A Great Weekend at the 2024 Florida Kayak Bass Trail State Championship

This weekend was the 2024 Florida Kayak Bass Trail State Championship on the Harris Chain of Lakes. What a weekend it was. 28 of the best anglers from Florida got on the water and battled it out. There were 254 fish entered into FishingChaos with 13 over 20" and 3 over 24" and the entire field caught fish.

Day 1 was a struggle for me. I picked a lake I prefished and found some. On game day I launched and went to my spot to find a bunch of boats. Everyone was working together to fish the area but I moved off it to fish away from the crowd. I found a couple fish early than the bite died. I needed to be around everyone. I lost a couple fish 1 very good fish that would have been a huge upgrade and I got discouraged. I kept fishing but got in my head and the heat finished off my mood. After covering every inch of the lake over the next several hours and catching nothing I decided to get off the water 1.5 hours early. I just sat in the truck at the ramp with a cold BODYARMOR and a snack for an hour before loading up.

Did a lot of thinking on the drive home and checking the weather for day 2. Decided to change thing up a bit and try a different lake that the weather would not affect me as much. Day starts with me sleeping through the alarm and leaving the house an hour and a half late. I got to the lake at 6:02 and lines in was at 6. By the time I launched and got to my spot I was and hour or so behind. I decided to just fun fish after the terrible day 1. Very quickly I start catching fish. Caught fish on frogs, flukes, chatterbait, flipping, and spinnerbait. Was having fun. Than BANG get hit set the hook and drag starts screaming. Big Ole 24" bass. Followed by an 18 and a 18.25. Decide to move to a different area and proceed to catch a 19.75 and a 17.75. Finishing the day at 98.25 good for 4th place. Congrats to Devin Holbrook for the win, Seth Taylor for 2nd, Chris Bailey for 3rd, and John Hicks for 5th.

I could not have done this without being able to cover the water I did in the conditions we had. Have to thank Feelfree Kayaks for the great kayaks and supporting me as well as ZPRO Lithium for making sure I have more than enough power to go anywhere and Newport Vessels for the motor to reliably cover water fast.

Big thank you to Christopher John Bailey, Shawn Spears, Todd Quillin, and Chris Clutter for running the trail and all the effort put in to make it a great organizationto be part of. Also to everyone who fishes it and makes it fun and there are too many to list. I have to thank my wife Jenn Denise and boys for the support this season and pushing me to improve. I also couldn't do it without my sponsors or the club sponsors. #feelfreeus #F3Fishing #feelfreefishingteam #ZPRO #zprolithium #teamzpro #newportnation #newportvessels #AutismAnglers #mondosfishingco Waterways #waterways