Over this past weekend I was invited to fish in the Georgia Bass Nation Kayak Series Championship on Clark's Hill Lake. Clarks Hill is a tough fishery anytime of the year, and brutal in the summer, especially with the lake being down over 6 feet for who knows how long now. At least most of this year.

Bass Fishing on Clarks Hill is dominated by spotted bass, and I wasn't familiar with the lake at all having fished there only once as a back seater in an MLF event years ago. @flatcreek is an accomplished veteran out there, so I asked him for some insights. I also did some internet research and map study. For two Saturdays before the tournament I drove out there to fish for half a day in the brutal summer heat and spent my time checking out waypoints and catching dinks on the south end of the lake.

The bulk of my practice came in the two days before the tournament. On Day 1 of practice I headed to Pistol Creek on the north end, planning to hit a large, long point in the early morning and then round a corner to fish a big flat. When I got to the underwater point it turns out that it was now a peninsula. The water was that low. And along the banks there were virtually now shade spots because of the low water. Docks were also a pain to fish because they are all floating docks with tiny openings to skip under and that was made more difficult in a kayak because of the wind and waves. The only decent fish I caught all day were a 17" largemouth, a 15" spot, and then a handful of non-scoreable dinks.

For Day 2 of practice I had a choice - fish deeper water with a drop shot on main lake of a jigging spoon in even deeper water. I decided against that because on tournament day I didn't want to be out on main lake boat lanes in choppy water and I didn't have enough mapping info on brush piles and rocks. In what was either a bold or stupid move, I decided to pass on targeting the more abundant spotted bass and fish the backs of creeks for bigger largemouth.

The problem? I had long runs to make to get to the backs of larger creeks and that would chew up my trolling motor battery if I tried to go fast. Even at decent speed, it was still a 45 minute run of no fishing to my first waypoint and an hour run if I tried to conserve battery life. Also, on Day 1 of the tournament, we were scheduled to fish for 9 hours instead of 8 hours. But I went for it anyway on my last day of practice and hit the backs of creek channels.

It paid off. My best 5 went for 85" which I figured would put me in the top 5 if I could pull it off two tournament days in a row on this tough lake. I was ready for tournament day. But oh, the best laid plans of mice and men...

On Day 1 of the tournament I hit my first creek channel which happened to be near the nearly vacant, dilapidated ramp that I launched from. I had caught a 16: there the day before. Nothing, Zip. Nada. I reminded myself that I caught one there the previous afternoon, so I'd hit that spot again on the way back.

So I made the long run to my next waypoint and I'm interrupted at THE most convenient time by the "call of nature." This is why I keep toilet paper in a Ziploc bag on my kayak. So I beach the kayak, head for the woods, and then I'm back on my way.

And - nothing at that waypoint. Or the next. Or the next. The weather is ALMOST the same as the day before. It's cloudy, but not as much breeze in the creek channels and the rain is more frequent. So I fish mid creek channel and the mouths of creek channels. Still nothing. Now I'm scrambling. My only real backup plan is the south end of the lake which means an hour run back to the ramp, load up quickly, a 35 minute drive to another ramp, launch, and then a 30 minute run from that ramp. I didn't think it was worth losing that much fishing time, so I looked at my maps and targeted some new areas.

But to get there I'm chewing through my 100Ah trolling motor battery, and sure enough it dies with 3 hours left in my day. But I use another 100Ah battery for my electronics and I swap those out in the middle of the lake - not an easy task. So now I have a motor and no electronics. To be safe, I start heading back towards the ramp and fish a main lake rocky ledge and point. I hook up almost right away with a spotted bass - or bass on crack as I say.

Now, if you don't know how kayak tournaments work, we have to measure fish on an approved board. Mine is a Ketch board that I can rest on the gunnels. But here's the rest of the story: The mouth of the fish has to be closed, the snout up against the front of the board, your hand holding it down can't be on the head or gill plate, you can pinch the tail, and while trying to hold down the bass you have to grab your phone, open the camera or TourneyX app, and take a picture directly above the fish and board while your tournament identifier card is visible. All in a small, rocking kayak. It's not an easy task.

I land a spotted bass just over 14", position him on the board, go to take the photo and he opens his mouth. So I go to close it and he flops - onto the deck. So I put him back on the board, go to grab my tethered phone, get my hand too close to his head, and he flops off the board into the water - gone before I could get the photo. Dang.

