Happy New Year! Looking back on 2024, it was a year of wild stories. We witnessed the consequences of distracted angling, and a series of unfortunate interactions play out—not to mention an unbelievable and still unfolding tale of a man who faked his death by kayak to flee halfway around the world. We also went underwater to see the changing aquatic landscape beneath offshore wind turbines, and the uplifting saga of an angler drifting at sea for 12 hours who safely made it home to his family.
You can read each of these stories below in our top 10 news stories of 2024, and we’d love to hear what you foresee as the big scoops in the year ahead.
The editors—Ric, Kaydi, Maddy and Joe
1. Texting Angler Watches $1000 Worth Of Tackle Slip Away
Never take your eyes off the ocean they say, and for that matter your line. Jordan Mathews was texting away on his phone when a snapper took not just the hook but around $1000 worth of tackle.
“No, my Poison Adrena,” Mathews struggles to say as not only the spinning rod, but his Shimano Stella spinning reel slipped out of his kayak. It all happened in an instant. When you spend so much of your time fishing without a bite, you never expect one will actually come along during a few moments of smartphone distraction, but this wasn’t a slow day on the water for Mathews.
“Should have known better on such a hot snapper bite,” Mathews mentioned in the comments of his video. “But that’s just how things go.”
Letting that kind of setup slip away is heartbreaking enough, but to rub saltwater in the wound, Mathews caught some predictable flak from the comments section of his humorous moment of misfortune. In his video comment though, Mathews also took a moment to address the scenario that led to the mishap…
2. Jet Ski Driver Arrested For Knocking Fisherman Out Of Kayak
A recent video from angler and digital creator Bryan Lucas Marshall showed the moment a verbal disagreement with a group of personal watercraft drivers escalated when one of the drivers circled around and knocked the fisherman out of his kayak. Internet sleuths then used the video to lead to the arrest of the watercraft driver.
In the altercation video, Marshall was fishing a stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway in northern Florida. When a group of personal watercrafts came through, they had a disagreement. The angler was frustrated with the etiquette of the group for cutting between him and a point he’d been working successfully.
The watercrafts seemed ready to head out, when one circled alongside Marshall, and threw a wake on the angler, knocking him in the water. In the video, the angler clambered back into his kayak, and in the commentary he expressed his relief for wearing his inflatable life jacket which had deployed once he was submerged. In the commentary for the video, Marshall not only showed the unfortunate incident but shared his wish to figure out who the driver was that knocked him out of the kayak…
3. Landowner Threatens To Call Police On Kayak Angler
Ray Borbon was kayak fishing on Lake Washington, east of Seattle, when he was confronted by a landowner who threatened to call the police.
According to Borbon’s video, he was floating in his kayak, fishing within an area that was merely inches deep and near land. In the video, Borbon remarks that the area on the east side of the lake is a great spot for fishing largemouth, and shows an aerial image of the structure adjacent to land.
While floating in the area, the video shows the property owner having a disagreement with the angler over the legality of his presence. It’s not clear from the video how the interaction began. We enter with the landowner and angler exchanging verbal remarks to one another as to who is in the right and wrong, and eventually the landowner threatens to call police. From Borbon’s edit, it doesn’t appear they were actually called or showed up…
4. What The Latest Striped Bass Population Survey Means For The Chesapeake
Once upon a time anglers chased beautiful, scaly striped bass throughout the Northeast, reeling in catches as long as four feet in length and weighing more than fifty pounds. Today, the golden age of sportfishing striped bass is beginning to creep closer and closer to fantasy.
On October 23, 2024 the Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) shared findings that indicate while overfishing of striped bass, or rockfish, is currently not occurring, the stock remains overfished at it’s annual fall meeting in Annapolis, MD.
In the Chesapeake Bay 2024 Young-of-Year Striped Bass Survey 22 sites in four major spawning areas were surveyed. Each site was visited three times throughout the summer with two samples collected each visit. At the end of the summer, the juvenile striped bass index was calculated as the average number of young of year bass per sample, young of year meaning striped bass at year zero…
5. Bass Boater Cusses Out Kayak Angler At Tournament
While fishing in a river tournament, kayak angler and YouTuber Alex Rudd had a nasty run in with some bass boaters.
From his fishing kayak, Rudd is seen filming himself narrating his fishing when he pauses to take in a boat at full throttle whizzing by near him. At first, he does his best to ignore the boat and carry on with his narration.
Just as Rudd narrates that there’s plenty of fish to catch in this area, we hear the bass boater yell back a string of insulting curse words.
Rudd stays calm and for the most part ignores the antagonizers, commenting “That is highly disappointing to say the least.”
