Tag: KBF

The Best-Laid Plans

This was originally written for the Jackson Kayak fishing blog earlier this year, but was never posted, for whatever reason. Instead of letting it go to waste, here it is…

In 1785 Scottish poet Robert Burns penned one of the most famous lines of all time: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley.”

Maybe you’re not into old Scots-language poetry (and I wouldn’t hold that against you), but you know this line. Translated it means, simply, the best-laid plans often go awry.

Coming off of a less than stellar showing at the first two Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) Trail events of the season down in Kissimmee, Florida, I looked ahead to late February and set my sights on Lake Murray, South Carolina, host to the second set of KBF Trail events of the year.

To maximize my time pre-fishing, I made the near thousand-mile drive down a week early. I took the Sunday before the event off to travel, with the intent to pre-fish in the morning that Monday and Tuesday, work from the rental the rest of the day, pre-fish all day Wednesday and Thursday, and then, providing I was lucky enough to have found a productive spot for the tournament, work Friday to save a vacation day.

That was my best-laid plan, and…well, you guessed it, things went awry.

I got a late start leaving, so I pulled onto the narrow, aptly named Slice Road at 4 AM Monday morning and found myself at a dead end, having gone too far, looking for house number 233. I tried in vain to turn around. It was still dark—country dark, not city dark—and I couldn’t see a thing behind me. I got out, unhooked my trailer, hauled it down the road a bit, then successfully turned my car around and reconnected it.

I rolled slowly down the street, passing number 248, number 211…

I got out of my car once again, walked back to the first mailbox to see if I’d misread it. Nope. Still number 248, and the second was still number 211. I stood there, mentally and physically exhausted, illuminated by my vehicle’s headlights—and then I saw it, far back off the road, nestled in darkness and tall grass, wedged between million-dollar homes (numbers 211 and 248): a horror-movie mobile home with plywood additions sprouting from both sides like mangled ears.

This must be it, number 233, I thought. This is where I die.

I’m not sure if it was exhaustion or that one simply must abide by the tenets of all horror movies, but…I went down there. Cellphone in hand, built-in flashlight on, I made my way through the field to the house (if you could call it that), searching for the lock box. It wasn’t there. I shined my light all over the house, in the windows, around the back, even on the house next door. Then I remembered that I was in South Carolina, where most people had guns, and made a quick retreat back to the road, and proceeded to curse fellow Jackson teammate Jason Gardner for renting the place, wherever it was.

I walked farther down the road and came upon a sign: CAPT. BOB’S RETREAT. I remembered the name. I’d found the house, which was number 203, not 233. Cursing myself now (though I still blame Jason because it feels better), I jumped back in my car, pulled away, and heard an ominous scraping-thumping sound. Assuming something had gotten caught in my trailer, I found nothing there. I circled the car, and what little energy I had left completely deflated, like my rear passenger-side tire.

Back in the car, flat tire flopping under the rim, I made my way slowly to the house, fumbled my way inside, and stumbled my way into bed for a few hours of sleep.

I woke just as I’d gone to sleep: exhausted. But I had work to do, so I set up my laptops and—hey, look at that, no Wi-Fi! Who rents a house with no Wi-Fi?

Luckily I had a hotspot (wish I could have said the same thing about the fishing that was to come).

An hour later, I went out to get a fan from my car, and came back inside with a Megabass Vision 110 hook jammed into the joint of my right index finger. Seriously.

Inside, staring at my throbbing finger, things came into painful focus: my car had a flat, I was alone until Wednesday, I was hungry and had no food in the house, I was supposed to be working, and I was probably going to have to call an ambulance or an Uber and go to the ER to have the hook in my finger removed.

Not wanting to do that, but knowing I wouldn’t be able to yank out the hook with my weaker hand, I grabbed my pliers and tried to slowly work it free. Briefly. Thoughts of the one hook coming out while another hook or hooks took its place swirled inside my empty skull, so I went to work removing the other two hooks. Miraculously, with the table looking like the kind of bloody massacre you’d find inside the horror house a few lots over, I managed to do it.

