August/September river smallmouth tournament

[Eric]

There's another "River Runners Smallmouth Showdown", this time taking place in August/September (August 16 to September 15). The entry fee is $25.

More info:
https://tourneyx.com/app/tourney/river-runners-smallmouth-showdown-aug-sept

Tournament rules:
https://tourneyx.com/app/lib/rules/1559321554_SS_June_2019_Rules_.pdf

The rules and regulations of this tournament will adhere to Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) standards, with the exception that participants may wade or fish from shore without the use of a kayak/canoe. Additionally, due to the nature of river smallmouth bass, PICTURES MAY BE SUBMITTED WITH AN OPEN MOUTH WITHOUT PENALTY.

This is a good way to dip your toe into tournament fishing and have some fun competing in your favorite pastime. Good luck!

[Eric]

The tournament organizer is leaving registration open for another week. The tourney began August 15. Late anglers will just need to catch up. A month-long tournament is a lot of time to fish!

[Kev-mo]

Signed up... err; donation made 

[Tom L]

Looks like we've got a good competition going on this touney!  10 more days to go guys.

[Eric]

Didn't clinch first place on this one but it was a fun tournament and I caught some great fish. Came super close to winning it. Collin L. (tournament organizer) got on a really good bite over the last few days and culled all his fish with an 11.25" upgrade to leap from third place to first place and secure the win. He was on fire and there was no countering the caliber of smallmouth he was scoring. Not sure what river Collin was on but I'm guessing somewhere north (not Illinois). The fish are very dark and fat.

John Schenk of the ISA was an extremely tough competitor and was putting up brute smallmouth from his local river(s). I think he fished the K3 and really repped it well! I could not believe how quickly John countered with big fish. Seems like we battled back and forth for most of the tournament. I was super impressed with John's fishing abilities and the consistency of the big ones he was catching. 

The deluge of rain across Wisconsin and northern Illinois late in the tournament made things interesting. I love high water fishing but the Fox rose so quickly that it seemed to overwhelm the fish and it took several days for the bite to settle in. I looked high and low for brutes and they were very tough to find. I caught a 19" on Friday morning as the Fox hit around 6K cfs and didn't catch anything over 18" Saturday or Sunday.

Here's a breakdown of my five biggest smallmouth scored, where they came from, and what I caught them on:

21" - kayak fishing, mouth of the Lemonweir River at the Lemonweir/Wisconsin River confluence, bone Whopper Plopper 75
19" - shore fishing, Fox River, 3/8-ounce white swim jig with 4.8" white Keitech Fat Swing Impact tail
18.75" - kayak fishing, Wisconsin River, 3/8-ounce white swim jig with 4.8" white Keitech Fat Swing Impact tail
18.25" - kayak fishing/wading, Fox River, 3/8-ounce white spinnerbait
18" - shore fishing, Fox River, 3/8-ounce white swim jig with 4.8" white Keitech Fat Swing Impact tail

As with most tournaments, I had a few mishaps. I caught a giant on the Wisconsin River and after a couple pics by my friend Kevin, I held the fish in the water while I wet the bump board. The fish caught me off guard with a powerful head shake and broke my grip and escaped. It was the day after I had boated a 21" and I swore to Kevin that it was a bigger fish. So bummed I never got to actually measure it, or score it! 

Last week (before the rain) I was on an awesome topwater bite (Fox) with the Whopper Plopper and caught an 18.25" in the early morning. The fish seemed to have come too easily and after photographing it on the bump board and releasing it, I sat back and wondered if I had done everything correctly. Then I realized that I had not included the tournament ID in the photo. Fail.

Yesterday (last day of the tournament) I found THE FISH that I had been searching for all day. It was on the DuPage River -- which was high and muddy. I was stuck with shore/wade access and found a submerged storm drain with clear water flowing in and just stacked with 3-4" bluegill. I had a swim jig tied on and stuck my rod about halfway into the storm drain with around foot of line out. I felt a "thud" and things went tight. I pulled the rod out with a brute smallie short-leashed and it took drag as it tried to run back into the drain. Then it came back out and jumped and cut my line (15 lb Power Pro braid) on the edge of the concrete lip of the drain. My heart sunk as I watched the beast smallmouth continue to jump several yards from me and try to shake the swim jig.

I like this type of tournament due to being river smallmouth only AND allowing shore fishing. Having no penalty for open mouth on the fish allows you to get the most out of the fish and take bump board pics much faster. Smallies especially fight the "mouth closed" deal and twist and buck on the bump board. Not having to worry about that is a Godsend and allows for a much quicker release.

Congrats to all who competed and especially to Collin for the W.
 

