Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail Year in Review

Now that the 2013 Trail is in the books it is time for a look back...

When the idea hit to create a kayak fishing tournament I began to research first and foremost if any such thing even existed in Ohio. There was nothing to be found.  I began to research how other states, kayak retailers/manufacturers, etc were running their tournaments and quickly found that most of them ran pretty much by the same rules I followed as a participant in Kayak Wars.  The next step was to form a group to help create the tournament.  I had met Travis Belcher, Larry Haines, and Chase Bateson while participating in Kayak Wars early in 2012 and we had all fished together quite a few times trying to get more points for our team.  I thought they would be logical additions to help create the tournament since they already knew the basic concept and rules.

Soon after a couple conference calls our discussions led to creating a full blown tournament trail and the Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail was created on 12/12/12.
After creating the trail we began adding to the list of things that needed to be completed including....
*create rules
*scout potential tournament locations
*pick tournament locations
*select dates for the events
*obtain permits for some of the event locations
*find water access for every event
*find camping locations for every event
*promote trail with website, facebook, twitter
*layout all the details for every event including check-in and measure-in times and locations
*who is bringing the laptops to measure the fish
*who is registering people
*how much do we charge
*oh yeah, and sell people on sponsoring a bunch of events that didn't even exist a month ago.

I was beginning to think we bit off more than we can chew.  We all had full-time jobs and this was seriously going to eat into either our free time or our fishing time!

Admittedly, we thought we had everything planned perfectly and then we officially launched our first event on May 4th, 2013 on Indian Lake.  We all camped the night before at the state park and then headed over to a local bait shop to setup for registration in the morning.  The weather looked less than ideal and even terrible for Ohio.  The forecast predicted cloudy skies and wind gusts up to 20mph.  We woke up that morning thinking that we were the only 4 anglers that would show up!  As we pulled into the parking lot about 30 minutes ahead of time we were surprised to see vehicles with kayaks loaded up!  All in all we ended up having 18 anglers for a crappie event during weather that was producing constant 10mph wind with gusts of up to 20mph....we were shocked and also realized we were on to something.  After a quick breakdown of the rules everyone launched to wind and whitecaps.  Everyone found their own cove (which are plentiful on Indian Lake) and began stalking crappie.  The rules counted the top 3 crappie in length.  At measure-in the top 5 all hit at least 30" and the top spot was held by Chase Bateson with an impressive 37.5" three crappie total!  While grilling out hot dogs and hamburgers we also raffled off some great prizes from those sponsors who had faith in our Trail back when it was just a thought. I noticed at the measure-in all participants were not only discussing their day on the water but where they were from.  We had people driving more than 2 hours from places I had never even heard of in Ohio.  They were also discussing the next event the Three Lake Throwdown.


I have lived in Ohio my entire life and have gotten used to the crazy weather including 70 degree temperatures departing for snow...all in the same day! At the Three Lake Throwdown on May 25th even mother nature threw us a curveball.  The night before the tournament I had driven up to the event (about a 2.5 hour drive) to camp and setup the tent.  That night the temperatures dropped to 32 degrees and only 3 degrees from an all time low!  No way anyone would show up to this tournament.  Waking up in the morning while seeing my breath in the tent the entire night I was thinking what did I get myself into?! Our expectations were low and expected no one to show then we starting signing people in....16 in all.  We had anglers show up from other states including a group from Pennsylvania and West Virginia....word was getting out.  At the end of the day, the measure-in was pretty tough.  We only had 6 anglers catch fish....I thought for sure our Trail was over.  I was sure I was the only idiot to sit in my kayak for 8+ hours in the freezing cold while not catching a fish and still have a good time.  I was wrong....at measure-in people were again talking about the next event and the word 'redemption' was tossed around more than once.  The top angler and the only angler of 2 who caught 3 bass was Noah Heck with a total of 30".  Anglers had fun and were looking to the next event to prove they could catch fish!


