What do you do when you can’t use LiveScope to find the bass?
You ask the deer, obviously.
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Kaden Buchmann went wire-to-wire to win the first Bassmaster Elite Qualifier of the season Friday at Norfork Lake in Arkansas, finishing the three-day tournament with 42 pounds, 7 ounces.
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A trophy 10-pound largemouth bass fights a minnow imitation lure. (Doug Stamm/stammphoto.com)
But the fun part is how the 22-year-old found some of those fish.
Forward-facing sonar was not allowed for the Norfork event, one of three Elite Qualifiers that will ultimately determine which 10 anglers earn invitations to the 2027 Bassmaster Elite Series. So Buchmann had to find another way to figure out where bass might be hiding — and, more importantly, where 130-plus other anglers hadn’t already been.
His solution was to ask the locals. Well, the four-legged locals.
With so many boats working a relatively small reservoir, Buchmann started watching the shoreline for deer. If deer were hanging out close to the water, chances were pretty good another angler hadn’t just come ripping through that pocket and scared them off.
“If I saw 15 deer in a pocket, I’d say, ‘I’m getting bit here,'” Buchmann told Bassmaster.
A young white-tailed deer buck with velvet-covered antlers stands in shallow water in a lake in Canada. (Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
And, somehow, it worked.
Buchmann spotted more than 30 deer during the opening day of competition — including a 9-point buck — and used their presence as a clue for finding areas that hadn’t seen as much fishing pressure. He weighed 16 pounds, 7 ounces that day to take the tournament lead.
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Then he did it again.
On Day 2, Buchmann once again spent part of his morning looking for deer and said he caught two quality bass in a pocket where he had spotted them.
“We can’t use (forward-facing sonar) this week, so you just have to fish where you think they’re gonna be,” he told Bassmaster.
Simple enough. But not easy.
To be clear, Buchmann did a whole lot more than follow deer around Norfork Lake.
Bassmaster credited his speed, mental toughness and ability to stay away from other competitors as major factors in the win. He covered enormous stretches of the lake, kept his trolling motor running high and targeted everything from docks to shaded shoreline with a topwater bait and skipping jig. On the final day alone, he said four of the fish he weighed came from places he had never previously fished.
“I fished the whole lake,” Buchmann said after the win. “I fished from about 3 miles from Missouri, all the way down to a pocket by the Norfork Dam.”
It all added up to a wire-to-wire victory.
An aerial view of Norfork Lake from above. (Getty Images)
Buchmann opened with 16-7, added 14 pounds on Day 2 and survived a tougher final round with another 12 pounds. His 42-7 total beat runner-up Cody Stahl by 1 pound, 14 ounces and earned Buchmann $71,317 along with an invitation to compete in the 2027 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell.
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There are still two Elite Qualifiers remaining before the 10 Bassmaster Elite Series invitations are handed out, so Buchmann has plenty of work left to do.
But now that his deer-scouting secret is out, don’t be surprised if there are a few more anglers watching the shoreline next time.
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