Poplar Bluff, Missouri – The EcoFishing Shop Stop #5 of the Trail Series welcomed 50 MoYakkers as we teamed up with Drew Gregory and the Kayak Adventure Series for a road runner event in the Bootheel region. Anglers had the freedom to choose from various lakes, creeks, rivers, conservation areas, and national wildlife refuges, making this tournament truly unique.

The Chum Boys not only dominated the team competition but also claimed the top two individual spots, replicating their success at Table Rock. This time, Tyler Cokley secured 1st place with 92.75″, while his partner, Johnathan Dominguez, closely followed in 2nd place with 92.25″. Their achievement is notable not just for their recent consistent performance but also because they fished entirely different types of water to surpass the 90″ mark.

Speaking of consistency, Chad Davison recorded his fourth consecutive top-ten finish, taking a commanding lead in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. With two events left, the competition remains fierce, and several anglers are still in the running as we head into the fall.

Here are your top ten for the 2024 MoYak Stop #5 Poplar Bluff presented by Eco Fishing Shop.

Tyler Cokley – 92.75″
Johnathan Dominguez – 92.25″
Mike Keafer – 82.25″
Chad Fleer – 79.75″
Chad Davison – 79.25″
Stony Floyd – 78″
Hunter Maddox – 75.5″
Trevor Motzkus– 75″
Robert Swearngin – 73.75″
Ryan Reed – 72.25″

Let’s take a closer look at the top five finishers and hear how they solved the puzzle in their own words:

What was your strategy going into the day?

Tyler – Day one of KAS was more of a pre-fishing / seeing if the fish were there or further up the river.

Johnathan – I fished all week, having little success. This was a last minute hail mary. I knew from Friday there were good fish in there. I was just hoping for a couple bites!

Mike – I had two different spots I was planning to fish.  Fish the first one for 3 to 4hrs and depending on how that turned out move to the second for the rest of the day.

Chad F. – Cover a lot of water throwing topwater and concentrate on where the bigger fish would be staged

Chad D. – I had found a creek in practice on Wapp that I got a lot of bites, so my plan was to start in there and try to get a limit.   I felt like if they were running water on the main river channel, there could be some bigger fish, so the plan was to run that later.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Tyler – No prefishing except for looking further up the river during the KAS evening portion.

Johnathan – Prefishing helped me eliminate water but I never got those warm fuzzy feelings like I did at Table Rock. The refuge did offer plenty of opportunities with plenty of water in the area that I could audible if needed.

Mike – Wasn’t really able to prefish, so I used day one of the KAS to narrow down an idea for Saturday.

Chad F. – Yes / located where the fish were feeding

Chad D. – Yes, I practiced Wed night and Thursday.   It was very helpful to get out and get some confidence in baits/areas.  Seemed like most bites were on wood, and caught them on various moving baits.

How do you prepare for road runner events? How do you like or dislike them compared to single-venue events?

Tyler – This was a very interesting event due to all the different bodies of water. I stuck to what I know and love, rivers. It takes a lot more homework and knowledge to win an event like this instead of a single venue which I like.

Johnathan – I felt like it was throwing darts at a map and hoping they stuck. At one point it was overwhelming all the water that was available. I liked it. I think it helps anglers play to their strong suits. It’s hard to find lakes that offer what a Road Runner style offers.

Mike – The same as other events. Prefish if you can, other than that you pick a spot and go fishing. I liked the diversity of fishing different bodies of water.

Chad F. – First Road Runner tournament for me, yes I liked the fact that there’s so many options on where to fish.

Chad D. – I do not like road runner events.   I prefer everyone to be on the same body of water.   I basically decided to fish Wapp before I arrived and stuck with that.

What was the general tackle you used on game day?

Tyler – All bigger baits looking for those above average bites like I typically do. Big wakebait and swimbaits

Johnathan – Z-Man Chatter bait. I fished Pomme a couple weeks ago and received a professional lesson from Troy Enke. The second day I changed colors and that helped with better bites.

Mike – Black buzz bait.

Chad F. – Council Bluff Crankbaits 110 Longear Plopper

Chad D. – Key baits in the tournament were a spinnerbait and several different shallow crankbaits.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish? If you are willing, please give the general area(s) of the lake you fished.

Tyler – I floated 9 miles on day one and about 15 miles on Saturday all my fish but one came Saturday morning in the first few miles of the river.

Johnathan – I believe my drive was about an hour from Poplar Bluff. May Pond. Literally a pond in the wildlife refuge.

Mike – It was 40 to 50min from where I was staying at to get to the wildlife refuge.

Chad F. – Floated roughly 12miles of river

Chad D. – I stayed within a couple miles of my launch.   I was fishing the upper 1/3 of Wappapello.

Tyler – It really helped the river bite, it had the perfect stain and the rivers stabilized just in time for an amazing bite Saturday.

Johnathan – Seemed like everyone was worried about the rain. I knew the rain would not affect me since I was not looking for a river to fish.

Mike – The storms from the hurricane caused me to switch from my original fishing plans on the Current River to the refuge.

Chad F. – No

Chad D. – No, the weather did not affect what I did.

Did you lose any fish that would have made a difference or do you have a story to tell about your biggest bass of the day?

Tyler – I had 4 other bites that were similar to my big fish of the day, could have been a 100” day.

Johnathan – I think I lost one fish on a wacky worm. I never saw the fish either so it was probably a ten pounder!!

Mike – I didn’t want to take the chance of losing my big bass. So I went to beach my yak to get the photo I needed and in doing so almost put a hole in it, cause I didn’t see the cypress knees hidden in the grass.

Chad F. – Yes lost a big smallmouth on a glide that would have made a difference. But landed a 20” beauty on the plopper!

Chad D. – I was fortunate to not lose any fish that would have helped me.   I did not expect to catch a big one in the area that I started.   I got a lot of bites there, but nothing real big in practice.   It was a surprise when one of the first fish of the morning was a 20″ stud!

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Tyler – Couple of bald eagles!

Johnathan – No

Mike – No

Chad F. – Eagles and Deer

Chad D. – I saw a family of otters which is always cool to see.   Also an armadillo running down the bank.   And I can’t forget the stray dog in the campground by Wappapello dam where I was staying.   He ended up coming home with me and I named him Wapp.

What is your favorite rod and reel setup and what techniques do you have the most success with while using it?

Tyler – Shimano tranx 300 paired with my leviathan 8’ mh rod throwing my butcher glidebait.

Johnathan – I have really liked the 13 Fishing Rods and Reels they have been releasing. I used the newish GMan rod and reel for this event. The cranking version allows for good hook sets and keeping them pinned.

Mike – 6ft 10 med heavy Duckett rod with an 8:1 Duckett reel fishing a buzz bait.

