News

Hobie BOS: Sold Out?

Well there’s a first for everything, including kayak bass fishing tournaments.

The Hobie Bass Open Series (Hobie BOS) has had a rule that many really didn’t know about, or give a second thought until January of 2022. Tucked up in the rules there is a limit of 200 anglers for each event along with some other mentions of full registration. Stressing hitting a cap has never crossed an angler’s mind before and the usual in kayak events are tournament directors stressing out because signups don’t seem to be there until the last couple days before the event. Standard events see 30-40 percent of registrations happen in those last couple of days. Those days may be gone, at least for one tournament trail.

Toledo Bend hits first 200 angler cap

The first event for Hobie BOS is to be held at Toledo Bend on February 12th, and being a superb fishery many signed up fairly early with 40 anglers on the list in the first 3 days of the event registration opening. In less than 2 weeks the 200 cap was hit, well ahead of the registration deadline shocking the majority of competitive kayak anglers.

This caused a lot of conversation on the socials because before some people event realized the event was open for registration, it was too late to sign up. But this was just a fluke right? Maybe not.

Santee Cooper: Sold Out!

The next event isn’t until March 26th, so that one has time to sign up for right? Wrong. After the shock of Toledo Bend being sold out so quickly, anglers thinking about fishing the Santee Cooper event flooded TourneyX and signed up for Santee immediately. Within a few days of Toledo being sold out, so was Santee Cooper. If you blinked, you missed out on that event as well.

This one I was going to fish myself but even with the panic mafia online I wasn’t really concerned of a sell out so quickly. The beginning of the season is always a rush to get a season started, the first events always seemingly the bigger as far as turnouts. People are itching to get out of the house after a cold winter and get back on the water with like minded fisherman. With the popularity and growth of the Hobie BOS, maybe the niche of a limited signup helped fuel the fire? It certainly didn’t hurt for the Santee Cooper event.

Why the cap?

Hobie BOS Tournament Director A.J. Mcwhorter made some comments on the boards when asked about the reasoning for the cap. Comparing the event to the typical bass boat style events “Very little for a director to do all day, but after 3pm you simply weigh each limit. Bump a few fish if needed. Say a few words.” AJ stated. However he continued “Kayak events require devout attention from 7am- 4pm and require checking every single fish that come in. Also requires communication with anglers when there is questions on a fish/ penalty. Plus plenty of other things that come up that have to be handled.”

With that being said the previous headaches endured by tournament directors with a large number of participants did have the heavier weight (pun intended) when making the decision. “In a live weigh in, you just put up to 5 on a scale at a time. You never overload the scale.

In a virtual world, you can simply overload a system. This gives you room for [discrepancies] as well as takes more time for fish to push through and upload.” AJ continued, “ This isn't a TourneyX problem it's just a reality in technology. The more pressure you put on a system the sooner you see issues.”

Most of us can attest to dealing with the technical challenges whether they be “user error” or a glitch in a system. Minimizing that potential issue or issues makes some sense.

“As an angler, the events I fished at or under 200 anglers were run smoother, had less issues, went quicker, more focus on anglers and allowed me to enjoy my time and investment better than ones over.” he said.

While the cap is frustrating when you are wanting to participate, the avoidance of over-crowded waters is also avoided. The other unstated benefits would be for the fisheries themselves which take a beating when large scale events come to town even when capped to 200. The numbers of fish stuck by anglers on game day doesn’t include what happened on practice for a week leading up to the event.

Solution for anglers

With the shock of these events selling out so quickly there was a solution put forth by Hobie BOS that will allow more anglers a chance at getting in if the trend was to continue. In leu of opening up all the events in the coming weeks like what was planned Hobie BOS will open one event at a time after posting the registration open dates. Is this the answer? Time will tell. Until then, congratulations to the Hobie BOS team for building a great series that has anglers across the country chopping at the bit to get in on!

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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