Lake Fayette 1/20 - 160+ kayak tournament

Just to give you fellas considering going to Lake Fayette this Saturday a heads up: The Kayak Angler Tournament Series (KATS) will be holding an event on 1/20, from 6:30am til 3:00pm. The turnout should be in the range of 160-180 kayaks. Launch will be from both Oak Thicket and Park Prairie, but the majority will be out of OT. Tight lines.

Thanks for the head’s up.

Also have a Pro-Am tourney scheduled for the same day 50 boats I believe.

Should be interesting to say the least..Pro-am is less than 30.

Y'all have fun.

I can already tell... Fayette is going to be a huge cluster [censored] on the 20th.. lol

The lake will be pretty full of yaks, for sure. Not certain that qualifies as a cluster-eff, but if you're counting on finding peace and solitude on your favorite spot, chances are high you'll have some company.

Shotgun start?

Don't be surprised if some one gets run over. Made a run in the dark on Belton last year and when it got light there sat a yak. He had to cross the lake without lights. I never knew he was there. I'm sure it was scary close in the dark.

They still legally have to have nav lights. I would have reminded him nicely.

I was there one morning when they had a big kayak tournament, I was out on a point and here they came. I caught and released three of them that morning. They put up a bit of a fight, not much, but boy when you hook one they start cussing for some reason.

Be safe.

Shotgun start, priceless!

Can't fix stupid,

There's maybe a 1000 fishable acres on Fayette. When you add in other boats there that day there will be 1 boat for every 5 acres. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I really do think every lake in the state should be allotted a certain number of tournament slots annually based on acreage and then they should get auctioned off to the highest bidder. Proceeds go toward restocking the lake.

State law and KATS rules require a 360* light...so that should not be an issue on Saturday. It will be a shotgun start...but some kayaks will be going out of Park Prarie in addition to Oak Thicket...although most will go out of Oak Thicket. If I were planning on fishing Fayette on Saturday I would either get there very early, get there after 3pm, or fish on Sunday.

Do you have to have your life vest on at all times or only when peddling / paddling?

Good information.

Most guys fishing Fayette this weekend aren't on the forum. Hopefully everyone is lit up properly. Going to be crowded...

Rules require wearing vest all the time. Can only temporarily remove to adjust clothing.

One time they scheduled a yak tourney the same day as a media tourney and a lot of those "entitled" yakkers didn't have any kind of navigational lights and they released them 30 min b4 sun up.

Some of those paddlers were at the weigh in mad because they were almost run over. The lake had 1 ramp, whomever decided yaks and bass boats are a good mix were crazy

Seemed like a lot of the yakkers thought they had "right of way" like a pedestrian in a crosswalk

People in yaks remind me of people on bicycles. .......move out da way!!!! ......and quit sneaking up behind me.

Jeez, Fayette's gonna be a mess. You can barely fish Fayette on a normal weekend without being crowded on certain spots. Good luck to the yakkers. Y'all are gonna need it with some of those old grumps that fish Fayette.

There was one of these KAT tourneys on Bastrop about 2 years ago. TPWD says Fayette is 2400 acres and Bastrop is 906. I was told there was 160 or so kayakers. There was more than one "small club tournament" also. I swear you could walk from North Shore to South Shore by stepping on boats and kayaks without getting your feet wet.

I've seen that too, as a kayaker also I really think they should stick to the back waters, rivers and tailraces where you can never get a bass boat anyhow, fishing is better there anyway because of the lower pressure. This is a bad accident waiting to happen.

On a lake the size of Fayette, the KATS TD's really stress the importance of safety at all times to participants - 360 lights (not nav lights), life vests at all times, and a whistle/horn. We're all Texans, here, so let's share the water respectfully and with mutual consideration.

Probably would seem that way to a boater that felt entitled. If you haven't noticed there are a lot of boaters that don't use their lights early and late either. Might be a good idea to just use your trolling motor that day if you can't handle the pressure. Maybe anchor up out deep and learn to catch some less pressured fish. Win/win.

