Looking Back on ‘22 & Gearing Up for ‘23 by Justin Largen

This past season – really the last two years – have been an incredible journey for me. I left a good job on the west coast in the fall of 2020 with plans to pursue a career in photography. After two months of visiting national parks and photographing wildlife out west, I moved back east. Then the tournament bug bit me a few days before the KBF Tenvitational in January ’21, so I drove to Florida to compete in my first in person kayak tournament. Fast forward a month or so and I earned a check at the Bassmaster Kayak Nation event on Lake Fork. That put the photography plans on the back burner, as I jumped into kayak tournaments with both feet. I fished as many events as I could that year, even making the drive to California for a KBF Trail event on Clear Lake. I can’t say that I had a ton of success; there were lots of rookie mistakes and only a few checks. I went into 2022 having spent a lot of the money I’d saved, knowing that the full-time fishing dream was short on time.

Thankfully, for ’22 I decided to continue pursuing that goal, competing hard until the savings ran out. I had a rocky start on the Kissimmee Chain but made a check on Lake Fork. Then two more bad finishes on Toledo Bend and Lake Murray really shook my confidence. I no longer believed that I had what it takes to compete against the top kayak anglers. Those thoughts had crept into my head before, but they were firmly anchored after the Murray event. Fortunately, things turned around a few days later at the Bassmaster Kayak Championship on Richard Russell Lake.

My decision to compete on Murray left me with a shortened practice for Russell, and it didn’t go well. I caught just one fish, an 18-incher, on a jig, in the last hour of practice. It was the first keeper I’d landed in my last three days on the water, leaving my confidence shattered and my morale low. The next day, our first day of competition, turned out to be one of those special days where everything goes right. I went back to the area where I had my practice bite but fished new water. A Rapala DT 8 crankbait produced two keeper spots on the first point I stopped on. Then I found a pocket with standing timber that was holding a pile of spots. I caught several on a 1/4 oz underspin baited with a 3.5” Missile Shockwave. When the bite slowed, I moved on and found a similar pocket with another school of spots. With a respectable limit and the sun high, I picked up my 3/8 oz Mini Flip Jig and moved to a stretch of shallow laydowns, hoping for a kicker largemouth. I caught three big ones in the last hour and ended the day with a limit just shy of 90 inches. In the span of 8 hours, I’d gone from feeling lost to feeling unstoppable! Day two was a little slower but still a solid 80-inch day. As I was leaving the ramp, I got a call from B.A.S.S. congratulating me on making the the top 10. That meant that I got to participate in the award ceremony the next day on the Bassmaster Classic stage! Standing on that stage with Rus Snyders, Eric Siddiqi, Greg Blanchard, and other great anglers was a surreal experience and a massive confidence boost. The Russell tournament made me feel like I belonged, and it started to show in my fishing.

I won my next tournament, the Bassmaster Kayak Series event on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Now I was really feeling it. I went back home and won the Bass Cast Kayak Series event on Smith Mountain Lake. Next, I finished 6th at the KBF Trail on the Potomac River and took 2nd in the coinciding NVKBA event. The following weekend I placed 8th at the Bassmaster event on Grand Lake. A few weeks later I was runner up on Lake Guntersville after losing the big-fish tiebreaker. My run continued through May, when I finished 5th at Smith Lake. Then I earned my first Hobie BOS check with a 9th place finish on Chickamauga. I’ve got to say thanks to my buddy Mark Chambers for shuttling me around at that one. He drove two hours each way to help me out when my car died at the end of day one. What an awesome friend! My next tournament was on Lake Champlain, where I came back down to earth a little. I finished in the 20s both days, but it was still a fun trip. Champlain is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever fished. The high point of my season came a few weeks later, when I found some unpressured largemouth and won the Hobie event at Lake Winnipesaukee! A 2nd place finish at the Bass Cast tournament on the James & Maury Rivers would be my final check of the season.

My fishing cooled off dramatically after that Hobie win. Maybe my head got too big, and I needed to be humbled a bit. Whatever the cause, I struggled to find quality fish and I didn’t execute well at several events. My first trip to the Susquehanna was awesome, but I barely cracked the top 50. Visits to the Wolf & Fox Rivers, Dardanelle, Pickwick, and a return trip to Winnipesaukee all resulted in poor to mediocre performances. Then I made a huge mistake at the KBF National Championship on Kentucky Lake. I had a finger past the caudal fin in some of my photos on day one, resulting in three fish not counting. So embarrassing! After that string of low finishes, the doubts were starting to creep back in, and my inability to earn checks had drained the savings. I knew going into the Hobie Tournament of Champions that it would probably be my last event as a full-time fisherman, so I was determined to have fun and net a solid finish. Though I never found the right caliber of fish to win, I caught consistent limits and managed a 15th place finish. I didn’t quite make it into check range, but I’m extremely proud of that finish. The TOC field was a who’s who of kayak fishing, and I held my own. Ending the season strong left me with a feeling of accomplishment. I proved to myself that I belong.

2022 was a blessed year. I don’t know how else to describe it. I had a great time on the water, made some new friends, earned two national wins, a handful of top-10 finishes, runner up spot in the Bassmaster AOY race, 12th in the Hobie standings, and 8th in the Kayak Bass Nation Power Rankings. Off the water I had the opportunity to represent some great companies. I was invited on several podcasts to talk fishing, wrote a few entries for the Missile Blog and started this column on the Bass Cast site. I even appeared in a few YouTube videos. I don’t know whether I’ll ever be able to top the ’22 season, but I can’t wait to try.

With 2023 fast approaching, I’m amped up for next season. The major national trails have released their schedules, and there are exciting opportunities for anyone who likes to compete from a kayak. Tournaments are being held on legendary lakes across the country, and there are a few lesser-known venues that should be fun. If you like to fish closer to home, many local trails, including the Bass Cast Kayak Series here in Southern Virginia, have released their schedules too. If you’ve never fished a kayak tournament before, these events are a lot of fun and a great way to test your skill without breaking the bank. I don’t know yet what my tournament calendar will look like for the upcoming season. Returning to more traditional work means that I’ll fish fewer events, but I’ll compete as often as I’m able. Meanwhile, I plan to keep writing, and I’m going to force myself to start running a GoPro. Hopefully I’ll have some fun footage to share next year. My biggest goal for the winter is to get acclimated to the Newport NK-180 I just purchased. I’ve never run a motor on a kayak, so it might take some getting used to. I’m excited to see how much faster and further it can take my Outback. 2023 is going to be fun!

I want to close by thanking my parents, friends, and sponsors for all their support over the past year. It would not have been possible without them, and I’m forever grateful. Thanks for reading my ’22 recap. If you ever have questions or there’s a topic that you’d like me to cover in this column, drop a comment or reach out to me on Instagram at @justin__largen. Good luck in ’23!

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