#1, April 25, 2025
FROM THE BACK DECK: Spawn Season Strategies and Off the Water Preparation
Hey there fellow back-deckers,
We're right in the middle of the spawn across much of the country, and if there's one thing that separates successful coanglers from the pack right now, it's adaptability. While your boater is sight-fishing that 5-pounder on bed, what are YOU doing?
Being ready and adaptable enough to target pre-spawn, spawning, AND post-spawn fish all in the same day can be super important. Why? Because you never know where your boater is taking you next.
As accomplished coangler Dante Ray recently mentioned in a CoAngler's Garage Podcast, time on the water is almost certainly the most important thing for coangler success. However, there are things you can do when youβre off the water that support your tournament success too β like meticulously organizing your gear so you can just focus on fishing on game day. Sometimes it's about making connections with other avid tournament coanglers and learning from shared experiences. That's exactly why we built CoAngler's Garage - to give you a place to sharpen your tournament skills and toolbox even when real life keeps you off the water.
Recently on the CoAngler's Garage Podcast
The CoAngler's Garage Podcast features recent backdeck tournament standouts along with some other useful tournament prep-focused wrinkles from time-to-time. Our goal with each interview is to dive deep into coangling tournament strategy, the decision-making process, and the techniques that earned them a nice check.
Recent Guests Include:
- Dante Ray - 3rd Place coangler in the BAM Pro-Am at Lake Shasta
- Troy Mays - 3rd Place coangler in the BAM Pro-Am at Don Pedro Lake
These aren't your typical fishing interviews - we're focusing exclusively on the coangler perspective, with actionable tactics you can apply in your next tournament.
We're going to be extremely busy for the remainder of April and May recording, editing, and sharing podcasts. We've got several top finishing coanglers from both Toyota Series and BAM Pro-Ams all across the country lined up in the near future for these fun discussions. Stay tuned for more details coming soon. And please subscribe to our YouTube Channel via the link at the bottom of this newsletter.
Now let's dive into recent tournament results and upcoming events...
COANGLER TOURNAMENT RESULTS: Kentucky Lake Produces for Bowman
Congratulations to Dan Bowman -- coangler winner at the Toyota Series Plains Division event on Kentucky Lake! Bowman showed incredible consistency with weights of 13-03, 17-01, and 12-08 for a total of 42-12, winning by more than 6 pounds.
In a post-tournament interview, Bowman mentioned finding success throwing a spinnerbait behind a pro who was pitching a jig, and also connecting with some quality smallmouth on Day 2 with a Carolina rig. That's classic coangler adaptability - finding the complementary technique that doesn't compete with the boater but still produces quality fish.
The Top 5 co-anglers were:
- Dan Bowman (42-12)
- Noah Dickneite (36-03)
- Jeremy Duke (36-02)
- Alan Bernicky (32-05)
- Chase Johnson (31-04)
Also, a big congratulations to Takaaki Kojima who won the coangler division of the BFL event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir on April 5, weighing in a full limit of 3 bass for 11-04.
Top 5 at Sam Rayburn:
- Takaaki Kojima (11-04)
- Brad Poole (11-00)
- Neill Beckham (10-09)
- Darrell Denton (10-08)
- Ben Faucheaux (9-13)
Worth noting: Robert Crowe (Kojima's boater) weighed his full limit of 5 fish for 13-15. That's impressive efficiency from Kojima - nearly matching his boater's weight with the coangler tournament limit (3 fish)!
The last check went to Cedric Jackson in 17th with 3 bass for 7-01.
In BFL action at Lake Ouachita on April 12, oh, this is a familiar name...Takaaki Kojima (who appears to be certifiably on fire) also won on the coangler side. Back-to-back...not too shabby. Takaaki won with a 3 bass limit of ...wait for it...11-04...again. Now that is consistency!! Takaaki, are you sure you didn't just transport those from Rayburn??
Top 5 at Ouachita:
- Takaaki Kojima (11-04)
- Joseph Aguilar (9-03)
- Don Billiot (7-14)
- Dulin Smith (7-13)
- Gene Mitchell (7-08)
Last check went to Zack Harrison in 19th with 3 bass for 5-05.
Daniel Nolen took the top spot in the BFL event at Pickwick Lake (April 12) with 3 bass for 13-13.
Top 5 at Pickwick:
- Daniel Nolen (13-13)
- Blake Jeffreys (12-12)
- Terry Bennett (11-06)
- Mike Todd (10-11)
- Harry Peyton II (10-08)
Last check went to Brian Dodd in 14th with 3 bass for 7-12.
Bobby McNeil took 1st in the April 12 BFL event at Rend Lake with 1 bass for 4-14. It looks like fishing was pretty darn tough as no coanglers caught more than one fish and the majority of the field blanked. Bobby McNeil clearly found one of the right ones though!
Top 5 at Rend Lake:
- Bobby McNeil (4-14)
- Charles Dammerman (4-11)
- Elmo Rogers (4-03)
- David Workman (3-12)
- Thomas Duke (2-13)
Last check went to Matt Chumbler in 8th with 2-03.
