Sponsor Announcement: Ben’s Tackle Shack

We are extremely excited to announce that we have partnered with Ben’s Tackle Shack, one of the biggest and best tackle shops around!

Active MAKB members receive 10% off in-store and online sales (some exclusions may apply). You can find the code in our Members Only section on our website.

We’re excited to work with Ben’s and grateful for their support of MAKB and our anglers. Please support those who support us by giving them a like and follow on Facebook and Instagram.


Victory Out of Nowhere!

The first Cold Water Series event of 2024 went down this past Saturday, and it was a tough one for most of us. We fished Snipatuit instead of Billington Sea due to ice.

Winter fishing can be tough, and it often is around here. For a long time today, only a crappie and a pickerel were on the board, then a few more pickerel, but no bass.

Around 10 AM, Joshua Carvalho put up the day’s first bass. Shortly after, Mike Morcone was on the board. At this point, we assumed little would change by the end of the tournament. Then, out of nowhere, in a little over 30 minutes, Mike had 69.25 inches!

He found an area where they were stacked, and he just dialed it in from there.

In similar fashion, Derek Brundle found fish in a short period of time. He put up his first bass at 1:16 and his last at 2:56.

Mike had 81.50 and Derek had 77.50, besting the rest of the field by a wide margin.

Congrats to Joshua (30.25), Matthew Conant (15.25), and Steve Hedges (12.50) for being the only others who caught a bass. Joshua also had pickerel lunker (23.50), Steve had crappie lunker (13.25), and Derek had event lunker (17.25).

Check out the full results here.

Congrats, dudes. Great job!


2024 Schedule Announcement

For those who missed the livestream (or just don’t want to watch it), here is the current 2024 schedule…

DIVISIONAL EVENTS

Apr 6 – Wequaquet Lake (Eastern)
Apr 7 – Webster Lake (Central)
Apr 13 – Lake Cochituate (Northern)
Apr 27 – East Brimfield Lake (Western)
May 11 – A-1 (Central)
May 18 – Snipatuit Pond (Eastern)
May 25 – Onota Lake (Western)
May 25 – Nashua River (Northern)
Jun 1 – Singletary Lake (Central)
Jun 8 – Colebrook Reservoir (Western)
Jun 15 – Pawtuckaway Lake (Northern)
Jun 29 – Mashpee-Wakeby (Eastern)
Jul 13 – Sudbury River (Central)
Jul 14 – Charles River (Eastern)
Jul 27 – Buel Lake (Western)
Jul 27 – Lake Attitash (Northern)
Aug 10 – Chebacco Lake (Northern)
Aug 24 – Upper/Lower Mill Ponds & Walkers Pond (Eastern)
Aug 31 – Quaboag Pond (Western)
Aug 31 – Whitehall Reservoir (Central)
Sep 7 – Lake Quinsigamond/Flint Pond (Central)
Sep 8 – Billington Sea (Eastern)
Sep 14 – Sudbury River (Northern)
Sep 14–15 – Congamond Lake & The Oxbow (Western)
Sep 28 – Otis Reservoir (Championship)

As you can see, there are very few conflicts between divisions (and none with EKF, if you were wondering), so anyone looking to chase the 2024 MAKB Angler of the Year title should have plenty of opportunity.

A few other things:

Webster Lake, Billington Sea, and the Charles River are on Sunday.

The Pawtuckaway Lake event in New Hampshire is not yet approved. We need to wait until March to submit the permit.

The Western Division is running a two-day event for the season closer. Two days, two separate bodies of water, ten best fish (best five each day).

The championship is on September 28 on Otis Reservoir. Plan ahead!

ONLINE EVENTS

Mar 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Apr 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Apr 21 – The Catch ‘Em All Spring Brawl
May 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jul 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 30 – 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 20 – The Catch ‘Em All Fall Brawl

TNT SERIES

TBA

COLD WATER SERIES

TBA

KNOCKOUT SERIES

Apr 1–Oct 28


2024 Memberships Are Live!


Memberships for 2024 are available now!

