Beast Mode

Another tournament down!

Crazy day, weather-wise. The morning was windy and cloudy with a bit of sun. After a few hours the rain came barreling in and poured on us for another three hours or so, and then the wind calmed down and the sun came out and cooked us for the last two hours.

We had 14 anglers today and paid out three spots.

Despite the weather, a lot of fish were caught. Some big girls, too, and one absolute BEAST! That would be Bruce Levy’s 23-inch slooooooob!

(Adding insult to everyone else’s injury, he also had a 20.25.)

Bruce thought he didn’t have a scale, but it was in his yak all along. Bummer. The fish was over 7 pounds all day, though. No doubt.

And of course it was tournament lunker. Hard to beat a fish that big. Congrats, man!

Taking third place for the third time in a row (and fourth time this year): Donald Davis. He had a respectable 70.50 inches (as did Domenic Eno, in fact; but Don had the bigger fish for the tie-breaker). He pulled this off even after taking an old-man nap during the rainstorm.

The bite was tough for Ken Wood today. He had one 11.25-inch dink until about 9 AM, then added a 15.50. He hopped over to Robbins Pond around 10 AM and was able to cobble together a limit of small fish. His last—and biggest—entered his net at 1:56 PM, four minutes before the tournament’s end. Though he struggles, he hauled in a decent limit of 75 inches, good enough for second place.

And for the third time this year, Bruce Levy came out on top, taking home the trophy and the money! Anchored by two big fish, Bruce laid 84.75 inches down on the board today. Dude is on FIYA! Congrats, man!

As always, we appreciate everyone coming out.

Our next tournament is an evening/night tournament at the Nip on July 22. We will be fishing from 4 PM till midnight. If you plan on fishing with us, make sure you have the appropriate lights on your person or kayak.

Before that, though, we will be hosting the KBF Trail Event on Lake Winnipesaukee. This one goes down on July 8 (click here for details).


Sloppy Firsts

Great turnout today! We had 17 anglers, paid out four spots and lunker.

Tough bite for some of us, but as always, some people found fish.

In his first MAKB tournament, Steve Scott took fourth place, with a solid 73.25 inches. Good meeting you, man!

Third place went to Donald “Dropshot” Davis. He caught seven of his nine fish on the dropshot, for 74 inches even.

Shawn Renes doesn’t get to fish with us often, but when he does he usually does pretty damn good. Today was no exception. Shawn hauled in a second-place-worthy 78.50 inches of bass, with a 17.75-inch kicker that took the lunker prize as well.

For the second time this year, first place went to Bruce Levy. Bruce fished the thick slop, way back in the stuff most fishermen overlook, and as often is the case, it paid off. He sealed the deal with 81.50 inches courtesy of his trusty “black and blue.”

You can see the full results here.

This was our biggest turnout yet! Thanks to everyone coming out. We appreciate it. It was a good time, as always.

Congrats, fellas. Great job out there!


The School Kid Takes Us to School

I’m heading up to Maine, so no big write-up today. Check out the final standings here.

Lots of dinks, but some got into some good ones. We paid out four spots. Deeka Collins took fourth, Donald Davis came in third, second place went to Valber Santos, and first place—by a healthy margin—and lunker went to 15-year-old Hunter Leger in his very first kayak tournament! Awesome job!

Congrats, everyone! Thanks for coming out.

The next tournament is on June 10 at A-1/Stump Pond. Hope we see you there!


Lunker of a Lifetime

Glen Charlie is in the books!

We had ten hardcore manly men show up for this one. Prior to launch, it was relatively calm. A little windy, sprinkling a bit, not bad at all. But literally the moment we launched the wind ratcheted up to…oh, 90 mph or so, and it started to downpour. A number of us struggled to get out into the main lake and over to the coves, barely able to move the kayaks against the wind.

Thankfully the coves and some other areas offered much needed shelter.

And because Mother Nature is a cruel beast, the moment we beached our yaks at 3 PM, the rain stopped, the clouds broke, and sun came out. Pretty sure we heard it laughing at us. Haha.

Anyway, Mark Johnson took third place with 70.75 inches. He also took home the money for lunker with an absolute SLOB largemouth (21.50″) that weighed an even 8 pounds! Unreal, man. Congrats!

Kyle Freddrick Dudley also got in on the lunker action with the only smallie caught. Not an 8-pounder, but close (11.75″).