I have 28 years experience in public safety, which includes fire/rescue on one of the busiest lakes in the DFW metroplex, I am talking about from a standpoint of life safety.

I have seen yaks putting theirselves in danger many, many times. Spoke to several yakkers, on and off duty, and a lot have the attitude that boaters should watch out for them. Ultimately it doesn't make a difference whose "at fault" if an incident occurs. It's really about who has the common sense not to put them in the position to get injured or killed.

But either way we will recover your dead body up so your family can have some closure...

I've been canoeing and kayaking many times, spent 4 days on the Medina river once in a canoe, but no way would you catch me in either on a lake where pleasure and bass boats are. You can catch just about any kind of fish from the river as you can in a lake and not worry about getting run over by a cabin cruiser or bass boat. And, there are public lakes that are fishable that don't allow motored powered boats. Like crossing a street at a cross walk where you should and get hit, doesn't matter whose at fault, you won't be around to see justice done.

I have 55 years experience on the water, which includes 15 years in one of the busiest ports in the world. I have seen kayakers AND boaters putting themselves and others at risk. It really is about WHO HAS THE COMMON SENSE not to put themselves in a position to get injured or killed AND not to put themselves in a position to injure or kill someone else.

Otherwise I agree with everything you said.

I've even had to save Miami Fire and Rescue one time, maybe you caught that episode on tv.

I kept opening this thread just waiting for the Pizzin contest.......and there it is.

Honestly with that video of the cabin cruiser hitting the guide boat up north all over the net, I am just hoping we dont hear about a similar incident this weekend at Fayette.......

Louie. Why are you just floating there with a camera?

I'm not in any of those pictures you fool, I don't do selfies. I was fishing the flats for bonefish and volunteered the use of my kayak as I could tell they didn't have any idea of how to get 150 yards of fire hose from boat in deeper channel across flats to shore at low tide. In the reality show it made it look like it was their idea...it wasn't. I did hear captain mention they might need to start carrying a small kayak on board.

ive seen this as well. been on the water 40 plus years.

KATS has a tournament pretty much every year on Fayette and certainly every year on other busy lakes. I think they had a similar number of anglers on Fayette last year (maybe even 200+ ?) when the lake was busy and no one managed to get killed.

What? You are too afraid to go kayak fishing on a Texas power plant lake? I guess I missed the incredible kayak bass fisherman mortality rate.

I was just trying to juice things up myself. I actually thought I was replying to Frank the Tank as I didn't notice who had steamed me and just assumed it was Frank, and not Doug R.

By the way, KATS enforces the 360 light rules when they launch before daylight. They are actually strict about safety rules. Definitely well run.

Hey.... What did I do?

I've fished a couple of KATS tournaments and knowing the regulations and safety requirements is HIGHLY EMPHASIZED WITH DISQUALIFICATION TO ANYONE REPORTED NOT FOLLOWING SAFETY REGULATIONS.

Like them or not it's the sport of the future just look how fast it's grown with in the last year.

Beware the Fayette Fog.

Definitely growing.

https://www.kayakbassfishing.com/2018-kbf-national-championship/

I will put it in simple terms, if you are in a kayak and think other people will look out for you, then you're mistaken. Too many people do not look out for others on the water.

Just out of curiosity how many bodies have you recovered while family members wait on shore for some closure? While you are searching you have a lot of time to think of all the choices that could have been made that would NOT have ended in a death.

Next time we need "rescuing" I will call you, PM me your number

I've never recovered a body personally but have seen it from the water by professionals three times. Everyone should do their part. I do remember being rear ended in my car by a police detective as he was doing paperwork while driving.

ooops

He had a week to go until retirement and told me he had never had an accident. I felt bad for him losing his perfect record on me. I knew he was proud of it. No damage on my car but my tail pipes left 2 perfect holes in his grill. Other police officers that showed up quick were giving him a hard time as I'm sure you can imagine.

Anyone hear any results?

4th place Cody Prather 96"
3rd place Ernesto Garza 96.25"
2nd place Mike Mashl 96.5"
1st place Clinton Holstine 98.25"

Is that combined length of 5 fish.

yes