Chad F. – Heavy Rod w a DC reel topwater/Long casts

Chad D. – One of my favorites is my Cashion Kayak Series Crankbait Rod paired with my Council Bluffs Crankbaits custom painted Frittside crankbait.   That setup with 12# line on a Shimano Curado DC reel is a go to for me when the bite is tough.

Do you have any sponsor or personal shout-outs you’d like to give?

Tyler – Chum glides and eco fishing!

Johnathan – Eco Fishing Shop as you know is really starting to expand their footprint here in the Ozarks and I am honored to be a part of their team! Also again thank you Sara for being supportive.

Mike – Big Thank You to my sponsors for the support. Bonafide Fishing, Lowrance Fishing, YakAttack, OMTC, Amphibia Eyegear

Chad F. – Council Bluff Crankbaits

Chad D. – Thank you to all my sponsors:  Old Town Fishing, H2 Bait Design, Apex Tackle, Dungarees Carhartt, Everharts Outdoors, Council Bluff Crankbaits, Cashion Rods, Max It Out LEDs.   Thank you Troy, Josh, and Johnathan for all you do to make Moyak one of the best clubs out there!

Derby Stats
Anglers 50
Fish caught – 269 (FPA – 5.38)
Total limits – 32 (64%)
Margin of victory – .5″
Twenty+ Club – Tyler Cokley (20.25″), Mike Keafer (20″), Chad Fleer (20″), Chad Davison (20″), Jared Tourville (20″), Lance Burris (20″)
Trash Pot – Troy Enke – 20.75″ Drum
Smallest Bass Award – Daniel AuBuchon 6.25″
Air temp at launch – 75
Air temp at takeout – 92

A beautiful late summer Saturday greeted a 62 angler field on potato lake, errr, Pomme de Terre for the final regular season event of 2022.  The Angler of the Year race on the individual side was too close to call going in with several anglers knotted up at the top.  Although the team side had one more event to go (Mo State Championship) it, too, was going to come down to the wire.  Pomme gave us numbers this time but was lacking in quality. MoYak came away with an FPA (fish-per-angler) of 5.56 and 64% of the field submitted a limit of bass.

After the whistle blew, Columbia’s Chris Robbs came away with his first win with MoYak, beating perennial powerhouses Lance Burris and Dorman Hughey by 1.5″ and 3″ respectively.

On the team side, The Burrito Banditos (Yours Truly & Richie McMichael) beat out the CoMo Crushers with 156.50″. This set the stage for a shootout at the Missouri State Championship between the Banditos, the Crushers, Team Bonafide, and Shake & Bake.

Here are your top ten for the 2022 MoYak Stop #7 Pomme de Terre presented by Everhart’s Outdoors.

1. Chris Robbs – 81.5″
2. Lance Burris – 80″
3. Dorman Hughey – 78.5″
4. Richie McMichael – 78.5″
5. Troy Enke – 78″
6. Patrick Troutman – 75.75″
7. Anthony Brown – 74.5″
8. Justin Coon – 74″
9. Steve Earls – 73″
10. Chad Davison – 72.75″

Team Winners

1. Burrito Banditos (Richie McMichael & Troy Enke) 156.5″

Let’s see how the top FIVE figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Chris – My strategy was to stay around the bait fish and thoroughly fish every piece of cover I could seek out close to where the bait fish were holding.

Lance – With the cold front I planned on going into full prefish mode, cover water with 7 different rods as fast as possible to reveal a bite then slow down, some.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Start the day off with a buzzbait and plopper and get a couple decent keepers early to start of the morning then switch over to a spinnerbait/bladed jig and fill out a limit. If that didn’t work , I was gonna slow down and flip laydowns. Found the golden shiner bladed jig was working and used it most of the day.

Troy – I like to power fish shallow. I planned to fish top water all day.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Chris – I was able to pre-fish. I really wanted to have a strong finish to the season to help reach my goal of making the top 10 in AOY, so I went down to the lake a couple weeks prior to the tournament for a couple days to do a little fishing and really just explore places on the lake that I was interested in fishing. I was also able to get on the water for a few hours on the day before the tournament to do the same thing and see how the bite may have changed in those couple of weeks. The biggest help was getting to eliminate places I fished, I really focused on trying to find places that suited my style of fishing and if it seemed to be holding bait or fish.

Lance – Had no time to prefish so I just fished history so I didn’t have to break down new structure.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Was not able to prefish

Troy – I checked the closest ramp to my house the Wednesday before the tournament.  I saw tons of baitfish action and fish were busting on top right at the ramp.  I threw a few casts with a buzzbait from the bank and caught a 15″. I knew I’d start there after that.

What was your best finish on Pomme before this?

Chris – 22nd

Lance – 4th

Dorman – No Report

Richie – 8th in 2020

Troy – 2nd in 2019

What was the general tackle you used?

Chris – Spinnerbait and Crankbaits

Lance – Chatterbait all day. Threw it on 40# braid using a 7’ MH Kistler Feel N Reel hybrid carbon/glass rod.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Zman and berkley bladed jigs.

Troy – Junk fishing 101 – Buzzbait, Plopper, Frittside, Spinnerbait, Shakey Head, Chatterbait

Chris – I had to travel about a mile to get to where I wanted to start fishing and I was fishing the upper end of the lake.

Lance – Only covered about 4-5 miles of shoreline on the south side of the lake.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Started in the river and went as far as I could paddle.

Troy – South end

What depth range were you looking for (what was your water temp/clarity)?

Chris – I was looking for fish up shallow, pretty sure everything I caught was between 1-6 ft of water. Water temp was in the mid 60s and had about 2ft visibility.

Lance – I don’t fish deep so I beat the banks with minimal clearity and temp ranged from 59-65.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – 1 to 4 feet. Water slightly stained and temp was in the upper 60’s.

Troy – Shallow – water had a good stain with upper 60’s.

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Chris – I managed to land the 2nd place big bass! It came pretty early in the morning and was the fish that got me my limit so I was extremely happy about getting my 5th fish and the fact that it was a quality 18.75″ kicker. The fish was holding in a shallow lay down and I ran my spinnerbait right through the heart of it and BOOM, the big girl just sucked it right in!

Lance – Lake was the lowest I’ve ever fished it so dealing with bass boats where I was wasn’t a problem. As I pulled my chatterbait out of the water, biggest fish of the day came half way out and ripped one of the legs of my trailer off. Would have given me close to a 2″ cull.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Every day on the water is special.

Troy – I had to stop throwing the Frittside squarebill because I couldn’t stop catching white bass.

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Chris – Saw deer and bald eagles, just a great day to be outdoors.

Lance – Saw an old eagle, it was bald.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – Pretty quiet day for wildlife but did get startled by a few bats that flew over me.

Troy – I was greeted by a wild Hughey at the ramp. We started together in the same cut across from the ramp.  A friendly wager on first bass ensued and was won by yours truly on my third cast.  I have since framed that dollar.

Lose any bigguns?

