The first fishing tournament that I ever participated in was the 2011 Riverbassin Trail stop at Canoe Kentucky. My buddy Matt and I had been fishing a lot for the past few years and were seriously considering getting into kayak fishing. At the time, neither one of us owned a kayak so we decided to enter the tournament and wade a remote section of one of our favorite smallmouth streams. We ended up with a second place finish in the team division and a prize pack that included PFD’s and paddles. After the tournament we knew that we had no choice but to dive straight into the world of kayak fishing.

Since that first Riverbassin tournament, kayak fishing in Kentucky has really taken off. There are now multiple kayak fishing tournaments across the state on waters big and small. However, since hearing about the Riverbassin Trail coming back in 2014 there has been no tournament that I have looked forward to more that the regional stop in Frankfort hosted by Canoe Kentucky. Canoe Kentucky is located on my home water, The Elkhorn Creek. Maybe my favorite place to fish in Kentucky, Elkhorn Creek is a beautiful smallmouth stream that holds some very nice fish. But, I knew that with extremely low water and heavily pressured fish there were better spots to fish on tournament day than Elkhorn.

Our decision to not fish Elkhorn Creek and instead chase largemouth on a deeper slower moving creek paid off. I was lucky enough to catch one of, if not the biggest bass I have ever caught from a kayak. She was a 23 inch monster that fell for a Yamamoto Senko late in the day and gave my 3 fish limit the boost it needed to bring home the individual victory. Matt Schaefer and I were also fortunate enough to win our second straight in the team division. I couldn’t be more pumped for the rest of the Riverbassin season and I can’t wait to see how things line up for the National Championship this November in Wetumpka, AL.