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Anthony Garcia is a well accomplished kayak angler from Southern California that has won several kayak tournaments and is now on his way to the Worlds Kayak Team Championship in South Africa in 2025 to compete as a USA Team member.
WB: How long of a drive was it to Lake Murray?
Anthony Garcia: It was a 36-hour drive from Los Angeles, CA to Columbia, SC which is basically the main town closest to Lake Murray. I left on a Sunday morning. Basically, I drove through the night. My goal was to drive to Amarillo, TX. I got there just around 2:00 AM. I slept for 3 hours and then continued to drive until I got to my Airbnb around 3:00 AM in the morning on Tuesday. So basically, I drove to Columbia, SC in two days. I tried getting my dad to go with me and a few other friends, but they couldn't get time off of work. So, I made the drive solo. And yeah, it was a was a long drive.
WB: How was your first day of practice and what did you find?
Anthony Garcia: The first day of practice was Tuesday, I slept in that day because I arrived at Airbnb late. I didn't want to burn myself out by not getting enough sleep. So, I got on the water close to noon, and then basically fished until dark. I went into practice thinking that the fish were going to be in the middle of the spawn. I found that the fish were not done with the spawn; however, there were more postponed fish than spawners. I planned to throw the glide bait just because of the draw power. The glide bait will show you where the bigger females are located during the spawn. I was beating the bank with the glide bait, and I had a few followers. I hooked into a 20” bass, it had to be within like the first half hour from launching. You don't want to beat up all your fish, so I skipped the rest of that bank. Even though it's 5 days out from the tournament, I would skip a little bit of bank and then start up again. I would continue to get chasers and ended up catching 7 on the glide bait. I was pretty stoked on day one of practice. I kind of knew it was going to take a big bag to win the tournament just because it’s Lake Murray.
WB: What kind of glide bait were you throwing?
Anthony Garcia: I was throwing the Deps Code Name Bass; it has a wide glide. The KGB Crappie, KGB legend and their new Spro KGB all have chopping action. The hook up to land ratio on these baits is pretty bad. I figured out pretty early that the bass hated the KGB crappie because it looks exactly like a crappie.
WB: What was the key to the areas that you located fish?
Anthony Garcia: I had launched on all spectrums of Lake Murray, from the far North to the South end. I figured out that on the Southern end of the lake was the best for size, it has the docks with deeper water under them. When I say deeper docks, the docks were from the bank to about 20-feet deep. I fished some shallower docks and couldn’t find the better fish compared to the deeper docks that had 17 to 20” bass. I knew that there was a higher probability of catching bigger fish on the deeper docks. I had found out that the bass that would follow the glide bait and not commit, I was able to use a drop shot and catch those fish. On the third day of practice, I found that the drop shot was the deal and was going to be a key factor catching the fish showing themselves. During practice, I didn't see anybody throwing a drop shot. I did see people throwing a lot of big top water baits and giant wake baits.
WB: Tell us about your day one of the tournament.
Anthony Garcia: I launched on the southern end of the lake, knowing that I was going to need at least 94 to 95 a day to stay in contention. I caught a 19 within the first 10 minutes on one of my waypoints, an area where I had shaken off a fish during practice. I was already on cloud 9 sticking a 19”. Although nobody was catching anything that I could see, with the amount of boat pressure in the area, I knew it was going to hinder the bite that I had found. And it did. I had a live scope on my kayak, and I could see the fish that were sitting on the dock pilings. I would throw the glide bait in there, then, throw the drop shot in there, the bass wouldn't even move from where they were sitting. I was still able to scrounge up 90 inches, which I did not think was good enough to be in contention at Lake Murray. Surprisingly, I was in the lead after day one. It was tough for everybody, the only other person to break 90 inches on day one was the angler in second place. Lines out was at 3:00 PM and the last submission was at 4:00 PM. I was nervous waiting for the last submission to see if I was going to maintain that lead or not. I was very surprised and thankful that I was able to maintain the lead on day one.
