This weekend was the first tournament for the Kayak Bass Series. I had charters all week up to Thursday so I didn't get much time to pre-fish. Also, I have not freshwater fished since the last KBS tournament! I was just going over there because it is a fun tournament with great people and I wanted to get back to my roots- my first fishing experiences as a child were fishing for bass. I headed over to the other coast Friday morning around 4 am to do some bass recon. Needless to say I was on a mission to find some bass for the tournament the next day. I pushed out on to the beautiful St. Johns River around 8:30. The only thing I could get these bass to eat this day was the Yo-Zuri popper. I ended up sticking 3 nice bass and lost a really nice one. I didn't fish too hard this day because I didn't want to sore lip the bass for the next day. Once I had found fish, I knew where to go and what my game plan was going to be for the next day.
On game day (Tournament Day) I pushed out around 6:30 on the prowl for my 5 bass bag limit. Since I had so much success the day before on top-water, I started throwing a top-water popper and a frog. I lost two fish right off the bat, both in the mid 20's!!! Then I did the thing they say you should never do... leave fish to find fish. When I reached the other side of the lake, I saw Andrew Mixon sitting in the spot where I wanted to fish. I had to be respectful to my fellow angler/friend and not carry on to that spot. After watching him catch 3-4 fish right in front of me I headed off to re-group for another game plan. I went back to where I lost those other fish and just slowed everything down. I put on a speed worm and rubber worm with a bullet weight, both rigged weedless. I finally figured out that if I didn't have my bait in the weeds, I was not getting bites! After I tuned into the bite, I had my 5 bass bag limit in no time! I lost a couple of more lunkers on the top-water frog that made me wanna throw up! lol! My bass game was just a little rusty and couldn't get a good hook-set with the frog. Needless to say, I had one of the most fun days watching some of the most EPIC eats I've ever seen from bass on top-water. And I was just happy that I was able to compete with people who had been pre-fishing for two weeks and who bass fish on a regular basis. Who knows where I would have been in the ranking with the couple of the fish that I lost. Shoulda, Woulda , Coulda! :)
The St. Johns River is a Beautiful fishery and would love to go there again some day. My hats off to all of the competitors and Andrew Cameron/Crew for an fun tournament. Also great job to my friends: 2nd place Andrew Mixon, 3rd place Jason Broach, 5th place Bart A Swab. I'm sure this series will continue to be a blast! Check out Kayak Bass Series if you are a bass fisherman.:) I would like to thank everyone who makes this possible for me God, wife, family, friends, Johnson Outdoors, Old Town Kayaks, Ocean Kayaks, Bending Branches, Yak-Gear, 3-TAND, Humminbird, EGO, RailBlaza, Monster 3X , Yo-Zuri Lures, Mister Twister, EXUDE, Mirro Lure, Paul Brown, St. Croix Rods, Owner Hook, Seaguar, Mojo, Intova, River Bum, Costa Del Mar Sunglasses.