Category: Tournament News

Announcing the Massachusetts B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series

March 9, 2020 0 Comment

With his second place finish at the very first B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series tournament on Logan Martin Lake last week, our buddy Mark Edwards got to experience something many of us never thought possible or only dreamed about: walking across the Bassmaster Classic stage and holding a trophy high!

Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ is proud to announce that we are now an official B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series club, offering anglers their shot at bass fishing glory and a chance to stand on the 2021 Bassmaster Classic stage like so many legends have in the past.

For the 2020 season, all ten of our regular-season events will be qualifying events for the Massachusetts B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series State Championship, which will take place on October 10 at Lake Nippenicket. The top three finishers in each event will qualify!

In addition, the top fifteen anglers in our 2020 Angler of the Year race will also qualify.

To be eligible, you must meet all of the requirements listed on the registration page linked below before the start of any qualifying event.

Potentially forty-five anglers will qualify, though that is unlikely, as there will be no roll-downs and no doubt some overlap there in the top fifteen overall and the top three finishers at events throughout the season.

For instance, if this applied to our 2019 season, excluding the spots earned by previous qualifiers, only 21 anglers would have qualified to fish the championship.

Of those who do qualify for the state championship, the top five finishers at that event will have earned their chance to fish the B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series National Championship—which will coincide with the Bassmaster Classic—in 2021!

Who wants to stand upon that stage like a legend?

Follow this link for more details (or click the B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series link from the menu at the top of this page). The link to register is at the bottom of that page.

The Massachusetts B.A.S.S. Nation awards banquet is this coming Saturday. Your state dues covers entry into this event. Would be great to see some of you there!

If you have any questions, just ask.

(And sorry this took so long to post and there’s not much time between now and the banquet. I was waiting on them for something, and they were waiting on me for something. Little confusion there, so I’m sorry about that.)

Announcing the New England KBF Partner Trail Series

February 19, 2020 0 Comment

It started as an idea. A single regional event, hosted by many of New England’s and New York’s various kayak fishing groups, working together instead of against each for the good of the sport.

That was 2018, and we ran out of time.

We readdressed the idea again last year, thought that a standalone regional trail series would work even better. Instead of all groups working on one huge event, allow one or a few to host a single tournament in a series of them, culminating in a championship event.

But again, we ran out of time.

This year we were determined to get it off the ground. Jason Gardner and I reached out to Brian Baulsir at Adirondack Kayak Bass Fishing and Chris Smigz at New Hampshire Kayak Fishing, asked if they and their groups would be willing to jump on board and make this thing a reality. They happily agreed.

Having a little behind-the-scenes insight into Kayak Bass Fishing’s plans in the coming years, it just so happened that our idea perfectly aligned with KBFs vision for the future. And so our little regional trail series has morphed into something much bigger. Higher stakes, bigger rewards!

And so without further ado, we are very excited to officially announce the 2020 New England KBF Partner Trail Series, the very first of its kind!

Stop 1: Lake George, New York, May 23, hosted by Adirondack Kayak Bass Fishing
Stop 2: Great Pond, Maine, June 6, hosted by Maine Yak Anglers
Stop 3: Charles River, Massachusetts, August 1, hosted by Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’
Stop 4: Lake Winnipesaukee, August 22, Championship Event hosted by New Hampshire Kayak Fishing

The first three stops are concurrent events—Lake George is also the KBF Trail event, Great Pond is also a Maine Yak Anglers event, and the Charles River is also a Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ event. Each will be its own separate tournament on TourneyX. Anglers may fish one or both.

Here’s what’s at stake:

• Top 10% at each of the first three events qualify for the KBF Partner Championship on Caddo Lake, October 17–18
• Top 10% at each of the first three events qualify for the KBF National Championship
• Top 30% at each of the first three events qualify for the New England KBF Partner Trail Series Championship on Lake Winnipesaukee, August 22
• Top 10% (minimum 10) at the New England KBF Partner Trail Series Championship qualify for KBF TRAIL Series Northeast Regional Championship on Lake Messalonskee and China Lake, September 12–13

Entry fee for each event is $50, with an optional $10 Big Bass Brawl side-pot (purchased through the KBF store), split 50/30/20.

