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KFL kickoff exceeds expectations

The Kayak Fishing League (KFL) had its inaugural start on June 12, 2021 with fishing battles around the country. The new competition format was an unknown, but after the viewership numbers dropped there is no denying the potential of what was a seemingly insane idea. Or was it?

The KFL was the brain child of Greg Nosar, founder of the Kayak Bass Bracket Tour (KBBT) which has been a huge success in its own right. KBBT started last year as the China Virus put a lot of travel events on hold. In the KBBT format anglers battle one v. one on their home lakes in a March Madness style bracket system. Last man standing becomes the “People’s Champion” and earns the Rodney Kennon Championship award. Payouts don’t start to happen until to reach the final 8. Anglers are paired as fair as possible with bracket sections representing parts of the country to at least initially keep it reasonably fair.

With the success of the KBBT, the questions Greg Nosar asked were “is kayak bass fishing a sport that can be run similar to the NFL? Can people fish as a team? Are there standard rules? Is there a means of scoring? Is there a time limit?” The answer to all of these questions were yes, so with that criteria met, the KFL was born.

However initially the idea was only taken seriously by some folks who had really enjoyed the KBBT’s vision and dedication to promote the anglers, some of whom never would have been known outside of local circles. Having the “angler first” mentality being a driving factor of KBBT, the other anglers did not totally discount the idea and kept an eye on the progress.

“I wasn’t sure I would have the time or money to gamble on what seemed like a crazy idea” claimed Eric Nelson of the Carolina Casters, “but when you see the train start rolling, it’s hard not to jump on and see where the ride will take you.” After a month or so of contemplating the idea, Eric contacted Stephen Bell, owner and captain of Carolina Casters and accepted the offer to play for his team. “Normally I would want to run the team, but running Carolina Kayak Anglers takes a lot of time and effort, and I wanted to focus on fishing. So the offer to join made more sense, and its been a great experience already!”

Made for TV?

The KFL was to be run similar to KBBT with live coverage of the anglers on the water by a group of commentators. The professional growth of the commentators over the past year has been noticeable, and new personalities have joined the group for the KFL. Robert “JigMaster” Brown has run interviews the teams live on Facebook and YouTube, and the preseason games also commentated by the usual crew of Gren Nosar and Marcus Coats.

With the season getting close, contact was made with the Pride Outdoors Network (Pride) to carry the event live from 11am-1pm, the last 2 hours of day game competition. Pride owner Tyler Feaster was excited by the opportunity to bring a different type of programming into the mix, and mentioned he had 25,000-30,000 viewership potential for that time slot. When the day one numbers came in, the viewership had exploded for the KFL with an amazing 43,026 people tuning in to watch the live action! With the additional numbers from social media live coverage, the numbers jumped well over 45,000 which were numbers nobody had thought possible for week 1.

Action that didn’t disappoint

There was no doubt there would be some great moments with teams consisting of both local and national anglers with superior reputations for landing big bass. Week 1 had some flurries of catches and last minute heroics that everyone was hoping for.

The Florida Copperheads took an early lead on Nealey Henry Lake in Alabama that the Alabama Hammers had to contend with. Throughout the day the Hammers kept grinding and eventually had passed the Copperheads for the home game win.

Up in Massachusetts it was a nail biter on Snipatuit Pond where the Mass Maulers were taken on by the Rhode Island Rebels. With minutes to go, Rebel angler Chris Catucci had a game winning fish jump off that would crush the will of most men. However, he kept the grind going and at the last moment landed a beautiful Snipatiut largemouth. The photo was denied however - 43 seconds past lines out which gave the Maulers a week one victory.

James Louviere lead the anglers by putting up 192.25” of scored bass taking the Lonestar Bandits to a victory over the Arkansas Hawgs!

Adam Patrone was added to the Baystate Attack in a last minute trade due to military orders taking him from Louisiana to New York. He showed his worth at his first river fishing trip ever putting up 172.75” in week 1 verse the Pennsylvania Bronzebacks.

KFL Week 1 Results
Maulers (1-0)	189.75	Rebels (0-1)	188.5
Ambassadors (1-0)	173	Warhawks (0-1)	158.25
Appalachian Anglers (1-0)	78.25	Knights (0-1)	0
Lunkers (1-0)	147.5	Casters (0-1)	95.75
Bandits (1-0)	192.25	Hawgs (0-1)	177.25
Hammers (1-0)	180.5	Copperheads (0-1)	159.75
Rough Riders (1-0)	60.75	Hurricanes (0-1)	29.5
Attack (1-0)	176.25	Bronzebacks (0-1)	101.5