News

COVID-19 spurs the new “5 Live” kayak bass competition format

In a world of chaos, just as it is in a world of calm, necessity is the mother of innovation.

Over the past decade the explosion of kayak bass fishing events has been unmatched by just about any competitive fishing format since B.A.S.S. came on the scene over 50 years ago. The history of B.A.S.S. and the Bassmaster Classic’s 50th Anniversary still very fresh in my mind indeed. But then along came a virus…

The crazy kayak competition spring schedule of national championships, national trail events, regionals… cancelled. MLF, Bassmaster and FLW events.. yes, cancelled too. Then COVID-19 caused the entire country to shut down. Insanity.

The kayak bass fishing platform however, is a different animal. Although we had to accept the cancellation of the big trail events for the next of couple months due to the social distancing restrictions, we had some options being that the kayak bass fishing events are handled in a completely different manner than bass boat events.

Local trails have been able to continue by hosting “online” events, where they use Catch Photo Release (CPR), the events could be handled and judged remotely, and technically there isn’t a “need” to meet up in large groups. But what about the full time anglers? Sponsors? What does this do to the sport long term? All questions many were pondering until one industry professional said “hold my beer!”

The Birth of 5 Live

Scott Beutjer, Facebook Live host of the Weigh-In and Westbrook Wednesday, saw an opportunity as a fan of bass fishing competition to create something. Being a workaholic, there was no way Scott could picture himself sitting still, so dusting off an idea and putting it out there seemed like the right thing to do. “There was very little risk, with all the live sporting events canceled, now is is the perfect time to test out a new format.” Scott said.

The new format would consist of sponsors putting up a little cash money for one of their anglers to compete against other sponsored anglers in a two hour shoot out on Facebook Live for a winner take all $1,000 cash prize. With this format, sponsors and the anglers would get the ongoing exposure that otherwise would be non-existent without national trail events.

The “Phase One” series would consist of 6 events - 5 qualifying events with the winner of each to advance to the Championship shoot out to see who will earn the title.

The requirements for the invites were fairly strict because the foundation of the series would be primarily focused on entertainment for the fans of kayak bass fishing. The angler’s also get a chance to get paid $500 per hour for fishing which we all dream about that opportunity! The sponsor marketing opportunity is also a boost for all involved in a time were we can’t bring crowds to exposition booths. Seemingly a win for everybody in the sport from fan on up.

The anglers have had some tough guidelines to follow as well, fishing in front of a live audience has some requirements that most in the kayak world avoid on purpose. Technology? Don’t we fish to get away from that? For the most part yes, but competitive kayak anglers generally have a cell phone signal requirement at some point anyway with the Catch Photo Release (CPR) format used to score fish. The photos in this case were sent to a specific group chat to be judged in real time while the anglers continued fishing.

Being that anglers are unable to travel at this time, the format also was open for the anglers to pick whatever body of water they wanted as long as it had a strong cell signal.

In the first few events, most would have thought the tanks in the South would be unmatchable in the North, but with only 2 hours to get 5 fish to the boat, its been proven that quality colder climate bass are more apt to be found in small areas and chewing during this time of the year while the big bass in the south are in and out of spawning phases, and far more finicky during cold front conditions.

KBF and 5 Live

The event has been pushed through Kayak Bass Fishing’s (KBF) Facebook page, which may have people wondering what the relationship is between KBF and 5 Live? When posed with this questions, Scott commented “Chad and I have always helped on another out professionally, so having access to use the largest kayak bass fishing platform in the world to get the show in front of as many fans as possible seemed like a no brainer.”

However, having to actually run the events is not what Scott is looking to do, his passion and drive comes from the promotion of the sport and its professional anglers. As Scott puts it “I want to host events, I enjoy being a cheerleader for these anglers”.

The Success and Future of 5 Live

Where this heads in the future will be interesting, whether it is a marriage of formats, or maybe this is the new “Industry Standard” for how events are televised going forward. The next stage of 5 Live we will have to wait for Scott to share. Regardless of the amount of prying I did. Scott was sticking to his guns with “You’ll have to wait, I’m not letting that information out yet!”

The results thus far have been amazing, and other than some minor hiccups with cell signals, the events have been well done. Even more so when you consider this was completely out of the box with no idea how it would work in a real live event.

The popularity of the new series is skyrocketing, over 250,000 views and 700,000 reached already as of this writing. The ability to watch how the best compete out of their floating Tupperware is also a great opportunity for new anglers to the sport to see how it’s done by the most consistent kayak bass anglers in the country.

The future will likely hold events on a single body of water, equalizing the opportunity for all participants. The ability to film some higher quality before and after interviews would also be a possibility when the social-distancing is less of an issue. Of course this is all speculation on my part, Scott won’t share the details!

The Championship event format announcement is coming, Scott is planning on making that announcements and possibly some other announcements on the Paddle N Fin Podcast on Sunday [May, 3, 2020]. Maybe some more hints on Fall’s “Phase 2” and 2021’s “Phase 3” soon as well!

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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