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The Kayak Bassmaster Classic took place at Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee. The water level was a record low 6 to 8 feet below normal low pool. 132 anglers experienced extreme conditions, continuous rain with the air temperature ranging in the mid 40’s on day one. On day two, TVA shut off the water flow which shut the fish off as well; however, on a good note, the weather was reaching 80 degrees towards the end of the day. At the end of day two around 1 PM, Steve Owens the Bassmaster kayak tournament director had the tournament standings turned off so no one would know how they finished. Anglers waited anxiously for the text from Steve declaring they made the top ten. The top ten anglers received sensational news – they get to walk the Bassmaster Kayak Classic stage. After a day of waiting for the results, the top ten walked onto the biggest bass fishing stage, the Bassmaster Classic stage. The kayak awards event coincided with the first day weigh-in for the Elite anglers fishing the Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville Tennessee. The top ten kayak anglers were tight lipped on how many inches they had accumulated. The suspense was intense. Then, there were the last two anglers standing next to each other, Damian Thao and Rus Snyders. Steve Owens then announces, “Second place goes to Damian Thao.” Rus Snyders won the biggest kayak tournament, the Bassmaster Kayak Classic.
“To be able to get up there on that stage was something very special.”
To start off, let me state some details about Rus Snyders. He currently resides in Pegram, Tennessee, but originally lived in San Mateo, California. Snyders travels 35,000 miles a year chasing the top kayak trails back east. He finds himself on the road 150 days a year. His truck’s interior had been modified to meet the demands of being on the road. He uses his Dakota Lithium batteries to power his electric ice chest and to charge his Torqeedo trolling motor battery. The back seat has been removed and he sleeps on an air mattress above a wooded compartment filled with his supplies. The front passenger seat has been removed and has been replaced with an electric ice chest.
Snyders has been following Bassmaster since he was a little kid. The Bassmaster trail jumped right into the kayak scene which has provided kayak anglers with an elite trail. The Bassmaster Tournament of Champions is the biggest event that all kayak anglers want to complete against the best fishermen.
“This win was definitely my highest accomplishment as far as kayak fishing goes."
“It was definitely an honor to be crowned the champion.”
Synders stated that the lake was notorious for having really great hydrilla and milfoil but with the low water conditions the aquatic weed growth was not going to be a factor for this event. He didn’t have a lot of time to practice fish before the event, but the short time he fished, he had found something really special. Synders decided to fish the main river close to a backwater area where the bass would go to spawn.
“Because of the low water, I felt that it would suck all the fish out of the shallow backwaters.”
Synders located several stumps on the main river that were just below the water or the tops showing. He had eight rods rigged in his Wilderness Systems Attack 120 powered with a Torqeedo 1103 trolling motor with foot controls. His kayak is hands free. He worked several different lures targeting the stumps with no results. Once he picked up the 7” Zaldaingerous swimbait rigged with a ½ ounce beast Owner hook and bumped it against a stump, he caught a 22.5” largemouth bass that weighed around 8 pounds.
“Pretty much once I figured it out, they were eating the bigger swimbait. I never put them down that whole day. On the first day, I think I caught all my fish except for one I caught flipping but all the other four were on the swim bait.”
He was worried about running out of water so he left that area thinking he would need to save that area for day two. He tried a bunch of other lures and areas but had limited success. The first day Synder was sitting in 3rd place.
Day two brought post frontal conditions with a warming trend. Synder started the day off with his swimbait targeting the stumps.
“I got three fish in the first half hour and then they started to short strike the bait, I missed 5 fish.”
After working in that area for the next hour, Snyder got his fourth fish. Feeling confident that he would be able to get his limit, one more fish in the next five hours. Synder found himself without a bite with only an hour and a half left in his day of fishing. He decided to abandon his pattern and run for a half hour to a backwater location anticipating he could find his last fish to fill his limit. With less than 30 minutes left, he caught his last keeper.
“I finally got my last fish, and it was on a red BDS 3 lucky crankbait.” “The fish was hooked in the very corner of the mouth with the back treble hook.”
“It was a huge sense of relief to catch that fish.”
He was using an IRod Gabes 7’ rip rap special with 15-pound mono. Snyders had no idea how he finished but he felt like he did well.
“I knew Damian Thao didn't submit any of his fish until after the leaderboard was shut off. So, I had no idea what he had. I know he's one of the absolute best fishermen that I know who’s a kayak fisherman.”
Synder said that his last fish was a huge fish to catch but the very first fish he caught on the swimbait was the key to him winning the Bassmaster Kayak Classic.
“Fishing is the only sport that you have to be focused the entire time you’re on the water, it’s exhausting.”
Synder eats healthy and stays in shape to have an edge over other anglers. He runs and practices yoga when he is not fishing. He is the last angler off the water and most of the time the first to be on the water. He thanked his sponsors IRod, Torqeedo, Yak Attack, Dakota Lithium, Ketch Outdoors, Music City Outdoors and WIlderness Systems Kayaks. Snyders also thanked Steve “O” for putting on a great event with the Bassmaster.
Damian Thao from Fresno California came in second place with a two-day total of 176.00” Day one he had 88.00” and on day two another 88.00”. Thao traveled for 38 hours (about 1 and a half days) straight with his buddy AJ Ramirez. This was the first time Thao had ever competed in a fishing tournament out of California.
