Tournament time!
Last weekend our local KBF chapter, Indiana Kayak Anglers, hosted their annual White River Madness tournament (Jason Young and team do a heck of a job btw). White River is the closest smallmouth water to where I live, but the best stretches lie 45 minutes or so to my north. This tournament has become very popular the past couple years. I was able to fish it 2 years ago and finish 3rd out of 50 or so guys.
A 19" smallmouth that secured 3rd place in 2015 IKA WWM
I haven't fished White River as much as I should, but I am intimately familar with much of the "in bounds" portion of the river. Unfortunately I really haven't fished it much this year, so I thought it would be a good idea to get out the day before and do a little pre-fishing. I decided to ask my boss if I could have the day off Friday, and since I'm self-employed, my boss told me that I should go fishing.
The plan was to drop in and fish a different stretch then I planned to fish during the tournament. The logic here was to not upset the same fish I would be vying for during the tournament. Well, as these things normally go, I killed it. I only fished from about 11:30 am to 3:00 pm and landed nearly 40 smallmouth! To top it off they were being super aggressive and striking topwater in the middle of the day! I caught 2 fish over 17" and several in the 16" range in that short amount of time. It's a good problem to have, but now I wasn't sure what to do. I was conflicted between going back to the water I pre-fished, or following my original plan and floating a completly different stretch downstream.
This is what the river looks like at 6 am
After texting a couple of my fellow Quest for 23 buddies, I decided the morning of, to approach a sort of hybrid plan. I was going to put in on the pre-fishing section and paddle upstream to the spot I had the most confidence in. I would fish that for an hour, and then paddle back to my car, load up, and hit the stretch downstream. In order to do this, I would have to make sure and get to my spot early. This would mean doing a little paddling in the dark.
My alarm went off at 4:00 am on Saturday, and I had everything ready to go. I drove up to the check-in location, got registered, and took off to my put-in. I was the first guy there, but I knew it wouldn't be long before someone else would pull up. I quickly pulled my kayak off the top of my car and started to load everything up. At this point it's about 5:45 and first cast isn't still 7 am. Still though, I had to be the first one to my spot. As I was finishing up a couple guys pulled up, but I had the drop on them and was already dragging to the river. The spot that I had intended on fishing was actually a low head dam about 1/4 upstream. I paddled up to the dam and settled into my spot around 6:00. There is a corner to this dam where the water flows around a logjam and has created a scoured out hole where fish normally feed. Fast forward through the longest hour of my life and I was ready to fish. A couple other guys had paddled up behind me and were fishing the dam as well, but I knew I had the prime spot. I dropped my Whopper Plopper into the corner and BAM! First cast produced a 16-inch smallmouth. I knew I had the spot to myself, so took my time and got a good photo of the fish on my Hawg Trough. I also try to give the spot a chance to recover in these situations. After waiting about 6-7 minutes I made my second cast. BOOM! Another one. This time it was a 14-inch largemouth. Rinse, repeat. After catching a couple more short fish, I had one come up and roll on my lure that I could tell was nice. I grabbed my fluke rod and threw it up there...no dice. Going back to the topwater I made a perfect cast up onto the face of the dam. There was so much foam in the corner I couldn't see my lure in the water. As soon as I started turning the handle....WHAM! I had a nice one on. I took my time and was able to land a 17.25" FAT smallmouth.
