Okbt #5 Charleston lake (Season finale..?)

Just like that, we have arrived at the final event of the scheduled season. Charleston Lake will be the final venue of the season for the OKBT circuit this year, and what a place it is. Clear, deep water with numerous points, islands, shoals, bays, docks, rocks, and weeds. It just looks fishy, but that's an issue all its own. When everything looks good what do you hone in and try to target? I wish I was able to put some time in on the water here before the event but, it is difficult when it is hours from home. As I have been doing all year, I will be looking at Google Maps and Navionics maps to try and find an area that I feel will get overlooked or simply missed altogether. In doing this I have enjoyed a lot of fishing freedom this year rather than piling up on a launch with 20 plus other kayaks all heading out to the same areas, but this would most definitely not be the case this time around as the lake only has a select few accessible spots on it. My launch options might be limited, however, the choices of styles, techniques, and even species to focus on are open for discussion. Going deep and looking for smallies stacked up on some open water structure, or staying shallow and looking for the larger one and a kicker or two, to mix in. Then again it seems like on Charleston you are never far from either. Whether it is small shallow pockets along the shore or island inlets they both seem to always drop off into the abyss.

Getting there was pleasant enough and I had enough time to try and check out some areas where I was hopeful there could be a sneaky launchable area, but unfortunately, there wasn't and after checking the entire northern half of the lake I made the call to pack it in and rig up for how I was planning to fish in the weather that was expected to come. What weather it was...

Day 1 rolled in and I'm up at 330am driving to my launch which was about 30 mins away, not including a Tim's and gas stop. I arrive shortly after 4 am and with the launch pushed back to 530 I don't have to rush around. I can check and double-check, I can set everything up right and start the day smoothly. It seems as though the weather has maintained its unpleasantness and it is still expected to rain most of the day as well as cool down as the day progresses. Nonetheless, I know where I want to start and as long as I can get there first I should be good.
As the clock ticked closer to lines in and I made my way towards my starting point the rains came in, so the rain gear came out and I continued. After about 40 minutes of pedaling, it seemed like I had found myself with some water to myself. As more light showed me more of the area I was in I could see two other kayak anglers in my area but still not bad considering how many I launched with. As lines in time crept closer I still didn't have a target I wanted to cast at, but I was in the general area I wanted to start in. It was a large deep area that had a big submerged shoal that stretched and almost connected two separate islands. So as I made my way there figuring that was the best place I had to start I noticed three structures sticking out of the water. They were the markers of the shoal, placed pretty much in a straight line.
Lines in! To start I had a spinnerbait, a jackall dooon, a whopper plopper, a tube jig, beast coast 1/2oz sniper jig, a wacky rigged yamamotto senko, and a megabass vision oneten. As it was still raining a decent amount I started with throwing the plopper up on top of the shoal bringing it off over the deeper water. The first couple of casts were uneventful, but about 5 casts in a nice blow-up within a foot of the first marker buoy, a 16.75" largemouth bass t-boned the lure and after a quick measurement, photo, and goodbye wave it swam back and I was off to the races early on. Decided to cast a few more times in the hopes that maybe it was part of a school that was coming up on the shoal to eat. But nothing until about 15-20 minutes later, then another nice strike. As I got it to the kayak and eventually the net, I realized it was of the brown variation, a 15.75 smallmouth for the board.