Two (or six since they were treble) hooks removed, I got to work on the one still in my finger, which was almost roaring in pain at that point (those Megabass hooks are sharp). After a while, I decided to push instead of pull. Grabbing the pliers tight, I braced my left arm on the table and pushed with my right. Nothing happened, so I increased the force, increased it more, and then it popped free. Literally. Like a balloon. POP!

When I stopped whimpering, I called AAA to assist with a tire change because, having just had them rotated and balanced, the tires were on so tight I couldn’t loosen the nuts. That evening, I got food, cooked a steak and shrimp dinner (because you’re damn right I deserved it), and was back in business.

The following morning, I fished, launching from the rental…and caught nothing.

The next day, Wednesday, I got up early and headed west to the Kempson Bridge Boat Ramp, where the Saluda River begins to widen into Lake Murray proper. My focus was on some of the backwater areas there, and while everything looked juicy, I pedaled away with nothing to show for it, packed up, and moved to another spot.

I hit Rocky Creek next, where I ran into Derek Brundle and reigning KBF National Champion Matt Conant (we Massachusetts anglers always gravitate to the same spots). I fished there for the rest of the day, but just couldn’t put anything together. As promising as the area looked, I could only manage two small bass.

I launched from the house again the following morning, this time with Adam Rourke and Jason Gardner, who was taking his brand new Big Rig FD for its maiden voyage.

They made their way up Buffalo Creek, while I made a long run out to the main lake to fish a cluster of offshore humps at the mouth of a creek. Yet again, besides one solid whack on a rattletrap (which was probably a striper), I came up empty. I worked my way to the back of a nearby creek and the pattern repeated: no fish.

Everyone I spoke with—from kayak anglers to locals—was struggling out there.

Heading in, I managed a striper and lost a decent bass on a Z-Man Jackhammer. The muddy water just wasn’t producing as I hoped it would. My best guess is that the fish were still a bit lethargic, not aggressive enough to chase, so unless you dropped your bait right on top of them, your chances of catching them were very slim. I fished deep, shallow, humps, rocks, docks, boats, wood, channel swings, points, throwing every bait that made sense and many that didn’t, and I just couldn’t coax them into biting.

That Friday, instead of working, I fished. I should have worked.

My plan was to head east, to cleaner water, but I remembered another spot I wanted to fish, so that’s where I went, launching from Little River Landing at dawn. I worked my way about seven miles down the creek, fishing some of the sexiest stuff an angler could ask for: laydowns, weeds, mats, stumps, rocks. It all looked amazing, but all I caught was my first-ever gizzard shad.

Hey, new PB! Small victories, right?

That evening at the captain’s meeting, I asked John Ferreira—who’d been fishing the cleaner water with some success—to point out some ramps from which he’d launched. I looked them over, decided to roll the dice, and just picked one that looked good.

As disappointing as things were, I stayed positive knowing I wasn’t the only one struggling to find fish.

Tournament morning, I pulled into the ramp, and out of shadows comes Matt Conant. Of all the ramps on the lake, we once again found ourselves at the same one. We had a good laugh about it, especially because of a text he’d sent me the night before…

At the end of the day, we were still smiling.

With no knowledge of the area, I made my way south from the launch toward three islands. That was my starting spot. After two hours and no bites, things weren’t looking good. I made my way to the shore and started fishing riprap and docks. In the back of small pocket, I skipped my jig up under a dock, and laid into my first big bass of the week—a 20.50-inch fatty!

Possibly the grossest bass I’ve ever caught, I had to send Amanda Brannon a video of it for fear the judge would think it was dead.

For the next hour and a half, I focused on the jig and docks with no luck. The wind had kicked up at that point, and when I pulled up to the windblown side of a marina, I changed things up and pulled out a Z-Man Big TRD, green pumpkin. On that side of the marina, there were eight double-slips and nine wooden pilings at the end of each parallel dock. A few casts in, I caught my second keeper, a 16-incher. The bass were stacked on those outer pilings, and over the next few hours I made my way back and forth, plucking bass off of them on each pass. I caught most, but lost a few.