[Erik]

Really great competition this time. Was fun to keep track of..unfortunately for me, from the bottom.  Congrats to Colin, Eric, and John for putting up some truly awesome scores. Just about everyone had really respectable scores though. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a ton of time to fish and the stretches of the Fox I fished weren't very productive when I did have time. That's fishing though sometimes! I believe there's another in October for any who missed out this time. I won't have any more time to fish this time around, so I think i'm gonna sit this one out. 

[Kev-mo]

Nice write up Eric. I realized early on there was no way I was going to be able to really compete in this one.

Congrats to all for competing,  to the top 3 for making it close and to Collin for the big win.

[Eric]

I’m glad to NOT have to carry the bump board around any more, as the Ketch 26” bump board is heavy like a small boat anchor!  

Forgot to mention that while combing the Fox for big smallmouth, I caught three muskie in August/September while the river was low and the topwater bite was “on”. They all hit topwater and measured 39”; 29”; 31”. Two came on the Whopper Plopper 75 and one on a Megabass Dog-X Diamanté “walk-the-dog” style topwater.

I was thankful to have my Lucid Grips with me for easy head control and unhooking over the side of the kayak. The 39” is my largest Fox muskie to date.

[alank]

Thanks for the great write up and sharing all the ordeals of a competitor! Enjoyed the read.

[Bart Durham]

Really enjoyed participating in the tournament and format.  Some really  impressive Illinois smallmouth caught by the leaders.  I caught most of my fish on fly rod with topwater bugle bug popper. Was a tournament of missed opportunities for me as the big fish were there for the taking but I couldn't seem to land one for a variety of reasons.  Impressive last minute charge by Colin to take the win.  Looking forward to the next one.

[Eric]

Great to see and hear the ISA President participate in and enjoy a tournament of this nature!

Were you able to score any smallies from the Menominee River?

[Bart Durham]

If only I could have scored scored catches from the Menominee, maybe next years tourney will be held during our road trip, only problem is no boat catches are allowed.

[Eric]

Gotcha. I thought it overlapped and maybe you got some shore fishing or wading.

[Eric]

Also, FYI, Collin setup a few more events for the year:

September 28, River Runners “Fall Open” Single-Day Tournament on the Kankakee River

https://tourneyx.com/app/tourney/river-runners-fall-open-2019-kankakee-river

October 1-30, River Runners “Smallmouth Showdown” Tournament 

https://tourneyx.com/app/tourney/river-runners-smallmouth-showdown-aug-sept-1

Be sure to read all applicable rules, boundaries, etc. that apply.

[Collin L]

Hey all, 

This is Collin and I'm commenting as a guest while my account is validated. 

First, thanks for the interest of those who participated. I hope each time we do these virtual tournaments our numbers grow.  I just wanted to add some details, as Eric did, about my catches. 
My biggest two fish at 20" were indeed caught up north as Eric guessed. I was lucky enough to find this stream in MN this summer and fish it twice this season. While I'd rather not post its name online, I'd offer it up in exchange for some good water in WI. As for the fish, both were caught on a 3/8 oz Terminator Jig in Spring Craw color. As a matter of fact, my two biggest fish on my last trip also came on this same jig. However, at the beginning of Sept MN saw a wicked cold front and water temps plummeted to 60 degrees. Fishing was tough on day 1 of my two day trip and I could only pull fish out from deep wood structure. It took me a few hours to figure this out. The golden colored 20 incher was caught in 8 feet in slow moving water and hit so light I didn't feel it at all until I began to reel. 

The second 20 came on Sunday midday when I was passing under a bridge beneath a highway. It wasn't your normal toss to pilings type of catch as the bridge was more of a long dark tunnel. While floating through I was letting my jig sink along the pitch-black walls and a big one absolutely hammered it to my surprise. I managed to land it without breaking the rest of my poles while slamming into the walls. 

At the other end of a bridge another angler was trying to figure out how to catch smallies that were annihilating beetles dropping down to the surface from nearby grass/trees. It was a cool sight to see them swimming from 4-5 feet in clear water to the surface for these bugs. So I went to the other side of the river, got out, and waded to the edge of the bridge. gave the ol' jig a couple tosses and on the third cast watched a 19.5" pick it up. The rest is history. 

Not far down from there bass were still coming to the surface for the beetles so I tied on a weightless, small brown hellgrammite and tossed it at a hunting pack that had just swallowed a beetle. Two twitches later I had a 19.25" in the boat. 

Prior to this trip I had been fishing the Kankakee and Dupage. While I caught some good fish on the Kankakee, the other 19.5" came from the Dupage under a bridge. I tossed a weightless wacky rig shad/flake colored senko at the head of a logjam located at the front of a bridge piling and let it float by. I felt a thump and set the hook on a fish that had my 6' foot rod nearly doubled over. 

