Not long into her first day as a Bassmaster Open\u2019s angler, Kristine Fischer thought she had shaken off the morning jitters. She had made it through takeoff at Clarks Hill without a hitch, and two keeper bass were already in her livewell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After firing up the outboard and moving to another spot, Fischer heard a strange noise coming from the back deck. It was the bass flopping around an empty livewell she knew she had filled up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was like, what the heck?\u201d the Nebraska native said. \u201cI put water back in it, ran again and it was empty again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Upon further investigation, Fischer had forgotten to put the drain plug in her livewells, causing them to drain while she was running. Luckily, she noticed it before it was too late, just one of many lessons learned on the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After finishing 92nd in the Division 1 standings last season, the renowned kayak competitor will be fishing Division 2 of the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Open presented by Battery Tender with the goal of finishing above 50th place in points and qualifying for the Nitro Boats Elite Qualifier Series presented by Bass Pro Shops in just her second season.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want to make the EQs. I would have a lot to improve,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m going to work my butt off to try to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to the start of the 2025 season, the now 38-year-old had never fished a bass boat tournament as the captain, and while she knew it would take a little while to get used to her aluminum Ranger, she figured jumping in headfirst was the best way to challenge herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t do anything small. I jumped right in, and I knew that was going to be a challenge,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cThe Opens is some of the best competition in the sport right now. For me, I love that. There is a larger percentage of people who are fishing for winning bass.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were plenty of nerves in preparation for her debut, but all of that melted away once she got on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I got out there (at Clarks Hill), the nerves kind of melted away and I realized it was everything I wanted,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cJumping into that kind of competition, it reignited that anxious wonder and excitement for a big tournament. I remember looking out and seeing all the rigs with Elite level competitors; I was overwhelmed and humbled to have the opportunity to fish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike last year, the majority of the fisheries she\u2019ll be tackling are ones she has found success on in her kayak career, and she\u2019ll be riding in a brand new Ranger Z521. Sam Rayburn, Kentucky Lake and the Upper Mississippi River are all popular destinations for national kayak events. In fact, Kentucky Lake was where Fischer notched her first career victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to cut a check this year,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cThere were a couple of those tournaments last year where I was on the right fish and had the right bites to do a lot better. I knew I could have been up there, and I needed that confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As far as angling goes, Fischer is plenty confident in her abilities. She won her first Lady Bass Anglers Association event at Lake Seminole, for instance. But the challenges were all about getting used to the boat, how to drive it and how to fix it if and when the time came. It wasn\u2019t until the third Open of the year in late July at the Upper Chesapeake Bay where she felt like she was in a good rhythm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the things experienced bass boat anglers take for granted are things Fischer stressed over constantly. Last year was the first year the Opens anglers were not accompanied by a co-angler, which meant Fischer would be launching, docking and parking all by herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe biggest thing that intimidates most women, and new boaters, is backing the boat down and learning how to dock it,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cWhen it comes to docking the boat, that took awhile. I still can\u2019t parallel it like a lot of people can. The most important thing I\u2019ve learned is not doing it on the big motor and getting on the trolling motor. If you\u2019re uncomfortable, use the trolling motor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What else did Fischer learn? Let\u2019s break it down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass fishing is all about angles and positioning. Fischer\u2019s Hobie was more or less an extension of herself. She knew exactly how she wanted it to move, what it would do in current and how she needed to be angled in order to make the perfect cast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fischer is still building that confidence in the bass boat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m still trying to get better. In order to get comfortable and fluid with boat positioning, which is the most important thing when fishing competitively. It takes years,\u201d she explained. \u201cFrom the first tournament to the last, it is a night-and-day difference. But, I really think it is going to take me a couple years to feel like that boat is an extension of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Casting angles are much different when standing on the front deck of a boat as opposed to sitting or standing on a kayak. Using the trolling motor to swing around docks and cover, or back up out of a precarious position took a lot of getting used to. She quickly learned she isn\u2019t nearly as stealthy in her Ranger as with her 360 Drive in the Hobie.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m fishing shallow, and I get close to something and need to flip around and go in reverse, I\u2019m blowing that area out immediately,\u201d she said. \u201cI learned how much commotion the trolling motor is, and if you have it at a really high speed, it takes a lot more to slow it down and change direction than in a kayak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the biggest curves has come when utilizing forward-facing sonar. Her kayak has a separate, hand-controlled mechanism for controlling the transducer, so panning with the trolling motor was a much different feel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a very difficult adjustment for me,\u201d she said. \u201cI was so used to essentially being able to Spot-Lock and then pan the transducer independently. When you factor in wind and current, and the boat is moving while you are trying to fish a brushpile, that is difficult. The wind was my worst nightmare. My boat drafted a lot higher than the fiberglass boats.