I tried the rest of the marina, all the slips and pilings, the boats, and the bass weren’t there. They were only on that windblown side. I wish I’d had more time, but I was sitting in fifth place when I started back. I caught one upgrade off a dock on the way, lost another that I simply wasn’t prepared for (I think it grabbed the ned when it was snagged), that would have bumped me up at least one spot, maybe two, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

When all was said and done, I finished in seventh place (three others who launched there found themselves in the top ten as well).

After the horrible week I had, seventh place was just fine.

Matt Conant had an even better day, finishing in second, which he would go on to repeat the following day. I wish I could say the same for me, but I just failed to put it together. A shift in wind direction told me that my marina bite would not be there, and I was correct in that. But my day began to go sideways nearly from the start.

That morning, I began again near the islands, then slowly made my way to them, with fish busting all around me the entire time. Tossing the Megabass Vision 110 (much more aware and respectful of its hooks), I quickly netted my first bass, a 15- or 16-incher, only to realize I’d forgotten to write the identifier code on my identifier. Typically I have at least one Sharpie with me, usually more. But this day? None. I had Gorilla Glue, though, and tried to write the code in glue, then sprinkle some dirt from the island onto it. In theory, not a bad idea, I guess (though I’m not sure if that would have been legal), but the island was all wet clay and didn’t have the effect I’d hoped for.

Not wanting to keelhaul the poor fish thirty minutes back to the ramp, possibly killing it in the process, I let it go and kicked the Flex Drive-E into high gear.

Frustrated, I kept it together, got the identifier sorted, and headed back to my spot. At this point the wind was howling, nearly doubling the time to get there. With the marina bite dead, I turned my focus to windblown docks, but if the fish were there, they weren’t eating.

Eventually I came upon a big laydown at the back of a creek. I plucked two small bass from it, and watched an absolute monster (or maybe multiple monsters) swimming in between its submerged boughs. But guess what I didn’t have with me that I’d had with me every other day that week? A flipping stick. I’d left it in the car to make room for another finesse setup.

I spent the remaining hours trying to coax more bass from wood (and everything else), but those two dinks were all I could manage. Not quite a “hero to zero” event, but seventh to sixtieth is pretty close. I’m happy with the results, though. Six tough days weigh a lot less, especially on the mind and soul, when you have one good day.

In the end, I could have easily let all the negative elements from that week eat away at me and leave my mental game rotten like that bass from day one, like it did down in Kissimmee, Florida, weeks earlier. I’m not saying it didn’t get to me a bit; it most certainly did. Shortly before catching that first fish on Saturday, I’d texted my wife that I was leaving Sunday morning if I didn’t catch any fish.

Not sure if I would have left, but I know I would have at least seriously entertained the idea. Things turned around for me, though, and quickly. All it takes is one fish. Then hopefully a few more.

The lesson here is a simple one: hang in there, stay positive. Because even when the best-laid plans go awry, sometimes no plan turns out to be the best one of all.


Announcing the 2021 MAKB Tournament Schedules

With two divisions, new monthly online events, as well as the Spring/Fall Brawls and the Knockout Series, setting up this season has been a lot of work. But we’re finally at the finish line!

Before we get into everything, though, you will need a Fishing Chaos account to fish any of these events. You can set that up here, if you haven’t already done so.

Though you can only register for some tournaments at this time (read on to find out what you can register for), all of our events are live on the on the Fishing Chaos website. Follow this link to check everything out!

Also, as we discussed in a previous post, you will also need to be a paid MAKB member to fish any of these events, save for the Knockout Series, which is open to all.

We have three membership tiers, all of which have different perks and grant specific access to different events, so please read the membership details on our Fishing Chaos club page before joining.

