Some folks say the kayak tournament scene is too crowded these days. To the contrary, the Kayak Adventure Series says there can’t be too many cooks in the kitchen so long as they’re all making a different dish.
It’s a simple dish and a recipe that every tournament kayak angler knows how to prepare: you launch, you fish, and at the end of the day your five best fish add up to your place in the standings. Want to introduce a new cook with a new dish? Add a Friday “Afternoon Sesh” to kick it off, and a 2-man team event. Sprinkle a “micro-bag” division in there, and a dash of a few other unique rules such as allowing canoes, portaging, wade fishing, trolling and even two rods at a time to spice it up.
But what if you keep cooking? What other dishes can you make?
The Kayak Adventure Series presented by GoPro held its inaugural event in beautiful Thomaston, Georgia on May 3-5, 2024. Billed as “Shoaliepalooza,” it showcased new tournament formats, educational opportunities for kayak anglers and a focus on local communities. How so? It was so local in its emphasis that the Kayak Adventure Series highlighted the hard-fighting Shoal Bass (Micropterus cataractae), a species only found in that part of the country. It was a perfect match for the event’s sponsor: Crescent Kayaks, manufacturers of the Shoalie kayak which was also designed by KAS founder, Drew Gregory. You can't script a dish like this.
While the main event, the Torqeedo Individual Division, was fittingly won by an angler in a Shoalie kayak (and with a limit of Shoal bass), there were also the X2Power 2-man team division, the Micro-bag tournament (5 smallest) presented by Z-MAN’s new Micro Finesse baits, Top Youth Angler and Top Female Angler. Fans at home were able to folllow along live via the Realtree Fishing Realtime Leaderboard, powered by TourneyX. A seminar series with food, aptly named the “Bass U Brunch,” was held on Friday morning; on Saturday a festival with live music, food, games, vendors, Toyota Truck demos and of course an entire block dedicated as the “kids zone,” added the final ingredients to a great dish that was served up with the KAS Awards at the historic Ritz Theater. After all, if you’re going to have a new tournament series with competitors from 14 states represented (and as far away as western Texas), you are also going to have hungry anglers.
In all, the first event of the Kayak Adventure Series had 150 total entries and nearly 100 unique anglers entered into all the event’s divisions. Here is a recap of some of the main dishes…..
Griffith Wins Torqeedo Individual Division
The Kayak Adventure Series awards a Crosskix century belt to each angler who posts a limit that measures over 100”. Shoaliepalooza saw the first two of those belts issued. The first went to kayak fishing legend Rus Snyders, who has now added a century belt to his impressive collection of hardware. Snyders won second place.
The second belt went to first-place finisher Aaron Griffith. As noted above, Griffith won the tournament by fishing for Shoal Bass from a Crescent Kayaks Shoalie kayak. The approach worked; his best five catches measured 102.25”, and every fish was a Shoal Bass. Griffith was also bestowed with the Boonedox Big Bass Bling award for catching the event’s biggest bass - a 22 inch Shoal bass.
Native only to the rivers and streams of central Georgia, the Shoal bass is a rare sub-species of Black Bass, but while its range is small, its reputation is for toughness. Renowned for their fight, the current state record Shoal Bass is a tie between the 8.5 pound Shoalie landed by Joseph McWhorter from the Chattahoochee River in 2021, and an 8.5 pound Shoalie landed by Clark Wheeler from the Flint river in 2022. Both rivers were within tournament boundaries for Shoaliepalooza, and the result was a first in a major kayak fishing event: a winning limit of over 100” consisting entirely of the rare Shoal Bass!
Griffith filmed his entire event with a GoPro Hero 8 camera, and the footage is available on his Youtube channel – Aarons Outdoors.
Coley and Perkins win X2Power Team Event
Kayak Adventure Series “Founder of Fun” Drew Gregory is no stranger to river fishing. In fact, he established and directed the River Bassin’ Tournament Trail, a series that developed some of the first wave of professional kayak tournament anglers. So it was perhaps appropriate that two veteran anglers from that trail won the inaugural team event of the Kayak Adventure Series.
Tim Perkins and Lance Coley named their team the OG River Champs, given their multiple Team of the Year (TMOY) titles on the old River Bassin trail. They lived up to it yet again, as they served up a winning recipe with a mixed bag of Shoal, Largemouth and Alabama Bass. Veterans of the River Bassin’ Series (Coley was its Angler of the Year in 2010 & 2015, and Perkins won AOY in 2013), the two competitors know how to catch bass from a river as well as anyone. They won the event with a combined 181.75 inches.
The Kayak Adventure Series Team event consisted of twenty teams (40 anglers), the majority of whom caught great limits in an event designed to focus on camaraderie in the sport.
Farwide Angler of the Year Update
After one event the AOY standings will mirror the first event standings. Griffith takes the lead in the AOY race, presented by Farwide Outdoors. If he were to hold onto the lead he would win a prize package nearing $10,000, with the main prize being an electric motorbike ($5,000) from UBCO. The OG Riverchamps take the lead in the TMOY race and are in line to take the $5000 TMOY prize package.
Dalton wins Z-Man Micro-Bag Tournament
Shoaliepalooza attracted anglers from all over the Southeastern United States, and beyond. You would expect that the travel would incentivize anglers who wanted to fish for big bags of native bass, but the opposite was also true. Anglers from Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and South Carolina signed up to compete in the Micro-Bass tournament sponsored by Z-Man Micro Finesse.
To win the event, anglers posted their best small bass (5 inch minimum). The angler who posted the biggest bag of the shortest bass was John Dalton of Tennessee, who took home the top prize with a limit of 43.75”. His winning fish were all Shoal Bass, too.
