2014 Tournaments Gearing Up

As many of you know, February first marks the start of several kayak tournaments. The first of which is Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trails "Yak Ohio's", an online photo submission tournament in which anglers compete to land the largest fish of a variety of species. The tournament runs from February 1, 2014 through October 1, 2014 and all fish caught from a kayak in the state of Ohio are eligible. This year BKFT offers categories in Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Hybrid Striped Bass, Crappie, Musky/Pike/Gar, Catfish, Carp, and Walleye/Saugeye/Sauger. Buckeye Kayak Fishing Trail is offering prizes exceeding $150 and trophies for each category of fish. BKFT is also offering a  year long Bass event, in which anglers are allowed to submit their largest five bass throughout the year. The most total inches wins the event, and will receive points toward the final trial standings. This will of course factor into the angler of the year, which receives prizes and products in excess of $300.

The second tournament that starts on the first of February is KayakWars. KayakWars is an international online kayak fishing tournament that is held from the first of February and runs through December 14th. Anglers form groups of 3 to 5 members and compete within their region and water type. For example, I compete in the North East United States region and I am in the freshwater division. Like the BKFT's Yak Ohio's, KayakWars offers anglers a wide variety of species to target for the tournament. Each region has predetermined lengths and points allowed for each species of fish....which can be seen here. One example of a qualifying fish would be a largemouth bass over 16" for 10 points. The more points you accumulate the better your team will do. For most anglers kayakwars is for bragging rights, but for the extremely talented and or lucky there are some really nice prizes to be won. 

Both tournaments follow similar rules and guidelines....here are a few that I wanted to highlight before Saturday.

Online Photo Submission:  BKFT Yak Ohio's are to be emailed to buckeyekayakfishingtrail@gmail.com, KayakWar photos are to be uploaded to kayakwars.com.

Date and Time: These must be accurate on your camera. Make sure that after you change batteries, transfer photos, upload photos, etc. that your date and time are correct. Amanda lost a couple hundred points last year because her Date and Time were wrong.

Clear Measurements: Make sure to have the fish facing left, mouth touching the zero mark, entire fish is in the photo, kayak is in the photo, and water is also visible (no wading or shore fishing). Take several pictures in case  BKFT requires a Hawg Trough, KayakWars is open to all measuring devices. (Acceptable picture seen below)

Clear Pictures: Take extra time to make sure that your camera lens is clear of moisture. I had several pictures that were barely acceptable....in fact if it hadn't been for marking my inch lines on my hawg trough with a black permanent marker they would have been unreadable. Make sure that your camera focuses on your fish and not that bottle of pepsi you have laying in your yak.

Deadlines: Make sure to get your pictures submitted on time....BKFT allows 10 days, and KayakWars allows 14 days from the time of the catch.

Hold On: Believe it or not, fish don't necessarily like being out of water and on our hawg troughs so they do all they can to try and escape.

Luckily he still had my spinnerbait pinned to his mouth when he decided jump ship.

Some people like to use fish grips (seen below), some put their hands on the fishes side, others simply hold the fishes lip.

 One tactic I found to be very successful last year was to leave the fish hooked for the photo, that way if he flopped back into the water I would have another shot at getting a picture. (I wouldn't recommend leaving a fish hooked if your bait has more than one hook or treble hooks....that could get ugly in a hurry. Just because I do it on occasion doesn't make it a good idea.)

Have Fun: The most important thing of all is to remember to have fun. Fishing is our hobby, we do it because we enjoy it. Don't get too worked up about these tournaments. I know I've been guilty more than once of dropping an F-bomb when I lost a good fish, broken a rod, broke my line, lost a personal item overboard, etc.. Remember that someone who's in a bad mood generally makes everyone else unhappy. It took me a while to realize it, but after fishing with Amanda when she was having a bad day I realized that bad moods ruin trips.


Good luck to everyone this weekend, and be safe.