Not knowing a lake and its potential can be a good or bad thing depending on your outlook. I typically try to stay optimistic overall, so with two fish on the board early in rainy windy weather that was going to stick around for at least most of the day, I was feeling pretty good. I remained fishing this transition for a good amount of time. Before I left I noticed a tucked away shallow weedy pocket just off to the side and on the protected side of the point, quickly casting in and bringing the whopper plopper out proved a good choice as another 15.75 smallie came out to play. Three scoreable fish in under an hour and a half for 48.25" and maintaining a decent position. Unfortunately, though it seems like I have made a habit of getting hits early and struggling to upgrade as the days progress.
Having never fished the lake before and with the conditions being as they were I was hopeful that the fishing would be tough for everyone and that just catching my limit it would place me in a good position for the start of day two. That wasn't the case as I would come to find out.
Leaving that shoal after fishing through it and not scoring another bite I was eager and excited. Just across this small channel was another open section of shoreline, and what looked like a nice lineup of docks. So making my way across through the rain I scanned around for any areas I might be missing and I spotted a small bay with a boathouse and dock tucked into a back corner. As I change course and pull in sparse weeds show up and I start fishing. Long casts to the edges of the bay, fan casting my way toward the back. On what was likely my 5th or 6th cast I got crunched right at the end of the cast. The fish comes out of the water and I'm hooked up, it starts dogging down and I work to try and keep it coming to me. It feels considerably larger than the first three. Taking one more dive down it comes off. Being that I am using a med-heavy moderate rod I don't think I had enough power to drive the hooks home from that distance. I'm still unsure as to species, though I want to say I know it was a pike, I just can't be certain. Nevertheless, I still had to find two more to fill out my limit and then look for upgrades, so I proceeded to finish my crossing and check out those docks. I got to the other side and started casting towards the shoreline. While I was only 15 or 20 feet from shore I was still in 40 feet of water. It wasn't until I was about 5 feet from shore that it got shallow, going from 20-25 feet to 5 or 6 feet almost instantly. I started throwing the topwater primarily, but started to integrate the jackall dooon and the wacky rigged Senko near and under things like docks and laydowns as I came up to them. The rain persisted and the bites didn't show up as I had hoped. I did manage a couple of unders relating to docks but nothing scoreable for quite some time. It was starting to look like I had run out of luck. I felt like I was in good locations, just not connecting. When I would, it would come up just shy of the 12-inch minimum. I was rotating through baits but always kept the top-water on due to the continued rain. I would eventually leave that area after having wasted at least 2 ½ hours trying to force some quality out of it there. I quickly checked Navionics for some sort of heading and started heading south down the lake to a point that stuck further into the main channel than anywhere in the surrounding area. It also had a long underwater continuation of that point that dropped off into deeper water well off the bank it seemed like it should hold fish so that was the next spot.

There was a slight increase in the wind at times throughout the day so I fished my way from the point out along this finger until it dropped off but as I got further out the topwater wasn't working as well in the now-formed waves, so I had resorted to throwing a vision oneten plus one and the spinnerbait. I managed yet again several unders and as I got out to the tip casting into the deeper water and retrieving back into the point the one ten got smashed. I instantly knew this fish would score! It came up once to jump and eventually found its way into the net and onto the bump board. A 16 inch fat largemouth! More of that please.
The wind had pushed me off course as I dealt with the needle-like treble hooks and the mess they make in nets. Pedaling back I had my side image going and I noticed that just off the point there is what looks like a bait ball sitting about 6 or 7 feet down about 2 or 3 feet in size. I don't see any larger marks but I'm sure that is what had that fish in the area. So I position again and fire away. First cast nothing, second cast nothing. I move more to the outside edge of the point and fire away and not a quarter of the way back I get hammered again. No jumps but this feels even better and sure enough it's a nice 16.75 inch largemouth. I feel like I might have found something here, if I can upgrade my smaller fish and maybe land a kicker in the 19-20 inch range I could be set up nicely for day two. I make my way back to my previous track and start casting out again. I continued to fish through this school of largies for about 45 minutes or so but I couldn't get anything to upgrade. The largest after that 16.75 was 15.50. Still it let me know that there were other things at play apart from a shallow topwater deal. It was now knocking down the door of 130pm and I had covered some serious ground starting from the north end of the lake and somehow fishing my way down into the southern half so I had about 4 plus km to go to get back to the ramp. I started fishing my way back, there are still numerous islands, shoals, bays and points I could hit along the way.
Due to the start time being pushed back because of daylight hours, the tournament runs until 330 and, as I have learned in previous tournaments it's not over until the board closes for submissions, I make it a point to check back at the spot where I had lost that fish earlier in the day. If it was a bass it was a nice one and definitely one I wanted but no luck there. The rest of the day saw two more 14-inch fish and a couple of unders but nothing to help me. As time rolled over I pushed out into the open water and made a beeline back to the launch.
I finished up day 1 with 81 inches with the two 16.75 inches being my biggest on the day. Looking at the leaderboard board though it was clear that while I had good numbers, there were people out there that were on a way bigger class of fish and if I wanted to be competitive I would have to change it up for day two.

DAY TWO!



