Kayak Adventure Series: Northwoods Bronzequest
By Marty Hughes
The Kayak Adventure Series provides outdoor experiences for the kayak angler who likes to pursue fisheries with a wide variety of scenarios like rivers, creeks, backwaters, and lakes. The Northwoods BronzeQuest provided this and much more for those who made the trek to the Marinette County region recently. Let’s see what the top anglers used for their presentations to catch both bronzebacks and the big green fish that roam these pristine waters.
Eric Scrivner of Northern Minnesota hit the river with six of his eight rods rigged up with various craw imitations and rode the craw bite to a day one lead and an eventual top finish in the individual event.
On day one, Scrivener mentioned, “The early bite was a grind, probably from all the pressure these fish experienced in the week leading up to the tournament. With so many kayak anglers pre fishing the river, it was way more pressure than these fish usually see.” He sought out deeper water with moderate current to target fish that had slid out of the shallows due to the fishing pressure. Dragging a Sleeper Craw through likely areas, Scrivner found plenty of fish including a 19.25” and a 20” smallmouth. He went on to say, “As dusk approached, I moved back to shallow, fast water with a Jackhammer, and found some big fish that had moved up into this area to feed as the light got low—a pair of 20.5” smallies finished the day for me.” On day two, Scrivner fished the same general patterns, but was not able to find big fish in the fast water to start the day. “After grinding the Sleeper Craw and other bottom-contact baits for hours and catching dozens of fish—none of which were big enough for an upgrade—I moved back into the fast water and caught one more 20.5” smallie on the Jackhammer,” said Scrivner. That fish was his only upgrade on day two, but it was enough to get him the win and also nudged his best five fish total over the 100” mark for his final bag.
-Grind Bait: Megabass Sleeper Craw
-Rod: St Croix Legend Tournament 7’3” MH Fast spinning
-Reel: Shimano Vanford C3000XG
-Line: 20 lb Sufix-131 braid to a 15 lb Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader
-Target: channels and troughs with 4-6 feet of water, rock/rubble substrate, and moderate current
-Fast water bait:
-Rod: Shimano Expride B Cast Rod 7'2" MH Glass
-Reel: Shimano Metanium MGL 151HGB 7.1:1
-Line: 30 lb Sufix-131 braid to a 20 lb Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader
-Target: current seams and small eddies in 1-2 feet of water with fast-moving current
James Miller of Indiana threw a “Zaldaingerous” 6 inch shallow swimbait catching a 19.5” smallmouth off of a bridge piling early in the tournament. Miller mentioned, “The rest were caught on a River to Sea Whopper Plopper 130, I covered lots of water and focused on faster current areas that had a mix of grass, wood and rock.” The Swimbait was thrown on a St Croix Victory Marshall and the Plopper on a St Croix Tournament Legend Workhorse rod.
Rus Snyders of Tennessee Fished on the Menomonie River. In the faster water, he fished a 6” Zaldaingerous Swimbait with an Irod Quercus Jr Swim rod and Lew’s Super Duty 300 reel. In the slower water he fished a 6” Trick Shad with an Irod Quercus Toxic Swim rod paired with a Lew’s Hyperspeed reel.
Jordan Westerman of Iowa, well known for his giant smallmouth fishing capabilities continues to shine with a top finish at the KAS Bronzequest. He said, “I was targeting current seams with 4-6” swimbaits using heavier heads to get down in heavy current.”
Westerman used a 4.5” 6th Sense Whale with a 3/4oz jig and a 5” Magdraft 7/16 jig.
Mark Schram of Michigan fished his first KAS event with the Northwoods Bronzequest in Marinette, Wisconsin. He mentioned, “It was a very fun and enjoyable experience for me. I also found it to be great for every person from beginner to advanced fisherman.”
In this KAS tournament, he used a TDEYE 701MLXS rod with a Daiwa Fuego lt 2500 spinning reel that had 6.2: 1 gear ratio. Schram also used only three lures throughout the weekend, which were the River2Sea Whopper Plopper 90 in Loon and Powder colors, and the Berkley Choppo 90 in Bone color.
Schram went on to say, “On Friday night, the bite was very good. I used the Loon color and caught 92". On Saturday, I switched to the white color of Powder and Bone and upgraded three times. I found that when casting by structure, weeds or shallow waters that reeling in real slow was the key.”
Schram said, “I have found a great joy in kayak fishing and this experience has just made it even better.”
Matt Boyle of Menominee, Michigan mentioned Marinette County had a surprisingly dry August, which left the chain of dams along the Menominee River running low and slow. He mentioned, “During pre-fish, the gauge at the Grand Rapids monitoring station, about 15 miles upstream from Marinette, was reading just 8.15 feet. A few light early in the week bumped the river up to 8.49 feet by Friday and Saturday. It wasn't a huge change, but it turned out to be just enough to get the smallmouth moving and bring them out of their holes for Day 1 of the tournament.”