If you wish to compete in our events this year, you need an active 2024 membership.

Click here to purchase one.

Please choose the membership most appropriate for what you intend to fish this upcoming season.

All memberships grant access to fish all live and online events. However, anyone choosing a divisional membership will only receive Angler of the Year points in that division. So choose the division that best suits you.

If you have any questions, please reach out.


2023 Season Stats

On Sunday, we closed out 2023 with one last tournament, a Cold Water Series event on Johns Pond. This final event marked the 53rd event of the season!

In total, we ran 24 divisional events and one championship, 9 Thursday Night Throwdowns, two zone tournaments, six Cold Water Series events, eight monthly online challenges, and three Catch ‘Em All Brawls.

After I make the payouts for the Johns Pond tournament later this week, we will have issued $49,893 in payouts in 2023! This is how it all broke down:

Central Division: $9,148
Eastern Division: $8,822
Northern Division: $6,518
Western Division: $6,168
Monthly Challenges: $5,254
Championship: $3,948
Cold Water Series: $3,242
Catch ‘Em All Brawls: $3,121
Thursday Night Throwdowns: $2,888
Zone Tournaments: $784

All told, 950 competitors fished these events (not all unique, of course) and 5,163 fish were submitted, which includes 1,630 from the monthly online events and Catch ‘Em All Brawls.

The most fish submitted during a divisional event was 252 at the Central Division season opener on Webster Lake. The least fish submitted was 24 at the brutal Eastern Division season opener on Lake Cochituate.

We submitted a total of 21,896 inches of bass.

The biggest limits of the year:

Central Division: Mike Morcone – 91.25 (East/West Waushacum)
Northern Division: Lee Kennon – 90.25 (Sudbury River)
Eastern Division: Steve Petkevitch – 88.25 (Snipatuit Pond)
Western Division: Shawn Dominik – 85.50 (The Lucky 7 Roadrunner event)
Monthly Challenge: Khoa Dao – 102.00 (August)
Thursday Night Throwdown: Patrick Brown – 61.00 (Mascuppic Lake)
Cold Water Series: Derek Brundle – 87.50 (South Watuppa Pond)

The biggest largemouth of the year:

Western Division: Nelson da Costa – 21.75 (Ashmere Lake)
Northern Division: Nate Chagnon – 21.00 (Sudbury River)
Eastern Division: Lee Kennon – 20.75 (Snipatuit Pond)
Central Division: Jon Carlman and Michael Williams – 20.75 (East/West Waushacum and Flint Pond)
Monthly Challenge: Derek Brundle – 22.50 (August)
Thursday Night Throwdown: Derek Brundle – 21.50 (Oldham Pond)
Cold Water Series: Matthew Conant – 22.25 (Johns Pond)

The biggest smallmouth of the year:

Northern Division: Steve Hedges – 17.75 (Merrimack River)
Eastern Division: Matthew Conant – 17.50 (Long Pond Plymouth)
Central Division: Reyluis Morales – 17.50 (Webster Lake)
Western Division: Shawn Dominik – 16.50 (Onota Lake)
Cold Water Series: Ryan Nye – 19.25 (Peters Pond)

In everyone’s defense, between all four divisions, we only fished eight lakes with smallies last year, and none were what you’d call great smallmouth fisheries.

Some other stats:

Mike Morcone had the most wins between all divisions with three.

John Ferreira had the most top-five finishes between all divisions with six, which of course lead him to his well-earned 2023 Angler of the Year win.

Derek Brundle and Ken Wood tied with the most victories between all divisions and formats with six each. They also tied for the most top-five finishes between all divisions and formats with 18 apiece.

Overall, it was a pretty killer year! Fifty-three events is pretty wild, to be honest. We’ll probably have just as many this year, or close to it. And we’re bringing back the Knockout Series like it used to be: in-state only, angler versus angler competing on the same lake at the same time!

This new year marks the beginning of our ninth year! Crazy.

Big shout-out to all the anglers and especially the MAKB staff, past and present, who have made this the baddest kayak bass fishing trail around!


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!