Kweekul’s “Flawless” AOY Season
Arkansas angler captures Central Division title
Daniel Kweekul’s fishing career has been hodgepodge at best.
He’d fish a Costa FLW Series tournament or two one year, maybe a few FLW Bass Fishing League tournaments the next. There was no regularity. Then in 2015, he didn’t fish a single tournament, unable to get time off from his job at the post office.
That all changed – possibly for good – this year. A promotion gave the Bryant, Ark., angler more vacation time, and with it the opportunity to again fish tournaments. The result was an Angler of the Year title in the Costa FLW Series Central Division that has put him on the verge of fulfilling a lifelong dream, having qualified for the Walmart FLW Tour.
“Flawless” fishing
Lost fish are an unfortunate reality for all anglers. For tournament anglers, the reality is that lost fish can cost them points (and money, of course).
Kweekul won the AOY title by a mere three points over Steve Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio. Hence why he credits lost fish – actually, a lack thereof – as the No. 1 reason for him holding the crown at the end.
“I fished flawless this year,” says Kweekul. “I didn’t break off a single fish, and I put every bite I got in the boat.
“If I lose one fish, I probably don’t win Angler of the Year.”
Of course, Kweekul actually wasn’t gunning for AOY when the season started. He just wanted to “jackpot” the first one on his home waters of Dardanelle. But after he did so well and finished runner-up at the opener, he figured why not try the second one, which led to going for – and winning – the title.
The 2016 season
Kweekul totaled up 710 AOY points. Here’s how he earned them.
Lake Dardanelle, March 31-April 2
Living little more than an hour from the lake, Kweekul knew exactly what the fish would be doing for this spring event, and he figured he’d have a legitimate shot to win. He was nearly right, as he came up roughly a pound short, finishing second with 47 pounds, 14 ounces.
“That time of year is tough on that lake,” Kweekul says. “The fish don’t want to bite. So you have to fish slow to get bit.”
Kweekul knew just how to fish slow, pitching a Christmas tree-colored Yamamoto Senko with a 1/8-ounce weight to every piece of wood he could find near spawning areas. The idea was that, even though he couldn’t see any bedding fish because of dirty water, he knew they would bed around the stumps and laydowns. Sometimes he’d pitch his bait to the same spot on a stump three or more times before he got bit.
Kentucky Lake, April 28-30
Originally, Kweekul figured he’d fish Dardanelle and be done. After finishing second, he reconsidered. Plus, Kweekul had fished a couple tournaments on Kentucky Lake before, so he knew a little about the lake, which sealed the deal. Kweekul opted to fish the second event just to see what would happen. What happened was another top 10, as he finished sixth with 47 pounds, 9 ounces.
The fish at Kentucky Lake were certainly in spawning mode, yet Kweekul happened to stumble upon a shallow ledge off a spawning flat that was holding a school of fish. The flat was 5 feet deep, with the ledge dropping to 10 feet. Despite how shallow the ledge was, Kweekul went with a Strike King 5XD in chartreuse black back, digging it into the ledge and reeling it off the edge. The fish hit it the second it came off the edge, and he sacked up 17-12 to sit in fourth after the first day.
A later flight on day two changed his plans.
“I got to my ledge and there were three boats on it,” says Kweekul. “So I went and flipped bushes with that Senko again – I can’t get away from it – to barely make the cut.”
After adding 13-12 on day two, Kweekul got back on his ledge on day three, but he never got a big bite. He caught 16-1, which was enough to sit in first place in the standings after two events.
Lake of the Ozarks, Oct. 6-8
After fishing two spring tournaments, Kweekul had six months to get ready for this event. The extended practice didn’t seem to help him initially.
“I was pretty hungry going into this one, being in first,” says Kweekul, “but my practice wasn’t good. I wasn’t on big fish. I knew I could bring in 12 to 13 pounds, but I didn’t think that was enough. Turns out, everyone else was catching the same sacks as me.”
Like everyone else, Kweekul had figured out the pattern of fishing brush near docks, utilizing a Texas-rigged Zoom Brush Hog in watermelon red candy with a 3/8-ounce weight. To find the docks with brush on them, Kweekul trained himself to look for unique landmarks.
“I looked for sinks on the docks,” says Kweekul. “I figured anyone who had a sink and a fish-cleaning table on his dock was a fisherman and would have crappie brush around the dock.”
True to what he thought, he brought in 12-1 and 13-5 the first two days to finish 35th. Kweekul actually finished four spots behind Floyd, the Kentucky Lake winner, at the finale, yet his finish was just enough to hang on for the title.
A debt repaid
In 1975, the country of Laos was taken over by communists, forcing members of the royal family to flee. Among those with ties to royalty were members of Kweekul’s family, who landed in the United States.
Because the U.S. had harbored and protected his family, Kweekul always felt he had a debt to repay, which he did in the form of serving in the U.S. Army National Guard. He spent a year in Iraq as a result, receiving a badge for seeing combat, before coming home and retiring from the service.
“I feel my debt was repaid,” says Kweekul. “Now I get to fish.”
More so, now he gets to pursue his dream of fishing professionally. He says there are still some hurdles. First will be the Costa FLW Series Championship Nov. 3-5 on Table Rock. An even bigger hurdle is finding enough sponsors to help offset the cost of entry for the Tour, but rest assured that he’s not going to let the opportunity slip by.
“I didn’t expect any of this when the year started, but it [winning Angler of the Year] is going to change my life,” says Kweekul. “I’ve qualified for the Tour, and I’m not going to give up until I get to fish it. I repaid my debt, and now I get to live my dream.
“I still have no words for what it’s like to win Angler of the Year. All I can say is, ‘Wow. I’m going to be a pro.’”