Bass Were Tight-Lipped at the Western Division Opener

April 28, 2024 0 Comment

The first Western Division event of the season went down on East Brimfield Lake on April 27. The weather was decent for early in the season, but the bite was not. Besides one 20-inch bass, the big fish just weren’t eating. In fact, the bass were tight-lipped for the most part, with only three anglers catching limits. And small ones at that.

We had 35 anglers fish the event, and these anglers came out on top:

1st: Robert Williams (67.00)
2nd: Gerald Howes (66.50)
3rd: Ryan Stager (62.00)
4th: John Ferreira (57.75)
5th: Ethan Bartlett (57.25)

Lunker: Todd Brothers (20.00)
Pickerel Lunker: Michael Williams (22.75)

Check out the full results here.

Ben Hallowell Sets a New Record!

April 22, 2024 0 Comment

With our switch to a 15-inch minimum in our seasonal Catch ‘Em All Brawls, we assumed the record of 516.50 would never be broken. Why? Because it’s much easier to catch dinks, of course.

Well, we were wrong.

For yesterday’s Spring Brawl, John Ferreira started off hot and looked set on running away with it…until Ben Hallowell began uploading fish.

John and Ben went back and forth for a bit, and then Steve Hedges threw his hat into the ring, but at some point, Ben switched on the afterburners and there was no catching him.

Excluding Ben’s fish, what the rest of the field put up is what we expected things to look like with the new 15-inch minimum, taking around 300 inches to win. Steve, for instance, had 273.75 inches for second place.

But Ben found something special, a pond that was firing at the right time, and he put up a massive 570.25 inches of largemouth bass, besting Steve by 296.50 inches, nearly as much as Steve had on the board!

What a day! Congrats, man!

As mentioned, Steve took second place, while John held onto third with 254.50.

Clearly, the bite was tough for many, and the number dropped significantly from third place on. Lee Kennon took fourth place with 109.50, as well as pickerel lunker.

(Ben actually had pickerel lunker as well, but unfortunately submitted a photo that partially cropped out the fence of the photo, so it was denied.)

Finally, in fifth place was Nate Chagnon with 97.25. And overall lunker went to Brian O’Connor, who dropped a 20.50-inch spring fatty on the board.

Great job, everyone! Good to see a big turnout for this one.

Check out the full results here.

The Summer Brawl goes down on June 30!

FYI: When viewing these events on Fishing Chaos, you only see the submission time. So when you see numerous fish submitted less than a minute apart, this is why. Judges can see the rest of the data.

2024 MAKB Jerseys Available Now!

April 18, 2024 0 Comment

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.

Lake Cochituate Fishes Tough Once Again

April 16, 2024 0 Comment

Despite the weather being better than forecast, and water temps in the high forties to low 50s, Lake Cochituate fished tough for those fishing the first Northern Division event of the season.

If you were unable to follow along, tenth place had two bass for 31.25 inches. Yeah, that’s tough fishing! The money spots were as follows:

1st: Matthew Conant (81.00)
2nd: Mike Morcone (77.00)
3rd: Patrick Brown (75.25)
4th: Andrew Heath (72.25)
5th: Ari Stonehill (58.00)

Lunker: Andrew Heath (19.00)
Pickerel Lunker: Patrick Brown (21.25)
Double Down: Ken Wood (13.75)

Check out the full results here.

Congrats to all! Our next Northern Division Event will be at the Nashua River on May 25. The Nashua has a history of putting out some big bags.

Using the Fishing Chaos App

April 16, 2024 1 Comment

With our season in full swing, we’re seeing a lot of submissions that do not show EXIF data or submission location accurately. Here are some helpful tips on familiarizing yourself with the Fishing Chaos app and getting your settings correct to avoid submissions being denied due to missing data.

TEST TOURNAMENT

The test tournament is closed for 2024.

TEST YOUR APP SETTINGS

As of today, April 16, 2023, the current version of the Fishing Chaos app is 12.1.17. 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.

Please note that, since a few iOS updates ago, the Test Camera button isn’t working. A fix is forthcoming.

