News

A look at the new Kayak Bass Bracket Tour

Another week of COVID stay at home and social distancing has past and I spent the week practicing for another new kayak series created by Greg Nosar, Todd Jacob and Marcus Cotes. Haven’t we seen all the possible ways to fish a kayak bass tournament you ask? Apparently not.

The format

The Kayak Bass Bracket Tour (KBBT) is just that, a bracket event where anglers will go one on one making their way through the bracket like in many other one on one sporting events. Being a competitive billiards player as well, I’m very familiar with this bracket system.

In the first round, 64 anglers signed up and were paired up, and after day one 32 anglers remained moved along the bracket, then 16, 8 and currently as of this writing it is down to the final four. These four guys are going to battle for the final championship spots this weekend.

The idea to bring full day fishing events to the bracket system was a gamble, which so far is paying off. The next KBBT bracket starts Saturday while the final 4 battle it out in the first bracket series. This second event has drawn even more attention and anglers to the point of the bracket increasing from 64 to 128.

Rules are standard Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) rules, and they are using TourneyX for the Catch Photo Release (CPR) platform, which everyone in the kayak fishing world is used to at this point. No new crazy rules or software to figure out, just kept simple, and focused on the anglers.

Angler Focus

Another positive that was brought into this new format was the focus on all of the anglers. The format promotes not only public, friendly, trash talking but also ranks each angler based on historical data, and what information is available throughout the community and social media. All the pairings have been done using this ranking system, which gives known anglers an edge being paired initially against a lesser known angler.

Well wait a minute, if the angler isn’t well known, how is that an advantage? Exactly, less ranked anglers have caused a few upsets already, including Jonathan Peppin from Michigan who put the smackdown on more well known anglers and is currently sitting in the Final Four.

Being unknown can indeed be a disadvantage however, because you could immediately be put up against one of the top anglers in the country fishing his home lake. This can be a challenge for anyone, but thats what smack talk is for, even the playing field by getting in the opposing angler’s head, or just let your catches speak for you and be the silent killer.

The KBBT guys - Greg, Todd and Marcus, go over each angler and make picks based on what they know about the anglers in the bracket. Taking stats from national trails, championship wins and Angler of the Year history they rank these angler from 1-32. The bracket is broken up into 4 sections for the 128, each section of the bracket will have 32 angers battling for the chance to make the next stage. Sections are broken up into geographical regions to keep it as even of a playing field as possible to start.

Angler Coverage

During the bracket breakdowns each angler is brought up and discussed verse their opponent. The guys make picks on who they think will pull off the victory, some from rankings, some from research done and even watching the smack talk on the anglers personal social media posts. These discussions are great, they definitely do a lot of homework and it shows.

Being unknown by these gentleman initially, they ranked me fair, and didn’t give me much of a chance being that I will be fishing against a good Virginia angler who likely will be fishing a river for smallmouths. A challenge indeed. I have a good chance if the fish are biting, but North Carolina largemouth can be finicky and I rarely have found the bigger ones in schools. Also we are in a pre vs post spawn situation, with the warm trend coming for the weekend. The battle will be fun, practice day 1 I landed 92” of bass with a 22.75” kicker, which may be hard to replicate depending on how the bass handle the weather change this weekend. Game on!

Throughout the event day they are also contacting anglers live during the exciting matches, close races, blowouts, and more. Giving anglers the opportunity for airtime for bragging, smack talking, promoting their brand, sponsors and more.

The plans for the future events of KBBT are being rolled out, I can’t wait to hear more about it and more importantly, start battling this weekend!

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Eric Nelson
Professional Kayak Bass Angler

Biography

I was born in Southeastern Massachusetts, where I began fishing for bass when I was in my early teenage years, graduating to competitive bass tournaments in my late 20’s. I moved to North Carolina in 2015 and found the passion for bass fishing from a kayak, and quickly became involved in both the local and national kayak bass tournament scenes. My fishing skills have allowed me to qualify for almost every major event since joining the clubs, be it at a club, state and even national level.

Being a professional in the online web development and design field for publications, I have always used my skills to help promote the clubs and the sport as a whole in my spare time.  I have been a part of the club directors for Cape Cod Bass, and now for Carolina Kayak Anglers, one of the larger kayak clubs in the country. I am also a part of the national KBF tournament advisory board.

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) format has allowed me to travel across the United States, fishing against the best fisherman in the country. Now with the KBF Pro format, and the merging with the FLW organization, I am looking forward to where this adventure takes me in the future.

Highlights

Total Career Earnings - $3,250

Competition Highlights
Inaugural FLW / KBF Cup Championship Qualified 2019 - Hot Springs, AK
KBF National Championship Qualified 2020 - Lake Guntersville, AL
KBF Challenge Championship 2018 - Toledo Bend, LA
2019 KBF National Championship - 57th overall out of 462 anglers - Shreveport, LA
KBF Regional Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - Lake Wheeler, AL
KBF National Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - La Crosse, WI
2nd Place 2018 KBF National Trail - High Rock Lake, NC
2nd Place 2019 - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake, NC
11th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Santee Cooper Lakes, SC
13th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Chickamauga Lake, TN
46th Place 2019 FLW / KBF Cup Qualifier - Nickajack Lake, TN
2nd Place - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake 2019
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass,  2002 - Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass, 2008 - Glenn Charlie Pond, MA