In BFL action at Lake Hartwell on April 12, Justin Lemaster was the top coangler with 3 bass for 12-10.
Top 5 at Lake Hartwell:
- Justin Lemaster (12-10)
- Todd Huntley (10-06)
- Corey Veal (10-04)
- Benjie Winkler (10-03)
- Landen Jordan (8-14)
Last check went to Shawn Malcom in 19th with 7-10.
Robert Green took the top coangler spot in the BFL event on High Rock Lake on April 12 with 3 bass for 12-06.
Top 5 at High Rock:
- Robert Green (12-06)
- Jared Jones (10-12)
- Stephen Barr (10-10)
- Charles Wood (10-01)
- Sean Tobatto (9-11)
Last checks went to Marvin Godard and Tommy Swicegood in a tie for 17th place - each with 3 bass for 8-00.
Andrew Blanton won on the coangler side at the April 19 BFL at Kerr Lake with 3 bass for 10-06.
Top 5 at Kerr Lake:
- Andrew Blanton (10-06)
- Craig Wheeler (8-15)
- Richard Williams (8-08)
- Ryan Spivey (8-06)
- Lew Jenkins (8-03)
Last checks went to 4 coanglers (Michael Garrett, Steven Lloyd, Timothy Kinder, and Kieran Packard) all in a tie for 19th place - each with 3 bass for 7-03.
Ongoing Now: Toyota Series Event at Lake Seminole
Yesterday was the first day of the Pro-Am event at Lake Seminole. On the coangler side, 3 bags really stood out: Hunter Prough, 17-00; Jason Wiley just an ounce behind with 16-15; and Rusty Brogdon in third with 15-05. Coangler big fish on the day was a 5-08 from Doug Wooldridge. Today, we'll see who can back it up and who can take a big swing and move up the leaderboard.
ON THE HORIZON: Upcoming Tournament Calendar (Non-Shared Weight Events)
Multi-Day Events
April 24-26 - MLF Toyota Series - Lake Seminole
May 1-3 - MLF Toyota Series - Lake Eufaula (Oklahoma)
May 14-16 - MLF Toyota Series - Lake Guntersville
May 30-June 1 - BAM Pro-Am - California Delta
June 26-28 - MLF Toyota Series - Lake Champlain
June 27-29 - BAM Pro-Am - Potholes Reservoir (Washington)
Single Day Events
April 26 - BFL - Table Rock Lake
April 26 - BFL - Mississippi River - La Crosse
April 26 - BFL - Greers Ferry
April 26 - BFL - Center Hill
May 3 - BFL - Lake Eufaula (AL)
May 3 - BFL - Columbus Pool
May 3 - BFL - Lake Demopolis
May 3 - BFL - Lake Shelbyville
May 3 - BFL - Kerr Lake
Something a Few of Us Have Been Waiting For...
If you're like me, you may enjoy the versatility and effectiveness of the Deps Sakamata Shad. Or you may have gotten tired of watching the guy at the pointy end of the boat crush them on it strolling a minnow with FFS. I like them for fun fishing and have been experimenting with them from time-to-time in tournament situations. Unfortunately, they are pricey (and as they are manufactured overseas, may become more so in the future with the tariff chaos) and have been super hard to find (especially the good colors and the mid-sized ones) due to a combination of popularity and limited supply.
A little birdie told me this morning that there are now some available in 5" (including some of the best colors) at both tacklewarehouse.com and scheels.com. If you've been waiting to pick some up, I'd do it fast, because they seem to keep selling out (and I suspect will be at risk of a price increase in the future with tariffs coming into effect).
COANGLER WISDOM: Tackle Hack
Ever had your spinnerbaits and/or jigs turn into a tangled mess in your tackle bag? Here's a couple ideas that may save you time and frustration:
Some coanglers will use either those clear windowed Velcro lure covers or a cheap low tech solution involving binder clips from an office supply store. If you get the lure covers that are large enough to fit your spinnerbaits into, you can pack several in a lure cover and store them very efficiently in your tackle bag on derby day. Likewise, although not necessarily good for long term storage (due to rust potential), you can grab a pack of large binder clips from any office supply store. Clip one around each bait's hook or hooks, and suddenly they stack neatly without becoming a bird's nest. When you're ready to fish, just remove the clip and you're good to go.
Got a tackle hack of your own? Hit reply and share it - we'd love to feature it in a future newsletter!
JUST ONE MORE CAST
Remember, successful coanglers are students of the game. While the boaters are out extensively pre-fishing and planning a multi-day strategy, we're often showing up with just our tackle and our wits with a new boater every morning. That's why community and shared knowledge are so valuable to us.
If you know a fellow coangler who might benefit from this newsletter, please forward it their way. They can get a free subscription to the weekly newsletter by clicking the button below.
Until next week, tight lines and big fish,
-Matt
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