Carolina Kayak Anglers: 2017 Year in Review
CKA has become one of the nation’s most widely recognized state-based kayak tournament fishing series. This is entirely due to the great anglers who participate in the tournaments. You drive to compete in our tournaments on North Carolina’s excellent bass fisheries. You grind for fish over long days, enduring the wind and the rain, the sun and the heat. You compete locally and nationally, and at a high level in both. So there is no other way to begin this review than to acknowledge a simple fact: CKA anglers made 2017 the year that turned CKA from a popular regional series into a nationally recognized one.
A simple fact confirms this: when we held the joint CKA/KBF Trail events at Falls Lake and Randleman, you turned out in large numbers, making them the two of the three most well attended events of the season. Yes, the prizes were big, but the nation’s top kayak anglers were also there. CKA anglers stepped up against the strongest competition of the season and won1st place in both events.
And so, we have to begin our year in review with an expression of gratitude: thank you all for making it a great season.
For the season itself, 2017 featured larger payouts, great attendance, big limits, big fish and a number of other milestones. The numbers below paint that picture.
Attendance and payouts
- In the aggregate, 462 anglers fished in 8 regular season events (an average of 58 per event)
- 161 unique anglers fished in CKA events
- 7 different anglers won 1st place in an event
- 31 unique anglers won prize purses, not including Big Bass pots (roughly 1 in 5 anglers)
In addition, CKA paid out
- $2,310 in Big Bass pot prize money (average $288.75 per event)
- $11,550 in overall prize winnings (average $1,443.75 per event)
- $4,985 to 1st place winners (average $623.13 per event)
- over $4,000 in charitable contribution to H.O.W.
Fish Caught
CKA anglers submitted a total of 943 bass for their final limits in competition. Of those, 60 bass were over 20” in length. Falls Lake and Shearon Harris produced the largest overall numbers of large fish as well as the season’s top 3-fish limits. The charts below feature more highlights:
| Big Bass Club (Top 10) | ||
| Angler | Fish Length | Lake |
| Brad Crater | 24.00 | Falls |
| David Jordan | 23.25 | Falls |
| Tommy Xiong | 23.00 | Harris |
| Jim Lor | 22.75 | Harris |
| James Marshall | 22.50 | Harris |
| Jim Lor | 22.25 | Falls |
| Jim Lor | 22.25 | Harris |
| Matt Hawj | 22.25 | Harris |
| Wayne Butler | 22.25 | Hickory |
| Danny Whitaker | 22.00 | Jordan |
| Mitchell Rhodes | 22.00 | Randleman |
| Top 10 Limits | ||
| Angler | Limit Length |
|
| Jim Lor | 66.50 | |
| Mitchell Rhodes | 62.50 | |
| PC Hawj | 62.50 | |
| James Sartin | 61.25 | |
| Mike Lowe | 60.50 | |
| Tommy Xiong | 60.00 | |
| Buster Swisher | 59.00 | |
| Danny Whitaker | 58.25 | |
| Brandon Jessup | 57.50 | |
| Matt Hawj (tie) | 57.50 | |
| WayneButler(tie) | 57.50 | |
| Calvin Keller (tie) | 57.50 | |
| Marcus Smith(tie) | 57.50 |
In all, CKA has achieved a balanced, competitive series. We have done so by maintaining a level playing field with fair and consistent rules, excellent judging and support from the kayak fishing community, including sponsors, anglers and other kayak fishing organizations in the state and elsewhere. The end result is that veteran anglers as well as new anglers share ideas, compete and enjoy our series. We thank you all for making that possible.
Happy Holidays to all, and we look forward to seeing you on the water in 2018.
Intersted in fishing tourneys.need more info… Thanks
Anslo, thanks for the note. The tournament section of our site explains most of what anglers need, but if you have a question, just ask. here is the link: http://www.carolinakayakanglers.com/?page_id=25