Using the Fishing Chaos App

Our season kicked off this month with March’s monthly online challenge, but it will shift into high gear starting on April 1. With two new divisions and a lot of new members, here are some helpful tips on familiarizing yourself with the Fishing Chaos app…

TEST TOURNAMENT

We have opened our Fishing Chaos test tournament once again. You can access that tournament here.

Use this test event to familiarize yourself with the registration process, choosing what tickets—main entry fee (required) and lunker pools (optional)—to purchase, how to upload fish, challenge competitors’ entries, etc.

Please do not upload inappropriate photos and use proper, accurate lengths.

TEST YOUR APP SETTINGS

As of today, March 6, 2023, the current version of the Fishing Chaos app is 1.10.15. It is highly recommended that the app and your phone’s operating system is up to date.

To make sure your phone’s settings are correct for use with the app, please open the app and perform the following steps:

1. Click the “hamburger” (i.e. the three horizontal lines) at the top left.
2. Click on your name.
3. Scroll down and click Preferences.
4. Click Test App Settings.

From there you’ll be able to verify settings for your camera, photo library, and location are correct. If they are not correct, perform the following steps…

PHONE SETTINGS

If you are fishing our events, or any event that uses the Fishing Chaos app, please make sure you’ve given the app the appropriate access to your photos and location.

If you have an iPhone, go to Settings > Fishing Chaos > Photos, and make sure All Photos is checked off.

Also go under Settings > Privacy > Location Services, then scroll down to Fishing Chaos and make sure that is set to While Using the App.

If you’re using an Android phone, go to Settings > Location, App Permissions, and select Only When Using the App or Always Allow depending on Android version

Also, under Camera Settings, make sure Location Tags is turned on.

These settings may vary slightly, depending on what iOS or Android version you are running, but they should be similar.

If you have any questions, please reach out. Thanks!


2023 Schedule Reveal

If you missed our Facebook Live schedule reveal, here it is:

EASTERN DIVISION

Apr 1 – Wequaquet Lake (Barnstable)
May 13 – Cook Pond (Fall River)
Jun 10 – Snipatuit Pond (Rochester)
Jul 1 – Charles River (Roadrunner)
Aug 26 – Long Pond (Plymouth)
Sep 16 – South Watuppa Pond (Fall River)

WESTERN DIVISION

Apr 22 – Connecticut River – Oxbow (Easthampton)
May 13 – Lake Rohunta (Athol)
Jun 17 – Onota Lake (Pittsfield)
Jul 22 – The Route 57 Run (Roadrunner)
Aug 26 – Connecticut River – North (Roadrunner)
Sep 23 – Ashmere Lake (Hinsdale)

CENTRAL DIVISION

Apr 15 – Webster Lake (Webster)
May 13 – East/West Waushacum Ponds (Sterling)
Jun 10 – A-1/Stump Pond (Westboro)
Jul 22 – Tully Lake (Athol)
Aug 19 – Flint Pond (Shrewsbury)
Sep 23 – Singletary Lake (Millbury)

NORTHERN DIVISION

Apr 29 – Chebacco Lake (South Hamilton)
May 20 – Lake Cochituate (Natick)
Jun 17 – Sudbury River (Roadrunner)
Jul 8 – Merrimack River (Roadrunner)
Aug 5 – Lake Attitash (Merrimac)
Sep 16 – Nashua River (Roadrunner)

CHAMPIONSHIP

Oct 7 – Mashpee-Wakeby Pond (Mashpee)

ONLINE SERIES

Mar 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Apr 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Apr 16 – The Catch ‘Em All Spring Brawl*
May 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jul 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jul 16 – The Catch ‘Em All Summer Brawl*
Aug 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Sep 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Oct 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Oct 22 – The Catch ‘Em All Fall Brawl*

*Sunday event

We will also have a few “fun” events, but we’re still working out those details. The Thursday Night Throwdowns will also return, but we won’t have any dates until the weather warms up.

As for the Knockout Series returning, that’s still up in the air. If it does return, it will likely revert back to the original format: Massachusetts only, anglers compete head-to-head on the same body of water. We’ll make a final decision soon…

More details were revealed in the live stream, which you can still view at the link above. Otherwise, you can find all this info on the individual event pages on Fishing Chaos.

If you have any questions, please reach out.


2023 Memberships Are Open!

The 2023 season is just around the corner! As a reminder to all, to fish our events, you must have an active MAKB membership. Memberships run from January 1 through December 31. If you have yet to renew your membership, you can do so here on our Fishing Chaos club page.

You should see a green JOIN NOW button. If you do not, let us know.

We have four divisions—Eastern, Western, Central, and Northern—with a membership for each, plus a membership option for our online series. A divisional membership grants access to all events, live and online, while a membership for the online series grants access to only our online events.

Please register for only one membership.

If you have any questions, please ask.


BIG NEWS!

Starting in 2023, Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ will have four divisions: Eastern, Western, Central, and Northern!

We’re excited to bring Anthony Campbell and Patrick Brown on as directors for the Northern Division, and Jonathan Medina, Bill Galeckas, and Joseph D’Addeo for the Central Division. All of them have history with MAKB and are friends to many of us, so we have no doubt they’ll be a great asset to the group.

Welcome aboard, fellas!

Below shows the general area in which these divisions will host their events.

We don’t have any dates or locations for next year just yet, but we’ll begin working on that soon. We’ll be doing a poll to choose locations for at least the Eastern Division, as has been tradition for the past for years or so. Look for that shortly!