Chris – Yes, two…The first I am not sure of what it was but it broke me off quickly, I have a feeling it was a toothy critter but whatever it was it was not small! The second one was for sure a bass and it was with 10 minutes left in the tournament right at the boat….I made the mistake of forgetting to adjust my drag after switching baits on my rod and I thought for sure it was going to be what cost me the victory because we have too many good fishermen in this club to give anyone even a quarter inch.

Lance – The one that got away.

Dorman – No Report

Richie – No, saw a biggun swipe at my bait but did not hook up.

Troy – I had a 20+ erupt on my buzzbait after a long drought of no bites. I got three cranks of the reel handle on her and she was gone.  I had lots of short strikes and weird hookups that day.

Derby Stats
Anglers 62
Fish caught – 345
Total limits – 43 (64%)
Margin of victory – 1.5″
Smallest Bass Award – Josh Keatts 8.25″
Air temp at launch – 55
Air temp at takeout – 82
Water temps reported – Mid to High 80’s

Trash Fish Winner – Dave Neal wins $120 for this Tub-O-Goo

The drought of 2022 continued as 59 anglers ventured south of the border to Norfork and for some, this drought included a lack of quality bites to go along with another blast furnace of temps pushing 100 at takeout.

The dog days of summer continued as our FPA (fish-per-angler) was 3.97 and only 46% of the field submitted a limit of bass.

After the dust settled, Eli Powers from Arkansas came away with the victory by over 3″.  Eli didn’t respond to the questionnaire we sent but if he does happen to follow up, I’ll add his responses below. Here are your top ten for the 2022 MoYak Stop #5 Norfork Lake presented by Everhart’s Outdoors.

1. Eli Powers 86.25″
2. Chris Gilbert 82.5″
3. Tommy Probst 76.25″
4. Micah Funderburgh 75.25″ + Big Bass
5. Jeremy Truitt 74″
6. Lance Burris 73.75″
7. Joe Hayes 73.75″
8. John Evans 73.25″
9. Josh Keatts 73″
10. Mike Dent 73″

Team Winners

1. Team Bonafide (Lance Burris & Mike Keafer) 146.5″

Let’s see how FOUR OF the top five figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Chris – I planned on catching 90 inches on a big swimbait before 9pm, and my Plan B was more of an emergency plan if I couldn’t get a bite on the Big Swimbait. Plan B was to throw a jig.

Tommy – Just trying to catch a limit since I haven’t done that in the last couple of tournaments.

Micah – Catch quantity and hope that a few quality fish popped up in the back of a river arm.

Jeremy – My only strategy was to grind it out and throw different lures until I found some type of bite. I am not a power fisherman so I tend to slow down and throw creature baits.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Chris – Yes I got 3 hours of prefish in the afternoon three days before the tournament. I mean sort of but not really, I would’ve done the same thing if I hadn’t prefished. In prefish I caught a 14  incher on a jig, then threw the big swimbait to locate fish, which I did.

Tommy – Was not able to prefish but did stop and look around at the ramps of a couple of spots that I had picked out.

Micah – Yes, prefished the main lake and the back of a creek arm the day before and decided to not fish the main lake because I’m not as comfortable with it and it didn’t produce as well in prefishing.

Jeremy – I don’t get a chance to really pre-fish any tournaments due to work and kids. So, this one was not any different.

Had you ever fished Norfork before this?

Chris – Not really, the only experience I had before the tournament was that three hours of prefish three days before, and honestly that was just more of almost exploring rather than fishing.

Tommy – No

Micah – No

Jeremy – This was my first time Norfork. It was a great-looking lake and to me, it fished similar to Bull Shoals Lake.

What was the general tackle you used?

Chris – I used one brown and blue jig with the same okeechobee craw on the back all tournament, and caught one on the big swimbait

Tommy – Texas rigged plastics

Micah – Spinning rods with slow finesse presentations. Ned rig, shakey head, drop shot.

Jeremy – My day started with throwing a white quad buzzbait for the first hour or so. I caught a nice 15-inch bass within the first few casts. I missed a few blow-ups and then it shut off. From there I slowed down and started throwing a jig and soft creature baits. I never got a hit on the jig (which is my go-to bait).

Chris – Started at the ramp and went left, but I ended up catching my last fish a couple miles away from the ramp.

Tommy – I stayed within a half mile of the ramp, Upper end. It looked like areas that I would fish around here

Micah – About a 10 min peddle in a creek arm.

Jeremy – I put in at Cranfield and went up East Pigeon Creek. I don’t know how far I went on the water but I didn’t go up the creek too far.

What depth range were you looking for (what was your water temp/clarity)?

Chris – I was fishing, at most, 4ft usually less, but if I wasn’t sitting in 15ft I wasn’t getting bit. I could see around 12ft most places, my water was mid to high 70’s

Tommy – I fished everything in the area. My 2 biggest fish were caught early and shallow; everything else was in about 10′ of water. Water temp was around 76 in the morning and warmed up to around 81 before I got off the lake. The water looked a little green around the ramp but cleared up towards the river.

Micah – The water temp moved a lot throughout the day.  I want to say it was 86°-89° and I was fishing 4-8ft of water with 2-3ft of visibility.

Jeremy – Most of my fish were caught in the 2–10-foot water depth. Later in the day I started fishing a little deeper 15-25-foot depth. I caught my 18.25″ bass in about 20-foot of water. I keep it simple and don’t really pay attention to water temp or clarity. I just try to fish the water I’m in.

How did you stay cool out there?

Chris – I didn’t stay cool, heat wise of menatlly wise. Lost my 5th fish twice and that really got to me, because they were back-to-back casts, but the skill of keeping a cool head probably comes with age I imagine.

Tommy – Had a lot of drinks in the cooler and I dunked my feet a few times to help stay cool. I got off the lake around noon because I was going to try and change spots but decided it wasn’t worth the effort after driving over to the other spot. Ended up just going to Wendys for lunch.

Micah – People stayed cool out there? There must be a secret I don’t know about.

Jeremy – I kept hydrated and I tried to find shade when I could. I was tempted to stop and take a dip but I couldn’t make myself stop.

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Chris – The fifth fish, I caught it by casting behind 3 bushes sticking out of the water, and about 4 seconds after it bit I was panicking on how I was going to get this 3lber in, and it just made a probably 2ft jump over the bushes, it was pretty cool.

Tommy – Happy with the way it turned out but if I had it to do over I probably would have launched somewhere else or tried running up the river right after I made my first pass along the bank where I caught my big bass. 5 or so others launched at the same ramp and pretty much everyone headed up the river as soon as they could take off. I just made a quick circle of the area to try and see what was around and made my first cast along the rip rap of the boat ramp. I got desperate around 1030 or so and started to head up the river but gave up once it got to about 5′ of water. I’m sure there were probably some good holes further up but Lance Burris and others had already picked them apart so I figured it would be a waste of time.