The Lake George event is already on TourneyX, if you wish to register now.

There are just four events this year, but we plan to double that next year, involving more groups. We want this to be a true regional series, with all kayak fishing groups working together for the good of the region, for the betterment of the sport and, most important, its anglers.

We are excited for this series and what it means for the sport in our region. And as always, we’re happy to be working alongside Chad Hoover, Joe Haubenreich, and everyone at KBF. There may be some new kid’s in town, but KBF is still the biggest and baddest around, and with them we are thrilled to take this to another level.

For more up-to-date announcements and details, please join our Facebook group.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either me, Jason Gardner, Chris Smigz, Brian Baulsir, or post it in our Facebook group.

Announcing the 2020 MAKB Tournament Schedule

February 16, 2020 0 Comment

We are excited to finally announce our 2020 trail schedule!

This has been a long process, I know, but the goal was to create a schedule with as few conflicts as possible. With so many of us traveling to KBF events, we wanted to keep those dates free (at least for those tournaments in our region), so anglers don’t have to choose.

And with the addition of the New England KBF Partner Trail Series, plus the B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series, Hobie BOS series, and other local or regional trails, our options are, for all intents and purposes, endless.

Quite a difference from just a handful of years ago when we averaged six or seven people per event.

With that said, barring any unforeseen issues, this is our schedule for 2020:

Apr 11 – Snipatuit Pond
May 16 – A-1/Stump Pond
May 30 – Singletary Lake
Jun 20 – New Bedford Reservoir
Jul 11 – Taunton River *
Aug 1 – Charles River *
Aug 15 – Glen Charlie Pond/Agawam Mill Pond **
Sep 19 – Lake Maspenock
Sep 26 – Mashpee-Wakeby Pond
Oct 17 – Billington Sea

* Roadrunner event
** Two Lake Throwdown

We’re also working on some online events as well. More details to come on those…

Now, compared to previous years, some of you may notice some long gaps between events. Here’s why…

Apr 11 – Snipatuit Pond
May 2 – Hopatcong Pond (New Jersey) *
May 16 – A-1/Stump Pond
May 23 – Lake George (New York) ** / ***
May 30 – Singletary Lake
Jun 6 – Great Pond (Maine) ***
Jun 20 – New Bedford Reservoir
Jun 27 – Susquehanna River (Pennsylvania) **
Jul 11 – Taunton River
Jul 25 – East/West Harbor (Ohio) **
Aug 1 – Charles River (Massachusetts) ***
Aug 15 – Glen Charlie Pond/Agawam Mill Pond
Aug 22 – Lake Winnipesaukee (New Hampshire) *** / †
Sep 12–13 – Messalonskee Lake/China Lake (Maine) ** / ††
Sep 19 – Lake Maspenock
Sep 26 – Mashpee-Wakeby Pond
Oct 17 – Billington Sea
Oct 24–25 – Pickwick, Wheeler, and Wilson Lakes (Alabama) †††

* KBF Pro Tour Open
** KBF Trail Series Event
*** New England KBF Partner Trail Series Event
† New England KBF Partner Trail Series Championship
†† KBF Regional Trail Series Championship
††† KBF Trail Series Championship

That is our schedule including the KBF events.

Save for the championship on Winni, all of the New England KBF Partner Trail Series events will be concurrent but separate events. The Lake George event is also the KBF Trail Series event. The Great Pond event is also a regular-season Maine Yak Anglers event, just like our Charles River event will be for us. You are not required to register for both in order to fish one of them (though we do encourage it).

Obviously not everyone travels to these other events, and that’s perfectly fine, so don’t let the bottom schedule overwhelm you. If you only want to fish MAKB events, then focus on the top schedule. No worries.

I’m sure many of you will have questions, so feel free to ask them below. If you have questions about specifically the B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series or the New England KBF Partner Trail Series, please hold off and ask them in the official announcement thread.

