Question: What do you get when you mix tropical storm Beryl with a kayak tournament on the edge of the Ozarks that allows fishing in lakes, rivers, creeks, and a lowland wildlife wilderness area filled with swamps, ditches, ponds and a conservation lake filled with cypress trees and lilly pads? Answer: A winning strategy that was about as unpredictable as a tropical storm! We affectionately called it "Ozarkana," presented by Old Town Watercraft; the third stop on the Kayak Adventure Series presented by GoPro.
When the competitors gathered on Saturday evening at the historic Rodgers theater in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, they applauded the Torqeedo top individual angler Johnathan Dominguez, the X2Power top team anglers Cody Jones and Wyatt Yarbrough. They cheered Tyler Cokley for winning the Boonedox Big Bass Bling trophy*, top lady angler Glenda Celestino, the champion of the Z-Man Micro Finesse Division (Celestino again!), the Aggressively Average angler award winner (Celestino once more) and the Dark Horse winner Tyler Cokley, who rose the highest from day 1 to day 2.
The crowd also cheered for the single thing that the anglers had in common: each of them had figured out the bite after a tropical depression formerly known as Hurricane Beryl swept through the Ozarks, lifting the water levels.
Summer water is normally low and clear. We make long casts and keep as low a profile as possible. We know the river fish in summer will be concentrated in deep pools and riffles, and that fish in lakes will probably be around vegetation and structure that provides shade. How do we adapt when the summer water rises and gets a bit of stain?
That was the question that the remnants of Hurricane Beryl posed to the Kayak Adventure Series anglers, and on stage they gave tournament host and "founder of fun" Drew Gregory all the best answers. Some of them answered with Smallmouth Bass, others with Largemouth Bass. Some found their fish in rivers, some in the major lakes, others in creeks, but in the end the winning answer came from the most obscure area of them all - a wilderness area pond; a perfect place for a kayak. Overall the anglers agreed the fishing at Ozarkana turned out to be a whole lot better than many had feared earlier in the week, proving that the fish don't stop eating, it's just us as the anglers that have to re-adjust our strategy.
Torqeedo Individual Division
In the January event preview, Director of Fun Drew Gregory stated “I can’t wait for this event [and] to see how it’s won. That’s one of the most intriguing things. Of all the events, I don’t know.” Would an angler win it fishing for Largemouth Bass, near the Mississippi flood plain? Or win it with a stringer of Smallmouth from the Ozarks?
The Torqeedo Individual Division places all anglers together – young and seasoned, men and women, youth and parents – in a single group. The big question of which angler best adapted their strategy to the weather and species would likely be answered here.
In the early going of Friday’s “afternoon sesh,” Missouri angler Robert Swearngin had the best answer, taking the lead after two hours of fishing with the first five fish limit of the day, totaling 76.75”. He was followed in second by Troy Enke who posted the second five-fish limit. Both anglers had limits consisting entirely of Largemouth Bass. Would it be an early indication of the better bite?
Another sixteen anglers posted at least one fish to the Realtree Fishing Real Time Leaderboard that afternoon. When the evening tally was complete, Swearngen was in third place, Steve Baker was in second and Alabama angler Sam Cox led all anglers with 83.25”. Tellingly, both Cox and Baker had a mix of largemouth and Smallmouth Bass in their limits.
Saturday morning started with a big early limit taking over first place. Missouri angler Chad Davison improved his catch by filling a limit of 92”, and he held the top spot for the early morning hours. By mid-morning, however, Missouri angler Johnathan Dominguez posted 93.50”, and his bag held the top spot for the day, with Davison holding second and Cox, who was the Friday leader, in third place.
When the final limits came in, Dominguez took the win and earned over $4000 between money taken home from the team division and the Individual Division. Tyler Cokley posted his 92.75” limit later in the day to jump past Chad Davison for second place by one-quarter of an inch.
Dominguez found a productive, small lake in the Mingo Wildlife Refuge. In his words: “I went there Friday to see if I liked it. If I didn’t I could go to Duck Creek, which was nearby. Two other kayakers fished there with me, on the team side. They were younger guys, and it was fun talking with them and each other. We just rotated through the small area; it was only about five acres.”
The rain had actually helped keep water moving through the water. He continued: “I hadn’t figured out the bite in pre-fishing. The rain definitely changed anglers’ strategies, and my game plan changed too. There were small creeks going in and out of the lake, and that at little bit of current in my spot kept the fish active.”