Micah – I gave up my spot to some teens on a bass boat that hadn’t caught anything yet. I was catching a lot of small bass and decided to move off that school to have a chance at something bigger. 2 min later I landed the Big Bass of the day at 21″. Filmed this and the rest of the day on a GoPro, just posted the video on my new channel. https://youtu.be/UtfrSlVe1KQ

Jeremy -Nothing really special at all. I decided to leave my house at 12:30am and got to the ramp around 2:45am. Then I took a truck nap at the ramp. One of these days I will get a chance to pre-fish and stay the night somewhere closer to the lake. My 18.25″ bass was caught on a Trench Hawg. I had to boat flip it because when I grabbed my net it got stuck in my 360 light. Luckily, I didn’t lose it.

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Chris – No

Tommy – Had a beaver swim to within a couple feet of me without it clapping its tail. It just swam on by.

Micah – A couple eagles and lots of turtles and gar.

Jeremy – I saw a few deer but that was it.

Lose any bigguns?

Chris – No

Tommy – Only missed a couple of fish but don’t think they had any size to them

Micah – Lost a few fish in the 13″-15″ range but nothing big.

Jeremy – I didn’t lose any fish. I only caught 5 fish in total.

Derby Stats
Anglers 59
Fish caught – 234
Total limits – 27 (46%)
Margin of victory – 3.75″
Smallest Bass Award – Anthony Brown 8.25″
Air temp at launch – 78
Air temp at takeout – 97
Water temps reported – Mid 80’s

Trash Fish Winner – Steve Earls (His 2nd event in a row as the garbage man!)

If you thought stop #3 on Truman was hot, yikes!  78 at launch, water temps in the mid 80’s and an air temp over 100 degrees at awards had all 80 of us and the most of the bass a little stunned.

Another grinder derby was the dock talk as many anglers who prefished were finding numbers but not much quality.  Those who found both were very quiet about it. The dog days lived up to their name as our FPA (fish-per-angler) was 3.25 and only 39% of the 80-person field (a new Stockton kayak tournament record!) submitted a limit of bass.

In the end, we had a tie for first broken by Jared Fosnow’s absolute Stockton Lake Freak, a 22″ largemouth he said hit a spook early Saturday morning.  Here are your top ten for the 2022 MoYak Stop #4 Stockton Lake presented by Everhart’s Outdoors and hosted by The Bait Shop.

1. Jared Fosnow 83″
2. Troy Enke 83″
3. Chris Robbs 79.5″
4. Chad Davison 79.25″
5. Micah Funderburgh 78.75″
6. Scott Kroger 78.25″
7. Lance Burris 77″
8. Tyy Ward 76.25″
9. Zach Woolverton 75″
10. Chris Moyher 73.25″

Team Winners

1. COMO Crushers (Chris Robbs & Chad Davison) 158.75″
2. Burrito Banditos (Richie McMichael & Troy Enke) 154″

Let’s see how the top five figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Jared – The plan was to throw topwater until daylight then to make laps up and down a series of bluff points and small cuts in the bluff working a jig and shakey head. With hopes of being in the right places at the right times to get in on the schooling fish busting shad like practice.

Troy – The forecast that I saw said clouds most of the day.  I tied on several topwater lures and just went fishing.

Chris – My strategy was to stay in the creek channels near deeper water, I figured between the heat and the water dropping they would want to be near deeper water. I also wanted to cover water quickly in the morning while the fish were shallower and more active because I had a feeling that once the sun was up and the heat turned on, the bite was going to slow down. Part two of the plan was to when the bite slowed, so would I, then start picking apart the areas similar to where I was getting bites or go back to areas where I got bit.

Chad – It seemed like the bass were feeding up on baitfish, and I felt like the early topwater bite would be critical.  I had 4 rods rigged up with various topwater baits.

Micah – Fish shallow flats and secondary points early targeting bass feeding on shallow baitfish and then I didn’t really have a plan after that.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Jared – My first time bass fishing Stockton was last weekend. I got about 6 hours of prefishing in but on a totally different arm of the lake. But it really helped me narrow down the baits that were working and structure that was holding fish. It was probably one of the best days of fishing I’ve ever had. Mid morning I found some above average size fish schooling up and busting shad in the middle of two large pockets/small coves. There would be 3-5 fish completely out of the water at one time busting shad. It was a unreal bite that lasted for just over an hour before the wind shut it down. One thing I found was that dragging the Shakey Head worm and football jig instead of shaking or hopping them was really key to getting bites. The smallies I caught wanted it almost sitting still.

Troy – No

Chris – I was able to pre-fish. I got down to the lake later Thursday evening and got in the water for just an hour or two just to try and get a feel for it. Went to another area early Friday morning to do some recon and found a pattern early in the morning and then just covered a lot of water the rest of the morning to find similar areas where I had found bites and to rule out as much water as possible. What I think was the biggest help was actually ruling out as much water as I did within the area, which helped me stay focused on the areas where I got bites come tournament day.

Chad – I did prefish on Friday, and I had a really bad practice only catching one bass and losing a few.   The topwater bite was the only thing I had success with.

Micah – Since it was my first tournament I made it a point to get a good day of prefishing in earlier that week. I pretty much did exactly what I did when I prefished because it worked.

What was your best finish before this one?

Jared – This was my first bass tournament on Stockton. 20 years ago I did take the win over some buddies on a weekend camping/walleye trip 🙂

Troy – 6th in 2020

Chris – Stockton has probably been my best lake since I started fishing MoYak in 2020. I believe in 2020 I had like a 20th place finish there and then last year I also cashed a check with a 4th place finish.

Chad – I had a 2^nd place finish last year – tied for 1^st but lost the tiebreaker.

Micah – First tournament

What was the general tackle you used to win?

Jared –

• Heddon Super Spook in Chrome/Pink with the saltwater hooks replaced with Gamakatsu TGW trebles.
• 3/8 oz CrockO-Gator Head Knocker buzzbait with the factory old school Black skirt and Gold blade.
• Zoom Magnum Finesse worm in Green Pumpkin on a 1/4 oz Crock-O-Gator Shaker Football Head. I dyed the last 3/4” of the tail with Chart Spike-It and also lathered it in Garlic Smelly Jelly.
• Dobyns Spotted Bass Special jig in PB&J living rubber with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer in Green Pumpkin Purple Swirl.
• Rainy Day Jigs hand tied Grey bucktail/hackle jig for casting to suspended fish using LiveScope.  All thrown on Ark Invoker Pro and Ark Essence rods with Daiwa Tatula reels spooled with Seaguar Invizx fluorocarbon.

Troy – 1/2 oz white buzzbait with a gold blade, 3/8 oz Misfit hand-tied jig with beaver trailer, Whopper Plopper (Bone), 1/2 oz Jackhammer black and blue with a rage menace trailer

Chris – Got on them early with a buzz bait. Spent the rest of the day dragging a jig and a worm looking for upgrades.

