The state of West Virginia is home to many great anglers. Some of whom compete in bass boats, some in kayaks, or some who take to the bank. Regardless of what you fish out of you can’t deny the recent growth of the kayak fishing tournament scene. Among this growing scene many great West Virginia anglers have emerged. This week we will be highlighting the success of one of the best kayak anglers in the state, Mark Edwards.
Not only does Mark compete on the kayak scene locally, but he also travels and fishes the Bassmaster Kayak series.
We will dive into the recent success of Mark’s 5th-place finish on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, along with a hint of his local success this season.
Top 5 finish at the Susquehanna River Bassmaster Kayak Series –
Going into practice, Mark Edwards did not quite know what to expect from the Susquehanna.
“I had never been there before, so I decided to start at an area I liked that I had driven by.”
Mark fished around this area but decided to move on. During practice, he struggled to find an area that really stuck out so he kept on looking. Eventually, he found an area with a point and some grass behind it a little further downriver. Having an area with different types of cover would be key to his success.
On tournament day it was the opening day of duck season. Before he even knew it, he had some obstacles on the water. The point that he had found had a duck hunter sitting on it. Luckily he had found an area below that had grass and could fish around until the hunters had moved off the spot. The grass that was close produced some fish until the hunters moved off at about 12:30. Mark positioned his kayak behind the point out of the current and threw out across the point, he immediately hooked up on a 19-3/4 inch. In the next 30 minutes he proceeds to catch fish and cull up to a remarkable 92” total.
After he had a good limit he decides to move out offshore more. Once he begins to slide out off of the point he culls up with another 20” fish giving him a good cull.
Quickly after moving offshore Mark realizes there is a mud-line coming down the river. This entailed that the river was going to be getting a lot of water being pushed through it the next day so he had a heads up to prepare.
On day two Mark is prepared, he begins on the grass that is now submerged with the rising water and catches four small keepers. He switches to a topwater and catches some bigger fish to upgrade his limit. Moving back up to his point and tries a few angles but finally finds the right angle the fish are looking for. That area slows down so he fights his way up river to his point and hides in an eddy because of the strong current. Once he settles back in he culls his way up to a good bag and ends the day.
Mark Ended with 186 and 3/4 inches finishing 5th place overall.
AOY 3 times in one season!
Locally Mark has had the hot hand also. Mark has recently accomplished several very sought-after titles.
Mark won, not one AOY, not two, but all three kayak series AOY titles in just a short few weeks, these include:
-1st place angler in the Mountian State Kayak Anglers points
-1st place angler in the West Virginia Kayak Anglers points
-1st place angler in the Southern West Virginia Kayak Anglers points
Mark attributes his success to being able to fish the moment. When asked about any key bait or technique he said not a single technique has dominated any tournament or the year.
“Being able to fish the conditions that are in front of me with different techniques as the day progresses has been the biggest key to success”.