Thanks for your patience while we put this all together! We may be doing some big things, but all of that is optional. We’re still just a small tournament trail at heart. Always will be.

And the 2019 MAKB Angler of the Year Is…

September 27, 2019 0 Comment

The Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ Angler of the Year race is a tough one. Points are based on an angler’s top twenty-five bass of the season, plus bonus points awarded for finishing in the top five. Seems simple enough, right?

It’s not.

Anglers wishing to become the MAKB Angler of the Year need to compete in a minimum of five events, consistently catch limits, put quality fish on the board, and finish in the top five. None of those alone will do it.

And we have a lot of excellent fishermen in this group, so getting to the top, or even close to it, is a great achievement and something to be proud of.

So it is my pleasure to officially announce the 2019 MAKB Angler of the Year: Kevin Amaral Jr!

Kevin fished in nine tournaments and caught 44 bass (not including culled fish) this year, racking up two wins, three second-place finishes, and a fifth-place finish. He also had lunker largemouth and smallmouth once each, both of which were fish that contributed to his Top 25 season length of 410.50. Add to that 23 points from his top-five finishes, and his winning total season total length was 433.50!

His 20.75-inch smallmouth was also the biggest bass caught during any of our ten events.

Consistency is the key, as I mentioned, and the without a doubt Kevin performed at a consistently higher level than the rest of us this year. A well-deserved victory, my friend! Congrats.

Here are your top ten anglers for 2019! Great job, fellas!

Kevin Amaral, Jr. – 433.50
Ken Wood – 420.00
John Ferreira – 406.25
Gabe Portes – 397.25
Paulo DeMorais – 397.00
Lee Kennon – 388.25
Bruce Levy – 384.75
Donald Davis – 383.00
Steve Scott – 378.50
Bruno Casagrande – 377.25

Click here to check out the full 2019 Angler of the Year standings.

Congrats again, guys!

A Sweet Victory Turned Sour

July 13, 2019 0 Comment

Thirty anglers fished our annual Three Lake Throwdown today, nine of which were at Lake Sabbatia, ten at Lake Nippenicket, and eleven at Neponset Reservoir.

The weather was hot, mostly sunny, but at least at Nippenicket it was pretty windy at times, which took the sting off the heat somewhat.

I don’t know all the details on how the other lakes fished, but it seemed like there was a decent bite going on at all three lakes until about 9:45 AM, when it just shut off. It was a struggle after that (and before it for some).

But for three lakes known to be tough, 125 bass were put on the board. And a few pickerel.

(For the love of God, stop submitting pics of pickerel! Sarah texts me every time to make sure it’s not a bass! Haha.)

Speaking of pickerel, Lee Kennon had to leave early due to a work emergency, but not before he landed a state-pin-length pickerel at 25 inches, which was more than big enough to take the pickerel lunker prize.

Big bass of the day went to John Ferreira and his 19.50! Good job, fellas!

Sitting on a weedbed for most of the day paid off for Donald Davis, who hauled up from the depths 73 inches of Sabbatia bass. In the money for the first time since his win at Neponset Reservoir last year. Congrats, bud!

And never placing in the money with MAKB before, Chris LaCourse worked the far back channel and river outlet at the Nip to the tune of 74.25 inches and a fourth place finish. Great job, man!

John Ferreira is having a great year in KBF events and he’s making a habit of finishing in the money at our events, either by landing in the top five, winning one of the lunker pools, or, like today, doing both. John frogged his way into third place with 74.75 inches. Awesome!

My kids like to use my soft plastic baits as toys. At first they were content with my ripped and torn baits discarded after tournaments, but eventually they wanted to “go shopping” in my tackle closet. Instead of continuously giving them baits I liked and used, I started letting them each pick out a cheap pack when at Walmart or Bass Pro. Whatever they wanted, usually the brightest, ugliest baits on the shelf.