The next stop was the Kiser Kayak Classic on Kiser Lake.  This lake is one of my favorites for a few

reasons including tons of cover to cast at, no motors allowed on the lake, and it holds a lot of bass with some that eclipse the 20" mark.  I knew if we had a good turnout we would see some good totals and some would get that redemption after the Three Lake Throwdown.  We ended up with 28 anglers with the group from West Virginia making their 2nd event, and anglers from Kentucky and Indiana.  While on the lake I noticed a lot of fish being caught and knew that the top spots would have a pretty good total.  I also knew that many anglers would walk away with a love/hate relationship with Kiser.  It was real easy to get massive blow ups by big bass on topwater baits fished in the pads, but very hard to actually hook them.   Of course, a BKFT event wouldn't be complete without a major weather event.  A huge storm blew threw causing anglers to find cover and caused about an hour and half delay.  At the measure-in I heard no fewer than 10 stories about massive blowups with no hooksets. At measure-in we totaled the fish up and the winner was Rylan Hayes with a 48" total.  The top 10 all eclipsed the 40" mark and I was lucky enough to land the big bass of the tournament with a 19" largemouth.  After the event a lot of people stuck around talking about the Trail, kayaks, and fishing in general.  With the 3rd event complete everyone was really excited to participate in a different kind of tournament....moving water and the Dayton River Regional.

The Dayton Regional River event featured moving water and a variety of rivers around the Dayton area, but of course mother nature let us know that wouldn't be the case.  The July event was a perfect time of the year to stalk smallmouth bass on moving water, but we were dealt an abnormally large amount of storms leading up to the event.  About 2 days before the event and after numerous trips to check out the area rivers the determination was made to postpone the event due to high water.  With the river event cancelled, a group of us decided to have an "unofficial" event on Kiser again.  The unofficial event announced two days prior saw over 20 anglers show up!  Jeff Bennett ended up winning the event and taking first place.  The next event was something most anglers were unfamiliar with...an online event called Summer Slam.

An online event is essentially a multi-day tournament where anglers email their top 3 bass pictures in. Summer Slam allowed anglers to fish any Ohio waters, so anglers could fish water they were comfortable with and knew well.  We weren't sure if anglers would understand the concept, but were pleasantly surprised when we had 22 anglers sign up.  Not only did anglers understand the concept, but we found out they know their home waters pretty well too. The top spot went to Sean Stone with a 3 bass total of 60.25"!  The top ten all exceeded 50"....a pretty impressive showing.

The next event featured something a lot of anglers had been looking forward to: moving water.

The Columbus Rumble on the River featured 6 different waterways that are all prime smallmouth spots.  This event was our most attended event of the year with 31 anglers participating.  Larry Haines proved he knew his home waters and took the top spot with an impressive 48.25" 3 fish total.  We also had a 4 way tie for Big Bass with Larry, Brian Britton, Russ McDonald, and Amanda Jones all landing a 17.25" smallmouth.

Our next event, another online event, was the Buckeye Open.  After meeting a large group of kayak anglers from the Kayak Angler of Western PA group we decided to open up our online tournament to OH & PA waters.  They were running an online tournament during the same dates and allowed multiple state participation including OH waters.  Before the

tournament began it was kind of playing up as a PA vs. OH kind of deal.  I decided to add a little more fuel to the fire by giving bonus points to anyone in our tournament who places in the top 10 of their tournament.  As the tournaments closed the wait for the final tally was on.  The KAWPA event had 29 anglers and five Ohio anglers were able to crack the top 10: 2nd place: Brian Britton, 3rd place: Sean Stone, 5th place: Jeff Bennett, 6th place: Logan Estep, and 8th place: Neil Farley.  (not trying to rub it in, but as I type this Ohio State just finished beating Penn State U. by 49 points...more fuel officially added!)  The Buckeye Open saw those same 5 anglers take spots between 1-7 with only two KAWPA anglers reaching the top 10: 3rd place: Daniel Thomas and 8th place: Eric Lander.
Brian Britton took 1st place with an impressive 58.75" 3 bass total.

