Fish Stories

The road to earning the KBF Mid-Atlantic Region Angler of the Year title

Setting my goals at the beginning of the new season are generally the same. The goal of constant learning and improving skills are always at the top of the list. Then there are the milestones I set as a way to measure the success of those goals. This season, it was to shoot for the Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) Mid-Atlantic Angler of the Year, and as a bonus aim for KBF’s Ten house, which is a combination of the top ten anglers in points nationally. with an additional couple of entries from the Challenge Series Championship and Tenvitational.

Coming into the beginning of the 2020 season, I had confidence in most of the lakes on our list in the Mid-Atlantic, with the only wildcard at the time being the Potomac. After hearing that Keowee/Hartwell would be part of the trail, I opted to skip the Potomac event, and put my efforts into the closer Santee Cooper, High Rock/Randleman and Keowee/Hartwell events. A decision I would later regret!

Trail stop one: Santee Cooper

The year started out at Santee Cooper, one of my favorite lakes to fish. I had high expectations for this event, with confidence in the area I planned on fishing. I didn’t have time to practice for the event, the only time I was on the water was on the way back from the Tenvitational where I couldn’t resists dumping into the lake on my way by.

Both Marcus Smith and I dissected the area during the event, without any practice days at the lake. We knew the area held big fish, and that they should be around at this time of the year somewhere getting prepared to move in for the spawn. I was struggling a bit finding them and headed for where there were some docks which is a confidence pattern of mine.

I was only able to get 3 fish to the boat, lost a descent fish as well. Marcus had found them using a technique that took supreme confidence and patience, which with a couple hours left I had none of. Unknowingly, my 3 fish placed me fairly high in the event giving me descent points, as Marcus ran away with the event with his confidence in a tough fishing pattern that had paid off.

Trail stop two: High Rock/Randleman

High Rock / Randleman was an event I had extreme confidence in, being that I had finished second in the last KBF High Rock trail event there in 2018 to Shelly Effird who came on in the last couple hours and passed me for the lead that I had held all day.

This event I had time to practice a couple of days, checking out both Randleman and High Rock spots and having success at both lakes. I decided that the better fish would come from High Rock when I had caught two nice fish off a single dock.

This year would prove completely different at the High Rock / Randleman event where I was able to pull off the event win on Saturday, besting the infamous Jody Queen by a second biggest bass tie breaker. The day was slow, and I continued to grind all day with a determination to put 5 fish on the board. I was in disbelief of the win, even after I received the phone call from Joe Haubenreich!

The second event at High Rock/Randleman I changed it up and fished Randleman Reservoir. My day started off with a good fish, and soon realized I forgot to put the new code on my ID card. Luckily I was able to find Casey Reed close by and use his, and borrow a marker to put the event code on my ID card so I could get back at it. I proceeded to miss fish most of the day and never got 5 fish to the boat, blowing an opportunity to double up for the weekend.

Trail stop three: Keowee / Hartwell

The next event would be the most cruel of the events for the season for me. The Keowee/Hartwell event had me a little concerned initially because I had never fished a blue herring lake before. I broke down some water, had a decent practice result with an area I felt would give me a limit, with potential size as well.

Saturday’s event turned into a struggle, and I had a couple small fish at the end of the day leaving me way down in the field. Sunday’s event looked promising after speaking with Jody Queen and getting key information I thought would help me get a descent finish against a smaller field. However, I zeroed for the day after only getting one bite and missed the fish. At that moment I felt my chance at Mid-Atlantic Angler of the Year had disappeared - opportunity lost. Skipping the Potomac event was looking more like a rookie mistake than a well thought out strategy!

Trail Championship: Smith Mountain Lake

Coming into the Smith Mountain Lake Mid-Atlantic Trail Championship / SuperTrail event I was looking for a good finish and maybe I could cash a check to cover the expenses. With it being Casey Reed’s home lake and knowing Jody Queen was coming I was not confident in beating these 2 guys, but I never count myself out completely.

Practice Day 1

In practice I ran into a small pocket close to the main lake area that was slightly different from the other pockets and creeks. There were a couple of features that I initially liked when I pulled in - a small canal in the back, and shallow shelves which looked like great spawning areas as well as a shallow area that was loaded with what appeared to be recent bluegill nests. The pocket was lined with rip rap like you can find on most of the developed parts of the lake as well.

