Currents
N E WS
CATCH A TROPHY, WIN THE TROPHY. CREDIT: COURTESY ROBERT FIELD
WHY THE KAYAK BASS SERIES IS ALREADY ONE OF THE SPORT’S BIGGEST TOURNAMENT SERIES
Kayak fishing tournaments are one of the best parts of our sport. From the grassroots to the dream destinations, whenever anglers can get together to compete, everyone wins. When Kayak Angler heard of a new tournament series in the
works by Terry Manley, of Manley Rods and Robert “Yak’n’Aggie” Field called the Kayak Bass Series (
www.kayakbassseries.com), we needed to know more. We tracked down Field to find out what makes their tournament series different than everyone else’s. Here’s what he told us.—Ben Dushesney
Kayak Angler: Why did you want to start a kayak fishing tournament?
Robert Field: The reason this all started was because Terry is kind of a powerboat guy, and he recognized there really was no equiva- lent to the big boat tournament series in our sport. KBS was born to address that void.
KA: Why bass fishing?
RF: We feel like bass fishing is easily the most widespread kind of fishing here in the US and we really wanted to bring kayak fish- ing to the forefront of the overall fishing industry and sport. We thought a national tournament series targeting the most popular species was really the best way to launch kayak fishing to the next level.
KA: Why is this tournament different from other kayak tournaments?
RF: The cash payouts are 90 percent back (the remaining 10 per- cent will culminate to become the purse for the KBS Classic). Our payouts and our cash prizes are going to be unprecedented in kayak fishing.
22 PADDLING MAGAZINE
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
Another thing we’re really focusing on is that we want the actual tournaments to be an event, to be fun. If you think about B.A.S.S. or FLW, they’ve got the big weigh in and all the guys come up with their fish and it’s exciting. With the kayak series, the CPR series, it’s just not as exciting. We’re working on a live CPR scoring system, to record the fish
in real time. That way, when we get done, rather than tallying up the totals by hand while everyone is standing around waiting, we’ll already know the places. One of the big overriding goals of this tournament series is to
promote sustainable fishing. The Live CPR app that anglers will be scoring their fish with is owned by the Snook & Gamefish Foun- dation, and all of the data collected on fish that are caught is used for conservation efforts.”
KA: What are the details of the series? How did you pick the locations for each stop?
RF: There are six stops, called the KBS Opens, that can stand- alone. People can come and fish just that one if it’s local to them. We picked the locations strategically; six different states starting in January, but we want people to be able to catch fish. The locations somewhat follow the pre-spawn and spawn patterns of the year.
KA: How can people sign up? How do they get to fish the KBS Classic?
RF: Registration is open now. To fish these events, you have to be a KBS member, which is $50, which basically covers the traveling and setting up at these events. Each tournament buy in is $100. The KBS Classic has no buy in, if you fish four of the six events in the year, you’re in the Classic. You don’t even have to place in the KBS Opens, just show up and fish at four events and you can fish in the Classic.
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