kayak

Kayak: Top Baits at Chickamaga/Nickajack Championship

The recent Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship presented by Native Watercraft was held on the Tennessee River system at Chickamauga Lake and Nickajack Lake, with 145 of the top kayak anglers in the country. Rain, wind, and a cold front didn’t dampen the spirits of these anglers and there were some incredible results despite these challenges. Below are the Top 10 anglers and the baits they used with success catching both largemouth and smallmouth bass whether they were in deep current areas or shallow grassy pockets.

Posted on
Written by
Marty Hughes
Nick Dyer from Alabama won the championship with a two-day total of 200.75 inches (five-fish limits measured in length). He finished Day 1 with 101.25 inches and followed that up on Day 2 with 99.5 inches. Dyer focused most of his efforts throwing a Spro RkCrawler crankbait, fishing it in 8-12 feet of water, and bouncing it off the bottom, which was critical to getting bites. Color selection was not as important as getting bottom contact with the crankbait. Later in the day, using his livescope, Dyer could see how the fish were reacting, and this let him know to alter his retrieves to trigger key bites. Photo: Mark Cisneros
An intriguing method by Dyer was the use of his Bluetooth speaker playing music on its loudest setting to help him with his tempo and retrieve the RkCrawler. He would change the music selection to the tempo he needed to get bites. This is a trick he has used with topwater baits, jerkbaits, and cranking.  Comically, he said they were biting really well to the “Freebird” guitar solo!  Dyer would like to thank the Dugout Bait & Tackle for having all the right baits and keeping him rigged up and ready to hit the water! Dyer used a variety of Spro RkCrawler crankbaits to catch both largemouth and smallmouth on the Tennessee River. 
Joshua Sharp from Tennessee finished second with 197 inches on his best 10 bass during the two-day championship. He targeted shallow prespawn largemouth in vegetation on Nickajack Lake. Every fish he caught was on a ⅜ oz. green pumpkin ZMan Jackhammer with a sungill Yoto Worm. He used an Irod Quercus Wild Card Bladed Jig rod paired with a Daiwa Tatula reel. 
Joshua Sharp and his ⅜ oz. green pumpkin ZMan Jackhammer with a sungill Yoto Worm tied on to an Irod Quercus Wild Card Bladed Jig rod paired with a Daiwa Tatula reel. 
Mark Kile of Arizona finished third with 189.5 inches for his best 10 bass. He sight fished for big bass using a generic tube. A majority of his fish came on a mixture of a ZMan Jackhammer paired with a Rapala Crush City Freeloader in sungill and a Jackall spinnerbait. 
A close-up view of Kile’s baits, including from top to bottom, a ZMan Jackhammer paired with a Crush City Freeloader, a Texas-rigged generic tube, and a Jackall Spinnerbait. 
Adam Milstead of Pennsylvania finished in fourth place with 189.25 inches. On Day 1, he started picking the bank apart with a 412 Bait Co ¼ oz. Dreamsicle spinnerbait. He found a good largemouth as he targeted laydowns. When the sun came out, he focused on bluff walls with the ZMan FattyZ, slowly dragging it in 10 to 15 feet of water. On Day 2, with cooler weather, Milstead played more into the finesse game with most of his fish coming off the ZMan FattyZ. He said, “Low and slow was the name of the game when it came to the big smallmouth.” 
Milstead with his Zman FattyZ in green pumpkin with 1/5 ounce Ned LockZ EWG jig head. Thrown on a Daiwa Tatula 7’2” medium-heavy shaky head spinning rod and a Daiwa Fuego LT 3000 spinning reel and Sufix 131 line. 
Milstead with his Spinnerbait: A 412 Bait Co.1/4 ounce Dreamsicle with a 3.3 Keitech swimbait in Tennessee shad. Thrown on a Daiwa Tatula 7’2” medium casting rod and a Daiwa Tatula 7.1 SV TW 100 casting reel. He used the 14 pound Sunline Super FC Sniper line.
Finishing in fifth place was Damian Thao of California, who is well known for catching giant bass on the West Coast. He caught a total of 188.75 inches. He fished one small stretch for Days 1 and 2. Thao’s focus was on the main river channel break near a large spawning bay. He kept his kayak in 13 to 15 feet of water, casting up to five feet of water and fishing his bait off the break. He targeted new waves of fish moving up to get ready to spawn. 
Thao rotated two baits in particular with a white ½ oz. 1st Gen Copperhead Mini and a ½ oz ZMan Jackhammer in bruised green pumpkin. Both were paired with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad trailer. He was tossing these baits on a Dranckrazy Black Serpent Shiden with a Shimano SLX 150 DC and spooled with 17 lb PLine Tactical. 
Eric Hawks of Georgia finished sixth with 188.25 inches during the two-day championship on the Tennessee River chain. He rotated three ZMan Jackhammers in ⅜ oz and ½ oz sizes. The colors he used were fire craw, green pumpkin, and black, along with matching Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Swimon trailers. He would change these up throughout the day based on conditions and water visibility. Early in the morning, he focused on the black or fire craw, or when conditions were cloudy and windy, causing the water to be churned up and turbid. 
