News
KFL Week 7 Recap
Mild temperatures finally arrived across many states that held KFL games on August 13th, 2022. In some southern states, morning temperatures dipped into the cool 50’s, altering fishing patterns and forcing teams to adapt to new conditions and cooler waters. Combined with a recent full moon, it all pointed to a day of spectacular fishing.
It was that and more. “Spectacular upsets” is perhaps the more precise description of what took place, as the top of the KFL standings went from “locked down” to “open for business.”
When it was over, the two remaining unbeaten teams had registered their first losses and several teams saved their seasons by winning important match ups.
28 teams competed in 14 games on Saturday. Most figured the Coosa Kingfishers (5-0) would beat the Tar Heel Lunkers (1-4) in an away match on Hyco Lake, N.C. Most also picked the Granite State Stiks (5-0) to beat the Massachusetts Maulers (2-3) on the home water. In both cases, the favored away team lost.
The upsets didn’t end there. The Motor City Ambassadors (4-1) lost at home to the Pennsylvania Bronzebacks (3-2) and the Washington Warhawks (4-1) lost to the Norfolk Privateers (1-4).
That’s four big upsets in four meaningful late season games. The stakes for weeks 8 and 9 of the KFL season suddenly became much higher…..
Week 7 Results
There were several notable results.
The closest finish was a 1” margin of victory as the vriginia Reapers came from behind to beat the Carolina Casters 176.75” – 175.75”. The Casters fell to 2-4 and will be playing their in-state rivals the Tar Heel Lunkers (also 2-4) for pride in Week 8.
The largest margin of victory belonged to the Rhode Island Rebels, who defeated the NY Empire by 85.50”. The final score was166.75” – 81.25”
With their victory, the Virginia Reapers share the same record as the Washington Warhawks, as both teams are at 4-2, making the Piedmont division up for grabs.
The Natural State Eagles are the league’s new team, and they are 2-0 since entering the league.
The 2-3 logjam of records in the Northeast division was slightly broken, but now three teams have a record of 3-3, and have inched to within two games of the Granite State Sticks with two games left on the schedule. Of those 3 teams, only the Bay State Attack has a head-to-head match up remaining against the Sticks. If any team can pull off the comeback, they have the best chance.
Some may have overlooked the game between the Southern Slayers and Florida Copperheads. By winning the event, the Slayers (4-2) have crept within one game of the Coosa Kingfishers (5-1) in the KFL’s Southeast division standings.
Basstrail Update
Copperhead Angler Gets Suspension
Some poor sportsmanship from Copperhead angler John Fuchs who was unhappy with being disqualified during the event for not having his PFD on has caused a lot of conversation and an indefinite suspesnsion. After changing lake, Fuchs had neglected to put the PFD back on before he relaunched and continued fishing. The Southern Slayer angler, Matt Vogt who witnessed the infraction and reported it was then subsequently targeted by Fuch's and harassed while the event was ongoing which was all caught on video by Vogt. Vogt had also stated in a post that "John pretty sure your exact words to me were I had better thank the other copperheads or I wouldn’t be leaving this lake with my life does that sound about right pretty sure Word for Word" which Fuch's denied in a reply to that comment. Fuch's claimed in a comment that it was Vogt's video recording of him heading off the lake that prompted him to act out in return.
John Fuch's reached out to Basstrail with the following comment regarding events that day "I accepted My DQ for no PFD but got banned indefinitely for what??? There's 0 evidence of anything else and they won't send me any evidence that shows otherwise. So in KFL no PFD equals banned indefinitely." [comment added August 17, 2022 at 6:48 PM]
The league released the following statement:
"FL has reviewed the disturbing video from Matt Vogt's Facebook post and has spoken to both parties in regards to Mr. Fuch's actions on the water during the KFL game between Southern Slayers and Florida Copperheads on Teneroc this past Saturday.
Florida Copperheads has officially released John Fuchs from the team and the league has decided to suspend John Fuchs indefinitely.
The actions by Mr. Fuchs violate our rules and player conduct policy, the severity of John's actions resulted in this conclusion."
In the aftermath, the Florida Copperheads seem to be imploding over the situation or mocking the situation which at the time of this posting is unclear. More to come!
Week 8 of the Kayak Fishing League season be on August 20, 2022. Fans can follow the leaderboard on Fishing Chaos or watch live stream action of the games on KFL’s Youtube channel and the Motion Sports website.
About the KFL
KFL has six divisions divided into two conferences (South and North). With three divisions in each conference, every event has a high value within the divisions and the overall conference standings, which ultimately determine which teams continue fishing in the post-season. The minimum length of a scoreable bass is 14”. All fish are caught, measured and quickly released.
In the team format, a team’s 10 longest fish are measured against the other team’s 10 longest. The team with the longest 10 fish limit wins the game. Individual anglers are also tracked in the standings to determine KFL Angler of the Year as well as a KFL fantasy league that awards points to each competitor.
Hank Veggian is a multi-species freshwater kayak angler. He is a member of the Jackson Kayak Fishing Team, Ketch Products Fishing Team and Get Outdoors Pedal and Paddle Pro Staff. His writings on fishing have been published in numerous magazines. He has written for the KBF and KAS websites, and is a former KFL angler.
Comments
Be the first to comment on this article!