6.5 pounds.
Carson – My biggest fish catch of the day was an 18.25 incher and he slammed my jig as I was reeling it back in for another cast.
Jason – I was about to call it an early day, having a small limit and knowing these guys were smashing it, I was pretty pissed off at myself for losing three big fish already. Heading toward the ramp around 11:00 a.m., I had just told Cole I was about to load up and then hooked a 21.25″ fatty on a squarebill. No way I could leave then so I kept going and slowly grew my total. I had about 54″ when I caught the big one and finished with 84.25″ three hours later. Good lesson to never give up.
Other Lake Champs
One of the very cool things about the Draw 4 is the different water brought into play. I asked the top anglers on the other lakes how they caught fish on their lake.
Primarily how’d you catch most of your fish , and when you drew your given lake or got there, what was your overall strategy for the day?
Jason Thomas – Siloam City Lake – Everything I caught was on white Slowtown spinnerbait. And when we drew I was a little bummed to have a lake that I didn’t really know anything about. But after getting there I decided to run the bank quickly with a crankbait just to get to know the lake and maybe pick up a fish or two along the way. After a couple of hours and no fish I was beginning to get worried. Then the wind picked up a little and I decided to go to my spinnerbait. After about twenty minuntes that paid off and all my fish were caught in about a 100 yard strip of bank in about 3 to 5 feet of water.
Josh King – Crystal Lake – Bites were few and far between, but patience paid off by slow fishing a jig. Like most, I’d assume, the plan was to catch everything early on topwater. Then either pick the lake apart to cull or go find some air conditioning. Unfortunately after two hours of no topwater bites, I had to slow it down and grind it out.
Jason Adams – Elmdale (Tie) – Fish bit on three baits. The first on was on a carolina rig in the middle of the lake by the overhead lines. Carson put me on his go to lure and it worked for a 13.25 bass that fell pray to a green lizard. This was around 8 am so I was glad to get on the board. Tried to duplicate it and it didn’t work. I saw Kyle Long pick up one in the back and noticed he was throwing something black. The water was stained so it made perfect sense. So getting a jig made up in black and blue was the ticket to getting the next fish and filled a limit. I had a Skirmish square bill tied on the other rod and that helped me cull two fish that ended up being the largest fish in the livewell at the day. All of these fish came from the same lay down. Noticed if I backed off for about 15 minute it would replenish. The jig produced all day. Hitting the stand ups in shallow water and swimming it back to the boat really produced. Couldn’t believe how many fish there was in 6” to 1’ of water. Typically fish are deeper when its this hot.
Kyle Long – Elmdale (Tie) – I started by going straight across from the ramp and threw a buzzbait a little bit. Since I always have a Texas rig tied on I threw around the first lay down I came to and caught a 12.25″. Then caught an 11.5″ at the next one. Fished along some more and noticed lots of birds and then fish hitting topwater really shallow…inches of water. Threw a frog a little but nothing. Started throwing a Texas rig in the same areas and caught a 16.25″ then another 12.25″. Caught my fifth fish doing the same thing at 8:15 a.m. Felt good to have a limit by then. By this time I had fished my way down to the shallow end. Kind of outsmarted myself at that point and went back to the deep end to drag a jig deep to try to get some big bites. Should have stayed put in hindsight. Didn’t boat a fish from 8:15-1:00. At around 11:00 a.m. I started targeting lay downs again but the bite had stopped. Threw a drop shot a while, cranked a while, nothing. Went back to fishing a Texas rig at laydowns and caught a 19.5″ at 1:00. I knew from the leaderboard I needed a little more and finally got another 13.75″ on a Wiggle Wart at around 2:20 p.m. Every fish but the last one came in 3 feet of water or less. All my scoreable fish but one came on a black and blue Beaver style bait on a Texas rig. I had only been on the lake once and I thought if I didn’t catch a few early on top I’d have to crank or dropshot deeper to grind out a limit. My strategy changed pretty quickly when the Texas rig bite was on. Of course I left that bite which was a mistake but that 19.5″ midday ended up being the kicker I needed to finish tops on the lake for the day.
Chad Warford – Lake Bob Kidd – I fished Bob Kidd earlier on in the season during the NSKA NWA Roadrunner in May. It was interesting to see how the fish responded then vs. this weekend. I concentrated on three main baits for Bob Kidd based on the current conditions and what I had learned from in May. The bite was a little tougher right out of the gate but by 6:45 a.m. , I had logged 3 fish using a Berkley drop shot green pumpkin minnow. The wind was calm until late into the morning which became my toughest time and didn’t get another bite until just after 11:00 a.m. As the wind picked up, I keyed in on areas that would likely hold fish during windy conditions and indeed, had my next two fish to round out my limit by 11:45 a.m. Now that my limit was secured, it was time to find the bigger fish. As the temperature rose, I adjusted my strategy and searched for the bigger fish deeper. Early on I caught all of my fish in water 4′-8′ deep. As the temperature rose, I began looking for them in 14′-20′. It took almost two hours to key in on a pattern that would allow me to cull a few of my smaller fish. I found an area that did have structure but also dropped off deep, relatively quickly. It wasn’t enough to just find deep water because I tried that all morning and into the early afternoon and it didn’t work. With the wind finally getting after it and the sun scorching the earth (and me), finding a steep drop off, with structure was the key to successful day on Bob Kidd. And of course, not giving up. The conditions were no doubt tough and it would have been easy to call it at noon with a five fish limit, but I tend to do my best when its a challenge and would encourage anyone faced with difficult situation not to give up. Just keep narrowing down your options!
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
NSKA Fort Smith Big Bass caught by Josue Rodriguez – 20″
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.
