Appalachian Kayak Anglers Club (AKAC) held their second tournament of the season at Rocky Gap State Park Lake in Cumberland, Maryland on May 7th, 2023.
Rocky Gap state park AKA “Lake Habeeb” is a 243 acre reservoir nestled along the mountains outside of Cumberland. The lake is a clear water fishery with a prominent off shore grass line that offers the option of both largemouth and smallmouth for anglers.
Sunday morning found a busy ramp full of kayak anglers preparing for a day of fishing, at 6:15AM, members blasted off in the clubs unique “shotgun” style take off. Anglers hurried to their chosen spots for the day on a small fishery, that would surely be affected by the fishing pressure of the day. Sunday was a few days into a major warming trend across the region, with a strong storm system rolling through later in the afternoon. 
The winning spot was secured by Michael Ridenour of Fairmont, WV. Michael led the pack with a dominating limit of 87.75”. He credits his success to throwing a wacky rigged senko on brush piles, and using forward facing sonar on an offshore hump.
Michael explained, “First 2 fish both 17.75” came out of brush piles throwing a ZMan Bang Stick weighted wacky rig. I was crossing the lake and pitched a white spinnerbait to a boil in 28 foot of water to catch my 20.5 big bass of the tournament. I proceeded to fish a lot of shore line cover with no success trying to get bed fish to bite. I went back where I caught the big girl in middle of the lake on a grass hump in 12 foot of water. Anchored up and used active target and a Megabass 110+2 jerk bait to finish off my limit. Every time they would move up on the hump and back out of the grass the bite would turn on.”
Holding down 2nd place was Mikey Holcombe of Goodhope, West Virginia with 74.5”.
“My electronics died first thing Sunday morning due to a charging issue from the tournament the day prior so I was kind of bummed knowing the lake had an offshore grass bite and I had never been there,” Said Holcombe. “I found a few key areas using google earth Saturday night and just went to work early with a senko and shaky head catching seven keepers in the first hour on a brush pile. I kept it simple and fished like I used to before I ran electronics and went off of what I could see. I just fished hard all day focusing my efforts around wood and grass on flats and made small culls. As soon as the rain started at 2PM the bite was on fire, I wish it had rained all day”
3rd place was Daniel Elam of Clarksburg, West Virginia with 72.5”.
“It was a grind for me all day personally. I could see fish on live (forward facing sonar) but couldn’t get them to eat, so I just fished a dropshot and senko all day,” said Elam. “I focused my attention on the lakes grass line and everything from 1-10’ of water. I was able to fill my limit and then make small culls throughout the day to finish where I did. I feel like I casted that dropshot 2,000 times on Sunday!”
Rounding out the top spots in 4th place was Chris Fram of Cumberland, Maryland with 70”.
“I caught fish early in the morning on a chatterbait and fluke,” Fram explained. “The bite died down in the middle part of the day, but I was still able to catch a bunch of small fish on a senko. The rain moved in so I made the decision to go back to what was catching fish but I wanted to switch things up but still keep the weedless profile so I threw the fluke instead of the senko first cast after making the change I caught a 12.75”. The fish around me were finicky so I ran over to the next cove killed the motor early and drifted in trying to be as stealthy as possible and the first two casts in there I caught a 14.75 and 13.5 to finish my day.”
Lunker was a 20” largemouth caught by the winner Michael Ridenour. 
For more info about joining AKAC or checking out their 2023 schedule, please click here.
AKAC next tournament is May 20th on Savage River Reservoir.