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…

IPHONE 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. Also make sure Precise Location is on.

To see this in real time, watch the video below (it’s old but still valid)…

ANDROID SETTINGS

If you’re using an Android phone, follow the steps in this document.

Please note that these settings may vary depending on what Android phone you are running, but they should be similar.

It is imperative that you verify these settings before an event, as your phone will sometimes reset your location and permission settings, especially after an operating system update. It is your responsibility to ensure that these settings are accurate. Not doing so could result in your fish being denied.

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

Article updated on April 16, 2024.

Big Win at the Central Division Opener

April 8, 2024 0 Comment

Yesterday, forty anglers took to the water for the first MAKB Central Division event at Webster Lake. What started out as a hopeful cold but windless morning, turned into a grinding eight hours for most anglers, with only sixteen anglers turning in measurable fish. On top of that, only two anglers caught limits!

Twenty-four skunks in an event must be a record for MAKB.

Western Division member Gerald Howes took the top spot, with a limit of 81.75 inches. He even managed to cull a fish!

In his second event with MAKB, Donald Anyon secured second place with 68.00 and overall lunker with a 19.50-inch largemouth; while Eastern Division member Matthew Conant finished third, with five fish clocking in at 65.00 inches.

Fourth place went to Kevin Senecal, who had four fish for 63.75; and nabbing Double Down and the last paying spot, fifth place, was Ken Wood with four fish for 62.50.

Smallmouth lunker went to Carl Hartwick, who hauled in three smallmouth, which were tight-lipped for most anglers during this event. Only two other anglers caught a smallie, and only one each. Carl’s 15.75 was big enough to take the pot.

Jeff Lin’s 22.75-inch pickerel was lunker for the event (we do pickerel lunker pools in MAKB, if you didn’t know).

Check out the full results here.

Congrats to all, and thank you to everyone who came out to fish with us. Happy to see new faces and the usual suspects yesterday. Looking forward to seeing everyone at our next event at A-1 on May 11th.

Matt Conant Puts Us All on Notice

April 6, 2024 0 Comment

It was a wild one today!

I expected the cold, the wind, and the rain, but the snow was a nice touch by Mother Nature. As soon as we launched, it got a bit nasty, but it wasn’t too bad after that. For a while, anyway.

The main lake, obviously, took the brunt of the wind and the conditions were sketchy for those who fished out there.

Despite the conditions and the tough bite for most, one angler gave us all a hardcore beatdown.

But before we get to him…

In fifth place was Gerard Elias, who left early but was apparently on a decent bite with two 18.25s!

John Ferreira also left early, but still put up enough for fourth place with 42.75.

I finished in third place with 59.50, and also nabbed pickerel lunker with a 25.75. I probably caught a dozen just as big off of one tree. Not exaggerating!

Shuffling his way in second place: Nate Chagnon. He had 66.25.

We’ve had four events thus far in 2024, and Matthew Conant has won three of them. Putting us all on notice!

Today, Matt had 93.75, the only angler to catch a limit, let alone cull—and culled FOUR times! Guess it pays to pre-fish! You also gotta know how to catch them, and Matt clearly does. He also had the event lunker at 21 inches, and he nabbed the Double Down as well.

Not bad for a miserable day. Great job, man!

And everyone else in the money or those who just caught fish and braved the conditions, congrats!

Special nod to Alex Weisheit, who, surprisingly, caught the only smallmouth! Crazy.

Oh, and we can’t forget to show some love to the luckiest angler of the event, Bobby Tran Jr., who not only parked on the wrong side of the road, but IN the road right before a curve ! For eight hours! And he only got a $40 ticket.

Clearly, Bobby is the true winner of this event!

Check out the full results here.

The next MAKB event is tomorrow on Webster Lake. This is a Central Division event. Spots still open!

The next Eastern Division event is on May 18 at Snipatuit Pond.

Want to Fish with Us? Read This!

March 28, 2024 0 Comment

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

March 27, 2024 0 Comment

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

March 17, 2024 0 Comment

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.