2 days at Jordanelle 1 Kayak Bass tournament

[JArner]

Last weekend I had the opportunity to fish Jordanelle in a kayak bass fishing tournament (spoiler alert, I’m not great at bass fishing). 

Day 1
Friday - Arrived at the PWC launch at 7:30 and met a fellow kayak angler getting in some pre-fishing like me. The water was MUCH lower than my last trip up and I needed to find new spots to target. I took off toward the hook of land separating the swim area from the main channel. Air temp was 63 and water temp was 67. 

Shortly after getting out there I had my first snag which turned into line wrapping around my trolling motor, and had to beach to sort that out. 1 rod down, I swapped to a weed less senko rig and caught a 10.5” smallie. Not bad but not going to win anything with that. Next one was even shorter at 9.75”.  Ok time to move on. 

I went across the main channel to the coves and dinked around there for several hours, catching nothing bigger than my first fish, well except for a 13” rainbow on my way over to the coves. It was getting hot out and more boat traffic by 12:30 so decided to head back across to the no wake zone. Caught fish number 4 around 2pm in the same area as I caught the first one. Knowing they’d be there in the afternoon if need be was a plus. 

Day 2
Saturday tourney day - on the water at 5:30 and it was dark! Air temps much cooler as expected but water was still around 67. We could put lines in at 6am, fish started jumping around me at 5:58. It felt like an eternity waiting for 6am to arrive. First few casts I had some hits but no takers, I was getting blown around a bit so decided to head into the protective coves across the channel. 

Started fishing a rocky point with a Ned rig and my kayak nosed up onto the rocks, caught 2 fish right away 9.25” and 9.75” , decided to anchor up (big mistake). Everything went south from there, all my casting while anchored seems to be off just a bit. So I let the anchor be and went back to nosing my kayak up on the rocks. Boat traffic was picking up and it was harder to stay put. I picked up some little bass but under the 8” requirements for the tournament. Decided to try a different spot, and went to retrieve the anchor... wouldn’t budge. I tried from every angle on the water but couldn’t free it up. I ended up cutting the line so at least I still have my line reel. 

Out in the channel the waves from boats and the increased wind were difficult to deal with on the yak. Tried a few other spots, but just got blown out. Crossed the channel again to hit the west shoreline. Picked up a few more dinks, but nothing measuring over 8”. Broke a rod trying to get my last Ned head back from a snag. I got pushed by the wind and didn’t think about the angle of the rod. High sticked, and snapped it just above the joint where the two pieces join. Hurt my fingers and spirits, so decided to call it a day. The winds were easily dealt with against that shoreline, until it was time to head back to the docks. I took water over the bow on every wave. If it hadn’t been a contest I would never have stayed out in those conditions.

All in all it was a good learning experience, not sure I’m cut out for tournaments, may try another down the road. 

[Kent]

Sounds like a tough day. I have only fished one tournament (ice fishing) and likely won't fish any more.

[JArner]

Sounds like a tough day. I have only fished one tournament (ice fishing) and likely won't fish any more.

Yeah, I've competed in other outdoor events... one thing is for certain. On contest day you can expect the weather to not cooperate. I've looked at photos from ice fishing contests and they tend to be crowded, but maybe that isn't always the case. I prefer to be a bit more socially distant, even when COVID isn't an issue.

[Cowboypirate]

Ouch. That is a rough way to have fun.