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Jonathan Gills
2013-09-19 14:52:25

MSKA Tournament Trail


An Awesome day on the water with some awesome guys. Two Saturdays ago found me in Hinton West Virginia participating in the Mountain State Kayak Anglers “ New River tournament. The Day started out perfect with heavy overcast (fog) early in the morning, due to the rain a couple of days earlier the river was running about a foot and half higher than normal with 6 gates open at the damn (the norm for this section of the river is 3 gates open), but it was semi clear. Right off the bat I launched at Bell Point Park approximately 100 yards below the Bluestone Damn on river right. I started paddling up river towards the damn and center of the river where I could still see a large grass bed. Once I reached the grass bed I lodged my kayak in the grass on the upstream side and started casting into the swift water on the river left side of the beds. Now my go to lure for this section of the river is a small 2 inch green pumpkin w/black flake tube with a 1/0 jig head. I casted into the swift water and let the current pull my lure down to the lower end of the grass beds. Once the tube came to rest in the calm water I let it set for about 30 seconds before starting my retrieve. After three casts without a hit I changed up my retrieve by using a real pause real pause action. The first cast with the different retrieve the water exploded 10 feet from my kayak right on the edge of the grass. "Fish On I was on the board with my first fish of the day, not a Monster but a nice 12 inch keeper. As I continued down river this same method landed me several 10, 11, and 12s. As I worked my way down river I came to the first bridge on this section of the New. Now as for fishing key structure on river systems I love finding a bridge with multiple pilings. Regardless if I am throwing a small crank, tube, or top water I will make my cast in such a way as to bounce my lure off the side of the pilling so that it falls into the water and is swept down the side into the Eddy that forms on the back side. The majority of the time this cast will land a nice Bronze Back, and this time was no different. As soon as the tube started into the Eddy I felt a slight bump and my line went tight. I raised the tip of my rod up and felt a head shake. I set the hook and… "Fish On a nice 15 ¾ Bronzer. The water level was falling throughout the day returning to its norm, and by the time I reached the take out point the water level had dropped 12 inches. As the day started to heat up the bite dropped off. This is when I tend to change up to a crank bait or spinner to get that reactionary bite. After trying several different combinations with no luck I went back to the 2 inch tube. Once going back to the tube the bite came back and I brought in several more 11 “ 12 inch Small Mouth. At the take out it was time for the check in. and my final tally was 43 ¾ inches. Now I had expected 50 to 55 inches to win first place in this tournament but my 43 ended up being the top score. With my 15 ¾ also taking the Big Bass Pot. Now it's always nice to win a tournament but it's awesome to just get out there and fish with some good friends, and enjoying a day on the water.
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