Patrick Anxious for Return to Elite Series Competition

With the health issues that derailed what was shaping up to be a solid sophomore season on the Bassmaster Elite Series hopefully behind him, Kyle Patrick is more than ready to get the 2026 season under way.

And the comeback will be televised. More on that later.

Patrick, a 28-year-old from Cooperstown, N.Y., had to opt out of the final two tournaments of 2025 after a tick bite caused him to develop myocarditis, a potentially fatal cardiac complication of anaplasmosis, a bacterial tick-borne illness. He spent five days in the hospital last summer then was fitted with a defibrillator vest and doctors advised him to limit any physical exertion for three months. Of course, that ruled out fishing.

He was 23rd in points after the Lake Tenkiller Elite Series last June and in good position to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic. Missing the final two tournaments at Lake St. Clair and the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wis., dropped him to 62nd.

Patrick spoke with BassFan recently and said he finally started feeling himself around the holidays and will be raring to go when the season kicks off at Lake Guntersville this week.

“My health is good,” Patrick told BassFan. “I’ve been really paranoid lately, though. Having a situation like that at my age is such a weird thing. You think you’re invincible and in a way I am. I’m healthy, young and could probably run a marathon. You think to yourself, ‘I’m good’ and then I’m not.”

While he never felt or saw a tick bite, he suspects it most likely happened around the Lake Champlain Northern Toyota Series last June when he kept his boat in a field.

“I just got unlucky,” he said.

He was laid up for the better part of four months, uncertain if he’d get the green light to get back to fishing. He admits the recovery took a toll on him mentally.

“I was depressed for sure,” he said. “How can you not be getting ruled out when you’re having a good season? I would eat Sour Patch Kids by the bagful out of self-pity.”

With his doctor’s blessing, he started light running in an effort to get back into shape, but he admits it’s been hard to not worry he might undo the progress he’s made.

“I’ve had moments of paranoia that something is going to happen,” he said. “My doc said I’m good to go. It’s more of a psychological thing. I think I’m mentally strong enough to get over it. I hope I am.”

He competed in two team tournaments in Florida last month and said he felt no ill effects. He arrived at Guntersville with an optimistic outlook and renewed sense of purpose.

“I’m going to top 10 in AOY this year because I’m thinking so freely,” he said. “I haven’t fished in five months. I don’t feel the pressure. I care more about being comfortable on the water. I want to get back to where I was then than win the AOY. I want to get back to feeling good on the water.”

Patrick is not holding himself to any set goals for the upcoming season. By doing so, he says, it’ll allow him to read and react to the conditions.

“My expectations are to feel good on the boat and catch bass,” he said. “If I finish 70th I finish 70th. This health scare showed me (finishing) 8th or 10th doesn’t matter. As long as you’re having fun and accomplishing your goals … I just want to feel good out there.”

Live Wired

In conjunction with his return to competition, Patrick will be fishing out of what is quite possibly the most technologically advanced bass boat ever assembled.

In order to create content for his social media channels and livestream in 4K resolution from the water whether he’s in a tournament not, Patrick and his videographer Brody McWilliams mapped out the set up and all that it would entail. A power inverter, a broadband satellite antenna, a router, cooling fans, switchers, multiple HD cameras and a miniature computer were just some of the items on the shopping list.

So much for spinnerbaits, fluorocarbon, nail weights and treble hooks.

Once Patrick committed to the build out, he knew he needed the aid of professionals.

“There’s not a chance I could’ve done any of that,” Patrick said.

Enter the team at Elite Sonar, a small family-owned rigging shop in Eufaula, Ala. Patrick’s Phoenix 920 Elite X arrived at the shop in late October and they proceeded to rig it with the standard suite of marine electronics. Then the camera gear and accessories arrived and the boat essentially had to be unrigged and re-rigged. Elite Sonar owner David Fincher estimates between 80 to 100 hours was devoted to rigging Patrick’s boat and there’s nearly a mile’s worth of wires and cables tucked away inside.

“Rigging it wasn’t that bad,” Fincher said. “The trick was trying to figure out how to put all that stuff in a boat that wasn’t meant to go in a boat.”

Such as an Apple Mac Mini, a Starlink system, a power inverter along with custom fans to cool the hardware. Fincher’s team had to do its best to waterproof everything the best it could. He estimated about 40 percent of the equipment in Patrick’s boat devoted to the media system was never meant to be utilized in such a manner.

“They’re getting creative in how they can make money because if they’re not winning tournaments, they’re not making money,” Fincher said.

Clay Cutcheon was the lead rigger on the boat and said deciding where to place the Starlink panel was the biggest challenge of the whole project. It was the key to the whole equation considering without the broadband connection it provides, Patrick would lack the ability to livestream continuously.

“I wanted to put it on the motor, but everybody wanted to put it on something else,” Cutcheon said.

With Yamaha’s blessing, Cutcheon fabricated a custom bracket and attached it to the engine cowling so the Starlink device was out of the way but also had maximum exposure.

Patrick said the motivation for committing to such a setup is to raise the bar for what’s possible media and content generation wise on a bass boat. With social media being such a crucial part of a pro angler’s brand and ability to connect with a fanbase, he wanted to create an environment where he can give people the front-row seat they’ve never had before.

Among the viewpoints fans will have on Patrick’s boat will be:

• From the back deck. A pole-mounted camera offering a full view of the front of the boat.
• Up front. A camera mounted atop his front graph directed up at Patrick as he fishes.
• At the wheel. Another camera is perched alongside the driver’s console.

The system also will allow Patrick to beam out his live sonar screen as well as his mapping. McWilliams can control and produce it all from a tablet or laptop literally anywhere he has connectivity. The system even allows Patrick to utter a keyword and it will create a timestamp for McWilliams to reference while editing the footage. 

“I want to bring people in the boat with me,” Patrick said. “My biggest asset is entertainment. I think a lot of fishermen are boring at heart, maybe 80 percent of them. I feel like I’m not and that’s what separates me. Whether I’m on the water in a tournament or fun fishing at Champlain and feel like doing a seminar, I wanted to have the ability to fire up and live stream on the spot.”

One thing Patrick knows he’ll have to contend with at some point will be the distraction if something malfunctions during a tournament and it pulls him away from fishing for a time.

“We should have enough feeds going we should be ok,” he said. “It’s going to happen when you’re doing something like this. I guarantee you there’s no other bass boat set up like this. There’s going to be some trial and error. If there’s not, that’ll be incredible.”

Notable

> Curious about the batteries Patrick is using to run not only his standard electronics, but also the media system? They're all Powerhouse Lithiums. He is using two 12-volt 160Ah along with two 16-volt 80Ah units in parallell and three 36-volt 60Ah units, also in parallel.

> To check out Patrick's live streams from the first two Dual Threat Fishing events, click here. 

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