July AOY/ROY Update

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Since its inception, CKA has recognized the angler who outperforms the rest of the field. From the start those races have been largely decided by mid-season. This year is different: the mid-season mark has been a turning point: a handful of angler are gaining ground on the leader. Now, it is a wide-open race. And to make things even more dramatic, we have a tie at the top of the standings.

And it isn’t just any tie. It’s the veteran angler versus the young fisherman. Joey Sullivan, who directed the Carolina Yakfish Series from 2010-2013, is an accomplished fresh and salt water kayak angler. His walls are adorned with trophies and he has won and sold more kayaks than most of us will own in a lifetime. He also holds the North Carolina state record length for a monthly five fish limit on the KBF state Challenge boards, at 117.50  (that’s an average length of 23.50’ per fish). Some of us call him The Terminator – just ask the field from last season’s Tournament of Champions, when Joey came back from 7th place on Day 2 to win the event.

The youngster is Will Lambert, an accomplished angler in his own right, and the future of our sport. One day, his garage will also be filled with kayaks and his walls will also be decorated with trophies. But he is going to have to earn the CKA trophy and kayak by defeating one of the best all-around anglers in all of kayak fishing. The path to victory goes down Sullivan Road.

And it gets even more interesting. The race isn’t over for a handful of anglers near the top of the standings. In fact, several could overtake the two leaders at the next event while the top 10-15% of the field is not yet eliminated mathematically. And Rick Rowland is still out there, climbing his way into the conversation. His nickname requires no explanation – he’s simply “The Hammer.”

For anglers who have fished 6 events, the lowest score is dropped and replaced by a higher score – if they earn one – at the remaining two events. Qualifications for the Tournament of Champions and KBF Nationals remain on the line as we head into the home stretch.

This should be fun.

The AOY update is at this link.

The ROY update is at this link

Tournament Recap: Battle at the Border

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Tournament Recap: Battle at the Border

Kerr Lake/Buggs Island

CKA and VKBC collaborated with support from Kayak Bass Fishing to organize the 2019 Battle at the Border, the first of what both clubs hope will be an annual event. We held the tournament on beautiful Kerr Lake, a massive body of water that straddles the VA-NC border. Approximately 70 anglers from three states signed up for the concurrent tournaments.

Three states – while the majority of anglers were from VA or  NC, a handful from South Carolina attended to compete, and one of them – Tim Sabella – won the day. Kayak Fishing is a sport of surprises and this was one of those. Tim is an accomplished angler who has placed high at the KBF National Championship, so there is no surprise regarding his skill or that he could win. The surprise was that the trophy VKBC or CKA hoped to bring to their home state went to a third state. This can only mean one thing – we will have to do it again and settle it next year.

Kerr Lake fished well, and while there weren’t any giant limits posted, the top CKA anglers in the standings all posted solid limits. Here are the top 10:

  1. Tim Sabella
  2. Brooks Lanier
  3. Will Lambert
  4. Drew Blair
  5. Ricky Rowland
  6. Shelly Efird
  7. Henry Veggian
  8. Nathan Green
  9. Dustin Good
  10. Chris Linville

Zee Bait Co. Lunker Length Program winner: Jacob Novak

For complete standings, click here: https://tourneyx.com/app/tourney/cka-2019-event-6-kerr-buggs

Thank you to everyone at CKA, VKBC and KBF who put in the hard work to make this event possible. Thank you to our sponsors, and particularly to Denny Romero and On the Water Innovations for bringing extra giveaways.  The hospitality of NC Wildlife Commission and NC State Parks were also essential to the event’s success. Most of all, thank you to the anglers who traveled, competed and had a good time.

 

 

KBF Prizes for the 2019 Battle at the Border

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Kayak Bass Fishing has generously donated additional cash prizes and 2020 National Championship Qualifying spots for the CKA-VKBC Battle at the Border at Kerr Lake, this coming Saturday, July 13th. This additional tournament support is to promote the sport among KBF members and non-members alike. There are two award categories.

  1. $1,000 cash

At the end of the event, the tournament directors will merge the two event leaderboards, and the top 3 limits overall will each be awarded a cash prize. Anglers do not have to be KBF members to receive these prizes and the prizes are guaranteed. They are as follows:

          1st Place: $500

          2nd Place: $300

          3rd place: $200

An angler cannot win two of these KBF cash prizes. For example, if Larry Anderson has a 91” limit on the CKA leaderboard for 2nd place, and 91” also on the VKBC leaderboard for 3rd place, he would not win both 2nd and 3rd place. If the two largest bags on the VKBC board took 1st and 2nd overall on the merged leaderboards, Larry would win the 3rd place money, assuming of course that one of the top two VKBC bags was also 1st on the CKA board. If 1st and 2nd on VKBC had 95” and 94.5” each, and a separate angler had 93” on the CKA board for 1st place, then Larry would fall to 4th place. In sum, the top 3 bags overall win the money.

This money is awarded in addition to any other tournament prizes from either event.

  1. National Championship qualifying spots

We will award 15 spots to KBF members at this event. Anglers must be members prior to the start of the event. The spots will roll down through the top 35% of the field (normally, these spots do not roll down). Non-KBF members and previously qualified members will be skipped. And so, in a combined field of 100 anglers, spots 1-35 would be eligible, but spot 36 would not. In a field of 75 anglers, spot 27 would be the cutoff, and so forth (fractions would be rounded up).  To sign up for KBF membership, click here.

CKA Tournament 6 Kerr Lake (Bugg’s Island), NC/VA

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The Battle on the Border

July 13th, 2019

 Overview

We enter uncharted waters here for CKA anglers. CKA has never fished Kerr Lake, and it will be the farthest north and east our trail has ever reached. It is also the largest lake we have ever fished. Kerr Lake covers more than 77 surface miles of water; for contrast, Lake Norman covers fewer than 50 surface miles. It is also a river system (the Roanoke) CKA has never touched. In sum, Kerr is one of the largest impoundments on the Southeast, and will challenge how anglers break down big water. Want to test your skills against a massive lake? This is it.

And just to make things even more difficult, there will be a 5 fish limit at this event with a 12” minimum length, instead of the usual 3 fish/8”minimum limit.

Additionally, we will be competing with and against the Virginia Kayak Bass Challenge, the Virginia club run by Casey Reed, a nationally accomplished kayak angler and a long -time friend of CKA in the kayak fishing world. CKA and VKBC will run separate, simultaneous events. You can fish both, or just one. As an added bonus, the angler who submits the longest limit to either trail will take home a custom trophy to commemorate this inaugural tournament! This event is a great opportunity to get to know our friends to the north, fish new water, and compete for state pride.

This post contains

  • Lake information
  • Rules, launches
  • Registration links
  • Captains Meetings time and location info
  • Tournament Start/End Times
  • Post-Event Check-In info

For additional updates, visit CKA on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolinakayakanglers/

Lake Info Read more “CKA Tournament 6 Kerr Lake (Bugg’s Island), NC/VA”

AOY/ROY update

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The race for Angler of the Year has tightened up, with Will Lambert and Sammy Wilson Jr. closing ground on Joey Sullivan. Could Sammy achieve a combined ROY & AOY title? Can Joey regain his momentum? Can someone else emerge from the pack, and dominate the final 3 events, to shock everyone? On the ROY side, there will be even more movement as the best 4 scores for each angler will change over the coming weeks. One bad day, or one great day, can change each race.

We will find out more after the next event, on July 13th!

AOY update: https://www.carolinakayakanglers.com/?page_id=3936

ROY update: https://www.carolinakayakanglers.com/?page_id=3951