Anyway, we’ll have a few additional announcements coming soon, but 2023 should be another great year for MAKB!

If you have any questions, let us know.


MAKB Jerseys and Hoodies Available Again!

It’s taken a few years, but MAKB jerseys and hoodies are finally available again!

Newly designed, you can order yours here on our Thrasher Sports Apparel page.

There are two versions available to you:

STANDARD JERSEY/HOODIE

The standard MAKB jersey/hoodie features all our sponsor logos, which cannot be altered or removed. Just add your first and last name and choose which division you’re in (if you have the Online Series membership, just choose the division closest to you).

CUSTOM JERSEY/HOODIE

The custom jersey/hoodie allows you to customize the jersey as you see fit, save for our logos and the American flag. If you would like to represent our sponsors but are also sponsored by a competing company, feel free to add all our other sponsors as you see fit.

Follow this link to order the standard jersey/hoodie, or from there click Add Your Own Sponsors to access the custom jersey/hoodie page.

If you have any questions, let us know!


Change to Our Angler of the Year Format

After some discussion, we have decided to adjust how our Angler of the Year is determined. We have removed the championship from the equation.

Now only an angler’s best five events (Western Division) or seven events (Eastern Division) will count for Angler of the Year.

You can read the details here.


Fishing with MAKB: The Essentials

The more popular kayak fishing becomes, the more we get asked one question: How do I get involved in kayak tournaments?

The answer to that question will vary depending on what trail you’re fishing (though they’re all similar), so let’s just focus on what you need to fish Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ events…

RULES

This is the most important thing every tournament angler needs to pay attention to, and yet it’s probably the one aspect of our sport that anglers pay the least attention to.

To help promote consistency in kayak bass fishing competition nationwide, Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ adopted Kayak Bass Fishing’s Competition Rules Standards. You can find those rules here.

However, there are a few things that we do differently, so we have our own rules addendum, which you can find here. In addition, some events may have its own rules addendum, further restrictions or less. Those details will be provided in the event description on Fishing Chaos.

All anglers wishing to compete in our tournaments are required to understand and comply with these rules. Failure to do so could result in deductions or disqualification.

MEMBERSHIP

To fish our events, you need to have an active MAKB membership. Our memberships are annual and can be purchased here through Fishing Chaos, which is what we use for our tournament management system.

We have four divisions now—Eastern, Western, Central, and Northern—plus an online division. With an annual membership, you can fish events in any division unless you choose the online division, which does not allow access to live events. When choosing any of the four other divisions, the division you choose will be the only division in which you will receive divisional Angler of the Year points. For overall Angler of the Year, any regular-season live event counts toward your yearly total.

Non-Angler of the Year live events and online events do not count toward Angler of the Year.

TOURNAMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

We use Fishing Chaos as our tournament management system, which means we run our events through their website and app, as well as control our memberships, communicate with our members, etc.

You will need a Fishing Chaos account and the app on your phone. They have subscription plans—monthly and annual—or you can pay an additional fee per event. The choice is yours. You can read more details about their plans here, but at a minimum, you will need to create an account with them and have the app on your phone in order to fish our events.

APPROVED MEASURING DEVICE

All anglers fishing MAKB events must use a Ketch Products measuring board, any version of their aluminum board or their plastic Karbonate board.

Ketch boards are the industry standard.

PERSONAL FLOTATION DEVICE (PFD)

This is detailed in the rules, but emphasizing it doesn’t hurt. All anglers are required to wear a PFD (i.e. life vest) at all times during our events. The one exception is when you are adding or removing closing (specific details on that can be found in the rules, section 15).

There are many other things that will help you on your journey into competitive kayak fishing, but all of that comes in time, comes with experience, engaging with your fellow anglers, and so forth. Everything listed above is the essentials, the stuff you must have to fish our events.

There are some more obvious essentials, of course, like a phone, an approved vessel (kayak, canoe, etc.), but everything above should cover all of the less obvious requirements.

If you have any questions, please contact us here.


Sponsor Announcement: X Zone Lures

We are extremely excited to announce that we have partnered with X Zone Lures for the 2022 season!

With an extensive lineup of high-quality, uniquely-designed soft plastics and terminal tackle, including tungsten, and proven success on the water, X Zone Lures will make a great addition to the MAKB family!

For our members, X Zone Lures has offered a generous 30% off all online orders! We will also have a variety of bait packs to give away at each event.

Please support those who support us by giving them a like and follow on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.


Sponsor Announcement: Nocqua

We are proud to announce that we have partnered with Nocqua Adventure Gear for the upcoming season!

At the end of each regular-season event, we will run a random number generator using the numbers 1 through 8, which will represent the hours of the tournament. The angler who submits the biggest bass during that randomly drawn hour—the Nocqua Power Hour—will win a Nocqua Powerbank and USB Flex Light!

For our championship, the Nocqua Power Hour winner will walk away with a 20ah Pro Power Kit.

The adventure begins next month!

Please support those who support us by giving them a like and follow on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.


Sponsor Announcement: YakAttack

We are very excited to once again be partnering with YakAttack for our upcoming season!

YakAttack is the industry leader in kayak fishing gear and accessories, and they have generously provided us with gift certificates for our events!

One of our other sponsors, Three Belles Outfitters, is a YakAttack retailer, so if you’re ever in need of some new YakAttack gear, be sure to check them out for additional savings!

Please support those who support us by giving them a like and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.