22 anglers showed up to fish the Wednesday night tournament held by the Coosa River Kayak Anglers. Fred Minyard took first place with a 32-inch two fish stringer.
Wednesday evening anglers. Photo: Robby Cook
The Coosa River Kayak Anglers seem to have great turnouts during their evening quick events with their attendance rivaling many weekend tournaments. In fact, most of the CRKA events will be evening tournaments held during the weekday.
Full results from last night’s event can be found here. This event factors into the CRKA Angler of the Year race. Here are the latest standings according to CRKA.
Here’s a lot of the CRKA schedule for the rest of the year:
Alabama now has three Heroes on the Water (HOW) chapters to help military veterans get out on the water. The North Alabama chapter of HOW is holding their first event of 2017 on June 3rd at Lake Guntersville. The Facebook event page is here.
You can help out by guiding a vet, loaning gear, or giving your time or money.
Details about this event will be announced on their Facebook page at a later date.
There will be plenty of kayak fishing action in Alabama this weekend as several clubs are hosting tournament events.
New to our calendar is a YakTribe meetup in Orange Beach. YakTribe is a group of laid back kayak anglers, kind of like some of the clubs in our state. They are looking to hold a meetup with other kayak anglers this weekend in Orange Beach. Info. Details on their Instagram.
The Coosa Canoe and Kayak Fishing Tournament event is one of the longest running and most consistent tournament series in Alabama. Its laid back style makes it approachable for anyone in the family. They even have a flyfishing division. Their final regular season stop is this weekend on the Neely Henry System and this event is designed to promote a great cause. Details.
The Tennessee Valley Kayak Anglers roll into north Alabama and will be fishing on upper Guntersville. TVKA is a regional club and they fish most of their events in the middle Tennessee area. This tournament will be based out of Stevenson, AL. Details.
The Chattahoochee Kayak Anglers are another out-of-state club hosting an event in extreme eastern Alabama near Valley, AL and West Point, GA. CKA will be fishing the Chattahoochee River were on one side of the river you are in Alabama and the other you are in Georgia. Details.
Kayak Bass Fishing, a national competitive bass fishing trail, will hold an event on the Coosa River. Details.
You can find other events happening this year in Alabama on our events tracking page.
This weekend:
May 6 – CCKFT/ICKA Neely Henry Lake
May 6 – TVKA Guntersville (BB Comer Bridge – US 117 Bridge)
May 6 – CKA Chattahoochee River, West Point, GA
May 6 – YakTribe Meetup, Jeff Friend Trail Kayak Launch, Orange Beach, AL 9AM
“Throwdowns” are slang for a quick kayak tournament. They are usually extremely laid back and low stakes. They are usually planned a week or two before the actual day of the event by a club member just looking to get together with some friends to fish. Someone will pop into a forum as say “Hey, anyone want to have a throwdown next week at Ditto Landing?”
It is a good way to fish along side someone on some new water. Rarely do more than 20 anglers fish these events but $100 or $200 can be won depending on the location and attendance.
Here’s video a look back to April 24th, 2015 when Corey Galloway took home some money after fishing a Throwdown with anglers in Gadsden.
There were four kayak fishing events in Alabama this past weekend held by host clubs: the Coosa Canoe & Kayak Fishing Tournament, Shoals Kayak Anglers, the Kayak Bass Series, and the Mobile Bay Kayak Fishing Association. Also, the Kayak Bass Fishing series finally released their results from their Open and National Championship events held last weekend. The recaps and event links are below.
Coosa Canoe & Kayak Fishing Tournament Lake Logan Martin – The CCKFT held its second event of the year—this time on Lake Logan Martin and its tributaries. Torrential rains earlier in the week and weather conditions were a major factor on this tournament. Despite that, Lance Coley won this event with a respectable 52.75-inch three-fish stringer out of 31 anglers.
Lance Coley with his winnings. Photo: CCKFT
Results from the weekend via CKKFT:
Best Angler: Lance Coley | 52.75″
Best Bass: Lanny Watkins | 19″
Best Young Angler: Ethan Floyd | 50.25″
After two events, the Top 5 in the CCKFT Angler of the Year Race:
Lance Coley – 105.75 inches
Jared Atwell – 99
David Meeks – 90.75
Lanny Watkins – 88.25
Patrick Smith – 87
The last CCKFT regular season event of the year will be May 6th on the Neely Henry system. It will be your last shot to qualify for the Championship Division in the Alabama Kayak Fishing Classic through the CCKFT club.
Shoals Kayak Anglers – The SKA club held their second event of the year on Lake Wilson in the Tennessee River chain. North Alabama angler Tony Dean bested a dozen other anglers and took the top spot with a 74.25-inch stringer anchored by the 19.75-inch biggest bass of the tournament. Dean won $260. Richard Woodruff was second with 72.25-inches and won $100.
SKA Lake Wilson Top 5:
1st place- Tony Dean with 74.25 inches
2nd place- Richard Woodruff with 72.75 inches
3rd place- Will Green with 71.25 inches
4th place- Chris Bracken with 69.50 inches
5th place- Blake Hamm with 67.25 inches
Kayak Bass Series Lake Eufaula – North Alabama angler Jon Lessmann won first place and $1400 out of a field of 17 anglers. To our knowledge, this was the first kayak fishing event held on Lake Eufaula. Alabama angler Stacey Martin was in 2nd place with 80-inches on his five fish stringer. Results can be found here. Congrats Jon.
Lessmann with his winnings. Photo: KBS
Mobile Bay Kayak Fishing Association – MBKFA had an event at Heron Bay. The heaviest fish went to Will Holberg with a 25 3/4″, 5.86 lb. redfish.