According to Rudd’s video, he later found out that the same bass boater buzzed another angler in the kayak tournament by about 15 ft…
6. Underwater Drone Reveals What Wind Turbines Do To Ocean Floor
Northeast angler John Skinner wanted to know how the offshore wind turbines of New England impact the ocean floor. So he parked beneath one with an underwater drone to take a look.
Skinner and his fishing companion utilize the Minn Kota Spot-Lock on their boat to hold it in place near the wind turbine. As they first lower the drone into the ocean you can hear the booming sounds of a wind turbine being driven into the bottom over 10 miles away.
The drone is lowered to depths of more than 27 meters to make its way across the bottom near the wind turbine. Skinner is able to see a live video feed to guide the way and share with us. The angler notes the structure as the drone passes along and how surprised he was at how far it spreads. Skinner mentions in the commentary that this is called a jacket, and is a lattice-like network to secure the wind turbine…
7. Most Surprising Interaction With Game Warden Ever
A loudspeaker announcement made on a lonely lake is never a good sign. In this short video, kayak fishing content creator NWTrailSeries is fishing on a lake that turns out to be closed for the season. A game warden informs the angler over the PA system to return to the boat launch.
The thought of a stack of fines is a scary one when the intention was to enjoy the afternoon. However, the game warden and angler turn out to have a rather pleasant interaction.
Both start with a positive demeanor, which leads to a surprising discussion. The game warden asks how long the angler has had his fishing kayak, and provides a learning experience rather than a hefty $150 ticket. It’s a good reminder that anglers and conservation officers have a shared value in our fisheries.
Signage isn’t always clear directly at waterways. It’s always a good idea to check fishing regulations for your intended spot in advance. If you’re new to kayak fishing, also check your state’s paddling laws and whether registrations or permits are required for your type of watercraft…
8. Missing Kayak Angler Appears To Have Faked His Own Death
On August 12, 2024, 45-year old Ryan Borgwardt left to go fishing and never came home. Search teams found his capsized kayak and life jacket floating in Green Lake. Borgwardt’s van and trailer were found parked by a boat launch. In addition, his fishing rod, tackle box, keys, and wallet were also recovered.
Green Lake is the second largest inland lake in Wisconsin by volume with a maximum depth of more than 200 ft.
The case was immediately considered a likely drowning and search and recovery efforts began, while Borgwardt’s wife and three children mourned the loss of their husband and father.
The Department of Natural Resources, Bruce’s Legacy, a nonprofit dedicated to the search and recovery of drowning victims, and the Green Lake County Sheriff’s Department began the search. According to a statement by Sheriff Mark Podoll, they soured the lake every day for several weeks until August 24, at which point they brought in three cadaver dogs and an experienced dive time…
9. This Overlooked Fall Bass Strategy Just Won A Bassmaster Tournament
The shallow wetlands of Caddo Lake, sprawling over 25,400 acres, don’t set up well for Gene Jensen’s largemouth fishing style. However, that is the fishery Jensen thought he’d have to contend with at the Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series at Caddo Lake/Lake Bistineau—the final series event of the season, held on the border of Texas and Louisiana.
That was until Jensen, who also produces content on the YouTube channel Flukemaster, realized the event had another lake attached to its name—Lake Bistineau. And, as he would discover, Bistineau held a fall bass tactic overlooked by many anglers that would help win him the tournament.
What caught Jensen’s attention was that Lake Bistineau had begun to drawdown its water level for the fall. The drawdown is an annual occurrence used to fight growth of an invasive aquatic plant called giant salvinia in the lake. When Jensen signed up for the tourney he had booked his accommodations right at Caddo Lake, but once he spotted the lake as in bounds and drawing down, he didn’t hesitate to make the 80-mile drive for practice each day leading up to the Bassmaster event…
10. Former College Quarterback Rescued From Kayak After 12 Hours At Sea
On March 28, Chris Smelley embarked on a morning of kayak fishing on Florida’s Gulf Coast when he soon learned just how powerful the winds were this day. Unable to paddle back to shore, the former University of South Carolina quarterback was pushed two miles out to sea. He faced a nearly 12-hour ordeal before being rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Smelley notes the wind wasn’t so strong inshore. He was unaware of the severity of the conditions until he was further out. According to news reports on outlets including ABC News, it was after fighting a fish that he noticed how far he had been carried by the wind. When Smelley, a healthy, former Division-I athlete, attempted to paddle back toward shore, he could not gain ground.
To complicate matters, Smelley was without a PFD or cell phone. It appears the angler had no radio either. This put the angler in a compromising position. He was unable to communicate his situation with family or emergency services. And, he was without a buoyancy aid should capsize and lose his kayak.
Fortunately for Smelley, his wife knew he had gone on a fishing excursion. When he did not return, she grew concerned and contacted local authorities…
Feature Image: Ray Borbon | YouTube