That said, there’s a lot to unpack here, but I’ll try to be as brief as possible…

EASTERN DIVISION SCHEDULE

We have nine events scheduled for this year’s season, plus the championship. The schedule is as follows:

Apr 17 – A-1/Stump Pond (Westborough)
May 15 – South Watuppa Pond (Fall River)
May 29 – Wequaquet Lake (Barnstable)
Jun 12 – Nashua River (Groton)
Jul 10 – Lake Nippenicket (Bridgewater)
Aug 7 – Charles River (Roadrunner)
Aug 28 – Lake Cochituate (Wayland)
Sep 4 – Long Pond (Lakeville)
Sep 18 – Walker/Upper/Lower Mill (Brewster)

Oct 23 – Webster Lake (Webster) (Championship)

WESTERN DIVISION SCHEDULE

Shawn and Nelson have done a great job setting up our new western division! In this first year, there will be seven events, plus the championship. The schedule is as follows:

Apr 10 – Quaboag Pond (Brookfield)
May 8 – Buckley Denton Reservoir/Yokum Pond (Becket)
May 15 – East/West Waushacum Ponds (Sterling)
Jun 12 – Chicopee River (Chicopee)
Jul 24 – Tully Lake (Athol)
Aug 28 – Cheshire Reservoir (Cheshire)
Sep 18 – Lake Garfield (Monterey)

Oct 23 – Webster Lake (Webster)

The championship event on Webster Lake is a single event for qualifying anglers in both division. To learn how to qualify, click here.

MONTHLY ONLINE CHALLENGE SERIES

We’ve always talked about running a monthly online series, something similar to KBFs monthly state challenges, but never could figure out a fair way to do it. One inherent issue with KBFs challenges is that those anglers who cannot fish a lot are very unlikely to win when many other anglers can fish every day.

With our switch to the Fishing Chaos tournament management platform, we now have the ability to alter things in ways we couldn’t before, affording us a way to even the playing field for anglers, so to speak.

So we will be running a monthly online series similar to KBFs, but with one key difference: anglers can only fish one week out of the month.

When registering, anglers will choose one of four weeks, starting on the 1st of every month and ending on the 28th. It breaks down as follows:

Week 1: 1st–7th
Week 2: 8th–14th
Week 3: 15th–21st
Week 4: 22nd–28th

Our hope is that this will make things fairer and more competitive all around. Yes, some anglers will be able to fish all seven days, but it will be more difficult for them with only seven days to fish as opposed to thirty or so.

This series starts in April and will run monthly through October. You can register for all of these events on Fishing Chaos now!

THE CATCH ‘EM ALL SPRING & FALL BRAWLS

The Catch ‘Em All Spring Brawl and Fall Brawl are online no-limit events we started a few years ago. In the past we’ve opened them up to all of New England, but this year we are limiting them to Massachusetts.

These events are pretty straight forward: one lake of your choosing (public, of course), eight hours, catch and upload as many bass as you can. Simple.

You can register for these events on Fishing Chaos now!

KNOCKOUT SERIES

Registration for the Knockout Series is ongoing. This is our annual bracketed, angler-versus-angler series. This series works with 32, 48, or 64 anglers. We’ve already hit the 32-angler threshold and are working up to forty-eight.

You can read more about the series here and sign up over on our Facebook group page. If you do not have a Facebook account and would like to sign up, shoot me a message through our contact page.

And that’s it, folks! We have a busy, exciting year planned, and we can’t wait to kick it off on April 1 with the Spring Brawl!

If you have any questions, just ask.


Big Changes for Kayak Bass Fishing

Been some shakeup over in KBF Land the last week or so. If you haven’t watched any of the videos or aren’t in the Members Only Facebook group, here’s a list of the more significant changes that affect us…

KBF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

They held on for as long as possible, but the KBF National Championship has been postponed. Tentatively, they’re looking at the first week in November. Nothing concrete yet, but that’s what they said.

Obviously this will mean that some of us who had qualified and planned to fish it will no longer be able to, but maybe it will open the door to some others who couldn’t fish it this month but can in November.

Disappointing, though, for sure.

PARTNER/CHALLENGE/TRAIL SERIES CHAMPIONSHIPS

Originally, the Partner Championship and Challenge Series Championship were to take place concurrently on October 17–18 on Caddo Lake, followed by the Trail Championship the next weekend on Kentucky Lake.

