SHREVEPORT, La.– Abby Abbondanza experienced his best day of tournament kayak fishing ever on Day 1 of the Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series at Caddo Lake/Lake Bistineau scored by TourneyX, catching five largemouth measuring 102.75 inches to take the lead after one day of competition. His bag included three 21-inch bass, a 20-incher and a 19.5-incher.
Texas angler Guillermo Gonzales is second with 101.75 inches followed by Louisiana’s Jason Willis in third with 101.5 inches.
“That is my personal best,” he said. “I had never broken 100 before. It is by far my best day I’ve ever had on the water.”
Caddo and Bistineau showed off their true potential on Day 1 of the tournament as five bags over 100 inches were submitted to TourneyX and 37 anglers caught limits measuring 90 inches or more. In total, 927 bass were caught by the 194-boat field.
Abbondanza has been close to landing 100 inches several times in competition, but the right ingredients came together to help claim that achievement today.
After discovering his primary area on Tuesday of his practice period and checking it again Thursday, Abbondanza knew there was potential to catch a big bag.
“I had caught 95.5 in that area on Tuesday, and I only fished for four hours that day,” he said. “I caught a 22-incher that day and Jody (Queen) caught a 23-incher too.”
A cold front moved through midweek, sending the overnight lows down into the mid 30s. While that had him concerned, Abbondanza said temperatures only reached the mid 40s on Friday night, which reinvigorated the bass bite. The wind from the cold front muddied up the water, as well.
Things did not start particularly well, as Abbondanza missed two big bass. The next bite, however, was the 20.25-inch largemouth followed by his first 21-incher. He proceeded to fill out his limit with two more 21-inchers and the 19.50, which he attempted to cull out the rest of the day.
“Culling a 19.50 was hard. I caught two more 19.5’s, but couldn’t get over that mark,” he said. “Other than catching those bigs, it was just a great day of fishing all around. I was catching them boom, boom, boom. I would say a couple of them weighed over 6 pounds.”
In total, Abbondanza caught over 20 bass. The bass are set up in a very specific depth range, Abbondanza said, and three baits caught the majority of his limit.
With how good the bite was today, Abbondanza will likely be fishing his primary area again on Day 2 in hopes of recreating his Day 1 magic.
“It is a Catch-22 leading going into Day 2, because now is when the stress sets in,” he said. “But I’m not going to second-guess anything, I’m going to do the same thing tomorrow. I don’t really have another choice. There are too many big fish there to be caught.”
West Virginia’s Jody Queen caught the Big Bass of the Day, a 22.75-inch largemouth.
The full field will launch from any of the approved launches beginning at 6:45 a.m. CT. They will begin fishing at 7:15 a.m. and will compete until 3:15. The top finishers in this tournament, as well as the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Kayak Series Angler of the Year race, will be invited to the awards ceremony at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City at 5:30 p.m. The Awards ceremony will also be streamed live on the Bassmaster YouTube channel.
The Shreveport/Bossier City Sports Commission is hosting the tournament.
