F3 Team News - Tournament Report: Beth Mynes

Mountain State Kayak Angler Tournament Series. Saturday, May 17, 2014 – Woke up at 5AM to a cold and misty 39-degree mountain state morning. My boyfriend (John) and I had loaded the kayaks and gear in our two vehicles the night before. He had already left so I grabbed my coffee, jumped in the Jeep and headed south on U.S. Route 19 to the Plum Orchard Lake Wildlife Management Area. Plum Orchard is located in Fayette County and encompasses 3,201 acres (https://www.plumorchardlakewma.com/).

I arrived at registration around 6:30AM and was met by other members readying their boats for the 2nd event of the Mountain state Kayak Angler Tournament Series. I checked in and prepped my Pink Camo Feelfree Moken 10 Lite for the day ahead. Several anglers and myself chose to fish the back end of the lake. I had pre-fished the lake and knew what the area had produced for my style of fishing.

At 7:30AM the mist was rolling off the water and the sun was just peeking over the mountains. The first couple of hours were a little slow. Every half hour from 9:00 – 10:30 AM produced a fish ranging in size from 10 – 13.75” but nothing for the next couple of hours. The wind kicked up a bit between 11AM and 2PM but the temperature had risen to the upper 50’s so it wasn’t so bad. Took a nice leisurely paddle across the lily pads to the opposite side of the back end. My first cast produced my top fish of the day (15”). In all, I caught five fish totaling 64.75” but we only count the top three fish which netted me 41.75” for my check-in at 2:45PM.

During the check in myself and another member of the club checked in all the anglers and the tallied the results for the President of the club who was busy setting up the presentation table with trophies and door prizes. Sixteen anglers made the trip and were waiting patiently for the results. There were five anglers who checked in no fish; the lowest number of inches checked in for one angler was 11.5” and the top was 42.25”. The President of the club would normally make the presentations for the top three anglers, but for this tournament he was the Champion (with his 42.25”) so I presented him with his event trophy and first-place prize money. Myself and another angler tied for 2nd place; my 15” fish was the tiebreaker to his 14.75” fish and I ended up with 2nd place. After presentations were complete, drawings for prizes provided by multiple sponsors were distributed. I walked away with a new Feelfree Lure ballcap! 🙂 John and I wrapped up, left the lake, and headed north with a quick stop at ACE Adventure Gear to sling a little drool over the Feelfree Lure 10 displayed in the shop. It was my 4th visit to check out the Lure in 3 days. 🙂

It was a great day with great people and I look forward to spending the day with them again in June out on the Greenbrier River!

Let’s fish!!
Beth Mynes
Feelfree Fishing Team Member