BOOYAH Flash Point Jerkbait Key at St Lawrence River for Kyle Cortiana

Learn the approaches that helped Kyle Cortiana earn a second-place finish at the Toyota Series Northern Series finale on the St Lawrence River.

Kyle Cortiana’s multi-pronged approach to fishing the St Lawrence River yielded a three-day weight of 70 pounds, 15 ounces, earning him second place in the Toyota Series Northern finale. That finish also secured Cortiana the title of Angler of the Year for the Northern Series.

Cortiana, who lives in Oklahoma but travels extensively to fish, won his first Toyota Series event a little more than a month ago on Lake Champlain. We’ll dig into his entire AOY season separately, but for now let’s look at his approach on the St Lawrence River.

Tournament Strategy

Going into the tournament, Cortiana knew where a lot of big smallmouths were and had a pretty good idea of how to make them bite. Strategizing when to be where and how long to fish each spot was critical, though. Cortiana had both deep and shallow spots that he fished differently, and he only had about four hours to fish each day because of four hours of running time to and from the general area he was fishing.

Cortiana’s initial thought was that he would need to hit new spots each day to continue catching enough of the size of smallmouth he knew he would need. However, after catching 25-12 on day 1, his second-day spots didn’t produce the quality expected, so he ended up finishing back on his key day 1 spots, where he culled multiple times to get his bag to 21-05. He fished some of the same spots on day 3, and they produced well enough for him to weigh 23-14.

All three days, Cortiana spent time fishing deep areas and shallower shoal areas that offered a combination of broken patches of vegetation, gravel and current, and having both shallow and deep fish to go back and forth to was a key to keeping enough quality fish biting during his short fishing window.

Critical Jerkbait Fish

For the shallow fish, Cortiana was using a new jerkbait – the BOOYAH Flash Point. He was targeting specific bass he could see on live sonar, which was a primary application the BOOYAH lure development team had in mind in developing the Flash Point. Cortiana caught key fish that he weighed all three days on the Flash Point jerkbait, including a 6-pounder on the first day.

Cortiana is a huge jerkbait fan. They play a big part in his fishing strategies, and he noted that he is very picky about them. He has only fished the new Flash Point jerkbaits for about a month, but they have quickly proven themselves, and he has been extremely impressed in multiple ways.

First, he pointed toward the hooks, which are sticky sharp but also very strong. He has lost a strikingly small number of fish while fighting them, which is unusual for jerkbait smallmouths, and he’s yet to have any hooks open at all, despite having caught a lot of very large smallmouths on Flash Points prior to, during and since the end of tournament.

In addition, Cortiana likes that the Flash Point immediately goes to work, diving quickly and going straight into its erratic, enticing action.

Most importantly, he likes that it makes the big smallmouth mad. In the short time he has had Flash Point jerkbaits, Cortiana has fished them a lot and has been incredibly impressed by the way the fish react. He has fished them in the same areas with his traditional favorite jerkbaits, and the Flash Points have been outproducing everything else.

Created with extensive input from elite pro staffers who had been asking for a premium jerkbait to fish with forward facing sonar, the BOOYAH Flash Point features a unique blade embedded across its head. The signature blade, which is built into a cavity, serves two critical functions. First, it creates a dramatically better return on forward facing sonar. In addition, it creates subtle flash to enhance visibility and provide bass a defined aiming point, resulting in more hook-ups.

The Flash Point features a narrow profile that facilitates a highly responsive action and suggests an easy target. A broader rounded back and belly accurately mimic shad or herring. Etched scales and fins, along with intricate painting, create an exceptionally lifelike appearance.

The action is quick and highly erratic. The Flash Point quickly dives 4 to 6 feet when cast and reeled down and is engineered to suspend at a 40-degree nose-down angle when paused to imitate a dying baitfish. A weight-transfer system, which utilizes tungsten beads, allows for long casts, which can be critical for fishing jerkbaits, especially in clear water.

The Flash Point jerkbait is 4.25 inches long and weighs 1/2 ounce. It comes armed with three No 6 carbon steel SS finish treble hooks.

Deep Drop Shotting

For his deep fish, Cortiana mixed a YUM Flash Mob Jr and a Great Lakes Finesse Drop Minnow in the larger 3.25-inch side, with the Drop Minnow his choice to coax strikes from fussy fish that were holding behind big rocks. Cortiana fished the Drop Minnow on a 3/8-ounce dropshot rig, nose hooking the bait on a No. 2 Trokar TK150VP hook. Key colors were Smelt and Spicy Melon.

Current played a major role, and Cortiana said it was important to cast so the drop shot rig could get down and would move naturally with the current into position in front of the fish.

Once Cortiana got his Drop Minnow close to a smallmouth he was targeting, a dead sticking presentation was critical. “No lifting or shaking of any kind. I’d just hold it still and let that Drop Minnow do its thing,” he said.