WB: What was your game plan for Day 2?
Anthony Garcia: Because of all the pressure on day one, there were a lot of areas I couldn't even access because other anglers were fishing. The anglers that were there didn't know about the glide bait deal. I saw some of them fishing where I wanted to fish, and it looked like they were throwing Chatter baits and Senko. Right next to the ramp, there was a small stretch of rock piles that I had seen fish on the live scope during practice. But I arrived too late on day one. There were too many people around to efficiently fish in that area on day one. I decided that I was going to hit that on day two first thing in the morning, that was going to be my starting spot. It was literally like 100 yards from the ramp. But I knew if I didn't finish it early in the morning, I wasn't going to be able to fish it at all because of all the pleasure boats and anglers. It was freaking hard for me to sleep after day one just because leading the tournament is pretty nerve racking. I was very excited to get out there on day two and fish that small stretch of rock piles next to the ramp. My first fish was a 19 ½. I was super stoked! I knew if I didn't finish that rock pile in the morning, I was not going to catch that fish. But I was able to make the right decision that morning. I caught a 12 ½" soon after and then didn't get bit for the next hour. It was a little nerve racking with no bites for an hour after putting up 90 inches on day one. Then I lost the next 6 fish in a row and started to question myself about my drop shot rig set up. It was noon before I boated my third fish, and the tournament ended at 3:00. I was running out of time. I proceeded to one of the waypoints where I had marked a good glide bait fish. I immediately caught my 4th fish. After that 4th fish, I mellowed out a little bit. I still needed to hustle up and catch one more fish to have a chance of placing in the top 6 to qualify for the USA team. I moved to the cove that I couldn't get into on day one. Being able to get in that cove was the deal maker. As soon as I went into the cove, I caught an 18” fish. This was my fifth fish, and I was stoked! I think I had like 85 inches, I was happy as one could be. It calmed the nerves down. After reaching my limit, I started to fish calmer and was able to cull up. I culled up four times that afternoon. I ended with 95 1/2 inches, stuck an 18 or 19” on the glide in that same cove. And then I stuck a 19 ½" on the drop shot. With 30 minutes left in the day, I went back to the rock piles where I started my day and caught a 19” and a 17”. I had 95 1/2 inches on day two that solidified the win for me at Lake Murray.
WB: Since you won the USA Team qualifying event, explain what's next?
Anthony Garcia: My main goal was to make the USA Team to represent the United States of America for the Pan American Championship. On the last week of September of 2024, the Pan American Championship will be held back on Lake Murray. There, we will be competing against 11 or 12 different countries. Also, I qualified for the USA Team in 2025 to compete in South Africa for the Worlds Team event. This is going to be an amazing event. We're going to be competing against several other countries. My goal is to do well in South Africa. Next year in 2025 should be a pretty epic year as long as everything goes to plan.
It is going to be a pretty busy year in 2025 from a fishing standpoint. I have some crazy things in the works. In 2025, I am trying to make all the right business decisions and partnerships to where I am able to basically chase the elite qualification via Bassmaster Opens and qualify for the elites- that's the goal. I am planning on committing to fishing all nine events for the EQ next year. If there's any partnership opportunities that anybody wants to shoot my way, I'm all ears. I am going to chase the dream. I'm 27 years old, I have a supportive family and girlfriend with a bunch of friends backing me up. It is going to be a full-time fishing deal. My life is going to be fishing, this will be my job next year. I am looking for a boat company to partner up with and see if we can get a boat for the EQ next year that I could exclusively run for the EQ. I’ll station or stage that boat in the East Texas area. I’ll still have a boat in Southern California so I could fly back. My plan is to guide in Southern California during the off time from the Bassmaster Opens EQ events. Right now, is the best time to make the dream come true with the giant support system we have, I think, we might be able to get it done.
Anthony Garcia You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DdnrW_u5hU
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