Those last two days of the tournament I covered 22 miles of river and basically fished from sunrise to sunset on Saturday. I caught good numbers and a few big smallmouth and pike on a spinnerbait and even lost some giants on a whopper plopper 75 though the topwater bite was very slow. It been nice to see that we all have our mishaps and missed fish. 

Again, I want to say great job to everyone. With me being the director, I want to be as transparent and fair as possible, especially in a tournament  that comes down to the wire. As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to pass them on to me. 

Collin aka Riverman 

 

[Eric]

From tourney organizer (and winner) Collin L:

Hey all,

First, thanks for the interest of those who participated. I hope each time we do these virtual tournaments our numbers grow.  I just wanted to add some details, as Eric did, about my catches.

My biggest two fish at 20" were indeed caught up north as Eric guessed. I was lucky enough to find this stream in MN this summer and fish it twice this season. While I'd rather not post its name online, I'd offer it up in exchange for some good water in WI.

As for the fish, both were caught on a 3/8 oz Terminator Jig in Spring Craw color. As a matter of fact, my two biggest fish on my last trip also came on this same jig. However, at the beginning of Sept MN saw a wicked cold front and water temps plummeted to 60 degrees. Fishing was tough on day 1 of my two day trip and I could only pull fish out from deep wood structure. It took me a few hours to figure this out. The golden colored 20 incher was caught in 8 feet in slow moving water and hit so light I didn't feel it at all until I began to reel.

The second 20 came on Sunday middaywhen I was passing under a bridge beneath a highway. It wasn't your normal toss to pilings type of catch as the bridge was more of a long dark tunnel. While floating through I was letting my jig sink along the pitch-black walls and a big one absolutely hammered it to my surprise. I managed to land it without breaking the rest of my poles while slamming into the walls. 

At the other end of a bridge another angler was trying to figure out how to catch smallies that were annihilating beetles dropping down to the surface from nearby grass/trees. It was a cool sight to see them swimming from 4-5 feet in clear water to the surface for these bugs. So I went to the other side of the river, got out, and waded to the edge of the bridge. gave the ol' jig a couple tosses and on the third cast watched a 19.5" pick it up. The rest is history. 

Not far down from there bass were still coming to the surface for the beetles so I tied on a weightless, small brown hellgrammite and tossed it at a hunting pack that had just swallowed a beetle. Two twitches later I had a 19.25" in the boat.

Prior to this trip I had been fishing the Kankakee and Dupage. While I caught some good fish on the Kankakee, the other 19.5" came from the Dupage under a bridge. I tossed a weightless wacky rig shad/flake colored senko at the head of a logjam located at the front of a bridge piling and let it float by. I felt a thump and set the hook on a fish that had my 6' foot rod nearly doubled over.

Those last two days of the tournament I covered 22 miles of river and basically fished from sunrise to sunset on Saturday. I caught good numbers and a few big smallmouth and pike on a spinnerbait and even lost some giants on a whopper plopper 75 though the topwater bite was very slow. It been nice to see that we all have our mishaps and missed fish.

Again, I want to say great job to everyone. With me being the director, I want to be as transparent and fair as possible, especially in a tournament  that comes down to the wire. As always, if you have questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to pass them on to me.

Collin

A.K.A. “Riverman”

 

 

[JOHN SCHENCK]

Very cool thanks for the kind words guys. I had a good run and capitalized on some aggressive feeding windows after the first set of cooler overnight temps. most of my bigger fish were taken on top water prop style baits near structure and lay downs. I had a great time fishing against some elite river smallmouth fisherman in this tournament. If you can make time to get out at least a few times in October it would be great to see more ISA guys in this Next tournament. I just signed up for it. Great idea Colin for the river smallmouth exclusive event. I’d love to see one in early spring 2020 also 😉

[Collin L]

11 hours ago, JOHN SCHENCK said:

Very cool thanks for the kind words guys. I had a good run and capitalized on some aggressive feeding windows after the first set of cooler overnight temps. most of my bigger fish were taken on top water prop style baits near structure and lay downs. I had a great time fishing against some elite river smallmouth fisherman in this tournament. If you can make time to get out at least a few times in October it would be great to see more ISA guys in this Next tournament. I just signed up for it. Great idea Colin for the river smallmouth exclusive event. I’d love to see one in early spring 2020 also 😉

I plan on having a whole series planned and scheduled for spring and summer 2020. I'll keep the online competitions going but plan to add some live tournaments on rivers in/around the Chicago area. Suggestions/stretches are more than welcome!