Not long after I land another. This time I try and position my net so that if he flops he hits the net. This trick has worked before. This bass just won't settle down. And of course, he's slippery and I have to grab him with two hands to set him up for the photo. He settles down. I reach for my camera. He squeezes out of my grip and flops OVER the nest and into the water. Are you kidding me?!

The THIRD measurable spot I caught again flopped and at one point I trapped him on the gunnel. I also had to pick him off the deck. But I got him still for long enough to grab a photo. He was a whopping 13" long. I caught a few other dinks, but that was my day. I should have ended the day with 3 fish for about 42", but ended up with one for 13". The leader came in at 86". Half the field ended up skunked for the day.

At the ramp I run into another competitor who caught only two fish, and he mentioned he was using a Berkley Choppo and had a lot of blow ups but wasn't landing them. I stopped at a tackle shop on the way home and picked up a Choppo.

For Day 2 I decided to head back to that same ramp. Maybe the largemouth would reset in the backs of the creeks. If not, I could hit the main lake rocky areas where I was getting bit. In fact, I made my initial run to that area first thing in the morning, throwing the Choppo.

The wind had really picked up, and 1-1.5 foot waves were just rolling everywhere. It was like being in a washing machine out there. After a 30 minute run, I landed a 17.5" largemouth that was very respectful and did not try and flop off of the board.

The Choppo turned out to create a lot of blowups, but they were missing the bait. At this point, boat traffic had picked up and I was getting tossed around pretty good, so I headed to my waypoints at the backs of creek channels and calmer water. But again, nothing, So I headed back towards main lake, fishing pockets along the way, back to throwing the Choppo. Bam! Another big hit. I saw as I git it near the boat that it was about a 20. Then it shot straight into the air, shook off the treble, and was gone. I swear that it winked and grinned at me when it shook free.

I headed our west on main lake, fishing different rocky areas. Same story - lots of blow ups at the Choppo but nothing hitting it no matter if I fished it fast or slow.

About this time I looked down and saw that my electronics were out. What? How did that battery die? My NOCO charger said it was fully charged. So now I'm in trouble as that's my backup trolling motor battery and I had been working the heck out of the trolling motor in the rough conditions and I still had 3 hours left to fish. So, I started making my way back in the direction of the ramp, going slower to conserve battery but still battling the waves and occasionally bigger waves from the wake boats. I'm on main lake, about 1.5 miles from the ramp and the trolling motor dies. Uh oh.

You see, I don't carry a regular kayak paddle. All I have is an Attwood Telescoping Emergency paddle. And I have to paddle down and across main lake in these big waves. I will tell you that it was a bit hairy at times. My AP 120 is a very stable kayak, and I'm thankful for that. But with the weight of the kayak, motor, multiple batteries, gear (which I pared down considerably for this outing), cooler, and myself it's still 400 pounds to try and move in rough conditions. But I took my time, stayed calm, and slowly worked my way to calmer water. I fished for a little bit in the calm water around the ramp, but ultimately decided to pack it in an hour early.

I have a funny story about what I saw at the ramp heading in, but I'll save that for another time. The last I saw I was in 27th place out of 44, but I'm sure I dropped. I'm really disappointed that the bass left the backs of the creeks, because I really thought that would pan out. But it's hard to adjust when you don't know the lake and at best your moving at only 2.8 mph on the water.

This is another reason why I'm selling my AP120 and plan on buying a Bonafide XTR with the new Garmin Force Current trolling motor - I can double my speed on the water and have longer range.

I was excited to compete for the championship, even if I fell short. And unfortunately, without a top 4 finish here I don't have enough points to fish the Bassmaster Championship after fishing only two tournaments in that series. With that, I think I'm done fishing for a while. I'm going to clean up my AP120 and trailer put them on the market as a package deal, then look for a new trailer before buying and rigging my new kayak with plans of being on the water again by December.

As they say "you gave it the old college try".

What batteries are you running? I don't understand how you drain 2 100AH lithiums in a day of fishing. I used my 100AH lithium for over 12 hours on a practice day, charged my phone and ran my fan all night in my truck while I was sleeping, then used it for the full 8 hour tournament day the next day and it died about 100 yards from the ramp as I was on my way in at the end of the day. I was running my motor and graph off the same battery also because I saw my voltage going down and new the end was near on the way in.