News

Cody Milton takes the KBF Pro Series win at Caddo

Coming into the event a lot of eyes were on recent and past Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship top performers in Louisiana's Shreveport region.  2019 champion Mike Elsea and the 2021 battle between Cody Milton and Guillermo Gonzales who would ultimately win the back and forth to take the Championship title where on the list, along with Casey Reed and Cory Dreyer who had found highly productive patterns in 2021.

Saturday’s leaderboard was hoping around with multiple top names in the sport making an appearance. Josh Stewart is having a great year and was out in the lead for a while until Cory Dreyer put up some solid fish later in the day. Stewart prevailed through all the leaderboard drama at the end of the day with 96.25 inches winning the Trail I event and putting himself on top of the Pro Series leaderboard. The quarter inch margin is the smallest possible in kayak competition and the top 4 anglers were all within an inch of Stewart including Anthony Garcia, Rolando Nandin and Cody Milton.

Sunday kicked off with Virginia angler Casey Reed jumping into an early lead with 90 inches with top anglers Jeremiah Smith, Cory Dreyer and Kristine Fischer all having productive mornings. Cody Milton however put up a whopping 102.25 inches securing the Trail II win. Combined with 95.25 inches on Saturday, he was able to pull off the Pro Series win with 196.25 inches beating Josh Stewart who put up an impressive 193 inches over 2 days.

Speaking with Kayak Bass Fishing Cody explained “…I caught a 22.75” on a Thumper Spinner Bait with a Colorado Blade. It was really dark for the first twenty minutes, and I couldn’t get a bite on that bait later. Everything else was on whacky rigs and stuff. Later, there was a good topwater bite, and caught some of my later fish on a black buzzbait that had a gold blade when the water warmed up.”

Another solid performance by Anthony Garcia has him in the points lead for the KBF Pro Series. Cody is making up some ground fast however jumping into the top ten while Josh Stewart’s solid start has him sitting in 4th place. Next stop will be at the Potomac River in Virginia on April 9th.

Current KBF Pro Series Points Standings

1	Anthony Garcia	1758
2	Gilbert Garcia	1650
3	Casey Reed	1650
4	Josh Stewart	1638
5	Dusty Yakker	1608
6	Cory Dreyer	1584
7	Mike Elsea	1536
8	Jody Queen	1500
9	Cody Milton	1404
10	Gene Jensen	1392

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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