Chad – All of my fish except one was on a topwater popper wrapped in Crankwraps Spotted Tail Shiner.  The other was on a fluke when the fish missed the popper.

Micah – 7ft spinning rods with top waters and then mostly deep cranks and drops shot later in the day.

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Jared – A couple things.

The First would be making the last-minute decision Friday evening to fish it or not because of the forecasted temps. On Thursday afternoon the AC quit for the third time on my truck. Which was a tough choice knowing I had already made the hard decision to scrap my practice location and fish brand new water I had never seen. Deciding to not let the heat get me down and then having that area pay off after the hours I put into researching it was pretty special.

Next would is getting to see/talk to all the guys and gals at the awards. It just never seems to be enough time to see and talk to everyone. Getting to meet new people and catching up with friends we don’t get to see much is the part I have always enjoyed the most over the years while traveling all over the country for crappie and bass events.

The coolest part of the whole day but also a little bit disappointing. I was about 10 minutes into the morning and maybe 50 yards from the ramp. I was throwing topwater just off the bushes along the bank when I heard some fish blow up behind me. When I turned the kayak around I saw what looked like a stump sticking out of the water with the moonlight shining on it. It later turned out in the daylight to be a 15’-20’ tree that had washed up in the shallow water. I picked up the Spook and made a cast to the right of it and then to the left. Just as it made it past the “stump” it got slurped under and it got me wrapped up in the tree. I see-sawed it back and forth a few times and it came right up and out of the water. Not much of a fight really until it hit the net. A little disappointing because it would have been cool to see it happen in the daylight but probably a good thing I didn’t see how big it was which could have led me to do something different than what I did.

Troy – I went up a creek and found a channel swing with a pocket of deep water and a bunch of brush.  I threw the buzzbait near the brush and began the retrieve and a bass blew up on it but didn’t get it.  I was about 10 feet from the brush and my trolling motor was taking me right into it, I threw in again and brought it close, the fish smashed it again and now I had a problem. I had to fight the fish and get the Xi3 remote in my other hand and turn on spot lock before I hit the tree. About that time the fish lunged and the reel malfunctioned and I had an immediate backlash…. CRAP.  I then had to reel through the backlash and try to net the fish.  It was a clown car sh*t show.  Danny Johnson was right around the corner from me.  I’m sure he heard me having a come-apart.

Chris – One good thing about the extra early start was getting to see the entire sunrise, it was a beautiful morning sky. Also got to spend some time talking and goofing off with the other guys at the boat launch which is always fun.

Chad – I was really impressed with my team partner, Chris Robbs.  He located the area that was holding fish for us which led to both of us cashing a check and getting the team win. My big bass was the last bass I caught of the day.  It was 18″ and I caught it at 7:04am.  I couldn’t get anything going after that.

Micah – No

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Jared – Other than the 1742 deer I dodged on my 1 1/2 hour drive down to the lake. I did get to see a water snake eating a small frog along a bluff.

Troy – A wild Croc

Chris – No

Chad – No

Micah – I saw a family of otters during my prefish and the momma otter tried to chase down my top water.

Lose any bigguns?

Jared – Just one in the 15 1/2”-16” range on the Spook when trying to reach the net to the wrong side of the boat to land it.

Troy – I lost 3 on topwater but I don’t think they would’ve helped-at least that’s what I’m telling myself, lol.

Chris – No

Chad – I caught 6 and lost 1 – seemed like a good one, but no idea how big it was.

Micah – My first fish of the day hit about 4 feet from the yak and, as I was fumbling around for the net he came off… She wasn’t massive but definitely would have helped my cause. Learned to put my net in a better spot.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish, what depth range did you target and are you willing to share the general area of the lake you chose? What was your water temp/clarity?

Jared – I covered about a 3/4 mile stretch of bluffs and went back to some key points and cuts several times throughout the day. Not 100% sure but I believe it was the Big Sac arm. Kind of mid-lake.

On the bluff points and cuts, the key was 8’ to 12’. That seemed to be where the drop-off was into deeper water. They were holding on top of the drop early and then suspended just over the edge of the drop-off later in the day.

The schooling fish were mostly in 25+ feet of water and I caught several right out in the main lake channel in 45+ feet of water. I would motor to where I saw them busting and then used the LiveScope to stay on the bigger schools of shad that had bass under them. I would wait for the bass to start breaking them up and push them to the surface.

I would call it pretty clear and over a foot of visibility but I’m used to fishing in the mud at Truman. Not sure on temp. I am replacing my 9” Garmin with a new Humminbird but ran out of time to get it installed before this event and I don’t have a temp sensor on the 1222 LiveScope unit.

Troy – I launched in the Son’s creek area south of Ruark and went upstream about a mile then worked my way back to the ramp and tried to fish anything that looked juicy.  We had about 6 inches of visibility and a ton of bait.  Around 10 am I began fishing the rip-rap and landed 3 upgrades in five casts on the buzzbait.  Then I fished about 2 miles toward main lake hitting cuts and coves and trying to get as many casts as I could.  Spot lock helped me in the wind and I was able to get one upgrade on the jig by picking a main lake pocket full of laydowns apart with it.  I think I traveled around 5 miles total.

Chris – It was about a 30 minute drive from where me and my teammate Chad stayed. I chose to fish a creek arm off of the main lake and just started covering as much water as possible from close to where I launched. Super shallow up against the bank in the morning then anywhere between 8-16 feet the rest of the day.
Water Temp: 83-86 degrees
Clarity: 2-3 feet visibility

Chad – I didn’t go far from the ramp.  Upper end of the lake. Topwater – pretty shallow.   Water was mid-80s and less than 2′ of visibility

Micah – About a 10 min peddle to my starting spot, fished a smaller finger in the upper lake portion. I caught almost all my fish in 1-3 ft of water early and then failed to locate/catch them after that.

Did the weather affect your bite?

Jared – It affected where I ended up fishing. I was on much better quality fish last Saturday while prefishing the Mutton Creek area. But with the predicted winds out of the Southwest I knew the other area would probably be unfishable. So I spent several hours each night studying maps and google earth at the end of the week trying to find something that would setup the same as what I found last weekend.

Troy – I was hoping for more clouds and was very thankful when they covered up the sun.  My Hobie’s air conditioner has never worked.  The wind was fishable where I was and I can’t say enough good things about spot lock.  I’m very happy with that purchase so far.  It’s not going to beat Burris in a drag race but sometimes the tortoise wins.  Let’s just hope I don’t get too comfortable standing up while cruising along at 3 mph and end up turtling the whole yak.

Chris – The hot sun getting up in that clear sky definitely slowed things down for me, but I was still able to catch fish throughout the day.

Chad – Early morning was key – once the sun was high, it got tough.  I thought the wind would help, but didn’t help me.

