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First, Clear Lake is amazing fishing! The big fish are biting, and anglers are catching. Matthew Brannon wins with an impressive 5 fish limit going 104.00” This is a 26.5 lb. 5 fish limit out of a kayak. Matthew Brannon’s game plan and execution helped him win the first Sandbaggers tournament. Brannon launched north and fished docks with grass and in 3 to 4 feet of water.
“Everything I caught was on a chatter bait.” said Brannon, “I only caught 9 bass for the 21 hours of fishing but caught around 20 catfish.”
“I was throwing an ½ ounce Jack Hammer in Bret's Hot Craw paired with Kickin Zacko in blue craw.” said Brannon, “Seemed like the paddle tail worked better than the forked tail trailer.”
Brannon observed that the fish had moved from the deep rock piles towards the bank. It seemed the fish followed the bait that had moved shallow.
“A month ago, I caught them good on offshore rock piles but couldn’t get a bite.” said Brannon, “I never got a bite out deep, so I just went shallow and found them.”
“The key to get my bites was to slow roll the chatter bait as slow as I could.”
Brannon would hear the bass popping in the back of the cover near the shore and would use several different lures but never got a bite.
“I went all the way to Rodman Slough and found some great looking structure.” said Brannon, “Everything looked so good, but the fish were only in a few very specific locations.”
Brannon practiced south lake but had found the better fish were on the north end. He fished early in the morning and then in the evening and through the night.
Brannon said, “I love to fish at night at Clear Lake, it has been some of my best fishing in the past.”
Brannon thanked his wife for always being there, for her support and for keeping him positive and motivated. Brannon also thanked his sponsors AFTCO, Torqeedo, Kayak City, Dakota Lithium, and Hobie.
Abel Patino placed in second with 102.00” for his 5 fish limit that weighed in at 24.80 lbs. Patino too fished the North end of Clear Lake for his spectacular limit. Patino fished from 5 AM on Saturday to around 2 PM and then re-launched for the evening bite.
“I tried some back waters but only caught one.” said Patino, “So I moved out to the main lake area.”
Patino tried several different lures and found that the jig was his key to the larger fish.
“Once I found that the jig caught the bigger fish, I tied it to my hand.” said Patino, “I fished the jig at every dock piling and hard structure I came across.”
After a short nap from 2 PM to 5 PM, Patino launched for the evening bite.
“I culled a few fish during the evening bite.” said Patino, “My largest bass of the tournament came right before dark, it was 22.50”.”
Patino got off the water around 10 PM and returned to the water at 5 AM on Sunday.
“Once the sun came up, I caught a 21” that helped cull me up.” said Patino, “This put me at 100”.”
Patino focused on hard structure both days with a jig and a ned rig. He worked in the same area both days for his 102.00”.
Patino thanked Headwaters Adventures for his PA 14 360 Kayak, Bioenno Battery, and the New Port 180.
Gilbert Garcia finished in third with 99.00”. Garcia fished the south area of Clear Lake for his impressive limit. Garcia fished for 24 hours during the allotted time of 34 hours available. Garcia caught his fish on a variety of lures which included chatter bait, LV 500 and a Texas rig worm.
“I caught a limit by 9 AM on Saturday but only had a few nice fish.” said Garcia, “I made a move to a new launch ramp and quickly caught a few larger bass.”
Garcia returned to the ramp at 2 PM to charge his batteries and rehydrate. He decided to launch at a new ramp which ended up being the right choice for a few more decent fish. He fished until around midnight and then returned to the ramp for some sleep and to recharge his batteries. The next morning, he launched at his second ramp on day one.
“I fished to this point where I caught a nice keeper on a chatter bait.” said Garcia, “I thought I had a catfish but once it jumped, I knew it was a nice bass.”
“While fighting the fish I dropped the net into the water and had to fumble for the net while the fish was jumping.” said Garcia, “I was lucky to land this fish.” “It was my big fish a 22.00” bass.”
Garcia found a hump offshore where there was some grass. He threw an LV500 and immediately caught a nice fish, but it didn’t help his limit. He then made a long cast and caught a 20.25” bass that propelled him to capture 3rd place. Garcia thanked his girlfriend for all her support and help with his kayak tournaments. Garcia thanked his sponsors St. Croix Rods, Simms Fishing and Tackle Shack USA. A special thanks goes out to his boys for all their support and help. A big shout out to James Synder for all his hard work making these tournaments a blast to fish.
Top Ten:
1.Matthew Brannon 104.00”
2. Abel Patino 102.00”
3. Gilbert Garcia 99.00”
4. Daniel Balaba 98.00”
5. Scott Savko 97.50”
6. Greg Blanchard 95.00”
7. Chris Mohawk 94.75”
8. Maximillian Krieg 93.75”
9. Jarrod Herndon 93.00”
10. Sean Beach 92.00”
Big Fish:
Day one: Matthew Brannon 22.25”
Day two: Gilbert Garcia 22.00”
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