With day one of the Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship cancelled due to high winds, the championship turned into a one day 11-hour shoot out on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The top ten anglers will advance to the Bassmaster Classic State at Dickies Arena.
The news came as a large storm system swept across the country, bringing blizzard conditions to the midwest, tornado warnings throughout the south and dust storms and red flag warnings to Texas.
Cancelations for high winds result in 11-hour shoot out for Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship
With conditions on Lake Fork unfavorable for small boats, anglers had March 19 off and ample time to prepare for the shoot out and full day of fishing on Thursday, March 20.
“I’m looking out the window right now at Lake Fork and the waves are about three or four feet high,” shared Marty Hughes, a competitor in the tournament and kayak angler on Aggressively Average Anglers YouTube Live on Wednesday, March 19.
“Today was cancelled because, of course, the high winds and I think that was a good decision to make. It would’ve been treacherous,” explained Hughes. “Here’s the deal though: they changed it from an eight hour tournament, we’re going to go 11 hours. I’m actually going to bring two kayak cushions because my butt can only take about six hours.”
2024 kayak champion shares thoughts on tournament changes and fishing Lake Fork
Lake Fork in Texas is a bass hotspot, and home of the current Texas state record largemouth of 18.18 lbs and 25.50 inches.
“I’ve never fished Lake Fork… It’s never really appealed to me as much because I feel like I’ve seen it so much on TV that it’s almost like I don’t need to even go do it,” shared Drew Gregory, the 2024 Kayak Champion in an interview. “Plus there’s not a ton of big rivers and creeks that feed this lake. So [you] can’t really get away from the bass boats, and if you watch any of the Bassmaster elites you know the big ones live here in the main lake. So I’m gonna struggle in just doing something different.”
Gregory also added that the biggest factor of the week was the weather and the high winds.
“Everyone’s dealing with the same conditions,” Gregory shared.
One time, a big gust of wind pushed me over past a 45° angle when I was paddling over 50 feet of water while it was still REALLY cold. Almost dumped my kayak. Took me by complete surprise and was a GREAT learning experience… but I needed new drawers after that!