There are times when things don’t go as expected, and there are times when things go exactly as you think they will. This was one of those times. In the NSKA Roadrunner Preview, the historical data implied that Siloam City Lake would be a major player in the standings – and man did that come through in the final standings. Of the seven anglers reported to have gone to Siloam City Lake, four finished in the overall top six for the day and five finished in the top 10.
Tournament Results
Of the 63 anglers in the event, 52% (33) caught a limit and a very strong 83% turned in a keeper on this blistering hot day in Arkansas. NSKA members brought it on the fish catching front with 287 fish submitted for a robust 4.53 FPA average.
Bo Sarratt repeated as the Road Runner champ by carding a strong 91.25″ at Siloam City Lake, followed by Cole Sikes with 89.25″ on the War Eagle river, and Dwain Batey took third at Siloam City Lake with 86.75″ on the day.
Lincoln Lake dominated Big Bass honors, but was stingy otherwise. Rance Richardson took big bass with a 22″ giant and Clay Johnson was second Big Bass with 21.75″ – unfortunately Lincoln was only giving up dinks otherwise which prevented these guys from the money.
Top ten finishers:
- Bo Sarratt
- Cole Sikes
- Dwain Batey
- Justin Brewer
- Carson McBride
- Danny Dutton
- Andrew Newsome
- Josh King
- Tyler Zengerle
- Rance Richardson
Angler Recaps
Top finishers Bo Sarratt, Cole Sikes and Dwain Batey share their secrets in how they caught the big limits in the recap roundtable.
Where did you go and why?
Bo – I went to Siloam city lake because it’s got the big fish and I usually have a pretty good handle on how to figure them out there.
Cole – The week prior to the tournament I was considering fishing Lincoln, Elmdale or Beaver. I was able to get out for a few hours and prefish Beaver and Elmdale and they were a bust. Then there was Lincoln, I heard that the bite was tough but had been getting better. The forecasted weather for Saturday was hot, calm and sunny which from my experience is usually a tough bite on lakes. Also, I thought there would be lots of fishing pressure on Lincoln so I made an audible and decide to go float War Eagle and stay cool, catch lots of fish and hope to get lucky and catch upper 70 or low 80s to sneak into top ten.
Dwain – I hadn’t been able to fish a lot leading up to the event, so my choice was Siloam Springs City Lake, just because I felt like I could catch them there with no practice.
How did you catch them?
Bo – I spent about 3 hours offshore because I didn’t want to fish behind the guys there, but after not catching anything I went shallow. I knew the full moon was just a day or two away so I went to pitching and throwing perch imitation baits knowing there should be a perch spawn happening and it worked out.
Cole – My primary bait was a River2Sea black Whopper Plopper. The best areas were at the upper ends of the holes in the current and the holes that had a little more depth were best. I was able to catch a quick solid limit of low 80s by 8:30. Later in the day I ran into some holes that were better for Largemouth. The holes were calm and shallow so I switch to my Slowtown Custom jig and started flipping laydowns and skipping into shade pockets. Around 12:30 I caught my 20.75 kicker on some roots on the bank that helped put me towards the top.
Dwain – I wasn’t on any real pattern so I just junk fished. I caught the first fish an hour into the event on a Fluke in less than a foot of water. After another long dry spell I found one on a shaky head offshore. Then I managed to catch several, including two that made the big show, on a Chicken Rig, before finally catching my last and largest fish on a Skirmish Baits squarebill offshore.
What was your first kayak tournament event and how did you do?
Bo – I believe my first kayak tournament was at Swepco back in probably 2016. I didn’t do any good that day!
Cole – My first kayak tourney was on Swepco in 2017. It was very overwhelming and I didn’t know what to expect. I pulled up to the ramp and the parking lot was completely full and I didn’t know anyone. Even considered on turning around and heading home but I got up crazy early and was already there so just stuck with it. We had a shotgun start and I headed across the lake as my starting spot. My kayak was pretty new to me and didn’t know it well but I had my pole in poorly designed slot on my kayak and I pulled my bungee to access my rod and it fell straight into the water. Was a terrible way to start my first tournament. Soon after that I caught an 18.5 inch fish, I hadn’t had any practice with taking pictures of fish on my Hawg Trough. I struggled to get a picture and finally got it done but just like every rookie, I had the mouth open and had a 1 inch deduction. I only ended up with 4 keepers and finished 30th of 61 anglers. All in all, I’m glad I didn’t turn around and go back home, I learned a lot and made some great friends on that day.
Dwain – What was the first kayak tourney you entered and how did it go? When I first got my kayak I fished some of the Angler Combat online events just to get a handle on taking photos and the whole process. My first would have been in November 2015, I finished 12th out of 54 anglers nationwide. If i’m not mistaken though, those were land, boat or kayak.
Three Year Rolling Rankings
Looking back over the past three years I broke down the most successful anglers in NWA NSKA events and the standings have moved just a bit after the Road Runner. We will keep adjusting these totals through the end of 2019.
The top ten anglers from 2017 – 2019:
- Cole Sikes (30)
- Dwain Batey (23)
- Roy Roberts (19)
- Jason Kincy (16)
- Carson McBride (15)
- Declan Mcdonald (15)
- Jeriamy Vann (12)
- Christa Hibbs (11)
- Baron Meek (11)
- Bo Sarratt (10)
NEXT TOURNAMENT – BEAVERTOWN ON SATURDAY AUGUST 17