A Big Bass Comparison in Nebraska

What do kayak fishing tournament results show?

Recently, we compiled the kayak fishing tournament results of The Sticks-Nebraska Kayak Anglers from across the state and found that Red Willow Lake produced 64% the fish over 20 inches compared to the rest of the lakes and river waters fished across the state of Nebraska. Omaha was second with 16% of the fish over 20 inches. Of bass submitted over 19 inches Red Willow Lake once again had the edge with 35% of the bass caught while Omaha lakes showed 21% of 19+ inch bass submitted. What does this say about the Omaha lakes when compared to outstate lakes such as Red Willow within a club series? What if we include all live kayak fishing tournaments on the Omaha Lakes?

Of course, Omaha lakes are highly pressured compared to those of outstate Nebraska. This could mostly be due to a greater population and easy shoreline access at the Omaha based lakes. To determine if the Omaha Lakes might have the ability to produce big bass like an outstate lake such as Red Willow we compiled the statistics for all kayak fishing tournaments held on the Omaha lakes. Most of these tournaments were a road runner style. One included boat, kayak, or bank fishing. Some were held on just one lake like the “Catch All You Can” derbies. This compilation does not include weeknight cash pots or online monthly tournaments. After compiling the statistics from these tournaments there are several lakes in the Omaha area that have produced numerous bass over 19 inches and a good number of master angler award winning fish.

The lakes that seem to produce the bigger bass included Prairie Queen, Walnut Creek, Wherspahn, Flannagan, and Carter Lake based on the named lakes for each tournament. The largest bass caught during the five year period of these statistics was a 21.5 inch bass turned in by Lucas Engen of Omaha on June 8th of last year. In fact, June 8th seems to be the anomaly for big bass caught during a live tournament with six bass over 20” caught that day and an astonishing 20 bass over 19 inches caught and submitted during the tournament held on that particular date. There were several lakes in play that day and I fished it as well. It was an amazing experience! A number of the anglers were on Carter Lake during that tournament which produced a good number of the larger bass but there were other lakes that produced some large bass that day as well. Why did this happen? Was it the weather? The moon phase? We may never know but one thing is for sure, it was the most 90+ inch limits turned in from one tournament in the same day in the history of kayak fishing for our state! There were six limits of 95 inches or more submitted on TourneyX.com. Red Willow also had one of these banner days on June 25, 2022 where five bass over 20 inches were submitted and 11 over 19 inches on the same day.

Below are the compiled statistics of bass caught over 19 inches and 20 inches in separate columns. There is also a comparison with Red Willow Lake and suprisingley the results are very similar. How can we utilize these statistics for future success in our kayak fishing tournaments? What is the best time of year to fish them? It seems that some lakes go through a cycle where there are big fish one year and the next year they are difficult to find. At least that has been many of our experiences when fishing them.

We do need to give credit to the anglers who keep finding these big bass across our state. Especially from the pressured waters of Omaha lakes. This next year there isn’t a Nebraska based club fishing at Red Willow. There may be a few tournaments in the Omaha area. From what we can see there are big bass in Omaha lakes and across the state as well. Not only can time on the water provide success but also the right time on the water seems to be a big player in the success of an angler catching bass in the 19+ inch range.

Red Willow Lake shows 39 bass over 19” caught while the Omaha Metro Lakes shows 66 bass over 19 inches were caught during the five year period between 2019-2024.

On the other hand the Red Willow average for 19+ inch bass was 19.3” while Omaha showed an average of 19.35” per bass.

There were 28 bass over 20” submitted from Red Willow Lake from 2019-2024 while Omaha lakes had 20 bass over 20” submitted during the same time period.

Red Willow showed a 20.38” average while the Omaha Lakes showed a 20.43 average in length over 20 inches.

Here are two charts below showing the 90+ inch limits submitted between 2019-2024.

When looking at the five fish limits turned in Omaha Lakes have a higher average than its counterpart in the western part of the state. Both have just about the same amount of 90+ inch limits though. Again, June 8, 2024 was certainly a banner day for big limits in Omaha! And if you look at Red Willow, June 25, 2022 had five limits over 90 inches.

With numerous brushing projects happening in the eastern part of the state we may very well see improvement in numbers of fish caught and who knows, maybe a few 22 inch bass as well in live tournaments!