Micah – The heat and wind definitely didn’t help.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

Jared – I try to fish everyone I can but between work and chasing my youngest daughter around a couple states for traveling volleyball and soccer it makes it tough. I do have several weeks of vacation left I need to start using so maybe Pomme, Bull Shoals and for sure the state championship on Table Rock.

Troy – Norfork will depend on the weather.  I should be able to make the rest if my elbow doesn’t fail me again.

Chris – That is the plan. My goal is to crack that top 10 in AOY and I am currently hovering just outside of it and need to get rid of 1 or maybe 2 scores that I currently have to get that done with all these great anglers we have!

Chad – Definitely

Micah – I plan on being at Norfolk and Pomme but my schedule won’t line up for the other events.

Derby Stats
Anglers 80
Fish caught – 260
Total limits – 31 (39%)
Margin of victory – 0″
Smallest Bass Award – Nathan Head 3.5″
Air temp at launch – 78
Air temp at takeout – 101
Water temps reported – Mid 80’s

Trash Fish Winner – Steve Earls

The third stop of the 2022 MoYak Lake Series was a scorcher! Sixty degrees at launch and a forecast of mid 90’s greeted 89 MoYak anglers at this early June event on Truman Lake.

With the lake flooded 11 feet and a quiet practice for many, this one was set up to be a grind. The numbers bore this out as we had an FPA (fish-per-angler) of 3.72 and 46% of the field submitting a limit of bass. By comparison, at our2021 June Truman event 82 anglers were fortunate to put 4.02 (FPA) on the leaderboard with, again, 46% of the field fielding a limit. It’s the start of a troubling trend for Truman in June if you look back to 2020 where we had 58% of the 78 yaks with limits, Jim Harding breaking 100″ and an FPA of 4.97.

Not only did we have to deal with the elements and a fish population in transition, but connectivity issues plagued most of the field all day. Several anglers reported their inability to get fish submitted—even though their phones showed bars of 5G service!

The top of the field found a way to overcome these obstacles—with yours truly coming out on top. Here are your top ten for the 2022 MoYak Stop #3 Truman Lake presented by Everhart’s Outdoors and hosted by Bucksaw Marina.

1. Troy Enke 87″
2. Lance Irwin 82″
3. Trevor Motzkus 81″
4. Chad Davison 80.5″
5. Johnathan Dominguez 79.75″
6. Jeremy Truitt 79″
7. Chris Robbs 78″
8. Frankie Dailey 77.5″
9. Joe Hayes 77.5″
10. Cole Armer 77.25″

Team Winners

1. Burrito Banditos (Richie McMichael & Troy Enke) 162.5″
2. COMO Crushers (Chris Robbs & Chad Davison) 161.25″
3. Shake & Bake ( Lance Irwin & Tommy Probst) 150″

Let’s see how the top five figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Troy – Truman has always been a mystery to me so this time I just decided to enjoy the fact that we were not dodging lightning bolts and hailstones and instead just go fish.

Lance – Fishing shallow in a small area for less bits but bigger fish

Trevor – My main strategy going in was to ride out the topwater bite; throwing a buzz bait and popper, until it quit, and then junk fish after that. The top water bite didn’t pan out, so I picked up my flipping stick and went to work.

Chad – Start off early with Head Knocker buzzbait on flooded grassy areas – my topwater bite from practice wasn’t there. Caught 2 on a fluke.

Johnathan – I really had no strategy. Just came with an open mind set and was going to fish as hard as I could.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Troy – I usually fish the Pomme arm but with the lake up so high and lots of muddy water, I decided to try spots nearer the dam area.  I only had a few hours to practice, with most of that visiting ramps and checking water clarity.

Lance – I pre-fished the weekend before the tourney. I was able to find fish but was unsure how much the water would drop before the tournament. My pre-fishing did help my confidence but didn’t help me to replicate the same bite.

Trevor – I was not able to pre-fish due to work, but I did come up the night before and look at boat ramps, along with attempting to find cell service opportunities for a few hours. Where I chose to put in, I knew it would be more of my style of fishing, and I ran with it.

Chad – Absolutely – found an area that was holding some better fish – caught 2 in practice and left so I didn’t know what it’s full potential would be.

Johnathan – I fished Truman 2 weeks prior to the event. Other than that there wasn’t much prefishing.

What was your best finish before this one?

Troy – I’ve never had a top twenty here before this. 24th out of 79 in 2020 was my previous best.

Lance – 7th in 2020

Trevor – I had never fished Truman in my life before Saturday morning. This was only my third MO-Yak live tournament.

Chad – 1st in 2021

Johnathan – Before this event there has been no best events. It’s been more like catch one fish and go home with your tail between your legs. Truman is a different animal.

What was the general tackle you used to win?

Troy – Funkbuster buzzbait (white) with gold blade, Jackhammers 1/2oz white with white trailer and 3/8oz green pumpkin with blue swirl rage menace trailer

Lance – Megabass top water and Blaukat jig

Trevor – I flipped numerous baits but the only things I could get a bite on was the trusty Brush Hog and Pit Boss. Most catches were on heavy braid and a big tungsten weight. I did catch a pair on a big worm and a flipping jig.

Chad – All of best 5 fish caught flipping a Crock-O-Gator Muskrat in GP/Blue Swirl

Johnathan – I started early with a Buzbait and was able to get a couple bites. Quickly switched over to a bladed jig. My best bite came flipping a secondary point with a MOtion Fishing HawgIlla.

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Troy – Special? Can’t beat the outcome. Nothing better than being able to share a win with family over the phone on the drive home. My biggest bass came at the very back of a creek in about a foot of water under a rootwad of an inside channel swing. She crushed the chatterbait soon as it hit the water.

Lance – My big bass was DQ. I took three 1 second videos instead of photos. This is a good reminder for everyone to check your photos before you release your fish. Other than that, I fished clean.

Trevor – I was fortunate enough to have my wife along on the trip, and it was great to do well after I got her up at 4 AM. I know the day was hectic for everyone as far as service and submitting fish, but my plan to get off the water early and find service worked in the end. I was able to fish fairly clean, only losing one keeper
and a spinnerbait. Not really any big bass, but I did catch a 22’’ walleye flipping bushes.

Chad – I feel like current flow had changed. My area dirtied up overnight, bite changed, and more trash in the water. I think they may have slowed or stopped flow temporarily and backwashed into my area.

Lost my 2nd biggest fish – was in the boat and then it wasn’t. Funny video of it on my FB/IG pages

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Troy – I was visited by a 4lb drum at around 2 pm on the end of my chatterbait as I drug it past a laydown. My heart can’t take that kind of crap. #Gooooooooo

Lance – No

Trevor – I saw more carp than I had ever seen in my life.

Chad – Nope

Johnathan – No

Lose any bigguns?

Troy – I lost one at the boat that would have probably given me 90+

Lance – Just the DQ

Trevor – Just one small one, possibly 12”. I was very fortunate.

