Hoosier Kayak Bassin

Aug 2, 20235 min read

HKB TOP PERFORMERS | WEEK 20

Harbos gets his first W, Reedy is back to his winning ways, and Brant Sharp owns the Month Longs. All that and more, as we break down the week 20 HKB Top Performers.

Only a couple more months of kayak bass fishing competitions in the Hoosier state. Can you believe that!? This year has flown by. We're a couple of months from championship season, but there is already a ton of talk about next season. That should tell you everything you need to know about 2023. It's been so exciting that anglers are already getting pumped for 2024. But there's plenty of time to talk about ‘24, let's break down what happened in week 20!

Actually, before we break down the week 20 action, let's take a look at the month-long & season-long results…

GRBY | JULY MONTH LONG

Forty anglers, including some straight up hammers, signed up for the 2nd Month Long Event put on by GRBY. 15 Anglers broke the 80” inch mark and 6 anglers surpassed 90 inches. Two anglers, however, were able to hit the century mark.

Of those two was Brant Sharp, who posted an impressive 102.50 inches on the month, anchored by the Big Bass of the event, a 22.00 Hydrilla Gorilla! Brant Posted 4 over 20 and his smallest measured in at 19.50 inches.

Jonathan Rivera made a great push late in the month before he finally landed on 100 inches for 2nd place and Aidan Darlington rounded out the top 3 with 99.75 inches.

KBF | JULY CHALLENGE SERIES PRESENTED BY DAKOTA LITHIUM

12 anglers jumped in the July KBF Statewide Challenge Series. Of course, the Big Bass Slayer was in on this one too. Brant, doubling down, is your victor once again.

John Gittner took 2nd in this one with 98.25 inches and “The Champ” Mike Elsea rounded out the top 3 with an even 98 inches.

Antoine Hayes grabbed a 2nd place finish over in Illinois posting a 94.50 limit.

Brant and Tweezy are now tied with 2400 pts and sit at the top of the ranks for the 2023 KBF Challenge Series AOY race.

IKA | HOOSIER BIG BASS HUNT PRESENTED BY MOVING WATER OUTFITTERS

The IKA season long Big Bass Hunt continues and Joshua Robbins is still holding down the hot seat with 42.25 inches. Though he is tied with Brian Moore, Josh has the tiebreaker thanks to his 22.50 largemouth.

Troy Riggins is holding down third with 41.25 inches. It's going to be tough to take down our leaders but MH3, who currently sits in 10th, has a shot at the upset should he find himself a Big Smallmouth.

Merlin's 22.25 in largemouth is currently paired with a 17.50 smallie. He will need to upgrade his smallmouth bass by 2.75 inches. There are a few other similar scenarios, so this one is far from over. Plus registration is still open, so who knows who could sneak in and take the W!

WEEK 20

GRBY | WHITE RIVER #4 PRESENTED BY ACHIGAN

A true gem. While the Bassmaster Elites were crushing the smallies up on Lake St Clair, there were also a lot of smallies being caught down here in the Hoosier State. 46 anglers competed on the White River this past week and they showed us all just how special our little river is.

Things started off Thursday with a bang. 7 anglers competed that day and five of them landed a smallie over 18 inches.

That trend would not continue though, as there were only two caught over 18 in the following 4 days of competition. Regardless, there were still a lot of quality fish caught and for a tourney smack dab in the middle of the Dog Days of summer, the overall results were very solid.

Over 300 fish were submitted in this one, with only a handful of anglers not submitting a limit.

In the end though, it was the day one leader, Nick Nacrelli, who reigned supreme in this one. Nick posted a 5 fish limit of 83.75 inches anchored by a 19.50 inch Smallmouth.

Nick actually tied Justin Long and James England for big bass but England had the tiebreaker.

Josh Chrenko also fished on Thursday and put up a big bag himself, coming in 2nd with 83.75 inches. Josh leads the White River AOY Race by 7 points over Nathan Pickering going into the 5th and final event.

Rounding out the Top 3 in this one was Alex Denau with 81.75 inches.

If you want to get in on some white river smallie action, then you're in luck. Indiana Kayak Anglers hosts its annual White River event on August 12th. This event always has a great turnout and with it being the last event of the 2023 IKA regular season, the competition is going to be fierce.

The last event scheduled for the GRBY White River Series is August 24th - 28th

GRBY | NYONA #4 PRESENTED BY SOREMOUTH TACKLE

Well, no records were broken, but a solid event nonetheless. Thirty anglers competed in this one with 135 fish submitted. 13 limits over 70 inches caught. At the top were 3 familiar faces, all of who were fighting for that coveted AOY Title.

Casey Harbos came into the final day of competition knowing he needed to bust 80 inches to have a shot at the Win. He wasted no time either. Casey put up a limit fast, including a 18.00-inch kicker. Casey went on to upgrade 6 times, ending the day with 81.50 inches and his 1st Win.

2022 Nyona Series AOY, Chad Howard, fell just shy of the win in 2nd with 77.75” inches which lands him in a 3 way tie for the 2023 AOY title.

Finishing in 3rd was “Big Fish” Chip Romanovich. Chip had 76.50 inches, including an 18 inch kicker. Chip is now just 1 point behind the 3 leaders.

The Big Bass Honors & Cash went to Dominic Martin, with his 19.50 Largemouth Bass.

The 5th and final event in this series is August 24-28 and it's going to be EPIC to watch these 4 do battle.

GRBY | SUMMIT LAKE #4 PRESENTED BY GITTIN’ JIGGY WITH IT BAIT AND TACKLE

Ryan Reedy goes back-to-back! After jumping in the 3rd event of the season and taking the W, Reedy returned in week 21 to compete in the 4th installment of this series, retracing his footsteps and knocking down another victory. Reedy posted 77.75 inches this time narrowly beating out the Red Hot, Ryan Platt, a.k.a Mr. Neko. Platt posted 77.50 inches.

Ryan Reedy also landed the Big Bass of the event, a 17.50 chunk.

Jordan Lee rounded out the top 3 with 76.25 inches.

While the results were tight in this one, the bigger story and excitement was how the results impacted the GRBY Overall AOY Race.

With his win, Reedy now regains the AOY race lead, 2 points ahead of James Miller and 5 points ahead of Tweezy.

Tweezy however, is still in control of the Summit Lake series AOY, where he leads Ryan Platt by 6 points. Reedy, who has only competed in the last two events, though winning them, will not be able to get in 4 events, preventing him from making a run at the title. Thoughts in contention can be thankful for that.

There you have it! Week 20 is a wrap. The season is starting to dwindle down but there are still some great events in week 21, especially for those of you in the north or willing to travel. Check out the UPNEXT section below to see when and where to get in on the action.

Congratulations, once again to all the Top Performers from week 20!