The Bigs are falling, Teague conquers the river, and Chad Brock claims AOY. All that and more in this week's edition of the HKB Top Performers Recap.
The number of 20+ inch fish being caught in the competition this month is insane and that's not to mention all the 18-19 inch class fish. With the days getting shorter and the nights getting cooler, the bass seem to be putting on the feed bag and the anglers are definitely taking advantage of it.
Case and point - This years annual IKA White River event took almost 90 inches to win and a 20" smallie wasn't enough for Big Bass cash. Stick with us as we break it all down.
IKA | WHITE RIVER PRESENTED BY MOVING WATER OUTFITTERS
The Annual IKA White River event went down this past weekend as IKA closed out its regular season. Over 50 anglers competed in this one and over 200 smallmouth bass were submitted. 27 Anglers caught a limit, 21 of which broke the 70-inch mark.
Three anglers were able to surpass 80-inches, which is very impressive considering the time of year and the number of anglers on the water that day, along with normal weekend traffic.
Teague McClurg absolutely crushed them putting up a 5-fish total of 87 inches for the win, including two kickers - a 20 and a 19.
Ryan Becker comes in 2nd with 83.25 and Josh Chrenko rounds out the podium with 81.75 for third.
Big Bass honors go to Brad Oswalt with an absolute trophy Indiana Smallmouth Bass (21.00")!!
The storyline now turns to the AOY race which will be decided at the IKA Championship, set for September 9-10. IKA will be announcing the Championship location shortly.
Ryan Platt is sitting in the hot seat as of now, but Drew Duncan is right there with him. Both these anglers have fished hard all season and both want the title bad. While the most likely outcome is Ryan or Drew taking the title, there are a few scenarios in which Robbins, Kivett, Moore, or Howell could pull off the upset, but Ryan and Drew will have to stumble hard at the Ship.
USA BASSIN | MONROE LAKE #5 PRESENTED BY JACKSON KAYAK
The inaugural season of the USA Bassin Jackson Kayak Monroe Series has come to a close. 7 anglers signed up for the final event.
Chad Brock takes the W in this one with 4 fish for 49.75" The win also seals the deal on the Monroe Lake Division AOY.
Rachel Painter takes 2nd with 48.75" and Wyatt Gard takes home 3rd place and Big Bass.
We asked Wyatt how he felt about the 2023 USA Bassin series and here is what he had to say...
"USA bassin has been a great experience meeting up with everyone and paying cash at the ramp and sharing stories at the end of the day. Minus weighing fish, it’s the closest thing to a boat tournament in the kayak world. Not to mention the ability to qualify for a national championship on a local level and the chance to win big thanks to Jackson Kayak! Monroe isn’t the easiest place to fish but the challenge of figuring it out keeps me going back!"
While participation was light in these events this year, USA Bassin has a lot to offer and something we hope more anglers get involved in next season. Anglers have one last shot to get in on the USA Bassin action here in the Hoosier State on Patoka Lake later this month. Of course, there is the possibility of a fall series too.
SIYAK & KBF | MONTH LONG
We're halfway through the month so let's take a look at the two state-wide month-long tournaments going and see how the anglers are stacking up.
Starting with the SIYAK month-long charity event supporting the Fallen Outdoor Indiana Chapter. This has been a fun one to watch as anglers, Merlin Hammer III and Adam Murray, are fighting for the coveted AOY title, while other anglers such as, yours truly, are battling for one last chance to qualify for the SIYAK championship.
Currently, Adam Murray sits in 4th and MH3 is right behind him in 5. Merlin needs the win though to take the AOY title from Murray.
If the event were to conclude today, the series standings would look like this (Picture Above), however, there is plenty of month and fishing left to be had.
That said, MH3 will need to make some big moves as he is currently 14.25 inches behind the leader. As I stated before, I needed to win in order to qualify for the SIYAK championship and at the moment, I'm in the hot seat but there are a handful of anglers, at least, with the potential to knock me off the top, and blow the leaderboard out of the water, including current Big Bass leader John Gittner.
Gittner posted this 22-inch beast on Friday the 11th and though he is currently in 7th, he obviously knows where to get the big bites.
Another angler who could potentially sneak in and steal the show is Brant Sharp an angler who has a history of putting up giant month-long totals, including a mega bag he posted this time last year.
While it's unlikely an angler will hit 108" again, it is likely 101.25 will not be enough to take the win, especially considering the sheer number of 20+ inch fish that have been caught already.
For the KBF Month Long event, results are similar, with yours truly leading the way in this one as well and Matt Kiefer in 2nd. Mike Elsea, however, rounds out the Top 3 on this one.
Tweezy currently sits in 4th and has been making some regular upgrades including two 19s in the past two days.
With John Gittner sitting out on this one, this 21.50 brute I caught back on the 7th currently holds down Big Bass.
Keep an eye on these month-long leaderboards as the month wears on because the bigs are putting on the feed bag and the leaderboards are likely to be lighting up all the way to lines out.
UPCOMING HKB EVENTS
Don't be scared of the Dark - Join us for the HKB Night Bowl & it's never too early to start putting your HKB Turkey Bowl squad together!
That's it for week 22, but the action picks back up in week 23 with 3 more events from GRBY and the first-ever HKB Night Bowl is going down this Saturday! Check out all the upcoming events in the UPNEXT section below.
Congratulations to all our week 22 HKB Top Performers!
UPNEXT
GRBY | SULLIVAN LAKE (8/17-8/23)
GRBY | COLUMBUS MOVING WATER (8/17-8/23)
GRBY | CENTRAL TRAIL - EAGLE CREEK RESERVOIR (8/17-8/23)
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