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KFL Week Four Recap

The Kayak Fishing League (KFL) resumed competition on Saturday, July 9^th after a break of two weeks. As action resumed, 22 teams faced each other in 11 events across the the league’s six divisions (6 teams had bye-weeks). For some teams, it was a last chance to salvage their seasons while for others it was a chance to steal a win on an opponent’s home lake.

And the visiting teams stole a few wins more often than not. As KFL noted on its social media, for the first time in league history, the road teams went 6-5 away from home. The end result was that two undefeated teams lost and a handful of teams in the middle of the pack climbed back into relevance in their divisions.

Every KFL weekend has multiple story lines. In week 4, the final story line was the number of road wins. Earlier in the day, the story lines were all about margin of victory.

9 of Saturday’s 11 games were played in the morning hours on either Eastern or Central Time. A few trends instantly appeared. For one, the games in the mid-Atlantic states were putting up big early limits. At the halfway point of competition, the Delaware Doom had posted 170.75” and the Norfolk Privateers posted 187.5”. No other team was within 20” of the Delaware limit at that time. This may have been due to an approaching frontal boundary that triggered bites in the region (but that same front did not trigger big bites in the Carolina Casters-Virginia Reapers game).

The second item of note was that in the second half of the morning games, the leads narrowed to razor-thin margins. With 90 minutes left to fish:

• The Main-E-Yaks mid-morning lead of 20” had narrowed to 1.75”,
• The Maulers lead of 60” went down to 4”,
• Delaware’s 30” lead dwindled to 3”
• The Knights passed Alabama’s 14” lead and led by 1.75”
• Norfolk’s 22” lead was reduced to 7.25”
• The Caster’s 34” lead became 15.5”
• The Punishers’ 8.5” lead was cut nearly in half to 4.75”

In short, 7 of the 9 games went to the wire. Teams like the Palmetto Punishers, Main-E-Yaks and Delaware Doom held morning leads but then lost by the shortest of margins, while other teams like the Carolina Casters barely survived late charges to win.

Week 5 competition is scheduled for Saturday, July 23^rd. The day marks the mid-way point of the KFL season. Notable games that week include:

• A divisional match between the Indy Knights (2-1) and Motor City Ambassadors (3-0)
• In the Piedmont division, a log jam of rivalry matches will create clarity in the divisional race. The Warhawks (2-1) will face the Reapers (2-1), while the Tar Heel Lunkers (0-4) will look for an upset of their in-state rivals the Carolina Casters (2-1).
• In the Northeast division, the inter-divisional game between Granite State Sticks (3-0) and Connecticut (2-1, Atlantic Division) will either create chaos in the Northeast division or solidify Granite State’s lead, as the four other Northeast teams face each other in intra-divisional games.

For complete Week 4 results: https://app.fishingchaos.com/tournament/kfl-week-4-2022

For complete KFL standings: https://kflfishing.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Standings.pdf

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.

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.

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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.