Hawk’s technique with these bladed baits was to slowly tick the tops of grass that was topping out two to four feet below the surface with the Jackhammer. He mentioned, “A lot of anglers around me were burning it back, and they weren’t catching them as good and, I believe that was the biggest reason for my success.” Hawks found this grass flat on the final day of practice, with smaller key areas there that seemed to have bigger congregations of bass. On Day 1 of the tournament, Hawks sat on the main area most of the day rotating through the bladed jigs. On Day 2, cold front conditions and pressure from the anglers caused the fishing to be tougher. Hawks expanded on his area a little bit more to some of the deeper grass edges. He caught one of his fish on an Alabama Rig as well. Hawks’ equipment included a Daiwa Tatula Elite 7’4” medium heavy rod paired with a Shimano SLX XT, 8.1:1 ratio spooled with 17 lb Seaguar fluorocarbon. The other rod was a Daiwa Tatula 7’3” medium heavy all-purpose with a Shimano SLX XT in 8.1:1 ratio spooled with 17 lb Seaguar fluorocarbon. 
Going back to the practice, Hawks caught a 21 inch bass, marked the spot, and on Day 1 caught both of his 20.25” and 23.5 inch bass in the same exact spot off that waypoint in the grass. Both of them were caught with less than 45 minutes to go on Day 1. He said, “There was a huge flurry with the rising temperatures and the sun that afternoon that you don’t see too often in the early spring. On Day 2, Hawks started in the same area and quickly landed a 21 inch bass from the original way point. 
Ryan Nye of Connecticut finished seventh with 186.25 inches. Nye is a regular to top finishes on National trail events, and this time relied on the Martin’s Custom Baits Minnow Head in 3/16 and 3/32 oz on a 3/0 hook. He used this technique on schooling fish offshore. He utilized a few different minnows, including the Rapala Mooch Minnow, Deps Sakamata Shad, X Zone 3.75” Rally Shad, and a Rapala Freeloader. He said, “I thought that constantly giving the fish a different look was crucial to catching them.” Nye caught most of his fish utilizing his Livescope with his Sniper Marine Pole on his Old Town AutoPilot 136 kayak. This setup allowed him to fish where he needed to in the wind on both tournament days. Ryan Nye shows his minnow setups that garnered a top ten finish in the Bassmaster kayak championship on the Tennessee River Chain. He used a Martin’s Custom Bait’s Minnow Head in 3/16 and 3/32 oz on a 3/0 hook. He used this technique on schooling fish offshore. He utilized a few different minnows, including the Rapala Mooch Minnow, Deps Sakamata Shad, X Zone 3.75” Rally Shad, and a Rapala Freeloader.
Nick Audi of Pennsylvania finished in eighth place with 185.25 inches, focusing on locating bass related to schools of tiny threadfin shad. He found fish positioned on a ledge leading into a creek mouth off the main river channel. He said, “Wind and current would push the bait up and down the ledge, and when bass spotted them, groups of 5-6 would break off and chase the shad in the open water. 
To target those fish, Audi threw a 3.5” and 2.5” Crush City Mooch Minnow in Tennessee Shad on a ¼ oz VMC Redline tungsten jighead using a G.Loomis NRX 822 DSR and 842 SJR paired with a Shimano Exsence 3000 spooled with 15 lb Seaguar Smackdown to a 12 lb Tatsu leader. 
For larger groups set up to ambush on the ledge, Audi threw a Hog Farmer Tactical Bassin Flex Rig 5 Blade with three 3/16th oz 6th Sense jigheads and 2.5” Crush City Mayor swimbaits in Tennessee Shad and Green Pumpkin Disco on a Shimano Expride B 7’7” moderate/heavy rod paired with a Tranx 200A spooled with 25 lb Seaguar Tatsu line. All of the tackle he used was purchased from Susquehanna Fishing Tackle in Pennsylvania. 
Jimmy Entwistle of Pennsylvania finished in ninth place with 183.75 inches, flipping a white Zoom Craw on bed fish with his Dixi Custom Rod and a Shimano reel. Entwistle said, “The white craw was purely just to make the fish mad so I could easily see the bait under the surface.” He was also using a wacky rigged green pumpkin Yamamoto Senko along steep rock walls for roaming fish. 
Jimmy Entwistle used a white Zoom Craw on bed fish with his Dixi Custom Rod and a Shimano reel. He also used a Yamamoto Senko along steep rock walls. 
Entwistle also used a green pumpkin Yamamoto Senko along steep rock walls. 
Jon Brooks of Maine rounded out the top ten finishers with 183.25 inches using a Strike King blue craw Thundercricket and Blade Minnow combo in a bluegill color. He paired this bait with a 7’4” Lews medium-heavy Custom Lite Casting rod, 20 lb Power Pro braided line, and 15 lb Seaguar Pounce.  He also supplemented this presentation with a 3” Strike King Spotlight Minnow in smokey shad with a 3/16th oz Eclipse swimbait head on a Lews Custom Lite 7’  medium light, extra fast, spinning rod and a Lews Custom Lite SS 200 reel. The line used was 15 lb Power Pro in green. He also used a Seaguar Pounce 10 lb leader with this setup.  
Brooks targeted very shallow water in less than two feet where the bass seemed to be chasing bait, and getting ready for the spawn. He caught most of his fish with the ⅜ oz. Thundercricket, and when his arms needed a break, he said, “I would switch over to strolling the Eclipse minnow when he noticed baitfish fleeing for their lives. He would run the Eclipse minnow through where he’d see the baitfish flus,h and this accounted for a few early morning fish on Day 2, which gave Brooks a huge confidence boost after the front came through the night before. He said, “I can’t leave out my Newport NK180 motor, which has treated me to hundreds of flawless performance miles.”  He would also like to thank Pinestate Tackle, Angler Tungsten, and Patriot Paving for their sponsorship support. Brooks also mentioned, “And my amazing wife!” 
Brooks used a 3” Strike King Spotlight Minnow in smokey shad with a 3/16th oz Eclipse swimbait head.
Brooks threw a Strike King blue craw Thundercricket and Blade Minnow combo in a bluegill color. 

Related