Not ideal for someone who may have qualified for and wanted to fish all three.

Well, now everything is combined. Again. Like last year. There is a Youth Series Championship somewhere in the mix there, but I don’t know much about it and it doesn’t really apply to any of us in this group. But that’s also been combined with it.

Assuming they wanted as much time between these events and the National Championship (if the November dates stand), these combined championships will take place on Caddo Lake, October 17–18.

PRO SERIES

The Pro Series has been dissolved into the Trail Series. All previously scheduled Pro Series events are now Trail Events.

This includes the Pro Open that was scheduled for May 2 on Hopatcong Lake in NJ. It is now a Trail Event for the northeast region. Great for us. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and all that fun stuff, this one is in jeopardy of being postponed. More on that below…

REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Regional Championships are no more. I have yet to wrap my head around this one. These events are now rebranded as SuperTrail events and you do not have to qualify to fish them.

I have no idea if this means there will no longer be a Regional Champion or Regional Angler of the Year or what, but I feel like some of the shine has been scrubbed off of this one. There’s something to be said about earning your way to a championship and winning it. Now anyone can fish it. Just gotta be a KBF member.

This SuperTrail will be worth points and a half in the Angler of the Year race. So going into the Trail Championship, if you’re gunning for overall Angler of the Year or the TEN, your best three Trail events and SuperTrail event points will count.

POSSIBLE ADDITIONAL EVENT POSTPONEMENTS

In addition to the National Championship postponement, KBF has tentatively postponed all live events in the next 60 days. That puts our brand new Hopatcong Lake Trail event inside the bubble. If things change for the better out there and all these quarantines and travel/social gathering restrictions are lifted, then the show will go on, nothing changes. But as of right now, the May 2 event is slated to be rescheduled. Bummer.

If things get worse…well, now you’re talking about the Lake George event as well, which is just outside that 60-day window.

STATE CHALLENGE SERIES

A bit of good news among all this: the KBF State Challenges are still going to happen as scheduled. The Massachusetts state challenge starts on April 1, and registration is open on TourneyX now, so go on and sign up. You’ll still need to adhere to any local restrictions imposed by the state or whatever, but you should be able to compete.

Lord Hoover did say that, if your state does not reach five or more anglers, it will not be combined with another state and there will be no challenge. They simply do not have the time to do that at the moment. So make sure your state gets at least five anglers. Massachusetts won’t have this problem, of course.

Anyway, can’t say I’m happy about all of this, but it’s all out of my control. When things change, and I’m sure they will, I’ll let you know…


Ken Wood Joins the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team

Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ founder, Ken Wood, has joined the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team. Here is his statement…

• • •

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”

My interpretation of this quote has always been a simple one, but Louis L’Amour probably said it best: “Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.”

Where you start doesn’t determine where you finish. It’s everything in between that gets you there and matters most, and I’ve always been one to embrace and focus on the many adventures within the long journey to my final destination, whatever that may be.

On this day four years ago, I traveled down to Delaware Paddlesports on my way to the first-ever Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship on Kentucky Lake. That short detour started my journey with Jackson Kayak, with the purchase of a brand new Big Rig.

I’ve been with Jackson ever since, from that first Big Rig to the Coosa FD and now the Big Rig HD/FD. As an angler, there isn’t another kayak I’d rather be in.

At the 2018 National Championship, I found myself knocking on death’s door in the frigid waters of Lake Barkley, having flipped my Coosa FD.

In the process of trying to flip the kayak back over, I bent and broke the lower unit of the Flex Drive.

Upon hearing of this, Jackson Kayak and their team stepped up and had a new lower unit for me the following day. I was rattled and not much interested in fishing, but I was back on the water facing my newfound fear. Words can’t explain how important that was.

My loyalty doesn’t come easy, but Jackson has it, for many reasons.

And so I am excited to announce that I’ve accepted a position on the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team, alongside Joshua Evans, Matt Ball, Henry Veggian, Russell Johnson, Richard Wohlwend-Penny, Josh Stewart, Dwayne Taff, Jamie Broad, and so many more, giants of the kayak bass fishing community.