A 17.25" smallmouth caught during the tournament
I had my 3 fish with 47.25" and 8:00 was fast approaching. I decided to stick to my original plan and head back to the car. After chatting with the tournament director while I was loading up, I took off to the next spot. On the way, I uploaded the pictures of my fish and decided to peek at the leaderboard. To my surprise, I was only in 3rd place. A friend of mine, Aidan, who is a mainstay in these tournaments, and a heck of a fisherman already landed 2-18" smallmouth! I knew I had a lot of work to do if I was going to place in the money. I got the my spot and slid my kayak in. I fished around the put-in some and caught a few shorter fish (I think I culled my 14" for a 15"). I had spot further downstream I wanted to concentrate on so I took off paddling. On my way I ran into a fellow angler I had never met. His name was James, and he was a young guy who fished these tournaments on a regualr basis. I chatted with him for a minute as we floated down the river and discovered he had passed me by 1/4 inch. This got me focused, and I took off down the river. I intended to paddle about a mile downstream to a spot I knew held fish. On my way I spotted a deep hole with some shade. Breaking my own rules, I decided to pick up my rod and make a couple casts. No sooner than my bait hit the water, the river exploded! I had on a PIG! After a nice fight I swooped down my net and landed a really nice largemouth. This thing was as big around as it was long. I got really nervous and started shaking a little bit. I knew this fish would put me back into contention. I struggled to get out my identifier and put the fish on my hawg trough. By this point James had caught up with me and was scoping out this fish. He called out and asked if it would put me ahead of him. I replied with a "Oh yeah!" Now, I don't fish tournaments very often and a very underrated skill is actually getting a good photo of the fish. Knowing this fish was extra fiesty I was struggling to get his mouth shut. Looking at the measuring board this thing was going to be pushing 19 inches. I finally get him to lay down straight and bring my camera up to take the picture. In one fell swoop, this guy flops as hard as I've ever seen a fish flop and dove right into the water next to my kayak. He was gone! I was super pissed, said a few choice words and tried to collect myself. You can't make those kind of mistakes if you want to win a tournament. With a cloud hanging over my head, I did the only thing I could do. I kept fishing.
I got down to the next area I wanted to fish and tacked on another half-inch or so. I had been peaking at the leaderboard, and by this time Aidian had pulled away from the field. He had 55 inches! Geez, well, this meant I was shooting for 2nd place most likely. That's a heck of a day on the water, and I didn't anticipate anyone catching him. As the next hour or so wore on, the mid-day heat started to wear on the fish. I was still catching them, but not quite as frequently as I was before. This is where pre-fishing really helped me. I had established a pattern during mid-day on Friday where the fish were hanging tight to overhead shade. I found a really nice cut bank that had shade on it and I started picking it apart. A couple casts in I had a really nice smallmouth roll on my bait. I threw back in and he choked it. I had an 18-inch smallmouth on the board!
Alright, now I was in play. A few yards down river I spotted a nicer fish chasing shad up on the bank. I placed my Whopper Plopper right where he was working and he came up and slammed it! I had a 16.5" smallmouth. This put me at 3rd on the leaderboard and I was feeling pretty good. It was getting late in the day and I had to get moving. Since I was by myself, the plan was to leave my kayak at the takeout (locked up) and take an Uber back to my car. I then go back and get my kayak, load up and head to check in. I have done this many times while recreational fishing, and I knew I was going to have to stop fishing sooner than most to make this work. As I started paddling back a couple guys passed me. I didn't recognize them at first, but after he told me he was in the lead, I figured out it was Aidan and his buddy Nick! I wasn't expecting to run into them as we had messaged the night before and he was supposed to be further upstream. He told me they changed plans last minute and decided do a different stretch. I told them I was going to Uber back, and being the nice guys they are, offered me the extra spot on their trailer. Sweet! We all fished some more on the way down, but no one caught anything of consequence. After loading up on Nick and Aidan's trailer we went to the check in. Last I checked I was in 3rd, but they black out the leaderboard the last hour of the tournament. After some suspenseful waiting in the Cabela's parking lot (this is where the check-in was held), they started announcing winners. I had a solid showing and finished in 4th place. Not where I wanted to finish, but not terrible either. Had I not lost that largemouth, I would've finished in 2nd, but hey....s*** happens. The guy I had met earlier, James, caught a monster 19" smallmouth and finished 2nd! Nick, the kid who so graciously gave me a ride finished right behind me in 5th, and Aidan surprised no one and took 1st. Those guys I just mentioned are all either in high school or just out of high school. Props to them...they definltely know how to fish.
52 anglers ended up fishing this tournament, so 4th place is very respectable. I was able to get $175 in winnings which isn't bad for a day on the river.
A special thanks goes out to Jason Young and his team at IKA. They are a class act and put on excellent events. Also special thanks to Aidan and Nick for letting me tag along with them back to the check in. I appreciate it brothers! Also thanks to all the guys who fished the tournament. Altough I don't fish these very often, I always feel welcomed and have a great time. Hats off to all you guys that were there. Great group of fishermen.
Now that my competitive juices got going, I really want to try and fish more tournaments the rest of this season and next. Would be sweet to catch that 23-incher during cometition!