We're Back! Sorry we missed last week. But don't worry, we got a Mega edition of HKB Top Performers for you this week!
Some serious bass catching carnage has gone down the last couple of weeks and we are now into the thick of it this season with AOY races really starting to get interesting and the Post Spawn is here.
We got a lot to cover, so let's dive right into Week 10 and see what went down on one of the busiest fishing weekends so far this year!
WEEK10
GRBY | NE TRAIL #2 (BLUE LAKE) presented by PoorBoys Baits
Did we just find the Blue Grass Pit of the North!? The all new GRBY North East Trail is tapping into some much underserved areas of the state in regards to kayak bass fishing tournaments and along the way, has introduced us all to some new waters. For the second stop of the NE Trail, GRBY selected Blue Lake in Whitley County, Indiana which is about 30 min north of Fort Wayne, IN.
This 239 sq acre lake is full of Largemouth Bass and has everything they need to grow fast. From Perch and Crappie, to Sucker, Bream, Bluegill and Pumpkinseed Sunfish - there is no shortage of bait fish in these waters.
Though not very big, this lake provided anglers with some great opportunities to match their fishing styles, anywhere from Grass, to Docks, and even off-shore humps - there were plenty of target areas and the anglers definitely found them.
Right out of the gate Thursday morning, Larry Reyes of Granger, IN went to work early, putting up a 5 fish limit and then never stopped as he upgraded 6 times, finishing the day with 91.75 inches - including a 20” Kicker! His total was enough to hold off the remaining 17 anglers and take the Win!
Teague McClurg took second place with 88.25” and James Miller rounded out the Top 3 with 86.25 inches.
Most impressively, not only did this lake produce numbers and quality fish, but it also showed it had the Bigs! 10 of the 18 anglers competing broke the 80-inch mark and there were 3 fish submitted over 20 inches, including the big bass of the event, a 20.25” Largie landed by Paul Mroczenski of Fort Wayne.
Impressive stuff for this little-known lake in the North, something tells me we will see more events here in the future.
GRBY | KOKOMO RES presented by Soremouth Tackle
The struggle continues on Kokomo Reservoir. A lack of limits and quality fish still dominated the headlines for this series after 3 events. The anglers, however, continue to show up and battle this Lake and its miles of rocky shoreline.
4 anglers, out of the 24 signed up, were able to find a limit. Among those was Bryce Fritsch, who landed 5 for 73.75 inches, narrowly giving him the victory over Brett Haynes. Ryan Platt came in with 69.50 inches which was enough to take home a 3rd place finish.
Early AOY Favorite, Chad Howard, struggled to find his limit but was able to salvage a 7th place finish and Big Bass of the event with a 19-inch post-spawn female.
GRBY | COLUMBUS MOVING WATER presented by Humble Joe's Coffee
GRBY hosted back-to-back events for the Columbus Moving Water series due to multiple postponements of the first event. Anglers were able to use their recent experience to level up their performance in this week's event. Results improved across the board with more and larger limits being caught throughout the field.
Improving his week-over-week performance by 8 inches was Alex Denau of Crawfordsville, Indiana. Alex put up 79.50 inches on Saturday anchored by a Big Bass of the event a 18.50” Smallmouth Bass. Alex didn't just level up his limit, he also leveled up on the Podium. Alex took 2nd the week prior but claimed the number one spot this time.
Tied at 79.50 but missing the kicker was Eric Tracy, who finished in 2nd, and for the 2nd event in a row, Randall Kiser held down 3rd place with 74.75.
IKA | TRI-LAKES presented by Moving Water Outfitters
IKA hosted its 2nd event of the season, making a stop up north near Columbia City, Indiana on the beautiful Tri-Lakes. This series of small natural lakes includes Round Lake, Little Cedar Lake, Cedar Lake, Shriner Lake, Crooked Lake, and Big Lake.
When IKA last visited the Tri-Lakes area back in 2019, The Pheonom, Aidan Darlington, stole the show with a blowout performance winning by a 10-inch margin.
This time, things were much more competitive with anglers trading blows on the leaderboard from beginning to end. Ultimately, Drew Duncan delivered the knockout punch and was crowned champion with 80.75 inches.
Right behind Drew was another Duncan, Mr. Brian Duncan, with 77.75 inches.
Mark Howell rounded out the podium in 3rd with 77.25 anchored by the Big Bass of the derby, a 21.00” Largemouth Bass.
SIYAK | BROOKVILLE presented by Bioenno Power
A below-average turnout didn't stop the 9 angler field at the SIYAK Brookville event from having a great time! This was another closely contested battle at the top with two seasoned anglers, Jim Bailey and Adam Murray, fighting for the win and crucial AOY points.
In the end, Jim Bailey found himself on top, thanks to his 79.75” mixed bag of Largies and Smallies, including an 18.00 Smallmouth that helped him secure the win and some Big Bass money.
AOY hopeful, Adam Murray, went into this event looking to secure the AOY lead and he did exactly that with his 2nd-place finish! With 78.75 inches, Adam fell just shy of the win but racked up 99 points, taking the top spot in the series AOY race.
The hometown favorite, Austin Killion, used his knowledge of the lake to claim 3rd place with a 75.75-inch limit.
A couple of National events with implications for Hoosier Anglers took place in week 10. KBF Trail Series headed Northeast and the Hobie BOS series came close to home with a stop on KY Lake.
