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Kayak bass fishing tourneys!

Jack Danchak - Columnist
Posted 6/4/20

The coronavirus pandemic has caused many events and fishing contests to be canceled or postponed. But one group of anglers that has been successful in holding their tournaments are those centered …

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Kayak bass fishing tourneys!

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The coronavirus pandemic has caused many events and fishing contests to be canceled or postponed. But one group of anglers that has been successful in holding their tournaments are those centered around kayak bass fishing.

New York Kayak Bass Fishing is an organization that has been able to hold tournaments this spring. They are affiliated with Kayak Bass Fishing at the national level, as well as a number of kayak fishing clubs in New York that hold their own tournaments, which are open to their club members or any kayak angler that is interested in taking part.

Most of these organizations can operate their tournaments digitally using the catch-and-release format and their tournament structure is using a cellphone app.

President of the organization Justin Hausner said, “We've had to change our layout a little bit from our summer protocol. But we're adapting and still able to hold tournaments this season.”

Hausner stated that the tourneys they did have to cancel were those they called “in-person” and involve anglers congregating at boat launches.

A more social distancing option now allows tournaments to take place. He said that they have two different types of tournaments.

One where they meet at a lake and fish that lake. These are the ones that are being affected by the coronavirus guidelines. They do the month-long tournaments where anglers can fish on their own, anywhere in the state, at anytime.

Ben Sopczyk, of another kayak organization said his club has expanded its tournaments to include multiple waters to help them stay within the coronavirus guidelines.

He went on to say, “We are not doing any boat launch, in-person meetings. Everything we do now, at least till July, is going to be virtual. We are expanding our tournaments to include more lakes so we're not crowding boat launches. So, a tournament on a certain lake, we're expanding that to include other lakes in the same area so that we can have the tournament to be in the same general geographic area. We are just expanding to help anglers spread out.”

The cellphone app is not only the key to making this all work, but is the centerpiece of a growing tournament style. Justin Hausner added, “We have to rely on our competitors to be a little tech savvy¸ it's going to be different. We really enjoy having live public events and being together. But at this point we have to do what we have to do.”

Ben Sopczyk summed it up, “The benefit of fishing as a hobby is that you are inherently socially distant when you are out on the water. I don't want to fish right next to somebody anyway. By spreading the territory a little bit, we can still keep our numbers in line with what we've had, and shift our community to online videos and online meetings for the time being.”

Jack Danchak is the President of the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County.

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