I don’t know where this road leads, and I don’t want to. Never do. I just want to be present and available for whatever adventure comes next. This is just one of them.

Photo courtesy of Scott Beutjer.


Announcing the 2020 MAKB Tournament Schedule

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.


2018 Schedule and More

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? =)


Big Win At Winni

BIG congrats to Mark Johnson, who came out on top today in our very first KBF Trail Event on Lake Winnipesaukee. A $690 payday! Nice.

Thomas Mee (aka Tom Kringle) took second, and Jason Gardner placed third. Mark and Jason previously qualified for the KBF National Championship, so their qualifying slots rolled down to Matt McGee and Frank Kulig.

We did a split lunker pool for largemouth and smallmouth. Ken Wood got the biggest largemouth of the day (18.75) and Mike Elrick got the biggest smallie (18.50).

Congrats again, everyone! We really appreciate you coming out. Let’s do it again next year!

On a smaller lake.

Special thanks to Mike Sales at MGC Fishing Equipment and Supplies for the giveaway loot and swag!

Read on for a more detailed write-up courtesy of KBF’s Joe Haubenreich:

KBF TRAIL, WINNIPESAUKEE RANKINGS & REWARDS are now posted on the KBF Calendar Event web page.

23 bass yakkers whacked ’em on Winnepesaukee today. KBF was delighted by the turnout for this first New England event. Many thanks to Ken Wood and Mass Kayak Bassin for pulling this event together and making sure it came off without a hitch.

Mark Johnson posted 83.75 inches of bass on the LOWRANCE Leader Board to seize first place, which came with $690 and 100 KBF AOY Points. Mark’s performance merited a qualification to the 2018 KBF National Championship but he qualified earlier this year, so that slot rolled to Matt Mcgee of Maine, who turned in a respectable 81 inches today.

Thomas Mee was two inches behind Mark. At second place, his winnings came to $345 and 97 KBF AOY Points. Thomas qualified to compete for $100K next March on Kentucky Lake…which might be about the time he’s ready to take a break from Connecticut’s lingering wintry weather.

Like Mark, Jason Gardner (ME) is already Paris-bound. Taking third place, he pockets $115 in winnings plus 94 KBF AOY Points. The slot he would have taken went, instead, on past Mike Elrick (MA, 79.25″, 5th place) to Frank Kulig (MA, 78.50″, 6th place).

We appreciate all who turned out for this TRAIL Series Tournament. We’re looking forward to our return next year. Congratulations to those who fished their way to the top!

Click here for Rankings & Rewards.

Click here Photos & Details.


Register for the Lake Winnipesaukee KBF Trail Event

Okay, folks, the registration and tournament info pages for the KBF Trail event we’re hosting on Lake Winnipesaukee on July 8 are live!

Lake Winnipesaukee KBF Trail Event

This event is open to KBF members and non-members, though non-members pay an additional $25 admin surcharge on top of the $50 entry fee. This surcharge can be used toward a KBF membership within one week of the end of the tournament.

At 30 anglers, AOY points will be awarded to all participants who are KBF members at the time of the event, and at least five National Championship slots will be awarded. Payouts go to 10% of the field (not a 10% payout overall, as the graphic kind of suggests), and the minimum payout for first place is $1,000! It goes up from there. If we reach 100 anglers (or possibly 50), NuCanoe will award to the winner a brand new NuCanoe Pursuit. Expect additional prizes and raffles as well.

The host venue is Funspot in Laconia (579 Endicott Street North). We will meet there in the parking lot on July 8 at 5 AM for a brief Captain’s Meeting, and then again at 5 PM (inside, second level party room) for check-in and the awards ceremony.

Please register as early as you can. The more anglers who sign up early, the more it encourages others to do so as well. And I would suggest finding lodging as soon as possible, as this is event is very close to July 4 and places to stay nearest to Winnipesaukee will likely become harder to find the closer we get to July.

For all the tournament info you need, click here. To register, you can do so here on TourneyX.

If you have any questions, let me know!