Here are a few key points:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
- The event champion posted an average length 20.45\u201d per fish, making it second best all-time<\/li>
- The top three anglers averaged 19.75\u201d per fish<\/li>
- the top five averaged above 19\u201d per fish (19.19\u201d to be precise)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
In terms of the top five average, the only event to average 18\u201d or more per bass for the top five was the 2023 Gate City Classic (but not all from the same lake). No other event comes close to the top five or top three limits that Jordan put up this past Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, the champion moved up in the club record books with 102.25\u201d for a five fish limit, making his second-best all time. The champ\u2019s best five topped the 102\u201d that Bryan Tsiolkas posted in 2022 and the 101\u201d that Jeremy Hicks posted that same year (Will Lambert\u2019s 104.25\u201d limit at Randleman<\/a> set the new club record earlier this season).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year\u2019s Big Bass was a 23.25\u201d. That fish was caught in the last hour of the season\u2019s final event. Jordan Lake matched that fish on Saturday, putting up a 23.25\u201d hog that currently leads the Duff Digital Marketing annual Big Bass standings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all, it was a big day. Here is how it went down\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan sets club record and personal best<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a new name in the CKA Hall of Champions, and it is Dontrell Sullivan\u2019s. If you watched the hourly big bass board during the day, you could see his name moving slowly up the standings. Was it strategic? Many anglers held big fish, posting them to win hourlies. The result was that small limits populated the leaderboard through the morning as CKA anglers tried to time submissions to the hourlies (for example, 66.25\u201d posted by yours truly was in first place as late as 9:06 am).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But then the bigs came pouring in. Hour after hour, Jordan delivered giant bites. Several 20\u201d bass submitted to the hourlies did not even make the top 3 during certain hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Dontrell Sullivan was not holding photos of his fish. He was slowly stacking bites, of which he had only a few. Hour after hour and cast after cast, Sullivan\u2019s hard work over five-plus seasons paid off in a big way at Jordan Lake this past Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/cka-jordan-D-sullivan-1-1024x827.jpg\")
<\/a>Dontrell Sullivan, Jordan Lake 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ironically, it happened on a lake he does not fish all that often. \u201cI never put much time in at Jordan,\u201d he told CKA. \u201cI went Thursday and marked off shore structure. There wasn\u2019t much of it, but I found fish on every piece of structure. If it was in ten-to-twelve feet of water, I made targeted casts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy bait was a Strike King Bull Worm, in a plum color, on a half-ounce shaky head. I got bigger bites on that Bull Worm, so I stuck with that. I didn\u2019t get a lot of bites \u2013 I only had six bites, but all were 18\u201d or more. 102.25\u201d is my personal best in a tournament. It felt good to finally get one.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan reflected on the victory. The Carolina Waters pro staffer said \u201cIt\u2019s been a long time coming. My first tournament was with CKA in 2019, at High Rock. I\u2019ve had a third place finish (Hickory 2023) and a second place finish (at the 2023 TOC, and 2024 Burlington Bash). Like I said, a long time coming\u2026.\u201d Sullivan\u2019s big day also moved him up in the CKA Angler of the Year standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of note: with a third place finish, defending Rookie of the Year Ryan Hayes is also stacking points (he finished second at Randleman).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lowest event scores will be dropped after Mackintosh on July 20th<\/sup>, so with a victory in hand and three events left to finish, both Sullivan and Hayes could make a push.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Duff Digital marketing Big Bass update<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justin Faircloth has a knack for it: he finds big bass. He\u2019s done it at CKA events and also in KBF tournaments, and yesterday he did it again. Fishing on Jordan Lake in the mid-day heat, he landed a 23.25\u201d tank of a bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the magic number of late. In 2022, Luke Greco landed a 23.25\u201d (it was the season\u2019s biggest but did not win Big Bass, because it was not entered in the 2022 FishOPS charity event). In 2023 Will Lambert had a 23.25\u201d to win big bass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justin Faircloth told us how he landed the 23.25\u201d that currently leads the Duff Digital Marketing Big Bass contest for the 2024 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI caught it on a Cashion shaky head rod, using a shaky head. I hooked it about four feet deep on a laydown. I took the picture at 11:03, and I had to go to the main lake to upload it. I wasn\u2019t going to hold the fish because I know it would win (big bass) for the day\u2026.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/faircloth-23.25-jordan-lake-2024-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWill Faircloth\u2019s confidence hold up for the season? Lake Mackintosh is next on the CKA tournament list, and if any lake can beat that number, it is Mack\u2026..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Up next:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lake Mackintosh, on July 20th<\/sup>. Register here: https:\/\/app.fishingchaos.com\/tournament\/rXBNSeHXWBLQyp5oVPch<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Event 5 of the CKA Season was presented by Carolina Waters<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/jordan-2024-1024x576.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nAbout the Anglers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dontrell Sullivan fishes with Old Town Watercraft<\/a>, Bizz Baits<\/a> and Carolina Waters<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CKA\u2019s 2024 Season is brought to you by<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Dakota Lithium Batteries<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Click here to see the full 2024 schedule<\/a>.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Click here to become a member<\/a>.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
First published June 30, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All content and photos \u00a9 Carolina Kayak Anglers LLC, 2024.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>\n\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jordan Lake has quietly been attracting the attention of fisheries experts for several years now. Did it start when Major League Fishing put up big numbers there in 2019? Or when a several bass over 10 pounds in weight were caught at Jordan earlier this decade, including a pair of twelve pounders? Was it the recent stocking of Florida strain largemouth bass to amplify the fishery\u2019s potential? All of the above? Whatever and whenever it was, CKA has made Jordan a regular trail stop for more than one decade. As…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[395],"tags":[32,416,412,422,79,78,301,27,391,215],"class_list":["post-6275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2024-news","tag-carolina-kayak-anglers","tag-carolina-waters","tag-dontrell-sullivan","tag-giant-bass-jordan-lake","tag-jordan-lake","tag-jordan-lake-kayak-fishing","tag-justin-faircloth","tag-kayak-tournament-fishing","tag-ryan-hayes","tag-will-lambert"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/jordan-lake-top-3-hayes-sulivan-lambert-1-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8fryh-1Dd","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6275"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6281,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6275\/revisions\/6281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carolinakayakanglers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}