A first of its kind the Kayak Fishing & Outdoor Adventure Expo a success! With around 10 different fishing kayak manufacturers displaying well over 30 unique models. There were also Rec boats and SUP’s available.  The Kayak Fishing Store made available its entire store on site along with a show discount made this expo a must for beginners and even seasoned kayak anglers whom needed accessories and gear. Also present were kayak electric motors, local tackle shops, fishing rod manufacturers, outdoor sports such as biking, local charities, Fly Fishing Manufacturers and Groups, and finally kayak dealers from the Tri-State area.

Representing Jackson Kayak, Bending Branches, and Torqeedo I had my work cut out for me! My presentation for my seminar was still not completed the day prior but was able to complete it at the hotel late Friday night!

My presentation was titled Essential Gear for the Kayak Angler which explained the history of traditional kayaks leading into modern kayaks and kayaks specifically for fishing. It then went over the specifics behind the purchase of your own fishing kayak. Then went on with gear such as choosing a paddle. Different styles of Personal Flotation Devices (PFD)’s available and generally used for safety while kayak fishing. Following up with essential gear for safety such as clothing and other necessity’s.

Unfortunately the seminars were hard for people to find and having technical difficulties on Saturday unfortunately unable to present the seminar to many people. There were other great seminars presented by Ricky Wolbert,John ‘Toast’ Oast, Andrew Hunter Yutko, Richie Moschella, Elias Vaisberg, Chris Baggott, Troy Meyerhoeffer, Juan Veruete, Harold Eckett, and David Blinken.

Saturday morning the floor was packed by 11 am. Many new faces combined with familiar ones. Talking kayaks and fishing! Teamed up with a kayak dealer on Long Island (Northport, NY) Glacier Bay Sports. There was a ton of interest in the Jackson Coosa HD and the new Kraken 13.5.

Heroes on the Water NJ was also present with a booth. Always a great group of people donating their time volunteering raising awareness and funds for the program! Taking a veteran kayak fishing is like nothing else. To give them a good day on the water and take their mind off the past to bring out an ultimate smile is the reason we do it!

Left to Right: Steve Monahan (TFO), Juan Veruete (Wilderness Systems) Ricky Wolbert (Native) John ‘Toast’ Oast (Johnson Outdoors)

Each day consisted of a casting contest. Saturday evening was sponsored by Temple Fork Outfitters and was all fly casting. The person to acquire the most points casting into hoops and targets won a TFO Clouser Fly Rod! Really nice prize! Sunday afternoon consisted of a spin casting contest sponsored by Manley Rods! The winner took home a Manly Adjust a butt spinning rod! These are both very well respected fishing rod companies and it was great that they were able to sponsor a little fun for everyone involved!

Looking forward to the next Kayak Fishing & Outdoors Adventure Expo!

Check out John Fishyaker.com‘s video walking through the Expo!

Check out Sean Redneck Gavin from http://kayakangler.weebly.com Video at the expo!

Wrap Up: 2015 MAKBF Series Championship Tournament

A Mid-Atlantic Kayak Bass Fishing free entry I had acquired in a charity raffle at the 2015 CBKA Tournament opened the door to the another side of kayak fishing. A side myself am not too familiar with. The freshwater kayak fishing Bass tournament series. As a primary saltwater angler my focus is always on the tournaments that focus on targeting saltwater species. Fishing freshwater lakes about 3-4 days a year this was to be a challenge. I wasn’t in any way a threat to anyone in the series but sometimes luck is just on your side!

After a 3.5 hour drive from my home in New Jersey arriving at Delaware Paddlesports in Lewes Delaware to check in and receive the tournament unique Identifier. It had just become dark and the cool air was settling in. A few guys were hanging out near a nice warm fire in the back lot. Enjoying some brews talking kayak fishing and even kayak rigging this was my crowd! It was great to meet Matt Baden the tournament commissioner and see the guys Chris Alan and John! At this point the attempt was to maybe find a fishing buddy or get some intel of where to fish. It didn’t seem anyone was willing to give up locations being that it was the Championship round and was expected although as stated I was no threat.  It was around 9PM when I left DPS and was to stay with my parents for the night. They live a short distance away. Beats camping in the cold plus get the chance to spend some time with them.

Arriving at my parents home after enjoying a sandwich I resumed my prior research on where to fish. The pacific warriors kayak fishing TV show was on which I have mixed feelings on. Although it was good background noise. Previously at home I had scoured google maps on satellite mode looking for a pond that wasn’t incredibly weedy but had the potential for bass. Also was looking for a fishing location that was close to the tournament HQ. The conclusion was to fish Wagamonds pond in Milford DE.

The tournament venue was the entire state of Delaware. Any public fresh body of water was within the boundaries. A total of three bass was needed to qualify. The tournament is linked to the online TourneyX system as all KBF affiliated tournaments  do. This allows catch photos to be uploaded to the internet and submitted in real time via Cell Phone.

Arriving at Wagamonds Pond at 6:45 am after a WaWa breakfast wrap and a Signature Blend Coffee. The sun had risen but it was really cool morning in the high 30’s. There were bass boats in line to launch at the ramp. I figured this was a good sign! Talking to one of the anglers they apparently had never fished the pond but were hoping for the best. Rigging up my kayak as all of the other boats launched dropping in shortly after.

Paddling away form the boat anglers I went directly to a point that had pads and some vegetation. Ton of casts and changing up baits finally on a weightless texas rigged motor oil colored soft plastic worm strung on a Penetration hook a hit and ending up with a pickerel @ 21″.
Kept casting that plastic and more of the same. It was great catching fish but I was looking to catch bass. Moving around on the Big Rig using my Aqua Bound Challenge SUP paddle. Several other kayak anglers showed up fishing the pond but none came close to me to say hello or anything. The wind had picked up around 9am and didn’t stop. Along with overcast that rolled in 15-20 steady with 25-30 gusts. Pond white caps is something different for most but the little wave action almost brought me back to home.

