LIKBF Elite Series #2 at Swinging Bridge Reservoir was a beatdown, in all the ways. From the start of the day, nothing really went well and I couldn’t seem to put the pieces together throughout the day to catch a limit. Although I did find some success early with a 12.25” and a great 18.75” smallmouth, once the morning bite died and the weather heated up my fishing game cooled down big time. The fish likely left the shallows and were staging in deeper water where I couldn’t find them, so the majority of my day was spent covering water with plenty of crappie and tiny bass, but unfortunately nothing big enough to help me get a limit. 

I ended the day in 2nd place for Big Bass and in 17th place overall, which will definitely knock me out of Top 10 for Angler of the Year and make it that much harder in later tournaments to play catch-up. 

In all honesty, making it to the top of the leaderboard for Angler of the Year was never really my expectation for this season. So many of the guys in this league are way more skilled than I am. But I’m staying positive, learning new things and fishing new water, and hoping I can squeak into the Top 10 at the end of the season to fish the New York State Championship on October 3rd at Lake Champlain. To me, that would be the dream scenario for this year. 

Based on tournament rules, the Elite Series has 7 total events but only 5 events count toward qualifying, so I’m definitely still in the race but it won’t be easy.   

Gear List From Today’s Tournament:

Kayak: Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track Angler

Rods:

St. Croix Bass X Rod, 6’8” MXF

KastKing Assegai, 6’9” MLF Finesse Spin

Reels:

Shimano Miravel 2500 Spinning Reel

Shimano Nascii FC 2500 Spinning Reel

Tackle:

Storm 3” WildEye Swim Shad

Zman TRD Neg Rig style bait

Gary Yamamoto 5” Senko - Green Pumpkin with Black Flake (wacky)

Mepps Size 3 Aglia spinner