Dominguez had two key baits: “I caught all my fish with Z-Man chatterbaits. On Friday I used the EVO, but with the water being stained I switched to a Jackhammer on Saturday, in a darker black and blue color.”
Tyler Cokley took second place with a limit of big Largemouth Bass, too. Unlike Dominquez, Cokley fished a local river - the St. Francis. The third place angler Chad Davison fished the largest lake In bounds, Lake Wappapello, while fourth place finisher Lance Coley fished a creek. You see the (un) pattern here? About the event Gregory exclaimed, "The kayak is so diverse and KAS allows for many water types to show off that diversity and different angler's styles. Exploring and finding potentially unpressured gems where only kayaks excel is literally the spirit of Kayak Adventure Series, so to see the various water types littered throughout the top 10 put a big smile on my face.”
Top 10 breakdown by water type
1st - Johnathan Dominguez (MO) - Wildlife Refuge
2nd - Tyler Cokley (MO) - River
3rd - Chad Davidson (MO) - Large Reservoir
4th - Lance Coley (AL)- Creek
5th - Sam Cox (AL) - Creek
6th - Mike Keafer (MO) - Wildlife Refuge
7th - Steve Baker (OH) - River
8th - Robert Swearngin (MO) - Large Reservoir
9th - Ted Yates (OK) - Wildlife Refuge
10th - Benjamin Amundson (M)) - River
In addition to taking second place honors, Tyler Cokley also won the Day 2 Darkhorse presented by Darkhorse Tackle, which is awarded to the angler who makes the biggest move from day 1 to day 2. Cokley had 0" inches on day 1, tied for last, and jumped all the way up and nearly won!
In the big picture, Ozarkana changed the rankings of the Angler of the Year race presented by Farwide Outdoors. With three events remaining, the AOY race has tightened up. Lance Coley had a good showing at Ozarkana, finishing in fourth overall and climbing into first place AOY. The Angler of the Year will win a prize package nearing $10,000+, with the main prize being an electric motorbike from UBCO ($5000).
Special thanks to Croc-o-Gator baits, Eco-Fishing Shop and Midwest Kayak Co., who each donated additional gift cards or cash to extend the payout down to 22nd place!
X2Power Team Event
Eleven teams registered for the X2 Power Team Event at Ozarkana, and the Realtree Fishing Real Time Leaderboard immediately lit up for one team in Friday’s Afternoon Sesh. Team “Slap that MOYAK Bass” uploaded 93.5” of bass, all of them Largemouth Basss posted by Robert Swearngin and his teammate Anthony Brown. Their anchor fish was Brown’s 19.5” Largemouth, and it seemed in the early going that Largemouth Bass would also shape the team event standings.
As the evening wore on, more limits came in. When the afternoon sesh was over, team Dink Destroyers had taken the lead with limits of Largemouth Bass. Headed by Cody Jones and Wyatt Yarbrough, the team remained in the top spot Saturday morning, and at mid-morning the top three spots were held by team Dink Destroyers with 163.75”, team Loveland with 154.25” and team Gang Gang with 136.50”.
When it was over, Gang Gang moved up to second place, while the OG River Champs team (who won Shoaliepalooza earlier this season) took third place overall. Team Dink Destroyers held on to first place (teammates Jones and Yarbrough were the anglers who fished near Johnathan Dominguez, by the way). The duo earned over $1400 in cash/prizes, including a new portable Power Box from X2.
With another high finish, team OG River Champs moved into first place in the Kayak Adventure Series Team of the Year standings. Tim Perkins told Kayak Adventure Series that he and his teammate Lance Coley fished different areas. “I fished a little creek off the beaten path, where Lance went in a totally different direction. I caught three 18” fish there right away in practice, but on Friday the water level had dropped and cleared up. On Saturday, I fished my limit there, and then Jeff Little and I did a fifteen-mile float. I only wish I was twenty years younger. Not many folks
can handle that sort of trip!”
Perkins also praised the Kayak Adventure Series for highlighting small water fisheries : “I like the way Drew has formatted all of this by showcasing why we got into a kayak.”
Z-Man's Micro Finesse Micro-Bag Tournament, Top Lady Angler and the Crescent Kids Division
The day belonged to Glenda Celestino, although it nearly didn’t. Her dramatic story put the adventure in Kayak Adventure Series, as seen below….
