Tag: New England KBF Partner Trail Series

Announcing the New England KBF Partner Trail Series

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

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.