North Carolina Kayak Angler Ranking Details

The North Carolina Kayak Angler Ranking (NCKAR) is a points-based system designed to rank the top competitors who fish in North Carolina’s kayak tournament trails. NCKAR’s goal is to boost the visibility of our sport and provide North Carolina anglers with additional recognition for their accomplishments. It is not a ranking of clubs or tournaments; it is a ranking of anglers.

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NCKAR assigns points to anglers based upon the final standings in kayak bass tournaments in North Carolina. In sections one and two below, we explain the eligibility of anglers, series and tournaments. Section three explains rankings and points, while sections four and five explain additional criteria.

Criteria
1. Eligible Anglers
  1. Anglers from any state are eligible so long as they compete in a tournament held in North Carolina (tournaments held on border waters are also included).
  2. An angler may be included even if he/she is not a dues paying member of a club/trail series.
  3. An eligible angler must follow all state regulations and laws, as well as all club/series
    rules. Anglers who are found to be in violation of any of the aforementioned laws or rules will be removed from standings. In cases where violations are deemed intentional or egregious, an angler may be removed entirely from eligibility.
2. Eligible Series/Clubs
  1. Only tournaments held by established kayak tournament fishing series are considered. “Established” is defined here as having hosted two or more full seasons of competitive tournaments that are “open,” meaning any angler may register and compete (even if some pay to retain points in the club).
  2. A new /trail club must wait one year prior to being considered eligible to have its tournaments included in the rankings. This is done to preserve the integrity of the rankings.
  3. Ethical infractions by the directorship of a club/series are grounds for removal from the standings for the remainder of the season (and possibly longer).
  4. To be eligible, the club/series must hold a minimum of four tournaments over the course of a single season (as defined below in section four). Tournaments must average a minimum of ten anglers per event in that first season.
  5. At least one half (four) of the series’ tournaments must be held in North Carolina.
  6. Currently, as of 2024, there are three kayak tournament fishing series based in North Carolina and one based in South Carolina. All four hold tournaments in North Carolina. They are:
    Carolina Kayak Anglers (NC), founded in 2013.
    Queen City Kayak Bass Fishing (SC), founded in 2014.
    Central Carolina Kayak Fishing (NC), founded in 2020.
    Foothills Kayak Anglers (NC), founded in 2022.
  7. Several new clubs will hold inaugural seasons in 2024; their eligibility will be determined for 2025 when the 2024 season concludes.
3. Eligible Tournaments
  1. The eligible tournaments must be in-person, live tournaments. These may include:
  2. “regular season” tournaments held for points in an Angler of the Year race
  3. “end of season” championship tournaments are not permitted because they are closed events
  4. A national trail series (Hobie BOS, KBF, Bassmasters) that has a state-based chapter or affiliate that holds a unique qualifying tournament(s) such as multi-tournament series or a state championship in the state of North Carolina will be eligible so long as the tournament does not exclude any of the eligible state tournament series. As of 2024, there is no such tournament in the state.
  5. A national trail series (Hobie BOS, KBF, B.A.S.S., K.A.S., etc.) that is or becomes affiliated with a specific club/trail that fishes in North Carolina shall be included, and addition of that series to a club/trail series (or vice versa) will not reset the eligibility clock for a club/trail series. For example, if a club becomes a B.A.S.S. chapter or KBF partner, they remain eligible so long as they meet other criteria in section 1.B.
  6. Only open tournaments held in North Carolina or on North Carolina boundary waters (TN, SC or VA) are eligible.
4. Multi-Series Tournaments
  1. Multi-series tournaments are tournaments on shared water (defined as a single body or list of eligible waters) in which at least one participating series competes for points and for which there are separate, unique leaderboards.
  2. The tournament must be open to any angler, even if all eligible clubs are not co-hosts.
  3. If it is a multi-series tournament, and one tournament series is based in another state and fulfills the criteria for eligible tournaments outlined above in sections B and C, then its leaderboard will be eligible provided it meets the additional criteria below.
  4. If there is a single leaderboard, only that leaderboard will count.
  5. If there are two unique leaderboards for a single tournament on shared water, only the tournament with the higher number of registrants will be counted
  6. No such multi-series tournament exist in 2024. The multi-series “Carolina Classic” and “Battle on the Border” are single-leaderboard events. Because they are hosted by North Carolina clubs, the Carolina Classic is eligible as a single tournament as defined as a points event in I.C., above. The Battle on the Border is a non-points event as of 2023, and ineligible (see below); if a secondary event were added to it as a points event, that could change.
5. Ineligible Tournaments
  1. Any tournament that does not have open registration.
  2. Any tournament that does not have a live leaderboard with photo
    submissions
  3. Any tournament that does not have a points-based member ranking
    (regardless of whether eligible anglers participate in that ranking)
  4. Multi-lake tournaments that are held with some waters entirely in other
    states
  5. Monthly online tournaments
  6. Tournaments held by a national trail series (Hobie BOS, KBF, Bassmasters) in North Carolina are not considered. However, a tournament held alongside such an event on shared water is eligible, so long as it meets criteria defined in section above.
Rankings and Points
1. A single tournament champion in a regular season event receives 100 points. Points are then awarded in 10 point decrements (90, 80, 70, 60, 50, 40, 30, 20, 10) to the remaining ten spots.
2. Exceptions:
  In rare cases, tournaments that include significantly higher or lower numbers of anglers receive angler points according to the following scale:
  1. In tournaments with between 101-150 registered competitors, the first seven spots are awarded points in 10 point decrements. Beginning with 8th place, competitors receive points in five point decrements, with 15th place receiving 10 points.
  2. In the rare event that an eligible tournament has between 151-200 registered competitors, points will be awarded in five-point decrements, with 100 for first place, 95 for second, then 90 for third, and so forth to 5 points for twentieth place)
  3. In the rare event that a NCKAR eligible event has fewer than twenty competitors, only the top five receive points, from 100 for first to 60 for fifth place. Should an NCKAR eligible event have fewer than ten registered anglers, no points are awarded.
3. Angler of the Year Criteria
  1. An angler’s top 8 scores are counted toward their total (these include only top 10 finishes).
  2. The angler with the highest number of points in his/her top 8 finishes wins 1st place for the season.
4. Tie Breakers
  1. If anglers are tied after all of the regular season, points-awarding events are complete, the angler with the most 1st place finishes wins
  2. If anglers are tied in both points and 1st place finishes, then the angler with the highest number of top five finishes wins
  3. If anglers remain tied in points, first place wins and top five finishes, their head to head record in common events determines the winner
  4. The final tie-breaker is the biggest bass they landed in one of their top 8 finishes counted on the NCKAR rankings.
  5. In the unlikely case that anglers remain tied after all five criteria, then they are deservedly declared co-champions.
Duration of Season
1. Eligible events may begin as early as the first day of the calendar year (January 1st)
2. Eligible events conclude on October 31st of the calendar year.
Additional Criteria and Rules
1. The NCKAR system is compiled and published exclusively by Basstrail
2. Awards and prizes are determined by the directors at Basstrail
3. Basstrail reserves the right to convene a panel comprised of representative anglers and directors from the North Carolina kayak tournament fishing community for the purposes of consultation.
4. Anglers do not have to consent to be included, as all data is taken from publicly available documents.

Questions, corrections and comments may be sent to editorial@basstrail.com

Last Updated on Oct 09, 2023