Every CKA season is its own chapter but each one is also its own book. We traveled hard, made new memories and caught a lot of big Carolina bass. Let’s take a look at how the 2025 season concluded, and also look ahead…. The Gate City Classic Greensboro area lakes host the Gate City Classic tournament that closes every CKA season, and this year those lakes produced some big fish and some even bigger surprises.
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As we head into the home stretch of the 2025 CKA tournament season, let’s take a look at where things stand across the various points races, payouts and more! The Pre-Fishing Rule New champions and challenges emerge every season, but CKA 2025 has been different in one important way: for the first time, CKA instituted a ban on pre-fishing during the weekdays prior to tournament day. The goal was to decrease pressure on fisheries and increase the challenge of tournament day problem-solving. So far this season, we have had five…
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Times change, and so does our sport. One decade ago, the dominant anglers in CKA had names that ended with Hawj, Rowland and Swisher. Our club regularly attracted 75 anglers or more per event, directors checked your photos manually at the ramp and Ketch boards were not yet available. Over the course of the decade that followed, many CKA anglers earned national reputations, sponsorships and money fishing the Kayak Bass Fishing Trail. Starting in 2019-2020, our sport diversified at the local and national level. Multiple national trails emerged, creating more…
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Drew Blair won at Tuckertown on Saturday, June 14th, the fifth tournament of the 2025 CKA tournament season. It was the last tournament before CKA detours to clean up Jordan Lake with Hobie Eyewear on June 29th and to fish for charity with Reel Heroes on July 12th (see below for more info). It was also another chance for long time CKA angler Drew Blair to go home with a win. If you know Drew, you know it’s been a long time coming – he’s been fishing CKA tournaments for…
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The third edition of the Carolina Classic marked another milestone for North Carolina’s home-based fishing clubs: since 2023, each of the three founding clubs has hosted the event one time. The event has become a staple of our busy state-wide community and the 2025 edition, hosted perfectly by Foothills Kayak Anglers (with an assist from Waterways of Old Fort N.C.) added a memorable chapter in the event’s story. What will 2025 bring for the Carolina Classic? We shall see! The Carolina Classic also imparted some definition to the respective CKA…
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