2019 Kayak State Championship Preview

With the Georgia State Kayak Bass Championship coming up in less than a week, you can bet competitors are firmly focused on their planning—from pre-fishing to studying lake maps to reading old GON lake reports. This post is your one-stop for all the information on this year’s event.

Before we get into all the good stuff for this year’s State Championship, I need to issue an apology to the anglers with Reel Krazy Kayak Tournament Fishing. Somehow, I left them out of the September recap, so I’d like to address that quickly.

Reel Krazy finished their season on the Etowah River, with stretches open both above and below Lake Allatoona. While fishing above the lake was good, it was the lower Etowah River close to Rome that produced the best stringers. JR Young took third with 93.75 inches, including a 20.5-inch fish that won Big Bass for the day. Jason Hopper’s 94.75 inches put him in second, behind Zack Turner’s winning stringer of 95.5 inches. Now that I’ve corrected that mistake, let’s talk about this year’s State Championship.

The 2019 State Championship will again be a two-day event, held Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 12-13. Saturday will be held on West Point Lake, with open water from the Snake Creek access down to the dam. Sunday will see anglers take to the Chattahoochee River, fishing from the West Point Dam down to the Idle Hour access below Blanton Creek.

Anglers will be able to launch both days at 6:30 a.m., giving them a chance at the early morning topwater bite. The cut-off for fishing is 3 p.m., when all fish to be scored must be uploaded to the event page. Anglers must be at GLL Outdoors in West Point by 4 p.m. for check in. Each angler will be scored on their best five fish per day based on length, for a two-day total of 10 fish. This year, for the first time, there will be big-bass side pots for both days, instead of one pot for the event.

For once, it’s looking like good weather for the State Championship, with highs in the upper 70s both days, which should make for some great fishing. I’ll have all the results here for you after the event, so be sure to check back soon.