Smallies on the Mac!

The Sticks-Nebraska Kayak Anglers hold state championship on Nebraska's largest lake!

It’s always a treat for me to travel and fish in the western part of Nebraska. This is where I spent more than half my life enjoying the outdoors and serving as a teacher and coach. It’s also where the inception of the modern era of kayak fishing started at Rock Creek Lake near Parks. This particular trip would take us to Lake McConaughy also know as “Big Mac.” It’s the largest reservior in the state at over 35,000 acres. It is mainly used for irrigation purposes and is one of the top tourism spots for water sports in Nebraska. Most of the tourists are weekenders from Colorado who love to spend time on the white sandy beaches.

The purpose of this trip was to compete in The Sticks-Nebraska Kayak Anglers Nebraska State Kayak Championship. It was a two day event with each day serving as a separate points contest for the Angler of the Year standings with the total points after two days counting for the individual tournament. Sounds complicated but it was really simple to follow along. Going into these final two events I was sitting in the top spot but there were still 14 other anglers who could make a run at that spot as well. I would need a top four finish to secure the title but that would a huge challenge in this field of top notch kayak anglers. Nebraska has some of the best anglers in the country and they are all gritty, resilient, and highly skilled when it comes to catching bass.

The weather forecast looked good for the week as I departed a couple days early to get some practice and attempt to figure out the puzzle and break down the lake. It didn’t take long to catch some “ditch pickle” sized smallies which are prevalent here. Big Mac is well known for it’s trophy walleye population. There are some football sized smallies and chunky largemouth in these waters though. Alewife are the main forage with crawfish being a delicacy for the smallies.

My experiences in past trips here were mainly for trout on the Ogallala lake below the dam but have also fished the main lake a few times as well for walleye back in the day. With the lake sitting at a very low level most of the rocky points were exposed and it looked as though the smallies were in a little deeper water. What I found was that some would pull up to feed in the shallow rocks for crawfish. I discovered this after catching them and most of them would spit up a claw or pieces of crawfish. You could also see a full belly with crawfish antenna’s sticking out of the stomach. One thing about these smallies is they can really put on a show when hooked. Most would dart for the deeper water but when they came up it was a huge leap in the air!

After scouting a few main points and running along the dam I set up some way points for the tournament. I went to the west end only to find it very shallow and not much activity there. During practice I would end up catching seven species of fish. Channel cats, bluegill, walleye, drum, smallmouth, largemouth, and rock bass.

Daily temps were in the 70’s to 80’s with night temperatures dropping to the 50’s and even down to the high 40’s on the second day of the competition. On day one of practice the wind came up after a very calm morning which sent us off the lake as the rollers were over three feet and lots of white caps. The second day of practice also had a few hours of wind but for the most part a lot was accomplished in figuring out the pattern.

Day 1 of the tournament had me launching near the dam at the first cove called “Spillway Bay.” There were two other anglers that pulled up to the beach there as well. The boat ramp was well out of the water so we were nearly halfway out into the bay on dry land. It was a cool morning with the wind out of the northwest. We launched in the darkness with a glimpse of first light. It only took me about 6 minutes to get to my first spot so I waited it out for the first cast at 6 a.m. Once it was time for lines in I started casting and there were no bites for a few minutes. I went to my downsized bait and sure enough started getting bites from some of the smaller fish. We knew it would be a grinder as most of us only caught one or two nicer smallies in practice. It wasn’t until 7:33 a.m. when I caught my first keeper at 14.5 inches. That was a huge relief catching that first fish. It established a pattern and I stuck with that bait for the day. At 7:48 I landed a plump 15 incher. I would catch several smaller bronze fish and when the sun came up over the rocks the bite seemed to die off. I took off for divers bay to check the docks with no luck and there were already two other anglers there. I didn’t have any company on the dam so I thought it would be okay to leave and come back later. I ended up going back to the dam and right away hooked into a feisty 16.25 smallie at around 9:30 a.m. I checked the leader board and it looked like most of the other anglers were also struggling to catch a limit. I just kept casting and moving along the rocks trying different retrieves until I would get a bite. It seemed that if I would dead stick the bait I would get bit more. After not getting bit for a period of time I decided to make the trek back to the docks and then further west to a main point I had found some smallies in practice. Sure enough, when I got to the point I used my livescope and found three fish right below me in about 12 feet of water. I let a drop shot down and got bit right away. The 15.75 smallie peeled line and I didn’t know if this one would make it to the net. I got it in after a few short runs and felt confident that I could get a fifth fish with the time remaining. It was about noon when I got back to the dam and right away hooked into a 16.25 inch smallie. What a relief! After looking at the leaderboard I found myself in second place and feeling very confident of a top 5 finish for the day. Another angler would move up and I would move around from second to fifth most of the day. At this point I had achieved two of my goals. 1. Catch a fish. 2. Get a limit. And then I got my third goal with a 16.25 inch upgrade. This would put me in a solid third place clinching the AOY title on Day 1 of the tournament. It was quite a day catching 58 smallies but most of them were in the 6-10 inch range. It was a huge relief going into Day 2 where I could concentrate on moving into one of the top 2 spots.

On Day 2 I launched from the same spot with one other angler. The morning was even cooler and I daunted a jacket to stay warm. Fog was coming off the lake and the scene made it feel like fall was already here.

The bite started out very slow again and I didn’t catch my first keeper until 7:53 a.m. almost 2 hours into the tournament. It would be another hour before I would catch the next keeper that was my biggest fish so far at 17 inches! I thought it was a giant with the way it fought. My mindset was on winning but when I checked the leader board eventual champion Pat Lassek had found some big fish once again on Day 2 and would pull away with a comfortable lead. I was sitting in fourth and needed four more fish to stay in the check range. The wind came up from the southeast but near the dam it was a bit calmer. I just kept grinding moving up and down the face of the dam casting my bait. I caught fish after fish but most were really small. At 9 a.m. I finally hooked into my 2nd fish. It was another nice 17 inch smallie! I now had two really good fish going into the second half of the day. Another hour went by with no bigger fish. Then at 10:45 I hooked into another nice one at 16 inches. It seemed like for every 15 small fish I would get a bite from a a decent one. It would be another hour plus before I would hook into another fish and this one felt like a giant! With 8 lb. fluoro and a very small profile bait I thought it might get away but the rig held up and I landed a 17.50 football!

At this point I was sitting in third place behind Lassek and Dan Rehbein who was nearby. Dan was having a great day and already had his limit. He had a two and half inch lead on me and I need just one fish to take over second. Again, I just put my head down and kept casting. I finally got a better hookup and to my delight it was a keeper! And it barely made the cut! A 12 inch smallie with a long lower tail! A tournament tail! I felt a ton of weight go off my shoulders as I now had a limit. This moved me into a solid second place. Little did I know that finesse expert, Jay Muller who was also about a quarter mile north of me would hook up and get his fourth fish in the last hour and a nice upgrade in the last minute to take over second place.

I was still pleased with my finish. I fished hard for two days catching a lot of smallies. This day I would put 74 smallies in the boat! With my finish the day before I secured the AOY title and that felt great! I would end up third in the tournament winning $425. I also won a Newport NK300 motor and battery for the AOY title. Pat Lassek would take the individual title and pretty much ran away with it. Pat is a hammer and the 2024 State Champion.

2024 Nebraska Kayak Anglers-AOY