By Marty Hughes
Northeast Texas is a hotbed when it comes to bass fishing and the Kayak Adventure Series anglers found this area to live up to its legendary history. With numerous lakes in play there was plenty of room to spread out and find a pattern. Of the 40 anglers registered about half of them ended up on the hottest lake in the area. Crockett Lake as it is called is full of giants! With the warming temperatures bass were moving into the shallows and backs of creeks for the annual spawn. Some were found still in the deeper waters and others staging on main points.
Seasoned bass angler Adam Coleman of Ohio took top honors with a whopping 102.75 inches followed closely behind by Iowa’s Jordan Westerman well known for his prowess in the deeper waters of lakes. Third place went to Rus Snyders from Tennessee who most always finds the big fish across the country no matter the conditions. With strong brisk southwesterly wind the anglers launched and found the bass right away on their respective spots. As the wind changed directions during the day and coming from the north some minor adjustments were made and anglers continued to land several more big fish in the afternoon. Let’s see what baits were most effective for success in this contest.
Adam Coleman of Ohio used a Megabass Freestyle Magdraft swimbait on an Owner Flashy Swimmer with 15 lb. fluoro. He also threw a ZMan Stealth Blade Chatterbait with a pink minnow style trailer. His finesse approach was a Neko rigged red bug trick worm on a VMC Redline weedless neko hook.
Jordan Westerman from Iowa used a Crush City Mooch Minnow with a 3/32 oz. Owner Range Roller jig head to catch his fish. His fishing rod was a Shimano Expride 6’10” medium with a Diawa Kage and 16.5 lb. braid to 12 lb. fluorocarbon line.
He also used a Berkeley General rigged Neko style on a Fenwick World Class 7’1” medium rod with a Diawa Balistic reel and 16.5 lb. braid with 12 lb. fluorocarbon.
Rus Snyders of Tennessee used a variety of presentations to secure his third place finish at the Paris “Reelfest.” These included a spinnerbait, jerkbait, ZMan MagFattyZ and a Yamamoto Senko.
Tim Isaacs of West Virginia basically used the same rod and reel that he used for the Ocala event in Florida recently. His baits included a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm and a ZMan FattyZ. Both were rigged on a Mustad 2X fine wire 3/0 hook. Ahead of it was a ⅛ ounce tungsten weight pegged with a bobber stopper. Isaacs likes to use this setup in weedy areas. All of his fish came in 2 to 6 feet of water.
Larry Hill from Texas targeted pre-spawn and post-spawn fish in submerged grass and dead lily pad stems in three to eight feet of water. He caught all of his fish on a ⅜ ounce ZMan Tungsten Chatterbait Elite EVO in Bama Craw with a green pumpkin ZMan Razor ShadZ. He used a 7’4” Temple Fork Outfitters Taction Bass MH and moderate fast action rod paired with a Shimano Curado 150 MGL and a 7.4:1 ration. For his line Hill used 17 pound Seaguar Invizx. He had one of his cleanest days fishing with zero fish lost and landed a total of 18 fish. Not only did he finish among the top five in the “Reelfest” but his team also took second place partnering with Dan Nguyen for Team Marinar Sails. He also notched a third place finish in the North Texas Kayak Championships that was held in conjunction with the “Reelfest.”
Michael Cates from Texas used a 6th Sense Divine Swim Jig in black/blue/purple with a black/blue Rage Craw trailer. He reeled the jig about one foot below the surface in water with 1 foot visibility concentrating on the very backs of pockets.
Marty Hughes from Nebraska used a White ZMan Tungsten Chatterbait Elite EVO with a 3.5” Dinner Minner Swim Minnow trailer in white. The combo for this presentation was a Little Miami Outfitters 7'0" Proteus Chatterbait rod paired with a Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier 7.5:1 reel and 16 lb. Sunline. He also used a green pumpkin ZMan Big TRD rigged Neko style with his homemade Neko button head weights and clear “Snyder” heat shrink sleeve to keep the bait firmly attached. The hook was a Berkley Fusion19 2/0 drop shot hook. The rod for this presentation was Hughes' own Little Miami Outfitters Signature 7'3" Medium/Fast "Kayakjak's Finesse Stick." The reel was a Shimano Vanford 2500 with 832 Suffix 15 lb. neon braid and a 16 lb. Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon leader. He threw the chatterbait in the backs of coves in about one to two feet of water along the shorelines and in creek channels that were one to four feet deep. He also threw the Neko in the creek channels catching his largest fish there with it.
Aiko Vang of Wisconsin used a “strolling” setup including a Raid Japan Gladiator anti spinning rod Stride paired with a Shimano Vanford FA 3000XGA and 8 lb. Daiwa Samurai Camouflage fluorocarbon line. Vang’s “strolling” bait included a 3/16th oz. Gamakatsu Nano Alpha Horizon Head LG paired with a Jackall Drift Fry 5.2 Mellow in Spawn Wakasagi. He used this presentation on drop offs leading up to a flat in which there were fish suspending in deeper water around 10-14 feet.
Vang also used a Wacky rig setup in weed patches with dead lily pad stems in five to eight feet of water. This rig included a Gary Yamamato five inch Senko in green pumpkin/black flake, paired with a black Gamakatsu G-Finesse Series Wacky ⅛ oz. jig head.
Bryan Howell of Texas threw a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver Hematoma rigged on a 3/0 Owner Jungle Flippin’ HD hook with a ¾ oz. tungsten weight. His rod was a Dobyns Champion XP 765FLIP.
Howell also used an Evergreen LB Buzzbait in chartreuse shad on a Dobyns Champion XP 764C rod. His third presentation was a ⅜ oz. Evergreen Jackhammer in Brett’s Bluegill color scheme. He used a Dobyns Champion XP 736CB GLASS rod for this lure.