Chad – Yes, see above

Johnathan – No

How far did you have to travel to find your fish, what depth range did you target and are you willing to share the general area of the lake you chose?

Troy – Dam area. Tried to fish shaded cover in 4 feet or less. My spot was about a half mile from the ramp.

Lance – I caught all my fish within 300 yards of where I launched in 1-5 ft.

Trevor – I fished the southern end of the lake, most of my fish were within a mile or so from my ramp. But I covered almost 7.5 miles. I wasn’t too worried about depth; I was more worried about finding bushes that were submerged up by the bank, or any bush/brush that had the top out of the water. Most of my fish all came off of bushes that had a few leaves out of the water, or I could visibly see the top just underneath the surface. With the water clarity I was dealing with, I had to have dropped it right on some of them.

Chad – Lower lake, dam area in 3-6′

Johnathan – Grand River arm. Typically fishing the creek I was in is like playing plinko with kayak but since the water was so high I was able to save some time crossing a peninsula. Early I was just staying in an area where I was seeing fish bust. I was in about 11ft of water fishing a shallow area with flooded brush.

Did the weather affect your bite?

Troy – It forced me to the shade and luckily the bass were there too. I caught fish steadily—about every 20-30 min—throughout the day with my last ~3″ upgrade coming in the last 5 minutes.

Lance – I would say yes. Bluebird sky had me fishing a jig for the last four hours of the day. I would normally not do that. I caught three upgrades with the jig.

Trevor – I believe so, I had a decent limit by 7:30 and then the heat turned up. I went almost 3 hours after that without any bites. I caught my last fish around 1:15. I only managed 8 Bass, a walleye and a white bass, the heat definitely affected the bite.

Chad – As sun got higher bite got tougher.

Johnathan – Yes, once the sun came out the bite slowed down alot. Later in the afternoon the wind picked up and that seemed to help the afternoon bite.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

Troy – Only if Josh delivers perfect weather and feeds us properly. We’ve suffered long enough. 😛

Lance – Absolutely

Trevor – I currently plan on fishing all Monthly and live MoYak tournaments the rest of the year.

Chad – 100%

Johnathan – I am hoping to make all the events this year!

Derby Stats
Anglers 89
Fish caught – 331
Total limits – 41 (46%)
Margin of victory – 5″
Smallest Bass Award – Zachary Armstrong 8.5″
Air temp at launch – 60
Air temp at takeout – 93
Water temps reported – Mid 80’s

Trash Fish Winner – Jake Johnson

Stop #2 of the 2022 MoYak Lake Series started off with several thousand BANGS!   Our second event of the season was not to be outdone by the 45mph winds at our earlier event on Table Rock.  Lightning, hail, gusty winds and rain in every direction was the order of the day on LOZ… but, hey, we didn’t have much boat traffic.  Your top three were

Michael Cornelius (93.5″)
Scott Kroger (91″)
Josh Keatts (90.5″ + Big Bass)

Let’s see how they figured it out;

What was your strategy going into the day.

Michael – I had a good feeling that with the stage of spawn and the beautiful weather that we were supposed to have, topwater was going to be it for the day. I prepped 4 rods with buzzbaits, 2 wake baits, a wacky rig, and 1 crankbait rod.

Scott – I had 3 patterns worked out and good to go but the weather wasn’t having it, so the night before I just decided to abandon all and just beat the bank in an area where I knew fish should be.

Josh – Fish fast and try to cover water in order to find the areas I thought would be holding fish.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?

Michael – I chose not to prefish this year and it seemed to help. The area I fished in I have been to in the past, so I had a good idea of what was there.

Scott – I was able to prefish one day just over a week prior but the water was chocolate milk with so much debris it wasn’t even worth doing.

Josh – Yes, I prefished my tournament spot and found a decent pattern using a KVD 1.5 on rock banks with wood. I’ve never fished boat docks before and decided not to make this tournament my testing grounds.

What was your best finish before this one?

Michael –  This is my best finish at LOZ and all time! This is my first win in a kayak tournament. My finish last year on LOZ was 30 something I think.

Scott – Last year I was able to finish 13th out of the 104 anglers.

Josh – I had never been on LOZ before, so I looked for water that is similar to what I’ve fished in the past on other lakes.

What was the general tackle you used to win?

Michael – Black Booyah clacker buzz bait

Scott – Since the weather was so bad I knew the topwater bite was going to be on fire so went with a good bait to call the good ones up and cover lots of water.  As soon as the rain stopped the buzzbait bite died so I picked up another favorite that covers tons of water…. Flatside OG .  After covering the same areas with the flatside i had to switch it up again went to the far back of a cove where the water was glass smooth and chucked a 5.5” walking bait, made about 5-6 walks and the whole cove exploded! Not really but the 20.25” got it!  After that, the bite just shut off and had to swallow some pride and pick up the sissy stick. 5” yum dinger!! Got another upgrade. Ended up catching at least 30-40 bass throughout the day.

Josh – Every fish was caught on a Sexy shad KVD 1.5

Anything else special about the day? Big Bass Story?

Michael – The nastier the weather got the better the bite. Both 20”+ came when I probably should have been under shelter and not tree canopies!
The big bass 20.5 inch fish came on Buzz bait. She completely ate it. Blade and all!  It was in the first major storm I came out to the point of the pocket to start working back in and threw up over some trees and she smacked it. Got it in the boat had to keep her in the net while I try to get situated to take a picture the rain came down even harder, got her submitted and finished on. Made it down The bank another 50 to 75 yards while catching in 18”,  17” caught the 20 1/4. All my big fish came on the Booyah buzz bait.

Scott – Yeah I like fishing in the bad weather but not quite that bad though any day out on the water is a special day, always something to learn. 20.25” isn’t quite into the big bass range but when she inhaled the walking bait it looked like a 5 gallon bucket sucked it down!

 

Josh – While sitting in the truck waiting for the storm to pass I saw we would have about 30 min of a break between storms so I decided to head out and try to get to a row of docks before it got bad again.  On the way to those docks there was a small indent in the bluff wall that I decided to make a few cast (It looked like I had some time before the next storm cell got to me) caught a 13 and 2 cast later I caught the 21.75. I was trying to get my scale out to get a weight on her and the lightning started and it was close. My scale was stuck in my crate and as I was messing with it a strike of lightning hit the bluff on the other side of the lake and I decided it was time to go!!!  I took a quick release video and booked it for the docks, my big water pdl can cover some water!

See any wildlife worth mentioning?

Michael – Just the big girls in the water!

Scott – Actually nothing more than the occasional water snake.

Josh – More snakes than I care to talk about!

Lose any bigguns?

Michael – Luckily fished clean and didn’t have the issue this tournament

Scott – Had lots of short strikes on the buzzbait and had 10-12 hooked up but still lost them even with a trailer hook ….. no idea the sizes though.