Due to an open-mouth deduction and a judging mistake on our part, we announced Mark as the second-place finisher at the lake. However, Anthony Tempesta actually placed second with 71 inches even.

Ken Wood managed to get on an early bite in one of the coves, starting with a 19.50-incher, which was tournament lunker until Mark crushed that dream. Ken caught seven fish total, with his biggest five going 81.50, good enough for first place.

Congrats, everyone! We appreciate you guys coming out, especially in that kind of weather.

You can check out the full results here

Next tournament is Lake Boon in Stow on May 20. Hope to see you there!


The Season Opens with Strong Wind and Big Waves

Our first tournament of 2017 is in the books.

The day started off fairly nice. A little chilly, a little windy, but comfortable. Then it just got worse and worse, and I’m pretty sure there were two-foot waves at the end of the day. Crazy.

Anyway, we had 15 anglers. The bite was fairly tough, but fish were caught.

Taking third place and lunker: Donald Davis. His five went 57.25 inches, and his biggest was 19.25.

Ken Wood took second place with 60.50 inches. His biggest fish of the day was a fat 15-inch crappie. Haha.

And taking first place: Bruce Levy. His best five went an even 67 inches.

You can check out the full results here

Congrats, fellas!

And thanks for coming out, everyone. Robert, we hope you’re doing all right.

Next tournament is Glen Charlie Pond on May 6. Hope to see you there!


In the ZONE!

We couldn’t resist doing it one more time!

Seven of us ventured out to Canton Reservoir today for a “zone” tournmanet, where we were all restricted to one zone every two hours. It was an interesting format on a pretty tough day.

We used TourneyX for the first time. Some have used it in KBF online tourneys, but it was different using it in a live tournament, where you can check the standings and see how good—or bad—you’re doing. It adds a nice new element of stress to a tournament, that’s for sure. Haha.

We’ll be using TourneyX for all our events in 2017.

From the start, Chris Diranian was killing it. Before most of us even had a fish, he had three bass for 50+ inches. By the time some of us caught our first bass, he had over 63. That jumped to 78 shortly after. Talk about demoralizing!

Donald Davis once again placed in the money, taking lunker with an 18.25-incher.

Moving baits were getting Ken Wood nothing but pickerel, so he managed to slow things down and get a limit. Just five, and it took all day (his fifth was caught in the last hour). They went for 68.25 inches and nabbed him third place.

Second place went to Domenic Eno, who hauled in a solid 72.25 inches of bass on a variety of baits.

As mentioned above, Chris was on fire today, fishing extremely shallow with a fluke. His five went for 80.75, which was more than enough to best the field.

You can view the complete results here on TourneyX.

Congrats, everyone! And thanks for coming out. Good times as usual.


A Foggy Start to a Fantastic End

Well, that does it. Our first ever tournament series is done!

Ten of us fished Norton Reservoir today. Great turnout! The weather was nice (for October). The day started calm and extremely foggy…and stayed that way for about three hours. When the fog cleared, I think all of us were surprised to find out where we actually were compared to where we thought we were! Ken Wood said he was about a half-mile off course. Haha.

The bite was tough if you were looking for bass. Only two limits were caught. Some of us found plenty of pickerel, though. Valber caught 14!

We paid out three spots, but Donald Davis was kind enough to donate a $25 Bass Pro Shops gift card, so that went to the 4th place angler, which was Chris Diranian. He had three fish for 43.75 inches.

Third place went to Michael Andreasen, who hauled in four bass that went 57.5 inches.

If we had an Angler of the Year category this year, Donald Davis would certainly take the crown. He’s won three regular tournaments, plus our night tournament. He placed second once, as well as third, and he took lunker four times!

Well, add another second place finish to that list! Don not only caught a limit, but he culled a few times. His five went 75.5 inches.

Hell of year, bud!

Ken Wood caught his fifth fish with about two hours left in the tournament—and then his phone died. He had about 67 inches at the time, which he thought might be good for second place. He contemplated heading back to the launch to charge the phone for a bit, but decided to keep fishing and see what happens. That was a good call, because shortly after he hooked up with a 20.75-inch swamp donkey that went 4.11lb.

Luckily Don was nearby and he was kind enough to let Ken borrow his phone to take a photo.  (Deep down he probably kind of hates himself for it. Haha.) That fish bumped Ken up to 77.5 inches, good enough for 1st place and lunker!

