Three tournament events totaling more than 170 kayak anglers descended on Table Rock on a blustery April Saturday in an expected big fish spawn smash-fest. Think again friend, as fishing often doesn’t work out the way the book says. NSKA’s Table Rock 1.0 presented by Las Fajitas (I’ve eaten more Mexican food here than anywhere in NWA, it’s great) joined the fray along with the Moyak and All-American trail events to enjoy sustained 15-20 mph winds with gusts up to 35-40 on the water.
Tournament Results
Several anglers from NSKA entered the Moyak and All-American events to double or even triple dip. And boy, did that pay off for some as some south of the border anglers went up and had themselves a good time. For the NSKA event, there actually were quite a few fish caught with a 5.45 Fish Per Angler (FPA), compared to 2.99 on Beaver North, 1.72 on Pumpback, and 5.95 on Beaver South. Wait…did Beaver South just out FPA Table Rock? It’s time for an All-American event Beaver Lake!
Ryan Paskiewicz took his second win of the year with a big bag of 90.75″ and also won Big Bass with a 21.5″ lunker on a big swimbait. Danny Dutton put up a big 87.75″ for second and Craig Wood caught 85.50″ for third place.
- Ryan Paskiewicz 90.75
- Danny Dutton 87.75
- Craig Wood 85.50
- Kyle Long 84.50
- James Haeberle 83.75
- Robert Murphy 82.75
- Chris Longshore 82.00
- Jason Ray 81.50
- Dwain Batey 81.00
- Chad Davidson (tie) Jason Kincy 80.75
Overall the field of 73 anglers did well, with 66% catching a limit and all but a few catching at least one keeper. Full standings are available on TourneyX.
NSKA vs Moyak Border Battle
How did the above numbers compare to the Moyak total field? The FPA for the Moyak field was 4.48 and only 51% of the field turned in a limit. With some Moyak anglers in the NSKA event and vice versa, their numbers cancel out for the most part. Three of the top seven and six of the top twenty spots were filled by NSKA anglers, which made up on only 17 or so of the 153 anglers.
Overall, Moyak squeaked out the Border Battle by 1.25. NSKA placed 1st, 5th and 7th while Moyak took 2nd, 3rd and 4th – and they won the battle: 260.25 to 259.00. Congratulations to MoYak, they have a lot of great anglers. Are we going to see Moyak in a rematch next year on Beaver Lake?
All in all, NSKA competitors acquitted themselves very well by comparison – great work! You should be proud and brought the hammer to the ‘Rock.
Angler Roundtable
Time again for the traditional post-tournament roundtable, where the winners spill the beans. Ryan, Danny and Craig share how their day went. Listen and learn…
What part of Table Rock did you go to and why?
Ryan – I launched at Big Indian. I was able to pre-fish it and had a little success. I knew I had one good fish locked on a bed that I could catch and decided to start there. The wind made it much harder but I eventually landed my PB Meanmouth at 17.75”. It was clearer than I would have liked but it ended up perfect with the wind.
Danny – I went to Shell Knob area. I had no idea where to go and was not going to be able to pre fish. Andrew Newsome picked the area by researching Google Earth.
Craig – I went to Holiday Island area just because I enjoy the area and have done well over the years.
Did the intense winds affect you or how did you deal with them successfully?
Ryan – The wind definitely made it annoying at times. My XI3 has pinpoint gps and it makes it much easier to deal with wind like that.
Danny – The wind was brutal. I tried to fish with the wind when I could. I would also get into little pockets or behind docks to get a break. Caught all my fish in shallow water.
Craig – The wind did make it more frustrating but overall it may have helped me by pushing fish to the shore and cover so I could flip a jig easily.
Talk about your biggest fish catch, how did that happen?
Ryan – I have an infatuation with big swimbaits and have been trying to learn and gain confidence. I know they’ll eat them on the rock so I planned to at least throw it a little. I only had two fish at 9:30 am and was grinding mentally. I committed to throwing the glide for two points and a pocket to see if I could find a big bite and gain some momentum. I was about 5 casts in and I threw my glide up to the point coming out of the pocket. My glide got hammered. So thankful I was able to get her in the boat!
Danny – Biggest fish was early I threw a spinnerbait, parallel to the bank close to some brush. 18.25”.
Craig – Biggest catch was an 18″er that hit my jig on some shelf rock about 10am and it was a battle to get the pic and not get blown off my spot.
What is your preferred brand of line and why?
Ryan – I run a few different lines. PowerPro braid, Big game for mono and usually either Seagur Invizx/Abrazx or Sunline or sniper for Fluoro.
Danny – I use braided line with Seaguar flouro leader on my my spinning rods. I use Seaguar Invisx on my bait casters. Invisx seems to cast better for me and have had not anything break it.
Craig – I have switched from P-line tactical to P-line blue label this year just for testing purposes and have been impressed with it, very little abrasion and zero line breakage. Plus I think it’s slightly more supple than the Tactical.
AOY Race Update
We are halfway through the season and the AOY race is nowhere close to being decided. This is likely to go down to the wire, with lots of anglers still in it. In fact, if you drop each angler’s lowest score, there are seven anglers within 15 points of the leader. Lots of fishing to go. For the top 25 Classic berths, almost nobody is out of contention yet if they have a good final four events. So far this year we’ve had 78 different anglers enter events.
Heavy Hitters Race
The quest for the Heavy Hitters title is sort of like the AOY race. There are some leaders, but a lot of angers still in contention. There are four anglers less than five inches behind. Right now looks like Ryan’s to lose since he has an easy drop (16.25) but you can’t count out anyone within 7-8 inches.
Hope everyone gets in some fun fishing in the next month before we return to Table Rock.
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Great job Jason. Always a good read.