As we enter the heart of the winter months in the Lowcountry, all but the hard core kayak anglers pack them away for a month or two until it starts to warm up again. But, with spring right around the corner, it is time to begin thinking about planning and prep for the start of the Lowcountry Kayak Anglers (LKA) inshore trail tournament season, Angler of the Year chase, and many other salt and freshwater events across the region.
This year, LKA has expanded its Inshore Trail Series from four events to six events with the first one starting next month. Sunday, March 17th will be the start of the 2019 LKA Inshore Trail Event Series.
The first event will take place at Paradise Landing (Upper Wando River); we will kick off the Tournament with a hunt for Speckled Sea Trout!
Last year each tournament was a multi-species event redfish, trout or redfish, trout and flounder. This can be intimidating to the beginner tournament angler so we attempting a step by step tournament series to build the anglerâs confidence and with more anglers qualifying for prizes.
We fish for only Trout in March, Redfish in April, then introduce a new tournament format for May called the 2/3 Combo.
Each Angler can fish for 3 different species (trout, redfish, flounder) and the biggest 2 fish (of different species) will count towards their score.
The last 3 events of the trail will take place in September, October and November. June (Saturday the 8th) we hold our Annual âBattle at Paradiseâ Charity Fishing Tournament.
Personally one of my favorite events, we give away a bunch of great prizes donated by the community and our many generous local businesses, tackle shops, and outfitters in support of our local and SCâs ONLY Heroes on the Water chapter.
A veteran support group with a mission that gets vets, active duty military, and first-responders, HOW organizes guided fishing outings for our heroes across the State.
July brings a new tournament event to LKA, the âJurassic Classicâ, a Bowfin tournament on the Santee Cooper river system (location and date TBA).
For the uninitiated, bowfin are a fun, aggressive fish to catch and even more challenging once you get them in your net or kayak!
If youâre not among LKAâs growing paid membership or our part of our 2000+ member Facebook page, nowâs a great time to fix that!
Youâll not only see content from Coastal Angler Magazine and input from excellent and knowledgeable people and companies that all support our sport, like Z-man and Eye Strike.
We also share knowledge with: staff at local tackle & kayak shops, tournament pros, guides, and recreational anglers of ALL levels.
Come find out what youâre missing if you kayak fish there!
Tight Lines!
Mike Kohler
LKA Tournament Director
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