KBF Smallmouth & River Series

How A Virginia Angler Fared Against Some Top Sticks From U.S. & Canada

Last summer Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF), the premiere kayak bass fishing organization in the country launched its first Smallmouth-only centric event series known as the Summer Smallmouth Series following it up with a Fall Smallmouth Series but also offering kayak anglers a Fall River Series.

These were both new series for KBF responding to those that have been asking for these kinds of specific opportunities in the kayak bass fishing community. KBF will also be adding a “Paddle-Only” component for its series events in 2024 and continues to separate itself from the other national series in the kayak bass fishing space by offering tailor made options to anglers across the country that can’t travel to other event destinations offered by the other series events.

While the Smallmouth Series would concentrate on just Bronzebacks, the River Series would be open to black bass species including both Bronzebacks and Largemouth Bass. Both of these series were open to anglers from both the U.S. and Canada.

Anglers catch, photo, release (CPR) each catch and use a Ketch board to measure each bass and upload catches to the app and the series leaderboard using the Fishing Chaos app. Quite a few anglers competed in both the Smallmouth and the River Series from both the U.S. and Canada.

The Smallmouth Summer Series launched on July 22, 2023 and ran until September 30th with some 175 kayak bass anglers participating that resulted in 1,087 Smallmouth being caught. The Smallmouth Fall Series followed the summer series with 54 anglers and 310 bass caught from October 1, 2023 until Christmas Eve December 24th. While the Fall Smallmouth Series was happening the KBF River Fall Series also got under way for the first time was also happening during the same time parameters as the Smallmouth Series with 64 anglers catching 661 Largemouth Bass.

KBF was founded by Chad Hoover and draws kayak bass anglers from all over the country to fish events and its organization has over 52,000 followers on Facebook as well as 96,000 members in its public Facebook group. KBF is far and away the leading social media platform for kayak bass fishing.

Some of our regional anglers participated in both the Smallmouth and River Series which not only afforded the opportunity to see how our regions kayak bass anglers would fair against other regions in the country and Canada but also the quality of our bass whether it be Smallmouth or Largemouth.

One of those anglers is Lynchburg, VA native Troy Wines. Troy has been fishing regionally the last few years in local kayak bass fishing series like the Bass Cast Kayak Series, Yakers for Smallies and Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF). Recently, the Bass Cast announced that it no longer will be offering kayak events and will be concentrating on its primary focus of the boater community.

Ironically, Troy also competes in boater events on Smith Mountain Lake in the Castaway Anglers.

Troy has been competing in regional series monthlies as well as Kayak Bass Fishing events and prefers river bassin and is fishing the new Smallie Chaser River Bassin Series on TourneyX which focuses solely on Smallmouth and rivers only. The series has hosted three monthlies since October 2023 on TourneyX for “smallie chasers” to continue fishing after many other series have concluded their events for the year. TourneyX like Fishing Chaos is an online tournament app.

The KBF Summer & River Series ultimately were right in Troy Wines wheelhouse. The event series allowed Troy to not only put his skill sets on display but also demonstrate the quality of the regions bass.

Troy ran his Hoodoo Element 100 in the KBF events throwing his custom Crotalus Rods with Fish Hog Spinnerbaits and Tactical Fishing Company trailers tied on in search of citation Virginia Smallmouth and boy did he deliver.

Not only did Troy catch multiple citations during the events but led much of the way in the KBF Smallmouth Series during the summer which is no small feat when you are fishing against anglers from Maine, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Canada for smallies. A citation Smallmouth is a smallie that measures 20 inches or more in length in Virginia where Troy was fishing during the events.

Troy stated “I run 90% in a Hoodoo Element 100 and when I’m on a non rapid area the Vibe 125 Shearwater. Normally I have up to 8 rods with me typically 6 bait casters and 2 spinning rods. Rod setup depends the season but for both series it was power fishing for me. I was able to land 14 of my 29 2023 Smallmouth Virginia Citations in both series. I also caught Citations for rock bass,white bass and channel catfish.”

14 Virginia Citations between both the Smallmouth & River Series.

In the Summer Series Troy caught 105.25 inches of Virginia Smallmouth which means that his best five smallies for the series all met the Virginia Citation level of 20 inches. In fact, not only did Troy register five citation Smallmouth coming in at 20, 20, 20.75,21.25 but he registered a massive 23.25 incher which was the longest bass taken in any of the KBF Smallmouth or River Series events for 2023.

