News

2022 KBF AmBASSador Championship and 2023 Trail Teasers

Chad Hoover of Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) putout some updates on how the inaugural AmBASSador Championship will work in November as well as teased some 2023 KBF Trail dates and lakes during the KBF Podcast last week. The AmBASSador Championship is a new event created for AmBASSador club anglers to show more support for local grassroots of the sport. This event will also have a charity component supporting the FishOPS and Catch 22. 

IMPORTANT: this is not the “official” page for the event, for those official details refer to kayakbassfishing.com and the event page on Fishing Chaos.

AmBASSador Series

KBF affiliated clubs are considered AmBASSador clubs and their trails are considered an AmBASSador Series. These clubs are the grassroots of kayak bass fishing where most anglers across the country get their feet wet with kayak bass fishing while some others may get started with the online based Challenge Series. These clubs get some benefits from KBF including insurance which is required for some areas when putting on a tournament. These clubs also work closely with KBF in regards to rules, routing out cheaters, as well as working with local sponsorships and tourism bureaus. Having good local knowledge and support also helps when KBF Trail events come to town.

Previously one of the benefits of fishing an affiliated club was you were able to get KBF National Championship (KBF NC) qualifications if you finished in the top 10 percent of that event. Other ways included finishing in the top 10 percent of KBF Trail or Challenge events. In 2022, this was changed for the KBF NC which is now open to any anglers who has already competed in a catch, photo and release (CPR) event and understands the format. This new event will be the club based benefit for anglers encouraging them ALL to participate at the local level including top Trail and Pro anglers that have moved away from the local seen to focus on higher paying national events. If they want in on this championship event, they will have to play at the local level as well.

Qualifications

Currently the qualifications are based on the local AmBASSador clubs, and you have to have fished at least 1 event from that club. Each club can choose to qualify anglers how they see fit whether it be from number of events fished, points standings and so on. Currently no limit to how many or few a club needs to send.

Carolina Kayak Anglers (CKA) is planning on having a 4 event minimum by CKA Members in the future, but for 2022 where this is a new event CKA will qualify members that have fished at least the 1 event minimum requirement and are members in good standing.

The Format

Anglers have a choice to fish solo and / or as a team. There will be 4 person teams comprised of anglers from one club per team. 

Each will have a best 5 limit. The team limit can be comprised of fish from 1 or all 4 anglers and Fishing Chaos will take the top 5 bass from the teams entries. All 5 can be from a single angler with no requirement that every angler has a fish included in their limit total.

Individual angler fee is $115 and will have a $5,000 guaranteed first place payout.

The team entry fee will be $230 total for all 4 anglers (which includes the individual entry for all 4 anglers) battling for a $20,000 guaranteed first place payout. Entry fee will have $200 going to the payouts and $30 going to KBF to covers fees and judging.

With the fees, 75% will go towards Team payouts, and 25% will go towards individual payouts.

How teams decide to split the winnings is up to the teams themselves.

When

Being added to the schedule later in the season caught a lot of anglers and clubs by surprise who had already planned their 2022 schedules and vacations. The excitement of a new big event being added will surely draw some hard core anglers and the new format will also help attendance.

The event will be a 1 day event on November 12, 2022 which is during the Veteran’s Day weekend. Initially is was touted as a 2 day event, but not everyone gets Veteran’s Day off so putting the event just on Saturday should help some anglers already in the hole with vacation time in 2022.

Where

The event will be headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama. Being a central hub for the superb bass fisheries in Alabama, Huntsville is also the new Headquarters of Kayak Bass Fishing. There are numerous lakes within an hour of Huntsville including Guntersville, Pickwick, Wheeler and Wilson. Any public launch on these lakes are allowed. Traveling anglers not familiar with these lakes will have to make a choice and stick with it. Each lake has the potential to put up a winning limit of 5 bass so picking a lake that suits each anglers strength may be a key play.

And for the Teasers…

Chad also spilled the beans on some Trail dates and information going forward on venues going forward beyond 2023. Some were expected and there are some new lakes in the mix for the Northeast swing. One of the more interesting comments was in regards to wrapping up the Trail series by the end of June, giving anglers a break before the championships in the Fall.

KBF Pro Championship March 16-18, 2023 - with $50,000 Guaranteed the KBF Pro Championship will be held this spring at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. A previous stop there recently for the Bass Master Classic as well as some recent history with the KBF Trail series and Hobie BOS so anglers are well aware of how good or tough this lake can be.

The TEN, Tenvitational and 2023 Trail Stop #1 January 28-29, 2022— The last weekend in January anglers will have the Kissimmee Chain once again albeit with a new host location city for the headquarters of the event to be announced at a later time. Chad eluded to the location being outside of the busy areas of Kissimmee itself, so this could be interesting to see what he has cooking up!

Lake Murray February 25-26, 2023 - KBF will be visiting Lake Murray once again in February which proved to be an interesting challenge for many in 2022. Massive schools of bass were seen all over the main lake but it was spinnerbaits up in the creeks that pulled out the victory. Docks on the main lake did play however and many top anglers of the event had put up numbers there in practice and during the event.

Chad also dropped that Santee Cooper will be in the mix again possibly in 2024.

End of March and in April will be a West stop in Arizona as well as an event in Oklahoma that are TBD.

Potomac River will again be on the schedule toward the end of April which is a good Mid-Atlantic location for many anglers.

The Northeast lakes in the mix for a Trail event include St. Clair, Lake George and Kayla Lake sometime in June potentially.

The West Coast will also get a California date in June which looks to be the Delta in place of Clear Lake to mix that event up a little.

It appears that all Championships will headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama in 2023.

The 2023 KBF Trail Series Angler of the Year race will include best 4 events leading into the Trail Championship which will coincide with the Challenge Series Championship once again.

The National Championship and AmBASSador Championships will be on the same date for 2023.

Of course these are mostly preliminary teasers and a lot of work has to be done to nail down venues and dates which Chad mentioned he will announce them as they are confirmed. All confirmed events will be on the KBF website which is the official place to get all the event dates and details.