KBF | LAKE GEORGE
With the KBF Rogue Gear Co. AOY title on the line and a chance at the coveted KBF The Ten, both Mike Elsea and Glenn Landstrom made the 12+ hour drive to New York State to compete in the Realtree Fishing Lake George KBF Trail Series event.
Unfortunately, neither angler was able to find what they were looking for or improve their AOY scores. Glenn, previously in the top spot, now sits in 4th and Mike Elsea dropped from 3rd to 8th. That said, the KBF Trail is coming back our direction with a stop on a body of water both these anglers are very familiar with, Lake Chickamauga. We fully expect to see these two move back up the ranks.
HOBIE | KY LAKE
This is a story I could never do justice to. Something fit for a movie. Maybe one day, it will be. It was one of those things where you just had to be there (from what I'm told) and I wasn't, so… I'm going to just do my best to recap.
If you have followed the sport of kayak bass fishing for any real length of time, especially here in the Hoosier state, then you know of the Orrs. This is an incredible father-son fishing duo. For many of us, we have watched this father-son relationship in amazement as the two have been fully immersed in the industry for some time now.
While there have been many special moments between these two, this most recent event on KY Lake may become the most memorable.
Jim & Jaxton both have posted recaps of the event, along with some of the biggest players in the game weighing in with comments and their own posts, all of which are definitely worth a read. To help you find those, we will put up some screenshots / links below.
Like I said, I could never do that story justice however, I do hope to bring you all a blog on this powerhouse father son duo in the near future.
At the time of writing this, the Hobie BOs Series AOY Standings have yet to be released, but we fully expect Jaxton to improve in the standing and to be well within range of a title run!
WEEK11
Week eleven was a little calmer with only 3 events from GRBY but nonetheless, the action on the leaderboards was fun to watch.
GRBY | NYONA presented by Soremouth Tackle
One of the most exciting series to watch every time it rolls around, is the GRBY Nyona / So Mud series. These lakes just continue to produce week in and week out. That said, anglers were met with some unique challenges this past week as they competed over a busy holiday weekend and contended with the aftermath of recent spraying of the vegetation in the lake. While conditions were less than ideal, many anglers were able to keep a positive attitude and produce some solid limits.
Bryce Fritsch had the hot hand this time with a great performance on Thursday, putting up a winning limit of 83.50 inches. Bryce culled an impressive 10 times after posting his initial 5 fish limit.
Anchoring Fritch’s limit was an 18.75, which was almost enough for Big Bass but 2nd place finisher, James Miller, stole the honors with his 19.25 inch largie. James’ 5 fish limit of 81.25 put him 4.50 inches ahead of 3rd place, Nathan Weidner.
GRBY | TIPPY presented by Bo's Bait Co.
As expected, the Tippy was one of the most talked about events of Week 11. As we mentioned, this is "The Year Of The River Rats" and the Tippy is a river rat's paradise. Interestingly enough, an angler not commonly referred to as a “river rat” and more known for catching them on rocky lakes, found himself on the Hot Seat after day one of the event and was able to remain there.
Brian “The Coach” Moore, shot off some fireworks Thursday with a trophy Indiana Smallmouth Bag. Brian landed 5 solid smallies, including a truly giant 21.00 inch smallmouth.
Close behind Brian was another more commonly known lake angler, Jim Bailey. Jim had himself a day as well, boating a 20.50” kicker smallmouth to give him an even 91 inches.
10 inches behind 2nd in 3rd place, was Eric Tracy. Eric had 3 over 18, but couldn't find the culls he needed to take a swing at the win.
The best part is this is only the beginning. We still have 4 more events in this series to go!
GRBY | BISCHOFF presented by Blues Baits
Last but not least, in this mega 2 week recap, is Bischoff. 17 anglers jumped in the 3rd event of this series.
Of the 17 anglers participating, 14 were able to find a limit. Only one angler, however, was able to break the 80 inch mark and that was Jason Merritt of Batesville, IN.
Jason finished with 80.50 inches, leading 2nd place, Ryan Reedy, by 3.25 inches. Paul Worley snuck over and grabbed a podium finish for the Buckeye State, blocking Hoosier angler Christopher Bryant.
While Paul got the 3rd place spot, tying Ryans 77.25”, Chris was able to take home Big Bass Honors with a 20 inch largemouth bass.
KBF | Challenge Series May presented by Dakota Lithium
The KBF Challenge Series wrapped up yesterday with May coming to a close. This Derby ended pretty much how it started, with TJ Alyward on top, in a big way!
TJ dominated the Dakota Lithium leaderboard with 104.25 inches of Hoosier bass, anchored by a massive 22 inch largemouth.
Antoine Hayes continues to represent the Hoosier State, as he owns the Illinois leaderboard. Hayes put up 101.75” inches with 3 fish over 21 inches on the Ketch Board. This is now Hayes 3 wins in the challenge series this season!
Well, that wraps up this mega edition of the HKB Top Performers.
Congratulations top all the Top Performers from Weeks 10 & 11
We hope it was worth the wait. Be on the lookout for our AOY Race breakdown coming soon and another HKB Angler Spotlight is already in the works.
This week, there are a handful of events from GRBY already underway. Check out the leaderboards for those and find out what's up later this week, and for the month of June, below.
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