Top Lady Angler & Top Youth Awarded
Glenda Celestino took the Women's Fishing Federation's Top Female Angler award, while also finishing in 19th place overall. She finished with 86.25 inches.
Josiah Thweatt (72 inches) won the Cresent Kids division presented by 5-Star Heating & Air, and took home a new Crescent "Primo" Kayak! The top youth at each event will win a kayak from Crescent.
Special Guests & YouTubers galore
The field was honored to have Bassmaster Elite Series Pro, and fan favorite, Steve Kennedy in it. He loves rivers and shoal bass so he decided to jump in on the fun and ended up with a solid 21st place finish. Afterwards he said "I got my butt whipper and learned a lot, but had a lot of fun doing it." Drew Gregory talked to him afterwards and he said "if I miss the cut at Champlain I may drive down and fish the 'Fiesta on the Susky' with you guys in August."
Vance McCullough also joined the fun and even brought the camera crew to cover the event for The Anglers Channel. Well known aquatic biologist, Shan O'Gorman (@aquatic_biologist) also joined the event with a booth at the festival and was a wealth of knowledge.
Founder of Kayak Bass Fishing, Chad Hoover, and Bassmaster Kayak Series Tournament Director Steve Owens also fished the event and were in attendance.
Some of the bigger fishing YouTubers were also In the field, and many up-and-coming and aspiring content creators as well. The had their GoPros rolling of course and many have their recap videos already out and you can watch them below.
John Dalton IG @creekfishingadventures https://www.youtube.com/@CreekFishingAdventures
Alex Rudd IG @alexruddfishing - https://www.youtube.com/@AlexRuddFishing
Aaron's Outdoors IG @aarons_outdoor - https://www.youtube.com/@AaronsOutdoor1
Jeff Little IG @jefflittlekayakfishing - https://www.youtube.com/@TheLittleStuff
Marshall Stamps IG @georgia_bassmaster https://www.youtube.com/@GeorgiaBassmaster
Latrel Gaither IG @banks_and_eddys
Eric Goodsen IG @atypicaloutdoors
Luis Delgado IG @northgafisherman
Jake Heppner IG @ilyakkin
Ryan Rice IG @rjmfishtales - https://www.youtube.com/@rjmfishtales
Thomas Griffin IG @tx_river_junkie
And many more...
Seminars, Clinics, and More
At this first event, the Bass U Brunch (Friday @ 10am) seminar speakers were Gene Jensen (Flukemaster) and Dr. Steve Sammons. Jensen did a “kayak rigging” seminar and Dr. Sammons spoke about the Shoal bass, which he’s researched for well over a decade.
To promote the sport and safety education, Kayak Adventure Series offers instruction in the essentials of kayak fishing. As a sport, kayak fishing requires advanced safety instruction in proper paddling, kayak re-entry and more. This is especially true when river fishing, where currents, rapids and obstacles can create new hazards. To provide anglers with correct training, on Sunday after the event/s the Kayak Adventure Series offered optional clinics from top anglers who have been certified by the American Canoe Association (ACA) to teach such courses.
Clinics at Shoaliepalooza were led by Rus Snyders, Jeff Little and Dustin Hoy who are all top names in various parts of the industry.
With seminars, kids events and exciting opening and closing ceremonies, Kayak Adventure Series offers tournament fun of several kinds. Whether you want to bring the family, fish alone or team up with a friend, Kayak Adventure Series welcomes everyone to the sport no matter if you prefer motors and electronics to help you find the bass, or just a simple stripped down setup with a few rods – each has their place and can be a recipe for success.
Closing Ceremonies festival, awards, and a Look Ahead
At the end of competition, anglers, friends and family gathered for a closing celebration In downtown Thomaston, GA. It included vendor booths, live music, food, games and special thanks to Westbrook Supply Company and Southern Boutique Outfitters for bringing kayaks to demo and show off at both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. The festival wound down around 6pm when the anglers, their friends and family all headed to the Ritz Theater for the awards presentation. All KAS awards are all held in historic downtown theaters so the anglers footage (and photos) can be shared on the big screen. Plus, it gives the audience a comfortable environment to watch the awards and a real stage for these anglers to get awarded for their efforts. Kayak fishing personality and content creator, Alex Rudd, joined KAS Founder Drew Gregory on stage to MC the awards in what turned out to be part comedy show and part awards presentation.
Before the attendants headed out for the post-awards after party in historic downtown Thomaston, including a secret speakeasy that the KAS was given access to, the KAS team invited James Derbecker (owner of Crescent Kayaks) on stage with his daughter Zoe, who drew the winning raffle ticket for custom colored Shoalie kayak, with proceeds going to pediatric cancer via the P.U.N.T. Foundation. $500 was raised for the cause, but the team is hoping to hit over $1000 at the next stop in Michigan.
Kayak Adventure Series is not just a tournament – it’s an experience.
Experience it for yourself when we visit your area. Our next stop is in Whitehall, Michigan on June 7-8.
Additional Info
For more information about the Kayak Adventure Series presented by Go Pro, visit: https://www.kayakadventureseries.com/
Click here to learn more about Go Pro cameras.
Click here for complete standings from Shoaliepalooza.
For coverage of the event from the Upson Beacon, click here. Photo credit to Andrew Carroll of the Upson Beacon
© 2024 Kayak Adventure Series. All Rights Reserved. First Published May 14, 2024.
Festival & Awards Photo Gallery
On the Water Photo Gallery
