OKA-Arbuckle (Central Trail)
The 3rd stop for the Central Trail of the Oklahoma Kayak Anglers was held on one of the best big bass factories in the state, Lake of the Arbuckles. Arbuckle didn't dissapoint, yielding the biggest bass ever caught in an OKA event. One of the biggest factors of the day was the wind. It started out dead calm and then the wind came sweeping down the plains in gusts and made for an interesting day of kayak fishing. Another interesting factor was the wildlife. The area is home to many animals, and in particular a few snakes were more than interested with the kayaks!!! Have no fear, there were no boardings or hijacked kayaks. They were just looking to get out of the water and onto a warm rock.
Chris Haffner headed up the event as the tournament director. This tournament brought in a kayaker from Kansas and several guys from the NE trail. 30 anglers were lined up and ready to catch fish at safe light, 4 female anglers, and two youth anglers. Thank you to Chris and the team for coordinating and running a smooth event.
As the wind picked up and the clock began to wind down, Chris had the check in table looking good with nice cold drinks waiting on the anglers. First Place with 4 fish and 55" went to Gary Casper! He took home $415 and was the only angler to land 4 keeper black bass. Gary was fishing the main lake. Second place and $225 went to Randal Farley Jr. - "I caught my fish slowly working a dropshot on the upper end of the middle cove." He pulled in 49.5" in 3 fish! 3rd Place and $110 went to Randal Farley Sr. he was just inched out by Jr. bringing in 48" in 3 fish. Sr- " I was fishing a squarebill by a main lake dock." The seemingly unstopable Team Farley brought in 84.25", winning them the top team $160.
Now to the record breaker! Taylor Wilson brought in a massive 9.08-9.21# bass, the scale was jumping because she couldn't stop shaking! It was 23.75 inches! Taylor took home $260, a $50 Hook1 Big Bass gift card, and the $50 Oklahoma Kayak Top Female Angler gift card.
Taylor-" The afternoon before we started off prefishing another cove, but left because there was a rattlesnake swimming around that was a little to friendly with the kayaks! We went to another area Brent wanted to try. I pulled a nice 15" spotted bass, my first drum, and a white bass off of it. The fish were feeding in the area. We stopped fishing and agreed to leave it and come back to the point and cove the next morning. When the tournament started a friend of ours actually beat us to the point and we fished on both sides of him just outside of the 50 yard courtesy area. I had a small rocky point right in front of me and saw a fish hit the surface. I cast my Berkely Flicker shad(aka "little shad thingy") up in front of it and moments later the fight was on. I just knew it wasn't a bass, every time I would try to work it up, it would fight its way back down. Eventually I brought her to the surface and I saw it was a monster bass! She then started making runs under the kayak and towing me around. I had to really focus to get her in the net and I actually didn't think the fish was going to fit in my net. As soon as I had her landed, I yelled at Brent and told him I had big bass. He came over to help me get the pictures, weigh, and carefully revive the huge fish. She swam away strong and will live to fight another day! It was so exciting!"
Brent-I have to take a second and say how proud I am of my wife, when we first met she wouldn't even touch a fish without having gloves on. Now she's outfishing me just about everywhere we go! Its been a fun journey and I can't wait to see what she pulls in next! There was also no way that fish was coming off without breaking her line. All 6 points of trebels were hooked up!
Our next event is the Oklahoma Open! It's coming up June 27th and the circuit leaders will face off in a head to head showdown on June 28th. We have some huge prizes to give away at this event! like gift cards to Oklahoma Kayak, Hook1 Oklahoma, and Redbud Marina.
We also have a deluxe set of supernova fishing lights, a JACKSON CRUISE ANGLER 10, and more! The AOY will walk away with cold hard $$$, a custom AOY blackpak from Yakattack, and a custom AOY Manley Rod! The open will be on Saturday and will feature a road runner style event with Okemah and Prague lakes being the eligible waters. More details soon! Check out the events tab for more info.
AOY update coming before the end of the week and paddlefish 101 is almost complete.