It has been said that Chad Hoover commented that it will likely be some time before that 23.25 Smallmouth would be surpassed in future KBF competitions. Troy is expected to be awarded a trophy for his catch given the catch was the largest bass caugth in either series for 2023.

When asked about the recent changes and additions of permitting motors in series like Hobie Bass Open Series for 2024, Troy stated he preferred to “paddle and I love to float and get into rapids and areas that would break a motor.”

Troy followed up the KBF Summer Series where he would finish 3rd overall (105.25) by fishing both the Fall Smallmouth Series and the Fall River Series. In the Smallmouth Fall Series Troy would finish 5th but again break the century mark registering five Virginia citation smallies coming in at 20, 20,20.25, 20.5 (2) totally 101.25 inches. Jon Brooks from Maine who finished 9th in the Summer Series would win the Fall Series with 105.75 inches of Maine Smallmouth with his longest being 21.75.

Jon did not fish the Fall River Series given he was fishing lakes during the Smallmouth Series but his Maine lake Smallmouth surpassed the Fall River Series winning total which was won by angler Jason Starley from Georgia with 105 inches.

Troy Wines would back up his 3rd and 5th place finishes in the KBF Smallmouth Series by registering 101.25 inches in the Fall River Series and take 2d place overall behind Jason Starley.

Another Virginia angler, Matthew Shepherd of Danville would also register the century mark catching 100.50 inches of bass in the River Series event. Matt’s five fish limit included a 20.25 inch Smallmouth while his remaining catches were all Largemouth but his 20.25 was his biggest smallie thus far ever registered or caught setting his personal best to top in 2024.

When asked about the various KBF event series available Troy Wines praised KBF:

“I love it! Chad and his team has made 2 fun events for us river rats lol to be in the south and able to compete against those guys up north is amazing. I had that lead in the summer event for a long time and to be fish VA rivers against northern lakes we were super close at the end.”

Troy fished five Virginia rivers between both KBF Series events highlighting the quality of the Smallmouth of the Virginia river systems throughout the events including his regional series Smallie Chaser River Bassin where he registered over 234 smallmouth from October 1st to December 24th.

“Water levels were hard for both with record heat and weeks with out rain water levels stay low. I had to adjust and find new areas with higher water level. I fished and learn new areas that stay deep but with lower water I would find a lot stacked fish.”

Other than drive and competition one may ask what fuels Troy? Well Troy stated “I keep old Wisconsin turkey sticks and peanuts and I’ll sneak a lil Debbie snack ..just watch Matthew Shepherd YouTube video on little Debbie.”  Troy and Matt Shepherd teamed up and fished some of the same Virginia water in the River Series.

In the December Monthly of the Smallie Chaser River Bassin series on TourneyX Troy only fished one morning during the event and caught 13 smallmouth with his best five measuring 90.25 inches.

“I’m looking forward to both Smallmouth and rivers all year long. Fishing the new Smallie Chasers river series. Plus planning on show up on a few big tournaments up north and down south. You have to remember I do this and fish a boat trail so my plate stays full.”

Troy also competed in last Fall in the championship on Smith Mountain Lake in the former Bass Cast Kayak Series while controversy notwithstanding basically won that event as well on a very tough Fall lake bite.

All in all the KBF Smallmouth and River Series stands to afford many anglers the opportunity to highlight their respective river systems as well as lakes or reservoirs across the county.

KBF has already placed its events for the Spring and Summer Series along with its Trail Stop Series that attracts many of the top kayak anglers in the country on the Fishing Chaos app for registrations

Many kayak bass anglers in 2024 will be hoping to surpass that massive Virginia Smallmouth measuring 23.25 inches (picture above) caught by Troy Wines during the Summer Smallmouth Series.

The KBF events are all located on the Fishing Chaos app linked below and anglers can join KBF here:

https://www.kayakbassfishing.com/join/

https://app.fishingchaos.com/club/iPHm2IcM5Pz0pmqsoqmG

Angler Spotlight—-

Troy Wines Socials:

https://www.facebook.com/troybassnaround

https://www.instagram.com/troy_bassnaround/

Sponsors:

Fish Hog Tackle & Lures

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089710725174

Hook’d Fishing Gear

https://hookdgear.com/

Crotalus Custom Rods

https://www.facebook.com/crotaluscustomrods