I know many of you are going because I've talked to quite a few of you but for the rest of you, NBAA Championship week (http://nbaa-bass.com/pages/news/championship_week_11.php) starts in just over 3 days (4/27/2011)! There will be 3 straight days of separate championship events on the massive and awesome Kentucky Lake.
Wednesday April 27, 2011 Registration –Registration will be located at the Kentucky Dam Village Conference Center located next to Kentucky Dam Marina. Registration will start at 2:00 pm. NO BOATS ARE ALLOWED IN THE CONFERENCE CENTER PARKING AREA. If you have your boat in tow you will need to park at the Kentucky Dam Marina and walk to the conference center. All teams MUST register for all events qualified
Wednesday April 27, 2011 Registration - Rules Meeting – Rules meeting will immediately follow registration in the conference center. Rules meeting will start at approximately 6:00 pm, Rules meeting is mandatory; at least one member from each team must be present.
Thursday April 28, 2011 White Challenge Championship – Boat check & launch for first flight will start at 5:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:00 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for first flight 3:00 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Boat check & launch for second flight will start at 6:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:30 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for second flight 3:30 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Only participants in the White Challenge Championship will be allowed to launch from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch the day of the tournament. Weigh in will be at Kentucky Dam Marina. You must return to the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Ramp and check in.
Friday April 29, 2011 Blue Challenge Championship – Boat check & launch for first flight will start at 5:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:00 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for first flight 3:00 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Boat check & launch for second flight will start at 6:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:30 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for second flight 3:30 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Only participants in the Blue Challenge Championship will be allowed to launch from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch the day of the tournament. Weigh in will be at Kentucky Dam Marina. You must return to the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Ramp and check in.
Saturday April 30, 2011 Red Challenge Championship – Boat check & launch for first flight will start at 5:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:00 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for first flight 3:00 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Boat check & launch for second flight will start at 6:00 am with takeoff starting at 7:30 am from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Check in for second flight 3:30 pm at the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch. Only participants in the Red Challenge Championship will be allowed to launch from the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch the day of the tournament. Weigh in will be at Kentucky Dam Marina. You must return to the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Ramp and check in.
All Time are Local Kentucky Times!!!
Optional Pot - An optional side pot will be available for the Red, White and Blue National Championships. The optional pot entry fee is $40.00 and $10.00 for big bass per championship event, per team.
Practice - There will be no official practice days. Remember there are NO boats allowed on the water before 8:00 am the days of the tournaments unless you're a participant in that day's championship. Also, you may not use the Kentucky Dam Marina Boat Launch to launch your boat unless you are a participant in the championship that day.
OFF LIMITS – All off limits will be set at the rules meeting on April 27th and explained in detail.
Rules - All NBAA rules will apply - Smallmouth, Largemouth and Spotted Bass must measure 15" in length. 5 fish limit per boat.
*In case of inclement weather NBAA holds the right to have a trailered take off and weigh in at an alternate weigh in location or drawing for guaranteed prizes.
License - If you'd like to purchase a fishing license for Kentucky on line go to https://fw.ky.gov/license/waonlinefront.aspx and follow the directions.
For the official and up-to-date Championship Week information, please check the NBAA website (http://nbaa-bass.com/pages/news/championship_week_11.php).
Official boat number draws for each day are listed on the NBAA website (http://nbaa-bass.com/pages/news/championship_week_11_boat_numbers.php)
Anglers from Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina and more will be fishing for thousands and cash and prizes including a Tracker Marine boat and motor package to the winner of each day!
If you have Adobe PDF reader installed, you can check each divisions draw lists below:
boat_numbers_red_championship_2011.pdf (http://nbaa-bass.com/plugins/boat_numbers_red_championship_2011.pdf)
Boat 1 Jamie Ramsey & Gary Pitman
boat_numbers_white_championship_2011.pdf (http://nbaa-bass.com/plugins/boat_numbers_white_championship_2011.pdf)
Boat 1 Jamie Cunnagin & Brad Whitaker
boat_numbers_blue_championship_2011.pdf (http://nbaa-bass.com/plugins/boat_numbers_blue_championship_2011.pdf)
Boat 1 Jeff & Jamy Ortbring
Banquet – There will be food served buffet style from 4:00 – 6:00 pm Wednesday, April 27th at the championship registration. Keep in mind, registration starts at 2:00 pm with the rules meeting starting at approximately 6:00 pm. ALL teams must register.
After you check-in, visit all the sponsor areas, make sure you stop by the GreatLakesBass.com table. I'll be there to say hello, welcome you to Kentucky Lake and wish you good luck.
If you need some Xtreme Bass Tackle lures to add to your Championship Week arsenal, I'll have a selection of those for sale too.
See you Wednesday! ;D
Hope everyone has a safe trip and good fishing. Its been raining there so follow the buoys!
Hows the weather down there. Heard a lot of flood reports from below the dam. Be safe.
The tournament will go on. Kentucky Dam operators are releasing 4 feet of water tomorrow to make room for the additional pouring rain we had earlier today and are getting right now. With quite a light show too I must say!
They say there's a tornado South of here 25 - 30 miles but it is out in the boonies. All supposed to be gone later tomorrow.
I have never heard so many tornado sirens in one day. There were at least 6 tornado warnings today so far. This is crazy. We had to out run a tornado(funnel cloud) yesterday while fishing. Did I say this is crazy?
It sounds like quite an adventure down there! I just checked and the dam will be closed for a couple of days to control flooding downstream. The core of engineers has ordered the closing of the gates and lake estimates are as follows...
Last 24 hours: up 1.1 feet to 359.6
Tomorrow: Up to 361.2
4/29: up to 363.4
4/30: up to 365.6
If you fish tomorrow look for a lot of extra brush in the water. If you fish Friday good luck getting your bait far enough in the brush. If the tournament is still going on Saturday bring a bait that chops down branches lol
I fished there last spring when this happened during the college event and the fish pulled out of the bushes and back to the first points in the main lake.
Best of luck to everyone and be safe out there.
The Corp of Engineers will make a decision sometime Friday about what to do for Saturday. They were leaning towards letting out more water late Friday and into Saturday. It depends on how much water comes down from the Ohio River yet.
When I drove by around 8PM, all gates were still open at Kentucky Lake Dam. Hope everyone is safe tomorrow. I will be down doing some taping of the Thursday blastoff.