Online kayak fishing tournaments have been a way for anglers to compete and fish for bass on their own time and for the most part on their favorite lakes for many years. Unlike live events, the anglers may never see each other during the duration of the competition as there are numerous smaller lakes and ponds throughout the area they fish.
Some anglers find what is termed a “honey hole” that holds numerous big fish and repeatedly fish it adding to their score while other anglers might fish several different lakes to fill their card. There are usually a couple or more scores over 100” on the best five bass. Here in Nebraska it’s very common to see several bass over 20 inches and sometimes, even a 21 inch or two caught in a monthly online contest. There is no limit to how long or how many days an angler can fish. Many anglers will go out after work on a weekday or sometimes spend their Saturday hunting for those big bass that lurk in their waters. Most of the successful fishing spots are kept secret by the anglers so that they can continue to fish them throughout the season.
Participation has been very high in the past but it seems that lately there has been a decline in numbers of anglers participating. There may be numerous factors affecting this decline including available time to fish, budget restraints, and even discouragement from the same anglers finishing at the top month after month. Whatever the reason for this decline we felt there was another way to generate a renewed interest in online derbies.
Thus, the Nebraska 5 bass/5 lakes Challenge emerged with 23 anglers signing up for this past month. September bass fishing in Nebraska can be challenging at times as fish transition from their summer patterns. This could mean moving from deeper water to shallow areas, or moving back to flats and shallow structure.
For the most part, we had great weather and anglers gave a valiant effort exploring new waters as they could only submit one bass per lake fished. Of course, if they caught a bigger one it was permissible to cull the smaller bass out. Some anglers traveled moderate distances while others stayed close to home.
The competition was fierce throughout the month with anglers trading places in the standings daily. This derby was merely a test run of something new and different with a low entry fee. We had an out of state judge so that we would have impartiality and fishing spots would not be compromised when judging.
In visiting with some of the anglers they found this event very challenging yet a lot of fun. Most discovered new fishing areas and capitalized on areas that had not seen as much pressure this season. It came down to the final day and even hours as the standings “see-sawed” back and forth between the anglers. It’s not easy to find five big bass from five different lakes yet many of these anglers found some of those “unicorns” with Lincoln’s, Pat Lassek leading the charge!
We had 12 bass submitted that were over 20 inches long and four of those were over 21 inches! I was fortunate to land a 21.5 inch monster early in the month and added a couple over 20 inches later on. We had another 11 bass submitted that were 19 inches or longer. We had two “Century Mark” anglers with Pat Lassek putting up 101 inches and myself with 100.5. Chung Pham who is always in the hunt for winning tournaments was third with 99.25 inches. The “Fish Whisperer” Andy Moore made a huge move the past couple days and finished in fourth with 97.75 inches. Tyler Alexander also made a nice jump coming in fifth with 96.25 inches.
For me, the experience was the most fun I’ve had in awhile with an online challenge. I pretty much threw my confidence bait and caught all of my big fish on the Neko Rig. Most of my trips included using the Hobie Lynx kayak with no sonar. It was an “old school” month with no motor, sonar, and used pedal or paddle power to find and catch fish.
A few fishing tips that helped these anglers with their success included fishing numerous area lakes and covering as much water as possible. Sticking with a few trusted lures and colors that have worked for them in the past and keeping things simple. Fishing your confidence baits consistently can produce some great results. Looking for structure that hold the bigger bass ready to ambush anything that moves in their area and fishing those areas that have receding patches of vegetation.
We want to thank all of the anglers who participated! It’s not easy to find five big bass on five different lakes! We also want to thank Joshua Boothe for judging the fish. If you are looking for a judge for your events look no further!
Here are the payouts for the event:
1st-Pat Lassek-$253 (and a plaque)
2nd-Marty Hughes-$151.80
3rd-Chung Pham-$101.50
Online results: Nebraska 5 bass/5 Lakes Challenge
This event is not easy but still incredibly fun! It was pretty cool to cross paths with other anglers on some of the lakes too!
Stay tuned for future plans of this event for 2026!