Well, as many of you saw from my post yesterday, my daughter made me promise to use her “beautiful worms” (aka ugly, sparkly silver senkos) today. I pinky swore because she said they would “make me win.” Well, after an hour and a half with no bites, I grabbed that rod and tossed that beautiful worm to the edge of some weeds and—KAPOW!—I had 16.50 on the board.

I proceeded to catch at least a dozen more bass on those senkos before the last one broke in half (I only had two). I caught one other fish on a frog, and another on a chatterbait. The rest came on those two senkos—which I’ve since learned were Yum Dingers, “tinfoil” color. I know this because I now own three packs. Haha.

Anyway, I didn’t win it all, but I did win second place with 78.50, all thanks to my daughter. The most joy I’ve ever gotten from throwing a damn senko!

And it was all ruined by a cheater…

Originally this part detailed someone else’s win, but due to some questionable submissions and an extensive investigation later that day, it was determined that the angler in question willfully and shamefully cheated. Ultimately, when all was said and done, this gave me a rightfully earned victory, and a sweet one it should have been. Should have, but wasn’t…

Check out the full adjusted results here.

As always, thanks for coming out. Great to see some new anglers fishing with us—Liriano John, Medicen Rexx, Jim Silva, Derek Ramsey, and Angelo David. Hope you had a good time and come back and fish with us again!

Thanks to Sarah for judging once again! You rock!


Cheater removed courtesy of Photoshop.

We venture to the north shore (or as close as we’ve ever been to it) for our next event at Upper/Lower Mystic Ponds on August 3. Hope to see you there!

Dinkathon 2019

April 20, 2019 0 Comment

We had a great turnout for the first MAKB event of the year (aka Dinkathon 2019). I was afraid the weather forecast would have scared a lot of anglers away, but 37—18 on Lake Rico, 19 on Neponset Res—showed up to battle the wind and the rain.

And despite the forecast, it wasn’t bad. The wind was awful—that was accurate—but it didn’t rain nearly as much as I expected.

The fishing forecast, however, was dead on. Dinks, dinks, and more dinks. Only three big fish were caught and, unfortunately, one was disqualified (more on that in another post).

We paid out five spots, lunker, and pickerel lunker (one pool for each pond).

Not a whole lot to write about when everyone is catching dinks, but five of those put Lee Kennon into the winner’s circle with 62 inches even (more on Lee’s day in another post as well).

One inch ahead of Lee, Joshua Jackson took fourth place. I think this is his first time placing in the money with us. Congrats, man!

A last-minute, 3.25-inch upgrade bumped Nick Booth up into third place with 64.75.

A big fish, even a 15-incher, would have made a big difference for a lot anglers today. That’s how tight things were.

Many thought Neponset Reservoir would put out bigger limits, but of the top ten, only one angler—Kevin Amaral Jr.—fished Neponset. Kevin put up a respectable (for these ponds) 65 inches for second place.

I lucked out today. My first two fish went 10.25 and 9.50, while my third went 12.50. Shortly after catching the latter, I just happened to find an area and a bait that both bass and pickerel were keying on: chatterbait slow rolled through partially dead, holdover lily pads. I first caught a pickerel, then another, and then one more, one of which was 18 inches—and I was pumped because I figured out a damn pickerel pattern and decided I’d shoot for winning the pickerel lunker pool.

In my excitement to catch pickerel, I laid into an absolute cow. When it rolled on me and I saw its belly, I thought it was a 10-pounder. Sadly, it was too short to be a 10, but it was fat. She went 20 inches and weighed 6.54 pounds. Full of eggs and food, ready to burst. That fish and a handful of others I caught later were enough to take lunker and first place. Though it is a bittersweet victory, which I’ll discuss later.

Because we had over 30 anglers, Nick, Josh, Kevin, and I also qualified for the 2020 KBF National Championship on Guntersville Lake in Alabama!

As mentioned, we held two separate pickerel lunker pools. I wasn’t sure how each lake compared when it came to pickerel, so I thought it was best to separate them. That said, Valber Santos took home the Neponset pool with a 23-something, and Gabe Portes nabbed the Rico pool with a giant over 25 inches!

