Wish me luck!

[Allen Morgan]

Tomorrow, for the first time ever, I am participating in a Bass Tournament.

It's a "just for fun" tourney amongst some friends on my local fishing forum.  There is a Big-Bass pot, but it won't be to terribly big.  It's at a lake I've never been to.  This lake is fairly small, and the water is known for being the color and clarity of chocolate milk.  This is going to be interesting.  Not to mention the fact that I rarely actually target LMBs, although I do catch them fairly frequently.

What's really interesting, is that this is shaping up to be more of a kayaker vs. powerboat tourney.  And yes, I'll be in my kayak!

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Good lick then, Allen.
I know you'll give it your all.

[dick tabbert]

Allen just go out and have fun what will be will be.

[Allen Morgan]

That's what I'm planning on doing.  I've been talking to another kayaker that will be there as well; and we both have basically the same gameplan.  I just looked at a satellite image of the lake, and there is a LOT of standing timber within a mile of the ramp, and the dam isn't that far away either.  On a good note, both of those are to the south of the ramp, and the wind is supposed to be out of the south, so hopefully, Mother Nature will help me get back to the ramp.

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

Love it!

[dick tabbert]

Allen if the lake is a muddy as you say I would think Big and noisy with the key word being on noise.

[Allen Morgan]

That's what I was thinking as well!!!!

[dick tabbert]

Also high vibrating baits.

[carl hendrix]

now this is sportsmanship!!  a kayak versus a powerboat!!     the powerboat guys don't stand a chance against you allen!!!

[David Dillman]

Good luck Allen.  Quieter should win the day.  I like to watch knot right kayak fishing on tv.  He always does pretty well with the bass.  You can go in the thick weeds and hit the holes for bass and the boats can't. I have confidence you and your kayak will prevail.

dilly

[Patricia Ramirez]

GOod look! Beat them.

[Allen Morgan]

OK, well, here's the results.

I got there @ 0500.  I was the second person to arrive.  It was still dark out, so I couldn't see the water color/clarity.  Once it was Safe Light, we took off.  There were two bass boats and two kayaks to start with.  Later, another bass boat and a 2-man Buster Boat would join in.

The water wasn't as muddy as I was expecting.  In fact, it was about what I consider to be "normal" for OK.  It was also really warm, 84 degrees.  This is a shallow lake!!!  Standing timber all over the place.

I started out trolling a big minnowbait in Firetiger.  I didn't go far, and found a weedline that ran parallel to the wind direction.  I set up for a drift down the face of the weedline.  Reeled in my trolling rod and grabbed my other rod, pre-rigged with a Pop-R in black.  I slowly drifted down the weedline, with no luck.  I did see a fish hit something on the surface, but I never got my lure back in there.

I ended up paddling around that point and seeing what was on the other side.  More standing timber!  I tried paddling through that, and casting here and there, with no luck.  Then I saw another weedline on the next bank over, as well as a rip-rap point.  I paddled over there and started working my way back.  I also changed up from the Pop-R to a Jitterbug, also in black.  A little heavier, better distance, and I don't have to pop it, giving my sore elbow a break.

Sure enough, I get back to a corner, and this poked its head out of the water and slurped my Jitterbug:

I kept drifting and paddling around, with no luck.  I did another trolling run, down the face of the dam, headed to the south shore, to stay out of the wind.  I paddled around there, with no luck.

Here's a good reason why the water is normally like chocolate milk:

Typical Okie red clay/sand.  The middle part of the state is like this everywhere.

I kept paddling around, trying to find another hungry fish.  I had a LMB try to jump out of the water to inhale my bait, but it missed!

About this time, I was ready to head in.  I was noticing some darker clouds to the southwest, and with the weather forecast, took that as my cue to head back to the ramp.  I had to paddle about half a mile northeast, so that I was directly upwind of the launch.  Then, I just turned with the wind, and "sailed" back to the ramp, using my paddle basically just to steer.

After about an hour, everyone showed up, because of the impending weather.  Since there were kayaks involved, the gent that put the tourney on decided to follow KBF tourney rules.  We went by length, not weight, take a pic, and add the lengths together.

I only caught the one, so out of all the teams, I didn't even place.  However, I did get the Big Fish pot!

The bit about kayaks sneaking up on fish is spot-on!  My first inhaled my lure just 10 feet from the boat!  I never really "reeled" it in, just played it a bit, then lifted the rod to bring it in close, and use the fish grips to secure the fish.  I also spent quite a bit of time in the standing timber, where the powerboats don't really want to be.  I know this, because I got hung up on limbs probably 6 times.  A bigger boat wouldn't have even made it in there.

[Greg McWilliams]

SOUNDS like a GOOD TIME!!!!! KIND of LOOKS ALOT LIKE SOONER LAKE!!!!!!!

CONGRATS on the BIG BASS POT!!!!!