The next BKFT event hit the waters of Nettle Lake in the far northwest corner of Ohio.  Almost every angler was new to this lake and hit the internet hard looking for any information that could be found.  Most found that it was a popular crappie lake and not much mention of bass.  This prompted anglers to begin giving Travis Belcher grief over his lake choice for this tournament.  The lake would also see mother nature strike once again.  Wind gusts of up to 24mph caused whitecaps and many anglers searching for the few coves they could find.  As soon as the weather moved through the large fish were starting to be caught.  Jeff Bennett won the tournament with a 47.25" 3 bass total and the top 5 all caught 40"+.

After the Fall Finale the next stop was the rescheduled Dayton River Regional now named the Dayton Kayak Fishing Experience (because it took place during the Midwest Outdoor Experience).  This event had a lot of cash and prizes up for grabs, but no fewer than 10 anglers were still in the running for a much larger prize....2013 Angler of the Year.   Jeff Bennett sat in 1st place when the tournament began and a lot of anglers were seeking a top 5 finish to pass him in the standings.  At the end of the tournament Jeff checked in with 41.75" and 6th place points that weren't going to improve his already established score.  That left the door wide open for other anglers to top him and land the coveted AOY.  Rylan Hayes crashed through that door with a
3 bass total of 53.25" to capture 1st place and a TIE for Angler of the Year!


In a forum, about a week before the event Sean Stone asked what would happen if a tie in the standings happened.  I off the cuff replied. "FISH OFF!" not thinking it would ever happen.  After a bit of thought I decided I better lay out the ground rules in the case it did.  A coin flip would determine if the FISH OFF would be held on flat water (Kiser Lake) or moving water (Dayton area rivers).  The flip determined it would be held on Kiser Lake.  Both Jeff and Rylan were happy with the outcome as Rylan won the the Kiser Kayak Classic and Jeff won the "un-official" Kiser tournament that took the place of the 1st postponed Dayton event.

Two weeks later anglers met on Kiser Lake for the FISH OFF which also allowed other anglers to compete.  Whoever between Jeff and Rylan had the most total inches for 3 bass won Angler of the Year.
The temperatures were supposed to hit 50 degrees but I bet with wind chills it was unlikely they even hit 40.
 It was super cold out on the water and by the last two hours the lake had whitecaps (a theme BKFT anglers saw way too often in 2013).  A largemouth bass caught in the last hour that was just shy of 21" propelled one angler to the win.  Jeff Bennett walked away with an entry into the Kayak Bass Fishing Invitational, a Black Pak donated by Yak City, a $75 gift certificate to Hook1, and title of Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail's 2013 Angler of the Year!  Congrats Jeff for a great year on the water.

The other component that drew a lot of interest this year was the YAK Ohio.  To win a YAK Ohio you had to catch a qualifying species on Ohio waters while in a kayak. Many anglers fished their local waterways for

qualifying fish with many of those anglers landing their personal best.  The results were really an accomplishment....
Largemouth Bass = 22" Rylan Hayes
Smallmouth Bass = 19.25" Larry Haines
Crappie = 14.5" tie: Rylan Hayes & Jeff Bennett
Waleye/Saugeye = 19.25" Mike Lyon
Catfish = 42" Russ McDonald
Sunfish/Rockbas s= 10" Neil Farley
Pike/Musky = 35.5" Tim Sylvester

A big thanks goes out to all the yak anglers, sponsors, and supporters of the Trail!
We have already started planning for the 2014 Trail and will be announcing additional sponsors, tournament schedule, etc. in the coming months.  Stay tuned and be prepared for an even bigger and better 2014 trail!

-Neil
Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail

P.S. In case you missed it be sure to ask for a Hawg Trough as a stocking stuffer this Christmas because we will be requiring them for 2014!