And there you have it.

This was a great first year! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to one of our events! No drama, no fights, no egos. You’re all awesome!

As mentioned before, we still have more tournaments planned. If the weather cooperates, the next one will be on October 22. It’ll be a “zone” tournament, meaning that we’ll quarter the lake, and each angler will be restricted to one zone every two hours. It’ll be a random draw. If you start in section A, you’ll move to B after two hours. If you start in C, you’ll move to D, then A, then B, etc.

Major League Fishing does something similar. Should be a good time! We’ll probably run it mid-morning till late afternoon, like 10 AM till 6 PM. Something like that. We’ll nail down the details soon.

Anyway, thanks again, fellas! It’s been a great year!


Night Tournament Nightmare

So our first night tournament was—how you say?—terrible. Haha.

Leading up to today, the weather was looking pretty bleak: thunder, lightning, rain. But then, today, the forecast just kept getting better and better. Seemed like it was going to be a great night!

As the sun was going down, the wind kicked up, as it does at sunset sometimes. Only it never stopped. And it was brutal!

It calmed briefly around 10 PM or so, which was nice. But then it picked back up again, worse than before, and the temperature dropped with it. All of a sudden it felt like it was late November. Frigid!

Anyway, we had a nice turnout: 10 anglers. Unfortunately, only four of us caught bass, and only one of us caught more than one. Nothing big.

Craig Page took third with a hard-won 14-incher.

Ken Wood’s 14.5-inch bass, which he caught early, on a Whopper Plopper 190 (the giant one, go figure), landed him in second place.

Donald Davis also caught his two fish early, before the bite died. He caught both on a frog. One was 14.25 inches, and the other 15.5. Small fish, but enough to take first place and lunker.

Congrats, guys! And congrats Miles, for catching the only other bass of the night.

And thanks to everyone for coming out!

Maybe we’ll start the night tournaments earlier in the season next year. Haha.


A-Whoppin’ and A-Ploppin’

Tournament #9 is in the rearview!

It was a calm, chilly, foggy start on Lake Nippenicket this morning. We had six anglers, including newcomer Justin Rollo, who joined us for his first tournament ever. We paid out two spots plus lunker.

As usual at the Nip, some of us struggled, while others caught a lot of small fish. Water levels were extremely low, but the fish were biting, at least. It wasn’t on fire or anything, but everyone caught fish.

Donald Davis and Bruce Levy both caught a lot of fish, but they couldn’t find any kicker bass. Don’s biggest five went 73 inches even, which was enough to squeak past Bruce’s 71.75 for a second-place finish.

Chris Diranian struggled for the first four hours with no bites—until he took off the perch-colored Whopper Plopper and tied on, I think, the blue gill Munky Butt color. Today, that’s what the big girls wanted. A couple of them, anyway.

Chris’s biggest fish went 20.5 inches, while his five went 75.5, good enough for both lunker and first place!

Congrats again, guys! Well deserved on a tough day. And as always, thanks for coming out!

Our next tournament—and final “official” tournament of the year—will be at Norton Reservoir on October 8.


From Whine to Shine

Dudley Pond is in the can!

We had 12 anglers today for the eighth stop on this year’s trail. The weather was good and the fish were biting. Everyone caught bass, on all kinds of different baits, and nearly everyone had a limit. Unfortunately for most of us the fish weren’t very big.

Overall, 58 bass were submitted, for a grand total length of 818.75 inches.

Troy Brown and Domenic Eno caught the biggest fish of the day, both hauling in a fat 21-inch largemouth, with the tie-breaker for lunker ultimately going to Dom. He took third place as well with his biggest five going 73.25 inches.

Second place went to Bruce Levy, who had a solid 78.25 inches of bass. A nice little comeback after a rough start.

And then there was Edmar Junior, who said he had maybe a fifteen percent chance of winning because, as he said-complained-whined (we love you, Edmar!), in the seven times he’d been to Dudley, he “never caught anything bigger than a 2.5-pounder.” Well, that experience paid off, and his 79.75 inches of bass got him first place, a fat wad of cash, and a sexy trophy.

His first ever tournament win! Congrats, sir.

And congrats to Dom and Bruce! And Troy!

Thanks again to all who came out today, especially the first timers! Great meeting you, Dave and Joseph! Hope you join us again.

Next tournament is in three weeks, September 17, at the Nip.