Participation In Kayak Events On The Rise

By John Neporadny Jr.
Special to BassFan

Missing are the colorful processions of boats, the high-speed runs at take-off and the climactic display of big catches at the weigh-ins. Yet the same passion driving bass anglers to compete in expensive motorized rigs also exists among the ranks of kayak tournament competitors.

“Just as kayak fishing has become popular, so now you have more and more (kayak) anglers who want to compete,” said Keeton Eoff, a strategic development analyst for kayak manufacturer Hobie. “In kayak fishing, it's more of a community thing and there's a social aspect to the event that the anglers love getting together for that competition.

"It's the same draw that's in the boat-and-motor tournament – just that ability to compete and be involved in something that's a little bit bigger than you.”

Eoff credits Chad Hoover as the creator of kayak bass fishing tournaments when Hoover began an online contest at KayakBassFishing.com in 2009. The contest allowed kayak anglers to fish for bass on their favorite waters after paying an entry fee and receiving a token from Hoover. A CPR (catch, photo, release) rule was established for the tournament and the contestants had to photograph their catches with the token included in the picture for verification.

Hoover eventually changed to a traditional tournament format with events being held at specific bodies of water. Now Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) holds two opens, an invitational and a national championship.

“We had the highest participation of any freshwater kayak tournament in the country last year for a single event at 158 boats,” Hoover says. “For our national championship for next year we already have more than 300 qualified.”

Rapid Rise

Hoover believes the growing popularity of kayak bass fishing has also spurred the competitive side of the sport.

“Tournaments are really a representation of that community and a marketing mechanism for that community so it's just indicative of how fast the sport is growing and the fact that there's a market for it now,” he says.

Other bass tournament circuits offering kayak anglers across the country a chance to compete include the Kayak Bass Series (KayakBassSeries.com) featuring six opens; River Bassin' Trail (RiverBassinTrail.com) with 37 events and a national championship; Kayak Angler Tournament Series (FishKats.com), eight tournaments and a Classic Championship; and Capital City Kayak Tour (CapitalCityKayakFishing.com), 15 events and a world championship.

Hobie also has become involved in the tournament scene with the introduction of the Hobie Bass Open, a 2-day event at Kentucky Lake that qualifies the winner to represent Team USA and compete in the Hobie Fishing Worlds (set this fall in China). The 2015 Hobie Open held at Kentucky and Barkley lakes drew 78 anglers from across the nation, according to Eoff.

Kayak bass tournaments feature a different format than the bass boat competitions.

“Really the only similarity is that we are fishing for bass,” Hoover says.

In the KBF events, competitors can launch their kayaks from any public launch in a predetermined radius of 25 or 50 miles. Since the tournaments apply the CPR rule, there is no live weigh-in.

“You get a unique token only put out the night before,” Hoover says, “and you have to have that token in the photo so everybody knows you couldn’t have caught that fish before the tournament.”

The fish are also photographed on an approved measuring board and then released. Combined length of the anglers’ catches determines the winner.

Let's See Your Best 3

The Hobie Open also uses the CPR format for determining the winner. The competitors enter their three largest bass each day and the angler with the most total inches wins the Open and advances to the Hobie Fishing Worlds.

Hobie Open contestants have begun using the iAngler Tournament app that allows them to keep track of scoring similar to the BASSTrakk system used in Bassmaster Elite Series events and the Bassmaster Classic. With the iAngler Tournament system, the Open anglers can upload photos of their catches to the tournament director’s scorekeeper, according to Eoff.

Entry fees for major kayak bass tournaments range from $85 to $200, Hoover says. He notes his KBF Invitational has a $1,000 entry fee and a guaranteed 1st-place prize of $30,000.

KBF pays back 100 percent of entry fees for most of its events and also offers manufacturers' bonus money.

“So if you're using a certain manufacturer’s product and you're the top person with that (product) there is additional payout,” says Hoover, who noted last year’s Open winner collected $9,000 for first place and another $7,000 in manufacturer’s money.

Hobie Open competitors pay a $125 entry fee with 100 percent going to the payout and $1,500 of the fees supports airfare and travel for the Hobie Fishing Worlds qualifier. The rest of the fees are paid out one place for every 10 entrants along with awards and prizes.

Sponsorship for kayak bass tournaments has grown steadily throughout the years, according to Eoff.

“One thing when I'm talking to other companies, I ask them if they platform what their angler fishes from,” he says. “Does it have to have a motor on it or can it be a kayak and do they care as long as the anglers are buying their (products)?”

Hoover lists Lowrance, Power-Pole, Yak Attack and various rod and reel manufacturers as companies that are sponsoring his events and other kayak bass tournaments.

Good for Business

Kayak manufacturers are riding high on the rising wave of kayak bass tournaments.

“If you’re a kayak company and you don’t make a fishing kayak now, you're going to be hurting,” Hoover says. He said the most popular kayak brands in his tournaments are Wilderness Systems, Hobie, Jackson, Feel Free and Native Watercraft.

Hobie has also assembled a pro staff consisting of kayak bass tournament competitors.

“We have a unique pro staff in that we have nearly 200 members that we refer to as the Hobie Fishing Team,” Eoff says. He describes the pro staff members as extensions of Hobe dealers as they work directly with dealers in their region to promote kayak sport fishing.

One of Hobie’s pro staff members is Bassmaster Elite Series pro Carl Jocumsen, who worked with a Hobie dealer in Australia before moving to the United States to compete in Bassmaster events. Another Bassmaster Elite Series pro, Brandon Card, spends some of his fun-fishing time exploring remote waters in a Freedom Hawk kayak.

Kayak tournament competitors come from all walks of life, according to Hoover.

“I’ve got doctors standing next to brain surgeons standing next to truck mechanics at the tournaments,” he says.

Eoff notices most kayak bass tournament anglers range in age from 25 to 45 and have a wide variety of backgrounds. “They are just guys who love to kayak-fish and compete against each other,” he says.

If sponsorship and paybacks continue to grow, there might be some kayak anglers who can make a living from their favorite sport.

“If guys can go out there and put together sponsors and make it lucrative, then, as they say, ‘If you build it they will come’,” Hoover says.

Eoff foresees kayak bass tournaments continuing to grow and spreading nationwide.

“Kayak bass fishing has been the fastest-growing segment of the industry for the last 10 years and we don’t see that stopping any time soon."