The Mainstream League starts its third season of Tuesday evening kayak bass contests with its first tournament on Barton Lake in Schoolcraft Township April 9. It will be the first of 10 tournaments scheduled for every other Tuesday, each on a different lake in the greater Kalamazoo area.
“These are mainly about having fun,” said tournament director Dave Mull. “They get competitive, of course, but most of us share information and even give each other productive lures during the contests.”
Entry fee is $40 per contest, which includes a big fish pot of $5 per angler. The Barton Lake tourney will run from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. The rest of the tournaments start at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m.
The Mainstream League, sponsored by Mainstream Tackle & Outdoors, a kayak, fishing gear and bait dealer in Galesburg, is one of a dozen weeknight leagues in Michigan that the Topwater organization runs. The 101 Lakes League has 10 tournaments on lakes in northeast Indiana. That league’s first contest is Sunday, April 14, on Hamilton Lake near Hamilton, Indiana. The 101 Lakes League contest hours are 7 to 11 a.m.
The leagues have a catch-photo-release format, wherein anglers take a cellphone picture of each fish using the free Topwater Tracker app, release the fish and then submit the photo through the app. Once a remote judge approves the catch, it’s added to the angler’s total inches and contestants can see tournament standings on their phones in real time. The angler with the most inches for five fish wins. Most of the contests pay three or four places. The first finisher out of the money in the Mainstream League gets a $10 gift certificate to the sponsor’s store. Additionally, Mainstream has random drawings for several tackle packs donated by Berkley after the tournaments.
New this year is a Topwater membership fee. Anglers may fish two contests without paying to join Topwater, but must pay membership dues of $15, $40, or $80 to fish three or more. The various membership levels include different amounts of Topwater swag.
“Topwater founders Mike Anderson and Kyle Van Leuven put in a lot of their own resources and money into forming a top-notch organization since starting weeknight leagues in 2019,” said Mull. “Membership dues will help pay for judges and other expenses.”
All of the Topwater tournaments are open to the public.
“We welcome first-time kayak tournament anglers and do our best to make them feel comfortable,” notes Mull. “Some guys feel intimidated fishing against more experienced anglers who have their kayaks tricked out with such things as electronics and electric motors, but guys with entry level, paddle-powered kayaks without any electronics win a lot of our events. Also, we allow bass as short as 8 inches to be submitted, which usually means most of our competitors submit fish.”
Anglers can sign up, find links to the app and see all the schedules and specific launch locations at www.topwaterseries.com.
Mainstream League Schedule
4/9 Barton
4/23 Maple/Ackley
5/7 Gull
5/21 Fine
6/4 Eagle, Augusta
6/18 Cedar
7/2 Baseline
7/16 Eagle, Bloomingdale
7/30 Miner
8/13 Sherman
101 Lakes League Schedule
4/14 Hamilton
4/28 Jimmerson
5/12 Lake James
5/26 Clear
6/9 Coldwater
6/23 Crooked
7/7 Gage & Lime
7/21 Lake George
8/4 Big Long
8/18 Big Otter