Southeast Georgia Kayak Bass Fishing held their second tournament of the season at Evans County PFA. We had twenty anglers competing for the top three spots. The morning started out with a cold front that passed through during the night prior. After launching, everyone headed to their respectful starting points. Most of the anglers went to the sunny side to start due to water warming quicker there.

Fifteen minutes into the morning the biggest bass of the tournament was caught by Adam Fournier at 21.25 inches.

Adam Fournier

This is a shallow, fairly small, and heavily pressured PFA. In addition, more than half of the lake is covered with lily pads in the warm months. There were very few pads, but pretty much anywhere under 5′ deep still had the base vegetation the pads grow from.

Then in the deeper water is standing timber and fields of stumps. Tons of cover, and the fish were basically nonexistent the weekend before when I pre-fished it. I did take the time to make a contour map of most of the lake with my fishfinder and made notes of water temp at various points in the lake. With a week of warm weather, followed by another front with a nearly 40-degree drop from Friday’s high to the Saturday morning low, I expected the fish to start moving up into the shallows during the week, and seek nearby deeper water with the cold front.

I picked a corner of the lake that was the first to get sun, and also the deepest to start my day, hoping the water temps would be highest there. My guess turned out correct, water temp was almost 5 degrees warmer there than where I launched. Waiting for lines in time, I was marking fish on my sonar in that area chasing a ball of shad among a field of stumps.

Winning Pattern

I started with a deep-diving squarebill crank and had my first fish measured and submitted 2 minutes after lines in. A few minutes later, I hooked a huge fish and watched it spit the hook right beside me as I was reaching for the net. Couple more casts and I hook the same fish again. And it spits the hook yet again. The third time is a charm; 21 1/4″ on the board.

I kept at the pattern, and a few more fish, and I had finally reached my 5 fish limit. The bite was really slowing down as the sun was getting high in the sky. I found a few more fish up shallow, and one was big enough to cull the 12″ fish I started the day with.

I finished out the day with a solid limit and took the win and big fish pot. I’m stoked with that finish, especially considering the field of 20 anglers included a pro.

This recap was furnished by Adam

Ron Champion

Ron Champion a local Pro for Hobie Kayaks joined SEGKBF for this tournament. He fished it last year with us and won. Ron is from Richmond Hill, Georgia. Ron was able to boat a five-fish limit totaling 63.00 inches for a second-place finish. His biggest fish was just 13.00 inches. After the tournament, Ron said he enjoys fishing local club tournaments because it brings back memories of when he started out in the tournament scene.

Hunter Willis

Hunter is a newcomer to SEGKBF this year. This young gentleman has proved himself in his first-ever kayak tournament. Hunter boated three fish for a total of 41.25 inches for a third-place finish. We hope Hunter continues to fish with SEGKBF for future tournaments.

SEGKBF will be traveling to Lake Linsday Grace in Jesup, Georgia for the third stop of the 2022 SEGKBF Live Series.

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