06/02/2026
What a weekend at Tenmile Lakes in Southern Oregon!
I decided I wanted two full days of practice so I could prefish both the north and south lakes. Last year I only had one practice day and found some good fish on the north lake, but I missed out on the bass that were locked onto beds in the south lake. I wasn't going to make that mistake again. I made the nine-hour drive on Wednesday and spent Thursday on the south lake and Friday on the north lake.
Prefish – Thursday
I started on the south lake and checked a couple different arms. I didn't have my MegaLive2 since I was waiting on a part I broke at Potholes that my dad got welded back together for me, so I was relying on side imaging and down imaging. I figured most of the fish were post-spawn and wanted to find where the bigger females had moved.
I focused on secondary points near spawning areas along with thick grass and wood. The first area I wanted to check was a main point where the arm splits off. I found a few smaller fish in the wood, but not the quality I was looking for.
As I worked my way into a nearby cove, I reached a secondary point and landed a big 19.25" post-spawn largemouth from the hydrilla on a chatterbait. I dropped a pin, took note of the depth and cover, and kept moving. At the next area, I found more hydrilla around the lily pads and hooked another big fish while reeling in my flipping setup. I never got a good hookset, and when she jumped, she easily threw the bait. I could tell she was another fish over 18 inches. That was enough to convince me I was onto something.
My next stop was the far end of the lake. I didn't love what I saw on the way in, but once I reached the back of the arm, I found another patch of lily pads mixed with hydrilla. After striking out on the chatterbait, I picked up my 6" Working Class Zero Citizen. It didn't take long before another 19-inch post-spawn largemouth crushed it. Once again, I marked the spot, took mental notes, and called it a day.
Prefish - Friday
Friday started much better. I got my MegaLive2 arm fixed, which was nice because a storm had rolled through overnight.
I started on the north lake and immediately found some better fish out deeper in the middle of coves. The problem was they weren't interested in anything i threw at them. They would swim up, inspect my bait, and slowly sink back to the bottom.
I decided to explore farther than I normally do and made my way to the end of one of the arms. Along the way I found a couple areas that looked similar to what I had found the day before and landed fish measuring 17.5" and 18.25". By the time I reached the very back of the arm, the weeds were so thick it was difficult to fish effectively, and most of the fish I found were small.
On my way back out, I caught another 18-inch fish on a minnow bait off a main lake point and later found several fish around 15 inches. I was catching fish, but I never found the quality I needed.
Then disaster struck again.
The weld on the MegaLive2 arm failed, leaving me without forward-facing sonar for the second day in a row. Based on what I had seen, I felt like I would need MegaLive in order to be successful on the north lake. The decision became easy: I was heading back to the south lake for the tournament.
Tournament Day
My morning started with some shenanigans.
After launching, I realized I hadn't powered on my graph, 360 light, or Power-Pole. I opened the YakPower app like I had been doing for the last month, but it crashed every time it connected to my switch. I went back to the truck, found the original controller, swapped batteries that had rusted after taking a swim at the Columbia River event, and tried again.
Unfortunately, the corrosion was bad enough that every button press shut the system off.
Ten minutes after official launch time, I finally had everything powered up and ready to go. To top it all off, I had also signed up for the Native Watercraft Nationwide No Limit tournament and realized I had left my Native identifier back at camp.
Not exactly the start I had envisioned.
I finally reached my first spot before lines in, and thankfully nobody was sitting on it.
I landed my first fish, a 14-incher, at 6:24. From there I worked through my practice areas, eventually adding a 14" and a 15.75" from the first point in one of the coves. When I reached the second point, I instantly hooked into a giant on the chatterbait.
As I reached for the net, she jumped.
Gone.
The fish was easily over 18 inches.
As soon as she came off, I knew how important that fish could be. Watching her throw the bait beside the kayak was a gut punch, and for the next few minutes I was frustrated with myself. Eventually I regrouped and got back to work.
I continued down the arm, checking every point and ambush spots, but couldn't find the bites I needed. Eventually I circled back and caught another 15.75", then later found a 17-inch fish in an area I had passed earlier in the morning. About thirty minutes later, I upgraded again with a 15-inch fish, bringing me to 77.5 inches.
It was almost 11:00 and I knew that wasn't going to get it done.
Time To Gamble
At that point, I decided to make the long run to the area where I had found the bigger fish during practice. As I headed that direction, the wind started blowing hard. I stopped on several points along the way hoping to find a quick upgrade, but couldn't make anything happen.
By noon I finally reached the back of the arm.
I alternated between my chatterbait and the Citizen while fighting the wind. At one point, a gust pushed me into the lily pads. As I reeled the swimbait all the way back to the kayak and lifted it from the water, a giant fish appeared out of nowhere and swiped it right next to the boat, nearly hitting the side of my kayak.
That was the sign I needed. The Citizen was not leaving my hand for the rest of the day!
At 12:30, I landed my first big upgrade of the afternoon, a 19.25-inch largemouth.
Not long after, another fish measuring 17.75" pushed me to 84.75 inches.
By 1:00, I knew I was close, but not close enough.
I felt like I needed one more big fish to make the money and probably two more to have any shot at winning. I returned to the starting point of the cove and began another pass through the area.
At one point, another fish absolutely crushed the swimbait from the side, but I couldn't stick her.
Then, at 1:40, it happened.
A 19.5-inch largemouth. My biggest fish of the day. That fish pushed me to 89.25 inches.
The problem was I only had twenty minutes left.
While landing that fish, the side plate on my reel came loose and created a massive backlash. I tried fishing through it, but eventually gave up and swapped reels with fifteen minutes remaining.
I gave it everything I had, but the final big bite never came.
After that, it was time for the long trek back to the ramp.
Results:
While waiting for results, I felt pretty good about my day. I had overcome the rough start, made the adjustment when I needed to, and found the bigger fish late. I figured I had done enough to finish in the money and earn some solid AOY points to build on my 3rd-place finish at Potholes.
Then Marvin Forte started reading off the standings. When he announced that 7th place had 87.25 inches, I immediately got nervous. If 7th place had that much, it meant a lot of anglers had made those crucial late upgrades.
He continued reading.
Then he got to 4th place, 88.5 inches.
That's when it hit me. I had done it again.
3rd Place – 89.25 Inches
I cashed a check for $888, brought home another 3rd-place plaque, and earned another strong finish in the AOY race.
Congratulations to Michael Mumford for finishing 2nd with 90.5 inches and Brandon Hua for another impressive win with 95 inches!
Official Recap and Standings:
https://kayakfishingnorthwest.com/tournaments/2026-kfnw-schedule/2026-kfnw-tour-event-2/
Next up is Lake Cascade in Idaho on June 27th. Another long road trip to a lake I've never seen before. Time to start studying maps and doing some homework.