Fishing one side was less than exciting, docks produced nothing and it started getting concerning. I soon move into the canal to check it out, hoping it possibly had some moving water, which it wouldn’t have unless it was raining with a couple of drainage pipes feeding into it. As I moved in I caught a small bass, probably 12” or so. This was looking not so super. Then within a couple casts a 15” fish. OK, maybe there’s something to this area.

Slowing working my way out of the tiny canal, I noticed a darker rock than the typical brown rocks I was staring at, I flipped a trick worm to it and the darker rock spun around and smashed my worm! A 20”, 4.5-5 pound bass is on. A couple of jumps later she broke me off. I hadn’t retied since the last event, this was just practice so I wasn’t really paying attention to those finer details. Feeling even more confident now in the area I would land the next bite, another 20” largemouth. Looking and fishing my war around I was seeing bass swimming up against the rip rap, I had just found a pattern I wasn’t even considering coming into the event. I had even seen a few larger bass sitting in the shallows that I had accidentally spooked off. I continued the day catching one fish in the next pocket, and one fish in another, and saw a few more bass cruising the shoreline as I tried to replicate the pattern.

Practice days 2 and 3

Continuing in the same section of the lake, I tried to find more areas that the fish were cruising with little success. I saw one or two bass over the entire day, nothing that appeared like that one pocket. On my way back to the ramp to get my rain gear I had ran into Jody Queen, explaining the pattern I found and how I wasn’t able to replicate it elsewhere yet. We continued fishing that section of the lake, Jody had a descent day and I had caught a few, and I saw some more cruisers. The bite in the areas weren’t impressive like the previous day. The productive bait seemed to be a trick worm still, the moving baits just wouldn’t produce a strike.

The final day of practice I took off with Jody to the other end of the lake to try some new water and see what else was out there. I had no luck finding anything productive, Jody had found some but I was convinced at this point that the pocket I found was going to have to produce for me to have a chance.

Event Day 1

The morning of the first day the pocket produced 3 fish after the sun came up on the trick worm, and I had also missed a few from spooking them when getting to close. There was also a giant 21-22” bass that had swam right to the kayak late in the morning. I made a move midday as was planned to hit another area where I had landed a descent bass and seen a few good ones as well. I turned to a stick bait and started pounding high percentage spots and was able to get my limit with a couple small fish. With less than a minute left, I skipped the stick bait as far as it would go under a dock and nothing. Pulled it a few feet and instantly was smashed by a 17” bass, which I skated across the water and flipped in the boat as quickly as I could. With 30 seconds left in competition, I removed the hook, and went for the Ketch board when the bass slipped out of my grip and went through my Wilderness Systems Radar’s Helix Drive hole. After day 1 I was in 4th place after a tough bite and grinding out a limit . That lost fish was a 5” upgrade that would have had me in a much better day 1 finish but I didn’t let it effect me, as I wasn’t sure I would have been able to photo that fish in time anyway.

That evening I was sitting around a campfire with Jody Queen, who proceeds to tell me that he is trying to figure out what the chances are for me to overtake him for Mid-Atlantic Angler of the Year. Jody told me I was 4 spots ahead of him in the event after day 1, and if it stood that way I would win. I was convinced there was no way Jody wasn’t going to figure the fish out and jump ahead of me. I blew this off, laughing and telling Jody that would be awesome but I doubted the possibility. Being the sportsman Jody is, he wished me luck and told me “I hope you smash them tomorrow!”

Event Day 2

Starting out on day 2 I began in the same areas I did on day 1. With the event starting in the dark, I opted both days to stop at a large secondary point on my way to the pocket while I waited for a little light. This point seemed to have a lot of activity, but I had been unable to get bit in practice and on day 1 there. I decided to start out this day with a swim bait, knowing there were schooling fish around the point. I was able to pick up a 14” fish there, and another while I fished my way towards the pocket that was 16.5”, giving me a better head start towards a 5 fish limit than the day before.