Josh – Around 1 pm I lost an upgrade to my 16… probably 17-18inches.  100% my fault, my treble hooks were dull and I didn’t check them.  May have cost me 2nd place.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish, what depth range did you target and are you willing to share the general area of the lake you chose?

Michael – I covered about a mile back-and-forth from the ramp out hitting the natural banks with laydowns on them. I did not fish any dock or catwalks this go around. All my fish came from 4 to 6 feet which seemed to be the old shoreline before the water came up.

Scott – I launched at PB2 and only had to go to the edge of the cove where the no-wake zone ends. With the weather being how it was I knew I didn’t need to waste any time deeper than 3-6’

Josh – The creek I was expecting to fish was about 1.5-2 miles from my launch.  I owe my success for the day to the storm.  Since I caught a couple of fish in that small area near the dock I decided to fish it again once I saw a break in the storm.  On the way back I caught 2 that were each 17.25 and an 18.25. I caught 87.5 inches in a stretch no more than 200 yards.  The crank bait had to be digging in order to get any action, as long as there was wood under 6ft depth I cast at it.

Did the weather affect your bite?

Michael – The harder it rained and flashed the better the bite got. Once the rain stopped my bite slowed down tremendously.

Scott – Absolutely, when it was raining they were hammering the buzzbait, when it stopped raining I couldn’t buy a bite on it!

Josh – Once the storms passed the big bite slowed but I caught more fish than I can count.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?

Michael – I will be at the remaining MoYak tournaments looking for redemption at Truman as I finish 10th there last year.

Scott – Absolutely. I’m planning on all the live events “On the Lakes” looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Josh – Absolutely!

Derby Stats
Anglers 86
Fish caught – 505
Total limits – 64 (74%)
Margin of victory – 2.5″
Smallest Bass Award – Daniel Schaedel 9.5″
Air temp at launch – 58
Air temp at takeout – 65
Water temps reported – Upper 60’s

Wildfires out west provided a hazy start to the morning for Stop #7 on the Mo-Yak Fishing Tournament Series.  After the smoke cleared, Joe Mersky came out on top after tying Justin Coon with 84.25″!  Let’s see how he did it…

What was your strategy going into the day.
I had planned to go out first thing with a topwater arsenal. Just in case I would bring my chatterbait for shallow and mid-range, and a Texas rig for the deeper fish. I actually didn’t stick to my topwater plan as I wasn’t feeling it, I think I threw a bluegill swimbait 3 times. After that I committed to the chatterbait and Texas rig.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?
I didn’t get any time on Pomme before the tournament. I had done a bit of research on topography maps, also reading that the bass were moving to the holes.

What was your best finish before this one?
Stockton, I had placed 6th.

What was the general tackle you used to win?
I fished a 1/2oz sprayed grass Jackhammer with a candy grass d bomb trailer primarily. When the bite would slow I threw a 1/4oz Texas rig with a 10″ green pumpkin curly tail.

Anything else special about the day?
Within the first hour, I landed my biggest bass. I had thrown my jackhammer in 2 feet of water onto some rocks. I was slowly working it as a jig and once I started to retrieve the lure, right next to my boat the fish blew up, luckily I had my drag set. I was able to tire her out and land it.  I ended up losing about 3 to 4 more big ones, due to the Texas rig and the bite being weird with it. But when it worked, it produced 14 to 16 inchers.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish?
I really only traveled about 2 miles, I just stayed where I was because the boats weren’t bad at all, and there were only a few of us there.

What depth range were you looking for?
I was shooting for very shallow to 3 feet in the early morning. Once 10 am came around I switched to 3 to 8 foot and 10-15 foot.

Did the weather affect your bite?
Traveling first thing in glass calm water made getting set up very easy. Once the wind had picked up, I was ready to come back, it was blowing in the direction I needed to go. The wind definitely helped with the chatterbait bite.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?
Unfortunately due to some very recent issues, ill only be fishing the remainder of September online, KBF national, and the AAKS. With hopes of coming back soon.

Are there things that MoYak can do better?
I think everybody running Moyak is doing a great job. This is a very fun competitive club to be a part of. The only thing I would ask, and I am grateful for the past 2 tournaments, is that we stay as far from the rain as possible! Thanks for having me!

Derby Stats
Anglers 77
Fish caught – 404
Total limits – 50
Margin of victory – 0″
Smallest Bass Award – Trevor Fanning 4.75″
Air temp at launch – 71
Air temp at takeout – 89
Water temps reported
Up river – mid 70’s
Main lake – 80’s

In a nailbiter on a beautiful Ozarks day, Morgan McClain wins on Stockton at stop #5 of the Mo-Yak Fishing Series presented by Everharts Outdoors. With this win, McClain is in the hunt for Angler of the Year and will be one to watch as we wrap up at Truman this fall.

What was your strategy going into the day?
Going into the day, I didn’t have much of a strategy. The only thing I knew for certain was that I wasn’t going to fish deep. I decided to focus on steep banks since that is one place I can always find fish any time of year.

Were you able to prefish and did you find anything that helped you on game day?
Prefishing was actually helpful because I was able to rule out deep fishing and I had some misses on the buzzbait early both days so I made a minor adjustment to it and it helped me get close to a limit early on tournament day.

What was your best finish on Stockton before this one?
I had fished one tournament on Stockton before and I ended up 13th out of about 60. It was the first kayak tournament I fished.

What was the general tackle you used to win?
I used a buzzbait and glidebait early and a finesse jig later to get a few crucial upgrades.

Anything else special about the day?
I caught my big bass in a pretty unusual way. I had a fish miss my buzzbait right by a big boulder, so I cast my glidebait past the boulder and then burned it back and the fish hit it right by the boulder. It turned out to be 18.5″ and was the tiebreaker fish for me. The only notable wildlife I encountered was the insane amount of mayflies when I launched. Thankfully, I did not lose and big fish, my only miss was a fish on the jig that I set the hook on and missed.

How far did you have to travel to find your fish?
I didn’t have to travel far to start catching fish, probably 1/4 of a mile at most.

What depth range were you looking for?
I caught my buzzbait/glidebait fish right on the bank early and I expected them to move out later in the day. However, the fish I caught later on the jig were right on the bank next to fallen timber.

Did the weather affect your bite?
The weather definitely affected my bite because the topwater bite died as soon as the sun came up and the fish transitioned to fallen timber.

Do you plan to fish the remaining MoYak schedule?
I will unfortunately not be able to fish Pomme, but I am looking forward to the championship and AAKC.

Are there things that MoYak can do better?
As for MOYAK, I think that Mr. Boothe, Mr. Enke, and everyone else that helps them out do an excellent job. My only request would have been a winter series, but that was recently announced to be coming this winter!

Derby Stats
Anglers 68
Fish caught – 260
Total limits – 28/68
Margin of victory – 0″
Smallest Bass Award – Jacob Ruggles 4″
Air temp at launch – 71
Air temp at takeout – 86