Anyway, congrats to everyone who placed. And thank you to all who showed up under what promised to be an awful day. We appreciate you!

Check out the full results here.

Our next event is two weeks from now: Johns Pond in Mashpee on May 4. We’re looking to make this another split-location event to accommodate the demand, but we’re still trying to figure out if Ashumet is comparable to Johns.

The event pages will go up soon.

Thanks for all the help today Donald and Troy! And Sarah!

Go Bananas Outdoors

May 17, 2018 0 Comment

Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ is excited to announce that we have partnered with some great local companies this year. These are companies that Bruce, Mike, and I are fans of. No disingenuous pro-staff nonsense. If we promote a company or product, we dig it, we use it.

As such, these companies will graciously sponsor some of our events and offer exclusive discounts to our members. Since we do not have a membership option at this time, a “member” this year will be deemed as someone who has competed in one of our regular tournaments, online tournaments, or Knockout Series.

One thing many of us could benefit from around here is a local company that offers kayaks and kayak accessories. Go Bananas Outdoors in Wareham is that company, and we have partnered with them for the 2018 season and hopefully beyond.

On the surface, they are an Army Navy Surplus store, but they are also the largest kayak dealer in New England and have a vast selection of fishing and non-fishing kayaks available, from Jackson Kayak, Native Watercraft, Old Town, Nucanoe, Wilderness Systems, FeelFree, and many more. They also offer a wide variety of accessories—paddles, racks, mounts, etc.

Beyond that, owner John Fine has kindly offered our members 10% off of all kayak accessories and 5% off of all kayaks, excluding sale items. Pretty great deal! So if you have fished any of our events this year, please patronize them whenever you can. You will need to present an ID so that they can verify that you are on our “member” list.

See the photos below for some of what they have to offer.

And a special thanks to Marcus De La Vega for putting us in contact with them.

Registration for the 2018 Knockout Series

January 30, 2018 2 Comments

Here we go…

Registration for the 2018 Knockout Series is live (see PayPal link below)!

For those who may not know what this is, the Knockout Series is a bracketed, one-on-one tournament series. Anglers are randomly paired prior to Round 1, which begins on April 1. Once paired, those anglers then coordinate with each other a one-on-one tournament (i.e. match) on a day, time, and lake/pond of their choosing. The winners of those matches move on to Round 2, then Round 3 and so forth, until we have an ultimate winner.

Entry fee is a one-time payment of $50 (non-refundable after March 14, 2018). The series will consist of five or six rounds, and each round will last five or six weeks, depending on how many anglers sign up.

We are looking for 32, 48*, or 64 anglers.

For complete details and FAQs, click here.

We will not hold spots. If you want to compete in this year’s series, pay as soon as possible. If you wish to pay with a check or money order, message me for my address. Otherwise, you can send payment directly through this PayPal link.

If you have a Facebook account, please consider joining our Facebook group for more up-to-the-minute updates on everything MAKB.

Looking forward to another great, competitive year!

* With 48 anglers, there would be a three-way finale.

2018 Schedule and More

January 29, 2018 0 Comment

All permits have been approved! Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this is our 2018 schedule.

Apr 14, 7–3 – Santuit Pond (Mashpee)
Apr 28, 7–3 – Dark Brook Reservoir (Auburn)
May 19, 6–2 – Agawam Mill Pond (Wareham)
May 26, 6–2 – Great Herring Pond (Plymouth)
Jun 16, 6–2 – Snipatuit Pond (Rochester)
Jul 1, 6–2 – Ponkapoag Pond (Canton)
Jul 7, 6–2 – Taunton River (Taunton)
Jul 21, 6–2 – Charles River (Waltham)
Aug 4, 6–2 – A-1/Stump Pond (Westborough)
Aug 18, 4–12 – Whitehall Reservoir (Hopkinton) *
Sep 23, 6–2 – Neponset Reservoir (Foxboro)
Sep 29, 6–2 – Lake Cochituate (Wayland)
Oct 6, 7–3 – Norton Reservoir (Norton)
Oct 20, 7–3 – Singletary Lake (Sutton) **

* Annual night tournament.

