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Southwest Shotgun
May 4, 2019
Presented by:
Registration
To sign up and pay for this event go HERE.
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Cost
The $35 entry fee includes:
*$5 Tourney X fee
*$5 50/50 raffle (click for details)
*$5 goes to the angler with the longest fish
*$20 goes to the top placing anglers
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Guaranteed Payout Schedule
50 anglers 75 anglers 100 anglers
1st Place: $ 1st Place: $ 1st Place: $
2nd Place: $ 2nd Place: $ 2nd Place: $
3rd Place: $ 3rd Place: $ 3rd Place: $
Big Fish: Big Fish: Big Fish:
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You can see the full payout schedule HERE.
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Rules Changes Specific to this Tournament Only
*This event is a 'Shotgun' style event: anglers on different lakes begin fishing at the same time.
*This event has no captain's meeting and anglers can go directly to eligible water, but fishing won't begin until 6:30AM.
*This tournament is a 3 fish limit.
*This tournament is black bass only (Largemouth, Smallmouth, Spotted)
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Rules & Format
The other Rules and format for this event can be found HERE
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Tournament Day & Identifier
Identifiers can be printed off HERE. The code for the identifier will be released at 9PM on May 3rd on Facebook, Tourney X, and Twitter. An identifier with no code, the wrong code, or codes in the wrong boxes will not be accepted. If participating in multiple tournaments you can combine codes on a single identifier, but they must be correct and they must be in the correct boxes.
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6:30AM - First cast; Anglers may begin fishing. Any fish caught prior to this time will be DQ'd.
12:00-2:00PM - At some point during this time frame the Tourney X standings will disappear to add a little drama to the final standings. Once they go dark you will still be able to submit fish. If you want to verify your fish have been uploaded check the email address you signed up with for Tourney X. DO NOT CALL OR MESSAGE US. If you don't receive an email letting you know the fish was submitted then you need to keep trying. The main reason a fish submission won't upload is because there is no cellular service where you are uploading. Anglers need to be aware of that and head to a spot with service in enough time to upload.
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2:00PM - Fishing ends and no submissions will be accepted. If you are unable to upload fish you are required to be back at the measure-in location BEFORE 2PM. If you arrive after 2PM the fish will be disqualified.
3:00PM - All anglers are required to be at the measure-in located at:
Strictly Sail
10766 Kenwood Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio 45242
In past years, there are always anglers late to measure-in, so don't be that angler who didn't plan accordingly and shows up late.
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If you do not attend the measure-in:
*You forfeit all rights to the 50/50 cash drawing you entered
*You forfeit all rights to all the raffle prizes that are awarded to anglers who didn't finish in the top 2 (or won big fish).
*You are required to get word to the tournament director:
TO BE DETERMINED.
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Eligible Fishing Waters
*Cowan Lake - Lake Map & Information - Depending on your launch location Google maps shows this lake as approximately 45 minutes away from Strictly Sail.
*Acton Lake - Lake Map & Information - Google maps shows this lake as 1 hour 5 minutes from Strictly Sail.
*Winton Woods Lake - Park Information, Lake Map
Google maps shows this lake as approximately 23 minutes from Strictly Sail.
* Sharon Woods Lake - Park Information, Lake Map
Google maps shows this lake as approximately 15 minutes from Strictly Sail.
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The entire lake is eligible if it appears on the map on the links above. Any water not on the map is not eligible. Also any water on the map must be accessible by paddling/pedaling (no dragging) from the main lake.
Remember, you can only use public access to put in and take out. Do not launch/take-out from Private Property as it will lead to disqualification.
Prizes
This is an event that is chock full of prizes! The Tacy's at Strictly Sail will be donating $300 worth of prizes and most years are able to get Hobie to join in with some additional cool prizes. Most years they also provide food and drinks at measure-in, so stay tuned!
Camping/Meet & Greet
There are several lodging and camping options near eligible water:
2. Acton Lake has Hueston Woods State Park
The measure-in is also a good opportunity to meet & greet fellow kayak anglers of all skill levels and talk about our mutual love of kayak fishing.
Be sure to join the Buckeye Nation Kayak Anglers group on Facebook to see what anglers are planning for each event. Most events will have a group of anglers camping at the same location.
Event History
This will be the Trail's 5th trip to Cincinnati in as many years. Back in 2014 we participated in Paddlefest and eligible waters included the Little Miami River (which was flooded and eliminated as eligible), portions of the Ohio River, East Fork Lake, and Winton Woods. Larry Haines took home the title with a 47.75" 3 fish total while fishing at Winton Woods. 8 of the top 10 that year all fished on Winton Woods.
In 2015, the eligible water changed to the Little Miami River, Winton Woods, Sharon Woods, and Miami Whitewater. The top angler, Brent Jones, put together a 50" total to take home the top spot. Brad Lehman won big bass with a 19" bass which was caught on one of the park lakes eligible this year. The average length of fish submitted in 2015 was 14.3".
In 2016, the eligible waters remained the same with the average fish length submitted jumping up a bit to 14.9". The big bass was a 19.75" bass caught by Bert Guthaus with 1st place taken by Trent Spencer with a 52.25" 3 bass total. The top 6 anglers in 2016, who all fished the two eligible park lakes for 2017, all topped the 50" mark.
In 2017, a lot of the lakes were high and muddy from a lot of rainfall. The worst of the bunch was probably Winton Woods. It was flooded and super muddy. As the day progressed the water started clearing and the anglers started landing fish inlcuding Eric Manko's 19.50" big fish and Chris Hannegan's 49.50" winning bag. Cowan, Acton, and Sharon anglers seemed to have a rougher go of it.
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In 2018, the bites were there but size was a bit tougher to come by on most lakes. The avg length was 13.25" per fish, but the top 3 were still able to crack 46". Joey Lohr caught the big fish, coming in at a 20.5" length. Brian Ross took home 1st place with 47.50" with Jim Heinrich a mere quarter inch behind.
Planning & Strategy
This event has 4 very different types of lakes to choose from all ranging from 15 minutes to as much as a little over 1 hour away from the measure-in. The choice of lake may very well be the most important choice you make for this tournament. The two furthest lakes, Acton & Cowan, both have a 10hp restriction, so no need to worry about pleasure boaters. They also don't see a whole lot of bass fishing pressure compared to other Ohio lakes their size. If the wind is blowing Acton will be a tough lake to fish. Windy days make large portions of the lake unfishable, but if it is a calm day there will be plenty of fishable water. Cowan on the other hand does have some coves where you can hide out from the wind. The ideal launch on a windy day would be on the North ramp near the beach or on the small ramp located down in the lily pad fields on the far east side of the lake. It can get shallow on the east side of the lake, but there are a lot of massive lily pads to chuck a jig or plastic into. The north/northwest side of the lake offers rocky/gravel shoreline that drops off pretty deep fairly quickly. Both lakes have similar shoreline (sandy,gravel/rocky bottom) in a majority of the lake; the sections of the lakes where the main creek coming in being the exception where you have a predominantly muddy/silty bottom and lot more vegetation.
The two smaller park lakes, 35 acre Sharon Lake and 156 acre Winton Lake, shouldn't be discounted either! There have been several 3 fish totals of 50"+ taken from both park lakes in previous years, as well as big fish exceeding 19".