KFC Mosquito Lagoon Classic

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GatorMD97
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Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 8:00 pm

KFC Mosquito Lagoon Classic

Post by GatorMD97 »

Just got back from the one day KFC Fishing Classic at Mosquito Lagoon. Overall, we had a great time but this tournament series leaves a lot to be desired. Very unorganized!. This was my friend Brian's and my first kayak tournaments and there were nothing but problems from the start.

1. Very little information provided to new tournament anglers and the website was not updated in a timely manner. Most information still referenced 2016 which was confusing and many of the rules did not apply; also, the emailed instructions were actually wrong as well so that added even more confusion.

2. My friend did not get his official tape measure in the mail. I got mine the day before we were leaving and its a giant sticker that is 6.5" wide and 40" long. It can't be used on any traditional bump board so I was at Lowe's the night before we left building a ridiculous size bump board that we were going to have to share. This was the worst part because we let several fish go as we were somewhat separated fishing in certain areas by a little distance in 12" of water in 15-20 mph winds and we didn't want them to die--it was absurd to have to share and the director told me he would not be available to pick up an "official" tape measure because he wouldn't be there timely on Friday. Should have dropped out and just fished for fun right then skipping the tournament.

3. Several of the rules mentioned in the tournament guidelines were not actually followed. The biggest issue was the online captain's meeting. Registration email stated that we would get a text when to watch it--we assumed with a link. Never came. Contacted director and there is no way to watch it on a mobile device. He never mentioned that it was actually already on the website but there is pretty much almost no useful info in the 3:51 second video other than a plea to eat and drink at the sponsor restaurant.

4. The only reason we got our photo tokens in a timely manner is because the director was at least responsive by phone but not very helpful. Mentioned we were driving in Friday morning so we could fish the entire weekend. He then said we had to print our tokens so he better email them tonight.

Despite the terrible lack of organization and poor fishing conditions we caught a few fish and had a really good time exploring the area. We learned a tremendous amount about Mosquito Lagoon, tournament fishing in general and some new techniques of kayak fishing in exceedingly shallow water that limits a Hobie mirage drive. Pat, if you read this please consider improving your communication so new anglers will have a more enjoyable experience in your tournaments. If you had arranged to have bump board tapes and tokens available at the sponsorship site beforehand that would solve all the problems with the "mail" and people that might want to travel to your tournaments. Unless you just want a handful of daily local guys in these KFC events I don't see any potential for future success--poor sponsorship, poor communication, poor planning, poor execution of the weigh in, I could go on. I wish you luck and hope things improve but right now you've lost two very enthusiastic kayak fishermen with the means to travel to a lot of tournaments. We are going to stick to meeting fishermen through other events at this point unless things really improve with your tournament series.
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