This is the follow-up post to the preparation post for the MO’ Bass Club fishing tournament held on Kinkaid Lake in southern Illinois on July 11, 2020. Welcome back if you are following along. To get up to speed with this post, check out the previous post about how I prepared for this tournament. The weather was definitely hot and the fishing wasn’t bad. The anxiety of trying to catch a keeper fish (minimum 16 inches) on Kinkaid Lake was definitely prevalent as only 3 out of the 5 boats attending had a keeper. Everyone caught fish, but keepers were hard to come by. Remember, due to high temperatures, the tournament time was shortened, and we were only keeping 1 fish and the biggest one wins.
We arrived to the lake with the sun already up and warming up quickly. Unfortunately, Jaime wasn’t able to join me this time due to COVID19 restrictions. Our group of boats blasted off from the marina. I made a short run to a place where I thought my game plan would work best. With the short run, I was able to begin fishing quicker.
I started on a main-lake point that led to some coves on either side of it. The water clarity was good, but not super clear. The weeds that grow in Kinkaid Lake are growing well, but were not as matted up as I had expected. Looks like some other fisherman had the same ideas as there were a few other boats already fishing in the area.
I made a few casts with some top water baits around the point, but could not find any fish interested in my offerings. I noticed some shad swimming in the the first cove that I entered. I tried the top water baits around them, but again no takers. With the shad swimming around in schools, my thinking was there would surely be a bass that would mistake my bait for the real thing.
After putting down the rods rigged with top water baits, I picked up a rod with a deep diving crankbait tied on and began throwing it to deeper water. My thinking was if they didn’t want to come up above the schools of shad then maybe they were under them. A few casts later I hooked up with a bass that was under the minimum size and released him. However, he was the only one that was interested in my deep diving crankbait!
Trying a new bait for the day, I began pitching a jig and craw to the edges of the weeds. A few pitches later, SPLISH SPLASH I WAS CATCHING MY SECOND BASS! Although under the size limit, two fish catches in the first hour of the tournament wasn’t bad. But I needed to push on to find one big enough to keep.
The sun was getting higher and the heat of the day was starting to set in quickly. I continued fishing back out of the cove and around the point to another cove. My past experiences in the cove told me to pick up the rod with the Texas rigged creature bait tied on. Sure enough, I convinced a bass that measured almost 15 inches to eat the creature bait. I released him and continued fishing on.
The pressure was setting in and it was time to make a change again after trying the edges of the weeds and some deeper main-lake banks with a couple of the presentations I had prepared for the day. Three fish so far and no keepers. It was definitely hot already.
It was time to make a move before time slipped away from me. I made a run down to the dam and spillway area of the lake. There is some deeper water near the dam that I felt was worth trying now that the sun was up and the air temperature was getting very hot. With the boat sitting in about 35 feet of water, I started casting the jig and craw toward a rocky point and waited for it to hit the bottom before hopping it along. I hopped the jig another time and felt the tap-tap of a fish eating it for sure. I set the hook and landed a chunky 14 inch bass. As the bank got shallower, I started throwing the Texas rigged creature bait to the weed line. A few casts later, I got a bite from and landed a 15 inch bass…getting closer to a keeper, but still not there.
I moved across the lake to fish a couple of points that were covered in weeds. I continued casting the Texas rig to the weeds to no avail. I could hear Jaime in head my asking the same question she always does, “I don’t understand why you are not trying to catch them on a crankbait. You know they always eat a crankbait.” So I said okay, I will try the shallow running crankbait. But I couldn’t find a fish that was interested in eating it today.
The lake was getting busy with pleasure boaters and time was running out. That deep feeling of disappointment of not bringing a keeper fish to the weigh-in to at least give myself a chance to win was setting in. I figured I would fish around a point a that was littered with weeds and a little bit of old trees. I flipped the Texas rigged creature bait to the edge of the weeds and felt a fish pick it up. I set the hook and felt what seemed like a hefty fish pull back. I kept tension on it as it started to come out of the weeds while hoping it was going to be a very large fish -and it was my largest of the day! A keeper that measured 16 inches. And just in time as I had just a few minutes to head back to the ramp.
I met up with my MO’ Bass competitors who also struggled to get a keeper. I was the last boat to have my fish weighed and was told that I had to beat a 2 pound and 9 ounce bass. Moment of truth!! We put my fish on the scale and it weighed 2 pounds and 8 ounces and good enough for a second place finish.
While I did not win, I still enjoyed the day being outside in nature and the challenge of trying to catch those elusive fish. I look forward to the next challenge and the chance to enjoy nature at its finest. All fish that were kept for the weigh-in were quickly released back into the lake and unharmed.
Please stay tuned by signing up to follow our adventures by clicking on the subscribe tab and entering your email. Also, please feel free to post any comments, questions, or suggestions. I would love to answer any questions that you might have about this outdoor adventure or any others.