The Micro-Bag tournament of the Kayak Adventure Series is sponsored by Z-Man Micro Finesse, and it began with Jake Heppner taking the early lead. Fresh from presenting at the BassU Brunch event, Heppner hit the water and posted a 9.75” and an 8” bass to post a total of 17.75” to the Realtree Fishing Real Time Leaderboard on Friday afternoon.
Reading the standings in this tournament requires recognizing that the shortest limit takes the top spot. Glenda Celestino took over first place at mid-morning fishing with Z-Man micro-finesse lures, and never relinquished it. Her five-fish limit of Smallmouth Bass (34") included a 5.25” bantamweight that gave her the win and earned her $475!
Shawn Seabaugh took second place (36.50), while Logan Dupuy (38.25) won third place on a tie-breaker with Trey Dawson (38.25), as his 6” fish was smaller than Trey's smallest. Dupuy was also the Crescent Kayak Kids Division champion, for which he won a YakAttack gift card and a beautiful custom Ketch trophy. While the top two spots in this division were dominated by Smallmouth Bass, Dupuy caught Largemouth Bass to fill out his micro-bag.
In a rare trifecta, Glenda Celestino won the micro-bag event, placed 31st overall in the Torqeedo individual division (for that she won the Aggressively Average angler, by finishing right in the middle of the pack), and in doing so she won the Top Lady Angler division presented by the Women’s Fishing Federation. As if the trifecta weren’t enough she also took home a $100 Omnia gift certificate for picking up trash in the "Tackle for Trash" category presented by Omnia Fishing
How did she manage it all? Well, as she told KAS:
“I wasn’t catching much on Friday. I couldn’t catch anything bigger than 12”. When I heard Drew say the micro-bag division prize was up to five-hundred dollars, I decided to focus on that. On Saturday I went to a creek where I had caught some fish, and I ran into Derek Evans As we talked, I went under a branch and fell out of my kayak I told him I wasn’t going to fish much more and just head down to the next bridge to take out.”
She continued: “But then I got sucked into a strainer. I lost my tackle box and my net. I also found a small fitness stepper there that I picked up for trash (that stepper later helped me get around a tree) and saw abandoned vehicles. I went and met my boyfriend Tom at the bridge. My walkie-talkie was still working, so I decided to keep fishing. We would meet at the next bridge, but I came to a big tree and couldn’t get around it. I had to paddle back, but with no cell service, I couldn’t reach him. I tried to contact Derek but then a state trooper passed by. I waved him down and asked him to go and tell Tom. Then I saw Derek and he told me he made a mistake on his identifier so he was out of the micro-bag running, so I knew I had a chance. We drove to a gas station and I barely had time to upload my fish.”
“I went to the awards hoping for the kayak raffle drawing. and instead my name was called four times. It was neat, but also embarrassing, but after losing gear and almost missing the deadline, it was a great way to finish.”
If there was a a prize for the top kayak adventure story, Celestino would have won it, too.
Having accumulated points through every event she has fished in the inaugural 2024 Kayak Adventure Series season, Celestino currently occupies a spot in the top ten in the Farwide Angler of the year standings.
Raffle Kayak for Pediatric Cancer
The final event that occured in the Rodgers Theater was the kayak raffle raising money for pediatric cancer through the P.U.N.T. foundation. Huge thanks to Old Town Watercraft for donating an incredible Sportsman120 PDL that will surely help families in need.
Special Guests and Youtubers
The weekend included visits and talks from a range of people who work in the kayak fishing industry. They included the Bass U Brunch event, with talks by Jake Heppner, Jeff Little and Drew Gregory, kayak displays courtesy of Midwest Kayak Co and Eco Fishing Shop.
Thanks to Baldwin Toyota for bringing some incredible new Toyota's for anglers to test drive. Anglers also tested out the Adventure Bike from UBCO, during the Opening and Closing Ceremony festivals at Haffys Bar & Grill.
Looking Ahead
Kayak Adventure Series is not just a tournament – it’s an experience. Experience it for yourself when we visit your area. The next stop will be “Fiesta on the Susky” in Towanda, PA.
Additional Info
For more information about the Kayak Adventure Series presented by Go Pro, visit: https://www.kayakadventureseries.com/
Click here to learn more about GoPro cameras.
Click here for the Torqeedo Individual Event Standings from Ozarakana.
For X2 Power team Event standings from Ozarkana, click here.
Click here for the Z-Man Micro-Bag Standings.
To watch the awards ceremony, click here.
© 2024 Kayak Adventure Series. All Rights Reserved. First published July 13, 2024.
On the water gallery
Awards