I decided to head straight for the little canal this time, without wasting any time on the docks and other targets on the way in. I took an even more stealth approach due to the spooked fish the day before still haunting me. Staying with the stick bait, figuring I pounded the area good with a trick worm for a couple of days already. Although my Dakota Lithium battery would run my Lowrance over 11 hours, when I was shallow I shut it off. I used the drive as little as possible, maneuvering for position with my paddle whenever needed. With this strategy I was able to get a fairly quick 3 bites, filling my limit by mid-morning. It was a small fish limit but I had plenty of time to upgrade. The rest of the day was tough, picking up a fish here and there and spooking some larger fish in the shallows. I needed a couple big bites to take the lead, and was sitting in 4th place around noon with a couple hours left in the competition.

After fishing a few other spots with no success, I retuned to the pocket where I knew there were more fish somewhere, or maybe more had moved in with the now high sun. There was no getting that out of my mind so back I went. I picked the trick worm back up and started for the canal, hitting a few of the targets within he target that held fish previously. I picked up a 14.5” bass, a descent 2.5” upgrade to push me up one spot to 3rd.

Intensity picking up

Now I find myself looking at standings, something I rarely do while fishing an event… potential thoughts of success are starting to creep in my mind, but that 12.5” fish needs to be upgraded. I then see a good size bass bust shallow on something - a bluegill most likely - in a spot in the pocket that looked good but hadn’t produced any bites all week. Decision made, I need to work that area hard. Coming to an end of this area which was a man-made point with rip rap that had a descent drop off into deeper water I noticed a little feature in the water of the rip rap that is sticking out a little further than the rest. This is the type of subtle feature changes that had produced fish elsewhere, so I fire the trick worm, controlling the cast so that it gently entered the water perfectly. Just as I was about to give up on the cast and reel in, the subtle and yet obvious “heartbeat” ticks I felt on the Cashion John Crews series Worming Rod let me know to drive that hook, and I could tell immediately that this was the good upgrade I needed. For the first time all weekend I grabbed the Yakattack Leverage net, thinking about the previous days end and determined to not repeat that mistake! This 16.25” bass was just what I needed to replace that tiny 12.5” bass.

The reality sinks in

With my last upgrade on day 2 jumping me to 2nd place, I looked at the standings again, and somehow Jody was not doing well and that fish had possibly just secured the title. The adrenaline kicked in during the last half hour of the event when it hit me that if this stands, I just won the Mid-Atlantic Region Angler of the Year!

When the call came from Joe Haubenreich congratulating me on the Mid-Atlantic Angler of the Year victory, I immediately felt a load come off my shoulders. I have been competitively fishing for many years, and have always wanted to land a title simply for personal gratification. This year I invested more time and effort into improving my skills than ever before, and having it pay off in such a major way has been simply amazing!

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Eric Nelson
Professional Kayak Bass Angler

Biography

I was born in Southeastern Massachusetts, where I began fishing for bass when I was in my early teenage years, graduating to competitive bass tournaments in my late 20’s. I moved to North Carolina in 2015 and found the passion for bass fishing from a kayak, and quickly became involved in both the local and national kayak bass tournament scenes. My fishing skills have allowed me to qualify for almost every major event since joining the clubs, be it at a club, state and even national level.

Being a professional in the online web development and design field for publications, I have always used my skills to help promote the clubs and the sport as a whole in my spare time.  I have been a part of the club directors for Cape Cod Bass, and now for Carolina Kayak Anglers, one of the larger kayak clubs in the country. I am also a part of the national KBF tournament advisory board.

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) format has allowed me to travel across the United States, fishing against the best fisherman in the country. Now with the KBF Pro format, and the merging with the FLW organization, I am looking forward to where this adventure takes me in the future.

Highlights

Total Career Earnings - $3,250

Competition Highlights
Inaugural FLW / KBF Cup Championship Qualified 2019 - Hot Springs, AK
KBF National Championship Qualified 2020 - Lake Guntersville, AL
KBF Challenge Championship 2018 - Toledo Bend, LA
2019 KBF National Championship - 57th overall out of 462 anglers - Shreveport, LA
KBF Regional Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - Lake Wheeler, AL
KBF National Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - La Crosse, WI
2nd Place 2018 KBF National Trail - High Rock Lake, NC
2nd Place 2019 - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake, NC
11th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Santee Cooper Lakes, SC
13th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Chickamauga Lake, TN
46th Place 2019 FLW / KBF Cup Qualifier - Nickajack Lake, TN
2nd Place - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake 2019
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass,  2002 - Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass, 2008 - Glenn Charlie Pond, MA