2016 Eastslope Kayak Fishing Tournament

[RavYak]

Just a heads up/reminder that the 2016 Eastslope Kayak Fishing Tournament is being held this weekend at Battle Lake.

Anyone that has previously gone knows it is a good time and a well run event.

If anyone wants details about the event they can be found on the website.

https://eastslopekayakfishingclassic...com/2016-ekfc/

Good luck and see you guys there.

[TrophyAngler]

I will be participating in this event. See you guys out in the water!!

[deerguy]

Should be a good time. Have been to a few and my dad has been to all but one. However they scheduled the tournament during euro cup for some reason so we will be sitting this year out. I imagine those going will have a blast tho.

[RavYak]

I just got back from the event. I believe there were 43 anglers and 17 teams. Fishing was tough as most people could only catch small pike(had to be legal size to count) but I managed to catch my limit(25.5, 26 and 26) which was good enough for 2nd place individual and my teammate got a 26.25 which placed us 3rd for the team.

For my 2nd place finish I got an awesome tent donated by Valhalla Pure Outfitters. It is a Slingfin Crossbow 2 Mesh 3 season tent. For our team finish we got 15% of the team pot which ended up being $50 each.



http://www.slingfin.com/store/Tents/...rossbow_2_mesh

As always Mike(tournament director) had a bunch of great prizes and everyone got a prize event though roughly 2/3 of the anglers were unable to get on the board. There was also a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 130X given away as a door prize.

For those that missed out this year keep your eyes on the event for next year, it is always a good time.

Here were my pike, nothing special but they got the job done.

[waterninja]

Congrats on those wins, Rav, and congrats to everyone who could make it out this year. Sounds like it was a good turnout.

[Talking moose]

Congrats! No walleye being caught?

[deerguy]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

Congrats! No walleye being caught?

I believe Walleyes can't count as there is no possession for them. Photos count as possession.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by deerguy

I believe Walleyes can't count as there is no possession for them. Photos count as possession.

Correct. Quite a few anglers caught walleye and a few nice ones as well like the one below. The walleye can't count for the tournament though the way AEP regulates fishing tournaments.

[aulrich]

This was the first time I soft water fished the lake, and though it was a tough day I do like the lake. Considering the water started at 68deg it is not surprising it was a real struggle to find keepers, I have found that somewhere between 65-68 the big girls disappear deep.

But the big thig is the amount of forage I saw, and it really showed in the health of the walleye, I had my best day for quality walleye I my life.

I landed somewhere between 30-40 fish and not a keeper in the bunch, between the 58-60cm pike and walleye, I guess there is always next year.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by aulrich

But the big thig is the amount of forage I saw, and it really showed in the health of the walleye, I had my best day for quality walleye I my life.

Yeah the combination of all the minnows and high fishing pressure and limits is what made things tough. The few bigger fish in there(and even some of the smaller ones) were picky and I only found a couple lures that worked semi consistently.

[aulrich]

As I understand it most folks cnr the walleye but I bet that does change once it ices up. For being a long weekend I didn't see much for traffic. Personally as I am not a big fan of the 63 cm minimum, I would rather see a slot 63-75 or so, and put anything over 100 on a 1 tag a year.


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[RavYak]

Originally Posted by aulrich

As I understand it most folks cnr the walleye but I bet that does change once it ices up. For being a long weekend I didn't see much for traffic. Personally as I am not a big fan of the 63 cm minimum, I would rather see a slot 63-75 or so, and put anything over 100 on a 1 tag a year.


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There was well over 100 anglers out there on Saturday. On the south end you couldn't go 100 meters without having to dodge another kayak or a boat... That is quite a bit of pressure for a small lake like that.

I agree with a slot size on these lakes. That would allow for a few more breeders to survive and keeps a few bigger predators in the system which is needed as well.

[aulrich]

To really know you would have to go late May early June or just before turnover .

Even in low pressure lakes like Dory the big fish get very scarce after the water warms up, I have seen it happen overnight.

The steep banks make it an odd place to fish, I was yo-yo' a lipless for the most part, but caught on spoons , jerkbaits , plain old rapala minnow and even dead sticking a pickerel rig.

I made a couple of cross lake trips and I was marking fish and tons of bait all through the water column.

if we ever go back there I will spend some time towing a one of my 7" deep runners along those steep edges


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[RavYak]

Originally Posted by aulrich

To really know you would have to go late May early June or just before turnover .

Even in low pressure lakes like Dory the big fish get very scarce after the water warms up, I have seen it happen overnight.

The steep banks make it an odd place to fish, I was yo-yo' a lipless for the most part, but caught on spoons , jerkbaits , plain old rapala minnow and even dead sticking a pickerel rig.

I made a couple of cross lake trips and I was marking fish and tons of bait all through the water column.

if we ever go back there I will spend some time towing a one of my 7" deep runners along those steep edges


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All these small lakes close to town are the same. Battle, Wizard, Devils etc. Battle might have a few bigger ones just because it is one of the few ones that actually has tons of food for them to be picky though. I don't fish there much but the few times I have it has always been the same for me with small pike and some decent walleye.

I had my limit by 10:30 so spent a large portion of the rest of the day looking for a big pike to upgrade with. I tried everything I could think of even trolling deep in the middle of the lake, casting big spoons in shallows and of course trolling a variety of big lures along the dropoffs but only caught a small pike and a decent walleye on the bigger lures.

On small lakes like this it doesn't take that many anglers to pressure it. Just think if we would have been keeping them our little tournament would have taken out more then 20 fish in the one day. Guaranteed some of the boats were having luck and taking some home too.

[aulrich]

I hear you, but I still lean towards tricky vs dead but with that forage base I will give you , under performing. I would like to know what king of minnows those were in the weeds ( fry whitefish?) Clear lake south of Calgary could use some of them.


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[RavYak]

Full official results for anyone interested.

https://eastslopekayakfishingclassic...lts/2016-ekfc/