As the clock ticked over it was very evident that today was going to be a different kind of day. The wind had already picked up and the temperature outside had already plummeted. I decided to switch things up and launch from the other end of the lake. After fishing all day yesterday and only hooking one potential 18-plus fish, a change of area gives me new water to explore and hopefully a better class of fish.
I arrived later than I wanted but I was still able to get on the water with plenty of time before lines in. Given how much the wind had picked up it made my selection of areas a little smaller, I was sticking to the backside of islands and points that would break the wind and allow me better control of my kayak. I would still be able to cast into and access the wind-blown areas and in my experience fishing those situational breaks can be very beneficial. I was looking to get out to a cluster of islands as I figured it would not only provide cover from the wind but structure as well. In and around the islands was fairly productive the day before so hopefully it is just as productive on day two in this new area. The lake itself remained fairly consistent at this end as well, clear and deep with steep breaks tight to shore. As the clock turned to 630 I was tucked in a small cove on the backside of an island out of the wind, there was a point on either side and despite having what seemed like all the right things, I left with nothing on the board. I threw a lot there. I started with a crankbait, a rapala dt 14 to cover the points as I came in, and once again as I was leaving. I threw a jerk bait, megabass vision oneten plus 1 in the main channel coming into the small cove, and a spinnerbait jackall dooon along the shore, and once it got shallower than 6 feet. After that, I even resorted to throwing a drop shot with a Berkley flat worm just outside the cove off the first main drop-off but still nothing. Crossing a small straight into a nearby bay I marked a couple of fish in 30-ish feet near the bottom but the wind and waves would have made staying on those fish fairly impossible, so I made a mental note but kept moving. Once I got to the bay I check the shallow water first. I figured if I was able to get something going with a jerkbait or spinnerbait that would let me cover a lot more water throughout the day which has helped me to stay consistent this season. After 20 or 30 mins still no success. I moved just off the first main break into 22-27 feet, and started with the drop-shot. It wasn't long and I was hooked up, except the jerkbait I had just been throwing was longer than this fish there are a ton of this year class in this lake. As I came into the deeper area, more into the 27-foot range I got hit again but it felt drastically different, which is painful to say being that once it hit the bump board it measured out to be a 12.50 inch smallmouth. Not what I was hoping to find but there is still a lot of time to put something together.
I drifted that line another 3 or 4 times and only managed a bunch more 4-6 inch bass so I left in search of what I needed.
I came back out into the channel and turned to head between the next set of islands and I slowed and threw a rapala dt 14 around the first break and a megabass vision oneten plus 2 around there as well but I kept moving the entire time set on making it up to a spot I highlighted on Navionics just up a little further. Once I got to this area I spent some time covering water with my fish finder, especially in downview, and spotted what looked like a pod of fish in about 26 to 28 feet. The nice thing about this spot was I had an island to my north, south, and west and an extended point on the east, there was just enough wind to allow me to drift and cover water that way while dragging a dropshot and still accurately steer my kayak and keep it on the line I wanted. The first drift was uneventful, but on the second drift no sooner did I mark the small school before I was hooked up. A stocky 15 inch smallmouth up from the depths still not quite the caliber I was hoping for but the first objective is always to catch a limit. On the very next drift, I hooked up again this time slightly smaller, measuring 13 inches. I am hoping that either the repetitive action calls over some bigger fish or that I can weed through them and pull out some better sizes. As I drifted over again I got hit and it felt a little better. I get it beside the kayak but out of reach of the net and it is a smallmouth in the 16-17 inch range but it is barely hooked. I try to play it light but it dives back down only to come up right away, jump and throw the hook. Unfortunate, but a part of it. I move down again and start to drift up and hook up with another 13 smallie that finds its way in, and just like that the wind switched directions and the bite died.
I decided to go try another area not knowing if the wind was going to switch back. I have 4 fish at this point 12.50, 13, 13, and 15. Not where I was hoping to be as 1:30pm came around, but I am covering new water and I could stumble into something. I fished hard for the last 2 hours and tried to limit out but it wasn't in the cards, and for the first time this season, I didn't fill my limit. I wanted to finish in the top 20 and I would feel confident that I would have qualified for the classic but I found myself coming up short by a bunch finishing down in 37th. Once the AOY points get shaken up I don't know where I'll be. With the classic being my main goal for the season it was a nervous drive to the awards where they announce who qualified. Either way it shakes out it has been one heck of a season, and I'm still learning, adapting, and working to refine my tournament fishing tactics and habits. It's crazy to think that with only one day of pre-fishing this season I would even be close to where I am in points and how I placed this year. I think I keep it kind of bare bones, and not by choice, but I'm excited to see what happens in the future and what kinds of upgrades can be made in the off-season, as the drive to compete grows and hopefully, my abilities as an angler grow as well.

As always, thank you to the great anglers that come out to these events. It's always such a blast and an enjoyable experience being around such like minded and passionate anglers. Thank you to the people who put in all the work to organize and run these events. It is because of people like you that this sport continues to grow and get better and bigger every year. And lastly, thank you to the sponsors that support the OKBT and Ontario Kayak Bass Nation. We are so fortunate to have the best companies in the sport fishing world supporting us and helping us maximize our time on the water, making us more proficient anglers. Being a leader of innovation and quality in their respective product areas, you can be assured that if they are on the OKBT Banner or website, they are top tier.