The Hardcore Kayak Fishing Team hosted their 2nd annual invitation
al tournament yesterday in Mount Holly. Thirty-six kayak anglers took off from Bobby’s boat launch, after a rocking Star Spangled Banner by Trip Rodgers. We fished the Catawba River, between Mountain Island lake and Lake Wylie. It was a chilly morning, but it warmed up nicely and ended up being a great day to be on the water.
I started off heading north from the launch. I tossed topwater baits (popper and buzzbait) early, but didn’t get any takers. Last year I took 2nd place in this tourney fishing a Texas-rigged worm, so it didn’t take me long to switch up. I opened a fresh bag of Deep Creek Lures and went to it. Working shoreline wood, I got a few bites but didn’t land any fish. As the sun got up into the sky, I realized that I’d forgotten to put in my contact lenses (duh), so I headed back to my truck (very annoyed). After my mid-morning re-start, I headed the opposite direction.
South of the bridge was good to me. I ended up landing 6 bass (5 largemouth and a spot), all caught on a worm. All but one were between 10 and 12 inches. This 16″ largemouth was good enough for 3rd place and $125.
The final standings looked like this:
1. Philip “Yak4fish” Ruckart – 17.5″ – $500
2. Jon Tilley – 16.5″ – $250
3. Me – 16″ – $125
4. Barry Faw – 15.25″ -$75
5 (tie). Gwen Crabtree – 14.5″ – $50
5 (tie). Bo Anders – 14.5″ – $50
Congrats to the winners!
I want to thank Tim Stewart and the Hardcore crew for being great hosts again this year. Big thanks also to Gary Ribet (Froggy Waters) for bringing Deep Creek Lures soft plastics for everyone – the 6″ floating worms produced my 3rd place fish! I’m already looking forward to next year.