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s no real way to figure all of this out other than spending a lot of time on the water, Fischer acknowledged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t teach it. I can\u2019t read a book about it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to be the person to do it so you can feel what\u2019s going on and know how the boat is reacting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Clarks Hill event encapsulates the struggles of moving from one vessel to another. Fischer used a kayak approach to practice, focusing her time in the furthest reaches of the lake both her warm-up days. In kayak tournaments, anglers can launch from any public launch approved by the tournament director, but in the boat world, all competitors launch from the same location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only did it take much longer for Fischer to reach her starting area than she realized, it also became an issue on the way back. She was four minutes late to check-in and incurred a steep late penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI launched up there in practice, and I never made the run from takeoff. It didn\u2019t even register that it would be a good idea,\u201d she said. \u201cIn kayak tournaments I try to run up rivers and find little sloughs and stuff. I tried to apply that in the Opens, but I think I leaned too heavily into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By this time in her career, Fischer has her kayak organization and system down to a science. All she needed to score a bass successfully in the Kayak Series was a Ketch measuring board and her phone. In the boat, a functioning livewell, cull tags and fish care were all new worries, and it took some time to find a system that worked for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI struggled finding my cull tags, and I didn\u2019t really practice that ahead of time,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cLearning the system that worked for me was a huge challenge. You don\u2019t really think about that until you are in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the big motor, to trolling motors and everything in between, bass boats are a far different beast than a kayak. In its simplest form, kayak fishing involves dragging a kayak to the edge of a fishery and pushing off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, today\u2019s advanced kayak rigs have small motor capabilities, but everything about a bass boat is more daunting than a piece of plastic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is so much more that can go wrong on the boat,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are definitely things that can go wrong in a kayak, but you are dealing with a whole different animal in the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number one thing Fischer recommends to anyone is to have the right tools on hand before you need them, including fuse kits and extra props to name a few. At the second event at the Tombigbee Waterway, Fischer was having issues with her trolling motor prop and didn\u2019t have the tools she needed to fix it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI spent some time in the service yard this past year,\u201d she said. \u201cThey were my guardian angels. I was trying to learn all of this on the fly. I really want to know what is going on in the boat, and I don\u2019t want to be the person who can\u2019t fix my own stuff. I spent a lot of time there picking everyone’s brain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fischer was also reminded that it is important to be prepared for any off-the-water incidents too.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI had four or five transom savers break on me on the highway,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the big thing people don\u2019t always talk about. I can change a flat tire, but there\u2019s so many things that can happen. Outside of Arkansas, the lug nuts were completely sheared off my back tire.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Running the boat no doubt had its trials, starting with how Fischer stored her gear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was one of the little things. Properly moving gear around so the boat is level and operates the best. That was hard for me because I use my boat as a storage unit and am able to pull stuff here and there.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fischer asked around for advice about how to know if the boat is trimmed correctly, and on the water experience is crucial to knowing the boat is running correctly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe answer I got a lot was, \u2018You\u2019ll feel when the boat is in its happy place.\u2019 So, I got out there, broke it in, and started playing with the trim tabs and the jackplate.\u201d she said. \u201cI would run up and down the lake and play with it and see how the boat reacted. After doing that for a couple of hours, you can pick up when the boat wasn\u2019t running smoothly and when it was most efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Running rougher water was a daunting idea, and fortunately some of her competitors were able to walk her through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSafety was my number one thing going out there. It might not have been 15 years ago, but I asked so many questions and listened to what the guys had to say and went out and did it,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you are trimmed too far down you risk spearing a wave, but you don\u2019t want to be trimmed up too high either. You want to be coasting on top of the waves, and you kind of want to take them at a diagonal.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even though the Upper Chesapeake Bay got nasty a couple times, so much so that her depth finder fell in her lap, the Tombigbee Waterway was the most intimidating place to run for Fischer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the area I was fishing in, there were just random stumps, which is terrifying. I had one really close call,\u201d Fischer said. \u201cThat was also the first time I had gone through a lock, and there were 60 of us in there. Going out of that lock into a very narrow river with floating debris and boat wakes from every direction, that was 100% the most intimidating situation I\u2019ve ever been in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After finishing 92nd in the Division I standings last season, the renowned kayak competitor will be fishing Division II of the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens in hopes of qualifying for the EQs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":1328978,"template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":32173,"post_id":33083}}]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_plugin_photo_attribution":[],"bassmaster_plugin_caption_attribution":[],"bassmaster_article_column":false,"bassmaster_article_columnists":[],"bassmaster_dfp":{"keyword":"her"},"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103308,100038],"sponsors":[],"people":[],"tournaments":[115687],"tournament-series":[1277],"byline":[32173],"class_list":["post-1400410","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bassmasther","category-opens","tournaments-2026-bassmaster-open-at-sam-rayburn-reservoir","tournament-series-opens"],"yoast_head":"\n