** First annual Tournament of Champions.

Next year’s trail is laid out so that it does not conflict with the number of KBF events up this way in 2018. If you’re interested in fishing those tournaments, the dates are as follows:

Jun 2 – Lake George (New York)
Jun 9 – Cobbossee Lake (Maine)
Jun 23 – Lake Oneida (New York)
Jul 14 – Peconic River System (New York)
July 28 – Susquehanna River (Pennsylvania)
Aug 25 – Chautauqua Lake (New York)
Sep 1 – Charles River Basin (Massachusetts) ***
Sep 14/15 – Lake Erie (Pennsylvania)

*** KBF Trail Event hosted by MAKB.

The Lake Erie event is one of five new KBF Regional Opens for 2018. It’s a two-day event, Friday and Saturday. The others are single-day Trail Events.

The KBF State Challenges will run from May to September in 2018. Chad Hoover has mentioned the possibility of starting the state challenge series earlier (April) and ending it later (October), though only the challenges between May and September would count toward AOY.

If they do not start the series in April, we will likely host our own state challenge in April. We will mirror the KBF challenges—same rules, cost, etc.—so that anyone new to the challenges can get a little experience under their belt.

The KBF Trail Event that we’re hosting will take place on the Charles River on September 1. The boundaries will be from Millis to the Esplanade in Boston, roughly 50 to 60 miles of water. Should be awesome!

A few other things…

We will be using TourneyX for all our events again next year.

The ramp at Cochituate will be closed for renovation starting Sep 1. It’ll remain closed for the rest of the year, so that’ll be good for us. It’ll be a roadrunner event, but I’m hoping to get approval to launch from the beach next to the ramp as well.

The Taunton River and Charles River tournaments (including the Trail Event, of course) will also be roadrunner events.

Our annual night tournament will likely be at Whitehall on August 18.

The Singletary Lake tournament will be our first ever Tournament of Champions. We’re still banging out some of the details, but to qualify for this tournament you must win one of the other thirteen throughout the season.

Initially we weren’t going to allow roll-downs (meaning, if someone wins two tournaments, we roll that slot down to the next angler in that second tournament), but after discussing it with Donald, Bruce, and Mike, we decided to allow them.

Speaking of Mike, he is now on the MAKB staff and will be working toward bringing sponsors aboard so that we can offer some additional perks and prizes to everyone. =)

We will have a new payout structure for next year. Don is working on it now.

I’m sure there will be some other announcements coming, but we’ll get to that. Any questions? =)

The Northeast No Limit Showdown: A Few Things…

August 1, 2017 0 Comment

To those who signed up for the Northeast No Limit Showdown, thank you! This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this, so we appreciate you giving it a shot. Should be a great event!

That said, while we don’t anticipate any issues, please be patient if there are any bumps in the road.

To help make sure everything runs smoothly, though, we want to mention a few things:

All bass submitted must be at least 12 inches.

You may use the identifier available on TourneyX (and posted below), or you may just add the code—PWT—to an existing identifier, such as KBF’s.

Hawg Troughs only! No other measuring device is allowed in this event.

The standings page on TourneyX will only show a maximum of 12 submissions; we have set it to show eight for this event. So it will show each angler’s biggest eight fish submitted and an overall length of all fish submitted.

Ken Wood is judging this event and also competing in it. Obviously that creates a conflict of interest. So he is going to post on our Facebook group page (in a photo album) the TourneyX photo of every fish he submits, along with each individual fish’s length and a total length of all fish submitted. This will be the judge’s photo, which looks like this:

Doing this, allowing everyone to verify his submissions, should hopefully create enough transparency to eliminate that conflict of interest.

We had 40 anglers sign up, so we’re paying out four spots and a total of $800, which comes out to:

1st – $400
2nd – $200
3rd – $120
4th – $80

We had two optional lunker pools, and they will payout as follows:

Largemouth – $115
Smallmouth: $70

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Good luck!