He said that, “Friday was fun, even though I didn't put a lot of big fish in the boat.” Most of his fish came from a Berkley Chappo (105mm - Bone) on topwater in the shallows, anywhere from 1 to 3 feet deep. He said, “watching a smallmouth dart 15 to 20 feet and explode on a topwater gets the heart racing like nothing else!”
Saturday started off slow for Boyle, but things picked up after lunch when the weather turned and the rain came in. He noticed fish moving back and forth between a couple of laydowns in 6 to 8 feet of water that he had marked earlier in the week. They were consistently hitting a Texas-rigged craw (Green Pumpkin Red Flake) worked through and around the base of the cover, but he picked off his biggest catch of the tournament on a classic Yamamoto Senko right between the two pieces of structure.
With a little over an hour left before lines-out, Boyle decided to take a chance and skip that same Senko under some fallen trees in about 10 feet of water. The risk paid off when he landed two 19-inch behemoths that finished out the day on a high note.
Boyle mentioned, “The Menominee River is my home water, but spending the week around some of the best kayak anglers in the country gave me a new perspective on a river I've fished for years.” Going into the event, his only goal was to learn as much as I could and enjoy the opportunity to fish alongside some incredible competitors. Everything else was just gravy for Boyle. He said, “Finding myself on a hot streak during the final hours of the tournament, with the wind blowing and rain coming down, is a memory that I will never forget.”
Kayak: OldTown AP136 "Big Blue"
Halo Fishing HFX Series Spinning Rod - 7' - Medium - X-Fast
Lew's Speed Spin CRX Spinning Reel
Yamamoto Senko (Watermelon Slice)
Johnny Morris CarbonLite Casting Rod - 7'6" - Medium Heavy - Fast
Lew's Tournament MP Casting Reel
Berkley Chappo (105mm - Bone)
Johnny Morris CarbonLite Casting Rod - 7' - Medium Heavy - Fast
Lew's Tournament MP Casting Reel
Texas-rigged craw (Green Pumpkin Red Flake)
Collin Lampkin of Illinois used a Whopper Popper 75 and Megabass Vision 110R fished in and around swift water. He said, “I alternated between the 110R and X-80 Trick Darter to cover both shallow and deeper turbulent water. Both bought me quality bites but after losing some big fish on the X-80. The 110R shined as a lure that was able to get me the biggest bites, one of which came in low light at the end of day 1.” In the fastest water Lampkin caught fish all day. He throws jerkbaits exclusively on spinning gear, employing a Tatula Medium Fast spinning rod with either an Abu Garcia Zata spinning reel or a Piscifun Carbon X. Lampkin’s topwater setup is a 7' Medium Tatula fiberglass rod with an Abu Garcia Revo XS 8.3:1 gear ratio to keep the treble hooks pinned while he catches up to smallmouth that dart after they feel hooks.
Kristine Fischer of Nebraska fished topwater around shallow current seams.
The Choppo and Screaming Choppo were her main baits depending on current flow.
She also used a ¼ oz Berkeley skirted Riveter.
Josh Chrenko of Indiana used a bait his company Achigan created, the Mini Munchee prototype - The mini Munchee is a smaller and slimmed down version of Achigan's original Munchee. While still in the prototype phase, it has proved deadly for mid-summer smallmouth. At 4.75 inches it has an exaggerated large split tail that makes it stand out from the all of the other fluke style baits. It's also made from silicone, so one bait lasted me basically the entire week. Release date is spring 2027. Chrenko said, "I fished this bait anytime I saw fish feeding on calmer flats that were spooking with power presentations." His Setup was a 7' Medium Spinning St. Croix Legend X paired with a 2500 Shimano Vanford.
Another bait Chrenko used was the Finesse Buzzbait paired with a Nikko Winnow 95 paddle tail: The smaller profile of the finesse buzzbait takes advantage of the "bug" bite that we were experiencing up there. In low light conditions, this presentation is deadly and has an awesome hookup percentage, as the fish "slurp" it like a bug. I throw this on a 7'2" ML Expride paired with a 70XG Curado spooled with 30 lb braid.
He also used the ZMan Swag 5" - Chrenko went on to say, "This was the workhorse of the tournament for me although I did struggle to lose fish on the treble setup. I was fishing this bait anywhere fish were setting up in current, which was probably why I lost a lot of the fish I did." His setup for this bait was a 7'3" MH Moderate Fast St. Croix Legend tournament rod paired with a Shimano Chronarch 150 MGL.
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