Part 2: Jason Alford, 2019 Georgia Kayak Bass Fishing Champion

In part two of our sit-down with this year’s Georgia Kayak Bass Fishing State Champion, Jason Alford shares his Day 1 experience on West Point Lake.

Launching at his final pre-fishing ramp, Jason made for his spot. 

 “After a 1.25-mile pedal, I arrived at the mouth of the creek where I planned to start,” said Jason. “There had been a full moon that night, so I was expecting that to affect the schooling bite I had seen the evening before. Sure enough, those schooling fish were nowhere to be found.”

So he did what all champions do, he adapted to the conditions. 

“I fished a spinnerbait around to the first long point inside the creek arm,” said Jason. “I found a drop on the side of that point that went from 3 to 12 feet and had a big boulder at the bottom of the drop. I was sitting in 13 feet casting a shaky head to the bank and bringing it over that drop. When the shaky head got near that boulder, I felt the pressure. My first fish was a 19.5-inch largemouth.”

The spot continued to produce for him as he shared. 

“Over the next hour, I kept coming back to that spot to make the same exact cast and kept finding fish there,” said Jason. “In that creek arm, I caught five fish. All came from that boulder just off that drop. At 8:59 a.m., I caught a 12.5-inch dink that gave me a limit. I had set a goal of 70 inches for the day, and that’s exactly what I had. I was pretty excited knowing I had the rest of the day to cull. Unfortunately, the bite shut down, and I went two hours without another bite.”

At that point Jason made the decision to move to another spot, one that would severely impact his time on the water. 

“I loaded up and decided to take a huge gamble and go all the way to the northern boundary to a ramp I had never seen,” said Jason. “After a 25-minute drive, I pulled up at the northern boundary ramp to find that because the lake was so low, there was no water at the ramp. It was just a mud flat. I could see the river, but there was no way to get to it.

“My heart sank, the pressure was now on, but it was no time to panic. I pulled over and thought about my options. I wasn’t too far from a ramp I was familiar with from my one other time on West Point Lake. However, I wasn’t confident there. The only place I had found fish was all the way around the lake and down near the dam. I checked with Google Maps: 50 minutes!”

With all the time off the water driving, Jason was feeling the pressure. 

“I got to the ramp and unloaded about as quickly as I ever have,” said Jason. “I only had about 30 minutes to fish and managed to cull twice before a boat flew up on me and shut down his engine directly over the hump I was fishing. Needless to say, that shut the bite down, so I started back toward the ramp, fishing points along the way. With 16 minutes remaining in the tournament, I culled once more near the ramp to bring my total to 76.25 inches.”

Moving was a good decision for Jason, as his 76.25-inch total was good enough to end Day 1 in second place. 

“My goal for the day was 70 inches,” he said. “I was beyond happy with 76.25 inches. I figured some locals had done well, so I was pleasantly surprised to see I was in second only behind Will Clements.”

 Next Blog: State Championship Day 2 on the Chattahoochee River