Category: News

Sponsor Announcement: Mountain Road Trading Post

We are very excited to announce Mountain Road Trading Post, one of the longest-running and best outfitters in the Northeast, as a new sponsor this season!!

Troy and MRTP have graciously donated a $50 gift card to all 24 of our 2025 divisional events and a $100 gift to our championship. In addition, our members will receive $100 off any boat priced $1,000 or more, plus 10% off everything else (excluding gift cards, motors, and electronics).

MRTP will also host a gathering after the Northern Division’s Pawtuckaway Lake event on August 30!

We happy to have them on board! Please give them a like and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.


2025 Schedule Announcement

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

Remember, most of these are members-only events. You can find all of the event pages and become a member here on Fishing Chaos!

In chronological order…

DIVISIONAL EVENTS

Apr 12 – Long Pond Harwich (Eastern)
Apr 12 – Richmond Pond (Western)
Apr 19 – A-1 (Central)
Apr 26 – Charles River Boston (Northern)
May 3 – Lake Cochituate (Central)
May 10 – Otis Reservoir (Western)
May 17 – Lake Attitash (Northern)
May 24 – South Watuppa Pond (Eastern)
Jun 8 – Whitehall Reservoir (Central) *
Jun 14 – Johns Pond (Eastern)
Jun 21 – Connecticut River (Western)
Jun 29 – Sudbury River (Northern) *
Jul 5 – Lake Nippenicket (Eastern)
Jul 12 – Sudbury River (Central)
Jul 19 – Pontoosuc Lake (Western)
Jul 19 – Merrimach River New Hampshire (Northern)
Aug 2 – Barton Cove (Western)
Aug 3 – Charles River (Eastern) *
Aug 9 – Singletary Lake (Central)
Aug 30 – Pawtuckaway Lake New Hampshire (Northern)
Sep 6 – Knops Pond (Central)
Sep 13 – Mashpee-Wakeby Pond (Eastern)
Sep 14 – Chebacco Lake (Northern) *
Sep 20 – Littleville Reservoir (Western)
Sep 27 – Merrimack River (Championship)

* Sunday events

ONLINE EVENTS

Mar 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Apr 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
May 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 15 – River Rumble: Spring Team Series *
Jul 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Jun 30 – The Catch ‘Em All Summer Brawl
Aug 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Aug 17 – River Rumble: Summer Team Series *
Sep 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Oct 1–28 – Monthly Online Challenge
Oct 19 – River Rumble: Fall Team Series *

* Sunday events

KNOCKOUT SERIES

Apr 1–Oct 28

Like last year, we were able to de-conflict most divisional events, giving everyone plenty of opportunity to go for the 2025 MAKB Angler of the Year title. We’re also trying a new series called the River Rumble Team Series, which takes the place of our Catch ‘Em All Brawl Series. And of course, we’ll have plenty of Tuesday and Thursday Night Throwdowns, plus some Cold Water Series events in the first few and last few months of the year.

We’re also hosting a pre-season event on Webster Lake on March 29. No qualifications, no Angler of the Year points, just fishing, food, and fellowship!

And don’t forget our annual potluck gathering and awards banquet, which will be held at the Bristol Lodge in North Attleboro, 2–6 PM. Everyone is welcome!

It’s gonna be a great season. JOIN NOW!


2024 Season Stats

Winter is hitting a bit different this year, and with Christmas just around the corner, it seems we’ve wrapped up tournaments for the season.

For those interested in some stats, here you go…

In 2023, we hosted a total of 51 events, including 24 divisional events, one championship, 10 Tuesday/Thursday Night Throwdowns, four Cold Water Series events, eight monthly online challenges, three Catch ‘Em All Brawls, and the Knockout Series.

We awarded $49,893 in payouts throughout the year! Here’s the breakdown:

Eastern Division: $8,784
Western Division: $6,020
Central Division: $9,094
Northern Division: $9,024
Championship: $3,960
Monthly Challenges: $3,936
Catch ‘Em All Brawls: $2,441
Thursday Night Throwdowns: $2,574
Knockout Series: $2,400
Cold Water Series: $2,094

In total, 955 competitors participated across these events (with many competing in multiple events, of course), and 4,397 fish were submitted (excluding the Knockout Series).

The highest number of fish submitted during a divisional event was 225, recorded at the Eastern Division’s Mashpee-Wakeby event. On the other hand, the fewest submissions for a single event were 48, during the Central Division opener at Webster Lake. Ironically, just a week later in 2023, Webster Lake set the record for the year with the highest number of fish submitted in a single event—252!

Collectively, we submitted a total of 18,948.75 inches of bass in 2024 (also excluding the Knockout Series).

