Kyle Brooks won the Southern Bass Anglers 2018 season opener tournament on the Apalachicola River with a five fish limit weighing in at a whopping 27 pounds! He caught all his fish on a Bandit crankbait in the Chipola River and the Dead Lakes. His grandson, Cayden Brooks, was eager to help granddad weigh his fish.
Kyle, 74, a fishing legend in these parts, has been fishing bass tournaments since the late 70’s. He’s competed in several tournament trails to include B.A.S.S., FLW, Red Man and Country Boy series and currently competes in the American Bass Anglers trail on Lake Seminole. He’s won many tournaments in his day with prizes ranging from small cash payouts to winning two fully rigged bass boats with his partner Carl Davis, while competing in the FL/GA Trail on Lake Seminole in 1994. In that event Kyle, and Carl, locked out of the lake and into the Apalachicola River to find bass and it paid off!
This recent win appears to be the heaviest five fish limit ever weighed in a tournament on this river. While we cannot confirm that, several anglers interviewed like Bobby Smith, another fishing legend, cannot recall ever seeing or hearing of such a big bag of fish come to the scales out of this river. Bobby has fished tournaments here for 44 years and has kept detailed logs of fishing events and details about winning strategies. He claims he knows of only two events on that river that came close to Kyle’s weight; both fell short by about 2 pounds. History has proven that to reach that weight you needed to be competing in a derby formatted with a seven, or more, fish limit.
Mr. Brooks is not new to this sport by any means and at 74 years old, his experience runs deep. Young anglers should pay attention to what a man like this might be able to teach them, should they have the opportunity to learn something from him. Lord knows he gave quite a lesson to everyone competing against him on this day! Seeing Kyle win in such a big way should give all of us old folks hope and inspiration.
Congratulations Kyle on this epic tournament showing…What a way to start the year!
The bar has been set!
~ Capt. Randy Cnota