The 8′ Yak Attack Park n Pole saved the day for me. Able to paddle to a location then lance the Park N Pole stick into the lake bottom using my anchor trolley to stay put stand and cast. A much quicker system than anchoring with a traditional anchor. Luckily this pond wasn’t very deep in most areas!

Throughout the morning with overcast, cool temps, plus the wind that began around 8:30 am; it was actually pretty cold. At some point I had posted online to the event Facebook page hoping they had the fire going for when we got back.

Around 11:30 the clouds finally broke and let some sun warm up the body. The bite had died off. Another 2 hours of fishing and nothing. With the wind still howling decision to pack it in had been made. Only a half hour from DPS parking there around 3PM. The smell of burgers grilling and the sound of music playing was very inviting. It was soon to be awards time! Receiving a nice tournament bag packed with nice socks from Farm to Feet and other nice swag!

The awards began. Being the championship there were many! The awards were given out for the day and the entire series. Most of the guys and gals whom fished the series were present to accept their prizes. There were over $8,000 worth in prizes and a total of $7,875 money distributed to winners in the entire series which consisted of a number of events that were hosted in multiple states such as Delaware Maryland Pennsylvania Virginia and West Virginia. The tournament also donated a total of $620 to the local chapters of Heroes on The Water! For Official Results Check out MAKBF.

If you are located within the area of this MAKBF Tournament series please do check it out! The official website is http://www.makbfseries.com/ and on facebook.

2015 MAKBF Final Results

Final Event Standings

1st Place: Louis Martinez 53.25″ – $330, Power-Pole Micro Anchor System, YakAttack Prize Pack
2nd Place: Aaron White 52″ – $198, Farm to Feet “Sock Drawer Makeover”
3rd Place: Danny Schanne 49.25″ – $132, Smallie Stix Rod
4th Place: Chris Rios 48.5″ – Astral Kayak Shoes,
5th Place: Noah Tomasik 48″ – $50 Butter It Baits Gift Card
6th Place :Julie Tomasik 48″ – PowerTeam Lures Kit
7th Place: Jedediah Plunkert 46.5″ – Bass Assassin Lures Prize Pack, Cablz Eyewear Retainers

Top 20 Angler of the Year

1. Jedediah Plunkert – 61*
2. CJ Espey – 51+
3. Matt Eikenberg – 36*
4. Peter Manthos – 33*
5. Michael Chaney – 32+
6. Matt Campbell – 28*
7. Josh Evans – 23*
8. Matt Yuschak – 23*
9. Dave Adlington – 21*
10. Joe Deisvaldi – 21*
11. Chris Watts – 21+
12. Jeff Little – 21@
13. Dave Thompson – 14*
14. Shane Clift – 11*
15. Louis Martinez – 10
16. Danny Schanne – 10
17. Aaron White – 9
18. Jeremy Savage – 9
19. Alberto Tabian – 9
20. AJ Morton – 9

*Qualified for KBF National Championship
+Previously Qualified for KBF National Championship
@Passed on qualification to next angler

With Saturday’s weather forecasting gale force winds out on the Atlantic Ocean Delaware Paddle Sports was forced to cancel its final tournament of the saltwater series. Unfortunately the two dates I was able to fish were both cancelled due to wind. This opened me up to stay home and volunteer at the final weekend NJ HOW event of 2015.

The venue was to be Merrill Creek a reservoir located in Washington NJ. A 45 min drive for myself it was to be a nice close one! I arrived late around 8:00 am due to vehicle problems. Just about everything was unloaded and it didn’t seem like there were a ton of people there. I figured since it was a cooler morning and the forecast was for high winds people would cancel. It was nice to see people there I haven’t seen in a few months. Always finding joy hanging with Val whom volunteers at the events taking photos for the chapter.

It was sunny and quite warm by the time we started launching the attendees and volunteers. After taking a few photos and loading my gear onto my Big Rig it was time to get out fishing. This was my first time at Merrill Creek. It is a large reservoir about half the size of Round Valley. It is probably a mile across at its widest part but a much deeper lake at over 250 feet. After launching and riding the wind out the harsh realization of the 15-20 mph wind became real. It was actually too windy to fish. I paddled over to a group of guys who were trying to fish but were pretty much paddling the entire time.

It was already 11:30 so we decided to begin the trek back to the launch for lunch. From reports over the radio unfortunately there were no fish being caught due to the conditions and the guys had a head in paddle directly into the wind. I stayed back and ran the sweep behind to make sure anyone who would need a tow could get one. These guys were fast though they paddled hard back. Once reaching the launch lunch was already out which was donated by the BMS Veteran Group whom also provided volunteers to help with the day. Lunch was jersey mikes assorted subs which were very tasty!

After eating some lunch a few of us got into a game of corn hole! The object of the game is two teams consisting of 2 people each the first team to reach 21 points first wins. Your team is awarded 3 points per beanbag in the hole and one per landing on the game board. The other team can then knock your bean bag off the board or score the same to cancel out points per round.  It is definitely a bar game such as horseshoes and Bocce Ball but is just as much fun! 

After the lunch break concluded quite a few vets their families and volunteers went back out on the lake. By this time the wind had subsided enough to be able to fish for a little while. It was now enjoyable to be out there on the calmer more surreal lake.

It was a great season for HOW in 2015 with over 15 events completed! The new Mid-Week events were a big addition to the chapter and thank you to all whom made those events possible by volunteering!