The 2023 OKBT season has come to an end with the last event being held on Sept 9th and 10th on the Tri-Lakes in the Kawarthas area of Ontario. The Tri-Lakes, which consist of Pigeon, Upper Buckhorn and Chemong Lakes, are a staple in the Ontario bass tournament scene and what a way to end the season on these great lakes.
This event was a two-day event, and this was the first time for the OKBT to do a two-day event. And what a way to end the season with 104 anglers participating it was surely going to produce some good results.
Day 1 started as expected with bass hitting the leaderboard not long after lines in. These was a lot of shuffling in the morning at the top of the leaderboard as anglers continued to submit catches. John Ricciardi returned to the OKBT and was putting up good numbers and then Kris Totosko started to submit his way towards the lead as well. Chris Boyd was on good fish and moved up the leaderboard as the day went on. John Dean was also on fish and keeping the leaders within sight. At the end of Day 1 Chris Boyd had the lead with 89.00” followed by Liam Stringer with 87.25” and John Dean with 85.50”.
Day 2 started out with a weather change. Warmer air moved in and the wind layed down and created some favourable conditions. Rick Beauchamp got off to a quick start putting two fish up on the board in the early minutes of the day. Not long after John Dean was on fish and managed to get a limit on the board to keep him near the top. John Fulford and Chris Boyd showed they were here to play as well as they were both catching fish and making it very tight at the top of the board. Chris Boyd then went and caught what was to become the big bass of the event, a 21.75” smallmouth, and took over the lead. With a couple of key upgrades John Dean jumped into the lead with John Fulford a ¼” behind and Chris not far back as well. As the leaderboard shut down Chris had re-taken the lead, but not sure how things would end up.
As we gathered for the awards ceremony there was still talk on who was leading. But then we all found out that Chris Boyd took the win with a two-day total of 172.50”, second went to John Dean with 168.25” and John Fulford got third place with 168.00”. Special mention to Tyler Warner for landing an 18.50” and a 19.50” in the last 20 minutes of the event to move him up the leaderboard into 4th place. It was a good battle through two days of fishing with some good fish being caught. All-in-all was the perfect end to the year.
1st Place – Chris Boyd – 172.50″
2nd Place – John Dean – 168.25″
3rd Place – John Fulford – 168.00″
Big Bass – Chris Boyd – 21.75″
As this was the last event, we still had to calculate and award the Radioworld Angler of the Year. For the AOY points race we take the best 4/5 events of each angler for their total year-end points. After all the calculations were done we ended up with a tie at 771 points between Ryan Tyler, who had been leading most of the year and Kris Totosko. Having a tie meant we had to use the tie breaker guide as outlined in the rules which stated the tie breaker would be the best result of those tied. If still tied then the next best finish and so on. Well both anglers had a win, so it went to the next best finish of the season where Ryan had a third place and Kris a second place finish. So, after 5 events and two tie break scenarios Kris Totosko is the OKBT 2023 Angler of the Year.
And as we have done in the past couple seasons, we also awarded a Top Female Angler and this year Karen Poole took home that award.
We must give a big thank you to all the sponsors of the OKBT. These companies support the series with generous donations of top-quality products and help make the OKBT events what they are. And as we say every event remember these sponsors when you go to make your next purchases and support them as they support us.
At this point, the OKBT wants to thank all the anglers that came out and participated this year. We had some new venues, some old venues, some good weather and some not so good weather. But that didn’t deter you all from coming out and enjoying yourselves. We saw record participation this year and for that you all deserve a round of applause. Hopefully you will be looking forward to next years schedule and be ready to come out and go at it again.
See you all in 2024