Battle of Bluestone Three Club Warefare- August 26th, 2017

  What started off to be a 2 club event quickly grew into at three club shootout for the Bluestone cup and one of the premiere events for WV kayak fishing. I fished with Jason Plumley, his girlfriend Brittany Brown, Jeramey Stacy and Jared Meadows. We floated the Narrows to Glenn Lynn section of the New river. The water was lower than I have ever seen it over there and super clear. This made for a tough bite and fish that were easily spooked. I again threw flukes all day long on ledges and drops. I was catching a lot of fish especially early but finding size would be the tall order. I missed a blow up that was at least 16 inches, hooked and lost an 18 fish, and had the biggest smallmouth I have seen in some time chase a fluke only for me to freeze and it to disappear into the depths. This fish was probably was in the 21 to 22" range. It turns out that had I landed any one of those three fish I would have won this event as an individual. I finished 2nd place only 0.25" behind the winner Eric Cormack, a long time New River smallmouth guide. The bite was tough and limits were down some from previous 3 weeks. But good is relative only to your competition in these events. SCBA did well as a club and thanks to some awesome volunteer help the event turned out amazingly well. I think most everyone had a great time.  This event will be repeated next year due to it's success and it is one that I will remember for a very long time.
Miles Floated = 5.5
Fish Caught = 38
Minutes per fish = 7.89
Biggest fish = 15.25"
Biggest five fish limit = 70.5"
Finish 2nd out of 80 anglers


*SCKBA won the Bluestone cup with 341.75" over WVKA with 323.75" and SWVKA with 311>00"


**My head to head record in WV kayak tournaments after this event record for 2017 now stands at 341 wins and 14 losses, giving me a head to head win percentage of 95.9%.

Battle of Bluestone Prefishing- August 25th, 2017

Jason Plumley from SWVKA and myself floated from upper Shanklin's down to the mouth of Indian creek on this late summer Friday morning. We only saw a couple other anglers all day, but the wildlife was everywhere. We say eagles, ospreys, a coyote, raccoons, deer, turkeys, you name it. The fishing fell a little flat by Shanklins legendary standards but still good overall. I managed
28 fish but the biggest for me was only 15.5".  Jason managed one that was 16". It was a fun day. In the odd ball section of the day we came upon a recently abandoned partially sunken boat. I called it in to DNR and they said that the owner had hit something the night before and knocked a hole in it and then got mad and abandoned it. The DNR made him go back and clean up the mess.


Total fish = 28
Miles Floated = 7.5
Biggest fish = 15.75"
Biggest five fish limit = 64.5"
Minutes per fish =  15.0

Late August Afternoon- August 20th, 2017

I had the opportunity to fish with Heath Noe retired Marine and Iraq war Veteran from the South West Virginia Kayak Anglers this hot and muggy August afternoon. We did a float from Brooks Falls to Sandstone Falls. Despite the high heat and humidity the fish were hitting pretty good. I managed 19 but nothing in size greater that 13 inches. Heath lost a big bass on a plopper just below Westfall Island. We floated from 5:15 until dark around 8:00pm. It was a beautiful sunset.
Miles Floated = 3.2
Fish Caught = 19
Biggest Fish = 13.75"
Biggest Five Fish Limit = 60.75"
Minutes per Fish =  9.4

Not All Days Can Be Diamonds - August 18th, 2017

Brad and I floated Shanklin's to Cedar on what I thought would be a very productive day. It was overcast with rain coming in, very little fishing pressure leading up to and the day of our float, and good water color that was maybe even rising. What we got however was  a grind. I landed only 13 and Brad 5 in nearly 6 hours of  floating over 6.5miles. I entered into the day hoping to upgrade my WVKA August online tournament standings. I landed only one fish that marginally helped.
Miles floated = 6.5
Fish Caught = 13
Fish Caught between the two of us = 18
My biggest fish = 15.0"
My biggest five fish limit = 67.0"
Minutes per Fish = 26.2

Whale Rock Musky- August 12th, 2017

Today was a productive and eventful day on the New River. I landed a spotted bass, a largemouth bass and another citation smallmouth. Jared landed a musky to round out the New river full house just above whale rock. I threw flukes and only flukes all day on deep structure and any ledges I could find. Jared found success with the Ned rig. It was an a bit overcast and the fish bit good early then stopped then the bite came back around the from 11:00am to 1:00pm. My goal going into today was to upgrade my WVKA month long online best five fish limit. I was able to replace one 14.0" with a 20.25" and another 14.0" with a 15.5".

Miles floated = 6.5
Total Fish Caught = 29
Minutes per fish = 12.4
Biggest fish = 20.25"
Biggest five fish = 76.75"

My Day 2 Deluxe Edition - August 5th, 2017

Some days things just go your way. Today was the 3rd WVKA tournament the Summers County Slam which is also the first ever official kayak bass tournament of the Hinton Water Festival. 60 anglers competed in this event which was open to the New river, Greenbrier river, and Bluestone lake.  Jared, Greg, Brandon and I floated from upper Shanklin's down to Cedar Branch. We fished from 6:30am to 1:30pm. We had to be back at weigh in at 3:30pm. I started off with three solid 14 inch fish. I needed a big fish to put myself into the hunt. At 8:49am it happened.  I landed a 20.75" fish in shallow water. This was the biggest smallmouth I have caught in over a year. And what a time to do it. I threw a fluke all day long same as all but one day in July. When all was said and done I won as an individual over Joe Farley, who is one of the best anglers I know, by 3 inches, Greg and I won first place two man team by 14.25", and my 20.75" small mouth won big fish. Altogether I won three plaques, a Water Festival Trophy, and $600. Today's event was the first time I have every put my new all black Coosa HD (Samuel L.) in the water. A heck of a way to break in a new kayak. After today Greg and I are in a strong  position to win West Virginia Kayak Anglers 2 Man Team of of the Year award with a 3rd place finish and two 1st place finishes through three tournaments. I should also be very much in the hunt for WVKA Angler of the year after an 8th place finish, a 2nd place finish, and a 1st place finish. To beat it all today was Aleshia's 40th birthday as well. A very special day that I will remember for a long time.


Miles floated = 6.5
Total fish caught = 25
Minutes per fish = 17.5"
Biggest fish = 20.75"
Biggest five fish = 77.75"
Place finished = 1st out of 60 anglers as an individual. And 1st out of 30 two man teams.


*My head to head tournament record since April is at 263-13 (95.06 win %).
Overall tournament record for 2017 including KBF National Championship is 554-79 (86 win %)