The biggest limits of the year:

Northern Division: Patrick Brown – 96.00 (Lake Attitash)
Eastern Division: Ken Wood – 95.00 (Upper/Lower Mill Pond)
Western Division: Ryan Stager – 94.25 (Quaboag Pond)
Central Division: Lee Kennon – 92.75 (Sudbury River)
Monthly Challenge: Benjamin Hallowell – 101.25 (July)
Thursday Night Throwdown: Jerry Howes – 56.50 (Buckley Dunton Reservoir)
Cold Water Series: Matthew Conant – 91.00 (Santuit Pond)

The biggest largemouth of the year:

Northern Division: Patrick Brown – 22.25 (Lake Attitash)
Eastern Division: Domenic Eno – 22.00 (Snipatuit Pond)
Western Division: Noah Fahmy – 21.75 (Congamond Lake/Connecticut River)
Central Division: Lee Kennon and Cory Walker – 21.00 (Sudbury River and Flint Pond)
Monthly Challenge: Gregg Fritchey – 21.50 (July and August)
Thursday Night Throwdown: Ken Wood – 20.50 (Winnecunnet Pond)
Cold Water Series: Nate Chagnon – 21.25 (Santuit Pond)

The biggest smallmouth of the year:

Western Division: Justin Gallo – 20.50 (Ashmere Lake)
Eastern Division: John Ferreira and Jim Silva – 19.75 (Mashpee-Wakeby Pond and Upper/Lower Mill Pond)
Northern Division: Adam Rourke – 16.75 (Lake Attitash)
Central Division: Carl Hartwick – 15.75 (Webster Lake)

Some other stats:

Lee Kennon, Matthew Conant, and Ken Wood each secured the most divisional wins, with three victories apiece.

Steve Petkevitch led the pack with the most top-five finishes across all divisions, with 11 overall. Close behind were Matthew Conant and Ken Wood, each with 10 top-five finishes, followed by Mike Morcone with nine.

Benjamin Hallowell dominated the online division, with six wins out of 11 events. He also secured a win in the Cold Water Series, earning him the most overall wins across all events.

All in all, it was an incredible year! Fifty-one events—a bit fewer than last year, but still more than enough opportunities for anglers to get out on the water and compete. And now, we’re gearing up for something special: our tenth season next year—the big 1-0!

Thanks to everyone who continues to fish with us; and an even bigger thank-you goes to Kevin Amaral, Jeremey Andrews, Donald Davis, Bruce Levy, Michael Williams, Anthony Campbell, Jonathan Medina, and Patrick Brown, all of whom have played their part in transforming this little trail into something far beyond what we ever imagined.

Enjoy the holidays! We’ll be announcing our 2025 schedules and more very soon.


2024 MAKB Jerseys Available Now!

MAKB jerseys have been updated and are once again available through Thrasher Sports Apparel!

Order yours here!

You have two options to choose from: a standard MAKB jersey with our sponsor logos, or a custom jersey with whatever logos you wish to put on it. You can mix and match logos as well by including some of our sponsors and some of yours.

You are not obligated to include any MAKB sponsor logos on your jersey. You must leave the MAKB logo, of course.

Instructions are on the order page. If you have any questions, please let us know.


Want to Fish with Us? Read This!

With our season officially kicking off in April, we’ve been getting a lot of questions from new members. If you are new, please read The Essentials page here on our website. That covers the essential things you need to know before fishing your first event.

A few other important things…

• You must be an active paid member to fish our live or online events. Exceptions to this are our Cold Water Series events and our Knockout Series. All other events require a membership.

• All of our online events are open for registration now (please only buy one ticket for our monthly challenges).

• All of our live events open for registration the Sunday before the event at 7 PM.

As noted when becoming a member, purchasing a membership does not guarantee you a spot in our live events, as we are restricted to how many anglers we can have at each event by state law. So if you want to fish an event, be ready to register at 7 PM the Sunday before the event.

Luckily, with four divisions, we rarely max out events these days. But that will likely change as more and more people join each division.

• If you haven’t already, please utilize our Test Tournament on Fishing Chaos to familiarize yourself with the app. It’ll also give us a chance to verify if your settings are correct and help you fix them if not.

• Lastly, READ THE RULES! All caps. Please read the rules. We do not like disqualifying anglers, deny fish, or deducting length from a submission. When we have to do this, it is usually because someone was not familiar with the rules.

If you have any questions, as always, please reach out.


Sponsor Announcement: Reaction Tackle

We are happy to announce that Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ has partnered with Reaction Tackle!

We will have product to give away at each divisional live event and our championship, and all active MAKB members receive 20% off online sales (some exclusions may apply). You can find the code in our Members Only section here on our website.

We are grateful for Reaction Tackle’s support of MAKB and our anglers, and we look forward to working with them. Please support those who support us and give them a like and follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.!

And if you’re interested, they have a growing Pro Staff team and are always looking for great anglers who can help promote the brand. If that’s you, click here.


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.


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 – Ashmere Lake (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!