Headed to KBF Nationals in March

Hey Guys,

I decided to fish the Yak-A-Bass series this year. I like fishing for bass with artificials but only had a handful of days on the Delta, so I was intimidated to say the least but I like a good challenge. I wanted to represent NCKA the best I could. Well I put in some time and slowly figured it out... kinda. Here is my placings and story:

March-20 Sunday- Tiki lagoon - Last Place! 0 fish - broke off and lost every keeper: Giant goose egg - very humbling to say the least.
May- 22 Sunday- tracy oasis - 8th place
July 17 Sunday- big break - 1st Place
September 18 Sunday- whimpys - 1st Place
October 16 Sunday- Sugar Barge AOTY - 8th Place and a limit large enough to take the AOTY victory!

I really sucked on the first event. Luckily they throw out your worst event. I broke off two toads and lost another. She spit the lure right at me! I went into the event very confident catching several good fish including a PB 25" largie. It ended up being a very humbling experience to say the least. After this first event I realized a few things, 1. I didn't know as much as I thought I did about how to effectively target fish or properly gear up for the delta. 2. These guys who fish these YAB events know this water way better than I do. So I decided to actually put some real time into this fishery and try to apply what I've learned fishing back east and the lakes here in NorCal. It was tough because everything in the delta looks so damn fishy. What I had to realize was, the tides and the water temp and clarity mean everything, structure comes in last in the scenario. I began studying maps and applying what i thought would work based on these factors... and wouldn't know... I started doing well. It was definitely an "aha" moment.

Anyway I went into the final event two spots down and the leader is an awesome bass fisherman. I planned my day and prefished south and had a plan. That week a nasty storm was to roll in and with the 20+ mph winds ripping across Franks Tract, my plan went out the window. I decided last minute to head north, I did study a bit but had no prefish experience, so I was going in blind. I had to rely on the experience I gained throughout the year. The WX suk'd and the fishing was tough, I didn't have a keeper in the boat until 10:30am and the whole time I'm thinking I'm smoked, there is no way I'll win this. I began to panic and fish faster and faster. As the tide turned I just stopped fishing... I headed under a dock to eat some food, get out of the rain and gather myself. I had a chat with the owner of the dock who was a super funny guy. I suddenly realized it's just fishing and I'm really fishing against myself not anyone else. I then retied on a new bait and started fishing slow... and then... wham fish on, and another and another. 5 fish within an hour. I had a somewhat small limit by 12pm but I was culling. I still felt like it wasn't enough to win but i gave it my best and headed in, soaked, cold and tired.

As I pulled in, I seen the guy that was leading the AOTY race. Bye the way it was only him and I, the next closest was way down the on points. I figured he had it in the bag. He asked me how I did and I said it was rough. "Do you at least have a limit?" he asked and said yes and he replied, well then you got it... WHAT! He didn't pull a limit. Well I guess it was tough for everyone. Well I won the AOTY by a few points. Holy smokes... Never give up people! I won a cool grand but I also gained some serious experience fishing and insight on the Delta throughout the year. Well I'm looking forward to defending my title next year... a couple lakes in the mix for 2017.. hehehe. I'm looking forward to the challenge!

So anyway, YAB is part of the KBF circuit and with the AOTY win I've qualified to fish the KBF National Championships on Kentucky lake or Barkley lake. It's a 2 day tourney in March and the grand prize is $35,000.00. Not too shabby. So, I'm pumped and I'll do my best to represent.

Mike

Good job and good luck in March.

Looks like you figured it out  Mike.
Congrats on your achievements and good luck on your next journey.

Congrats Mike.
That's quite an achievement.

Way to fish! Congrats. 

Congratulations ! Way to represent NCKA .

Alex

Congrats on an awesome year and we'll deserved win Mike!
Good luck going forward.

Great Year W.S.!!!

Congrats Mike!!

WTG dude!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim

Wow! Congrats and good luck in March

Great job.

I've fished Kentucky Lake about 30 times. The weather can be hot and humid with thunderstorms rolling in pretty quick. The good news is they are gone just as fast. If it's a hot stretch of days the fish will go deep and sit on the edge of a shelf waiting to ambush. Go deep with your lures and come over the top. They'll hit hard from underneath. Rattle traps used to drive them crazy there.



Good luck.

Nice job Mike, congratulations!

Congrats Mike!  Very cool story on how your year of bass-chasing panned out.  Your approach is exactly how an angler develops their craft: absorbing information from every trip, reflecting on what worked and what didn’t work, adapting your strategies accordingly, and keeping at it.  With today’s limitless access to information on the Internet, it’s real easy to fall into the habit of only practicing what you read from a fishing article or whatever is the latest “hot trend” among the fishing community.  But when it comes down to it, your own experiences and time on the water will always trump anything you pick up from an article or a YouTube video.  I wish you the best in the KBF Nationals and you’ll be a great representative for us NorCal kayak anglers!

Great job and good luck at the KBF Mike!

Awesome job!