MBKFA Anglers with a nice haul. Photo: osguitar1 on MBKFA.com
Kayak Bass Fishing – after much delay, KBF has finally released the results of their KBF Open and KBF National Championships held on Kentucky Lake on March 31 and April 1.
Central Alabama’s Iron City Kayak Anglers held their first tournament event of 2017 this past weekend on the Warrior River system.
Black Warrior champ Allen Fowler (photo courtesy: ICKA)
Allen Fowler won the event with a decisive three-fish stringer of 57.5 inches besting second place angler Robby Stanford by eight inches. Stanford’s second place finish was anchored by a new ICKA club longest bass record 22.5-inch largemouth.
Alabama is full of kayak fishing action in April. Each week in April you will have an opportunity to participate in a kayak fishing event in Alabama. Eight different clubs, to include a national trail, will be holding events throughout the month.
This weekend the Iron City Kayak Anglers hold their first tournament of the year on the Black Warrior River.
The North Alabama Kayak Anglers are holding a demo day in Scottsboro this weekend as well. You’ll be able to take a wide range of kayaks for test drives on the flat water around Jackson County Park. NAKA is also host a “Major League Fishing” style event that day. More info here.
The national Kayak Bass Series trail visits Lake Eufaula on April 8th. It is the first national event held on that body of water.
Also that weekend, the Shoals Kayak Anglers hold their second event. This time, they will be at Wilson Lake.
A Georgia-based club, the Reel Krazy Kayak Tour, makes their way over to Lake Weiss at the end of the month.
For more information about these events, seek out the Facebook pages for each host organization. Those links can be found at the bottom of our master tracker page.
Here’s a list of all the events we are tracking for the month of April.
The North Alabama Kayak Anglers held their first event of the year on Saturday. 70 anglers braved the persistent breeze, whitecaps, and the threat of strong afternoon storms on a mild weather day on Lake Guntersville. Many anglers had spent the night camping out at Goosepond Colony in Scottsboro, AL, the site of the early Saturday morning Captain’s Meeting.
2017 NAKA Open Winner Jason Lack. Photo credit: North Alabama Kayak Anglers
Jason Lack won the Guntersville tournament with a 57.25-inch three-fish stringer. He won $675 for his first place finish. His big stringer was anchored by a 21.75-inch largemouth bass which won him the tournament’s “biggest bass” pot and a bonus $350. Lack won $1,025 on the day. His winning stringer:
Jason Lack’s winning stringer. Photo credit: North Alabama Kayak Anglers
NAKA is giving away a Jackson Kayak Skipper to the Top Youth Angler of 2017. Riley Johnston jumps out to an early lead in that race by scoring an 18-inch fish yesterday.
Top 10 results from the 2017 NAKA Guntersville event:
Angler – Inches
Of note, big congrats to NAKA members Lisa and Will Green yesterday. Will was on the water fishing this tournament when he got the call from his wife that she was going into labor. They have since had a healthy baby girl.
NAKA is hosting an online “biggest bass” tournament throughout the month of April. Their next day tournament is at Smith Lake on May 20th. NAKA is also hosting a demo day and tackle swap on April 1 at Jackson County Park in Scottsboro, Alabama.
The Top 10 NAKA anglers in the NAKA Angler of the Year race will qualify for the Alabama Classic later this year in Wetumpka.
This raw drone footage shot from a flight by Jameson Redding gives you a look at what it was like when the North Alabama Kayak Anglers launched at their first event of the year in 2015 at Mud Creek BBQ.
The NAKA season starts in a little over a week from now on March 25th on Lake Guntersville. Who’s ready?
I remember making the drive from South Huntsville to Hollywood and passing dozens of kayak anglers loaded up, stopped at gas stations, and pulling off onto US Highway 72. As a tournament director, it was an exciting sight knowing that anglers were coming from so many different areas of Alabama to fish and that the event would be well attended. That day, we had 60 anglers at our event making it the largest kayak bass fishing tournament in Alabama to date. NAKA would break that record in 2016 with 89 anglers at their Open event.
Results from yesterday’s kayak fishing events are streaming in. The Coosa Canoe & Kayak Fishing Tournament (CCKFT) and Shoals Kayak Anglers (SKA) each held their own tournaments on March 11, 2017. It was the first event of the season for both clubs.
Chris Bracken with a nice one from yesterday. Photo credit: Chris Bracken
Shoals Kayak Anglers Pickwick Results
The SKA club had 12 anglers brave the weather out on Pickwick Lake. 5 fish stringer totals were:
1st place – Chad Terry with 76.5 inches
2nd place – Blake Hamm with 74.25 inches
3rd place – John Meares with 64.25 inches (17.5 inch Big Fish)
4th place – Andrew Edwards with 42.75 inches
5th place – Ricky Hines with 41.25 inches
6th place – Chris Bracken with 16.5 inches
7th place – Robert Brown with 14 inches
8th place – Silas McGee with 11 inches.
The next SKA event is on April 8th on Wilson Lake.
CCKFT Lay Lake Captain’s Meeting. Photo credit: Josh Tidwell/@kreekn
CCKFT Lay Lake Results
(These are unofficial results.)
CCKFT saw 42 anglers attend their first event on Lay Lake.
Lance Coley took home the win with a 53-inch three-fish stringer edging out 2016 CCKFT Big Will’s Outfitters Angler of the Year Jared Atwell by a quarter of an inch. The top anglers were:
1st place – Lance Coley with 53 inches
2nd place – Jared Atwell with 52.75 inches
3rd place – Barry Walker with 50 inches (19.5 inch Big Fish)
4th place – Woody Woodruff with 49.75 inches
5th place – Hays Latimer with 49.5 inches
6th place – Brandon Watson with 49.25 inches
7th place – Jack Freeman with 48 inches (19.5 inch Big Fish)