“On our way there, we would take turns driving for 12 hours straight, would only stop for fuel.” “On the way home, I drove for 24 hours and then AJ drove the rest of the way home.”
Once they arrived at Lake Chickamauga, they drove around the lake stopping at each official launch ramp. The first day of practice, they were met with severe cold fronts that dipped down into the mid 20’s to low 30”. Thao didn’t catch a fish on the first day of practice, but he did have one bite on a creek channel ledge near a spawning bay. He knew that they had to focus on pre-spawn staging areas because of the current conditions.
“The water temperature was cold and then add windy condition, so I focused on the deeper channel ledges near big spawning flats.” “During practice, I found that the afternoon was when the big fish would bite.”
The lure Thao used was a Zoom Brush hog in the watermelon red flake, the mid-size. He Carolina rigged his brush hog with a ¼ ounce weight and 10-pound P-Line. The key was to make several casts to the same tree over and over. He would let the lure hang up in the tree, shake it, and then let it fall. The fish would pick the lure up when it hit the tree branches or when it was falling.
“Day 1, my first launch location was Dallas Bay and then I would relaunch at Soddy Creek.”
Dallas Bay was the location where Thao was able to get a quick limit, but Soddy Creek was where his better fish were caught. During day one, Thao’s limit came fast at his first location. An hour and a half of loading, driving and then launching at the second ramp cost precious time, but he knew that the bigger fish would bite late in the day at his second location. He finished in 9th place on day one.
“My key spot had standing timber on the channel swing, the Garmin Panopix helped me with the exact cast at that one tree.”
On day two, Thao decided to launch at his big fish area, Soddy Creek. He struggled to reach his limit which came around noon. Throughout the day, he would rotate specific locations that had a channel swing with standing timber.
“Time was running out and with only 20 minutes left, I caught a 19” bass.” Damian thought, “Man, this is my kicker fish.”
“I made my way back to a tree that I had fished several times throughout the day, the same tree I had already made hundreds of casts to, and on my first cast I caught a 20” largemouth bass, my biggest fish all week.”
“I thought then, I had a good chance at making the top ten.”
Thao culled out 6” with only ten minutes left with that 20” largemouth bass to secure his 2nd place finish. Thao thanked AJ Ramirez for sharing the drive to Lake Chickamauga. He also thanked his family for all their support plus the kayak community for all their support as well.
“All the support helped me to fish harder.”
Thao thanked his sponsors Kayak City, Wild West Bass Trail, Duo Realis, Garmin, Power Pole, P-Line, First Gen Fishing, TM Custom Lures, LA Custom Jigs, and MB559 Fishing.
Luke Graham finished in third with a total of 173.25” He resides in Knoxville Tennessee; however, he doesn’t fish Lake Chickamauga often. Graham focused on the lower reaches of Chickamauga where he targeted smallmouth bass in current.
“I was pursuing current to catch my fish and caught one fish that measured 18 inches during practice.”
“I knew then what I was going to do during the tournament.”
Graham likes to fish the current because it will position the fish in very specific locations which makes the fish predictable. He noticed that the TVA shut off the water from 20,000 cubic feet per second (FPS) to 1200 fps. Graham used a blade bait by Damiki to catch his fish on day one. He would cast the lure downstream and let his blade bait hit the bottom and then hop it or pull it upstream. He would work his bait as slowly as possible to feel his bites. The majority of his fish came in 10 feet of water close to shore. He would work runs in the current in his area to catch his fish.
“It was a struggle to catch fish, but I finished in second place on day one.”
On day two the fish completely shut down for Graham. He fished for four hours without a single bite.
“When they shut the water off, the fish group up and suspend.”
He caught his first fish around 11:30 AM and his second fish at 12:30 PM. Graham abandoned his day one pattern and made an adjustment by moving into a small pocket at around 3 PM, lines out was at 3:30 PM.
Graham’s decision was the difference between finishing in third and not making the top ten. At 3:14 PM, he caught a small largemouth with a football jig. At 3:19 PM, he caught another largemouth on that same jig. He focused on the 10-foot range by casting parallel to the shore, this proved to be the correct adjustment because with only 3 minutes left of the tournament, he catches his fifth fish to fill his limit.
“I’ve never been so glad to catch a 14” fish.”
A funny note, on day one, Graham kicked his favorite jig rod into the water but wanted to catch his limit, so he left that area to pursue his limit. Once he caught his fifth fish, he returned to where he had kicked the rod into the water. He saw the rod’s handle bobbing above the water and retrieved his favorite jig rod. Graham not only fished his favorite rod from the river, but he also used the rod to finish in third place at the Bassmaster Kayak Classic.
Graham thanked his wife for all her support and watching the kids. Also, he thanked Steve Ownes and Bassmaster for putting on such a great event. I appreciate them for investing in the kayak sport.
Top Ten:
1. Rus Snyders 180.00” (day 1 – 93.75” / day 2 – 86.25”)
2. Damian Thao 176.00” (day 1 – 88.00” / day 2 – 88.00”)
3. Luke Graham 173.25” (day 1 - 94.00” / day2 – 79.25”)
4. Brian Nelli 171.50”
5. Dylan Smith 170.25”
6. Aaron Stallbaum 169.25”
7. Austin Vang 168.75”
8. Mark Davis 163.75”
9. Dylan Lowery 163.50”
10. Joseph Gayton 163.50”
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