Michigan – if you want to catch Smallmouth Bass, there are few better places to fish. Just ask the state’s most famous angler.
An internet search for photos of Ernest Hemingway fishing in Michigan turns up some beauties. There he is as a little boy, fishing with a cane pole. And there is the adult Hemingway, posing with a Steelhead he caught. In between the two, there is a photo of Hemingway as a teenager, holding a nice Smallmouth Bass (there is a link to it at the end of the recap).
Hemingway holds a bait caster. He looks as though he woke up too early and has been awake for too long. But he’s smiling and proud of his catch. In fact, if you put a NuCanoe fishing kayak beside him, he’d look like a happy Kayak Adventure Series competitor.
Michigan’s waters are renowned for their great rivers and lakes. Hemingway’s upper peninsula, which he made famous in the Nick Adams stories, usually gets the spotlight. Kayak Adventure Series turned the spotlight on another area of Michigan this week: the lakes and rivers near Whitehall on the state’s western shore that faces Lake Michigan. And Smallmouth Bass played a big role (emphasis on “big”…).
When it was over, the spotlights at the beautiful Playhouse at White Lake also turned on the anglers. They are the individual women and men, youth anglers and teams who make the Kayak Adventure Series presented by GoPro a unique experience in the sport of kayak fishing. Like Hemingway in that historic photo, they were happy with their catches – but unlike him, they released their fish back to the Wild Waters of Whitehall, Michigan, presented by NuCanoe.
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Torqeedo Individual Division
Largemouth Bass outnumbered Smallmouth Bass all weekend long, but it was Smallmouth Bass that decided some of the top finishers, including the Torqeedo Individual Division, the Top Lady Angler division presented by the Women’s Fishing Federation and the Mico-Bag Division presented by Z-Man's new Micro Finesse line of baits.
It all began with Friday’s “Afternoon Sesh” that primes anglers for the weekend with a four-hour head start to competition. In the early going, Largemouth bites dominated the standings. Michigan angler Tim Desmit III had the lead when he posted a quick limit of 78.25”. But the bite was hot and catches of predominantly Largemouth Bass populated the leaderboards. Occasionally, anglers like Travis Von Neumann were posting limits that included a nice Smallie or two.
Jeremiah Craft finished the evening as the overall leader in the Torqeedo Individual Division. With a half dozen anglers already posting limits in the high seventy to low eighty inch-range, the field was set for an exciting Saturday event.
The Saturday standings immediately lit up on the Realtree Fishing real time leaderboard. Tyler Osborn grabbed the early lead with 84.50”, and then Jesse Brinkert had it with 87”. The name in the first-place spot changed often in the early going, until Ryan Parker landed that huge Smallmouth Bass…
In his words:
“That big one came out of a foot or a foot-and-a-half of water. When they stopped generating at the dam, the water dropped and the fish concentrated. I could look down and see giant smallmouth on beds, but I couldn’t get baits to stay in the strike zone in the current. That’s when I watched a fly-fishing drift boat pass by…
“It all came together. I was eating a snack and watching them. They must have passed right over the fish. I made a cast and when I set the hook, it felt like a rock. But then I saw the fish sideways in the current. That’s when I knew it wasn’t a snag. It had my 6” Mag Draft folded sideways in its mouth. There was a fly hatch happening, and when I realized the trout were eating them, I realized also what the Smallies were eating. They were shallow, eating the trout.”
Parker utilized his Torqeedo 1103 motor In a Crescent Kayaks CK2, to fish up river and cover 7 miles on tournament day. His bait of choice was a 6-inch swimbait and a Z-MAN Goat on a 1oz tungsten punching weight that was used to ensure the bait didn't get swept dowstream in strong current. He took home over $4200 in cash and prizes when it was all said and done ($3500 cash).
Ironically, second place finisher Jesse Brinkert nearly caught up to Parker late in the day when he landed a Largemouth Bass that culled a Smallie from his limit. Brinkert elaborated on the discussion of his event that he posted to social media. There, he noted that he changed locations, moving Muskegon lake to Grand River during the day. “I caught all Smallmouth Bass jigging a ned rig, but had a Largemouth bass to cull out my smallest Smallie. The bass chased a weedless swimbait down, waking on it at the surface. It was at like 2:15 p.m., and that 1.5” cull made a difference because it moved me up from fifth place to second place overall.” Brinkert took home over $2000 between both the team and individual division successes.
3rd place was taken by Trevor Rigney, of Kingsley, MI, who held on to the Kayak Kushion hot seat for quite a while at the awards until Brinkert and Parker made their way to the stage, falling just .25 shy of 2nd place with 88.25 inches.
While no angler landed 100” to take home a Crosskix century belt, Parker’s giant Smallie took home the Boonedox Big Bass Bling award for catching the biggest bass submitted in competition at the Wild Whitehall weekend. That award earned him a choice of Boonedox products and a $250 gift card to Yak Attack, a package totaling over $700. It was a weekend he won’t forget, and part of that was due to the scenery of the Kayak Adventure Series events. He said “I fished both Michigan and Georgia. The Georgia event (Shoaliepalooza) was a last-minute decision for me. I am not use to that water, but I hiked near it before. Seeing it from the water in a kayak is another perspective. It makes you feel like part of the landscape. It was the same in Michigan.”
With his win, Parker rose to the top of the rankings in the Angler of the Year race presented by Farwide Outdoors. The AOY wins a prize package nearing $10,000, with the main prize being a choice between an electric motorbike ($5,000) from UBCO or trailer from Modern Buggy (Mod-Bug) worth $7800.
X2Power Team Event
One dozen teams registered for the X2Power team event, where teams of two anglers compete against other teams. This is a separate event as well as an event-within-the event; where an individual angler on a hot bite may win the Torqeedo individual event, their team won’t win if their teammate can’t find or land quality fish.
A case in point: Tim De Smits III had the early lead on the individual board, helping his Weapons of Bass Destruction team to the early lead. But his co-angler Jesse Brinkert did not post any fish through most of the Afternoon Sesh, and as a result two other teams passed theirs at the half way mark on Friday. With a total of 137.75”, Team BRYT took over the lead.
But then Jesse Brinkert showed up with a big limit, posting of 80” to help Weapons of Bass Destruction retake first place overall. With Brinkert and De Smits III posting quality fish, their Weapons of Bass Destruction team would be one of two key players in the team event for the weekend. Team BRYT fell to fourth as Friday fishing closed. Not to be outdone, the Bad Bass Women team rose to sixth place at the end of the day on Friday (for more about them, see below).
When team fishing resumed on Saturday, only .25” separated Dumb Basses (167.25”) from Weapons of Bass Destruction (167.50”) on the leaderboard. Team BRYT fell to fifth place, too, but later recovered to take third place overall.
It was a two team race as Weapons of Bass Destruction exchanged culls with Dumb Basses all morning long. When it was over, Dumb Basses took the win with a final combined limit of 173.75”, besting their rivals by a mere 1.25”. Both teams posted limits consisting primarily of largemouth bass. However, it should be noted that Michigan angler Jesse Brinkert of Weapons of Bass Destruction also had a big Smallie for an anchor fish, keeping the Hemingway-Smallmouth connection alive across the Real Tree Fishing leaderboards!
In the Team of the Year race, Team RCO currently holds the lead after two events, having finished in 6th place at Whitehall. They are competing for the $5000+ TMOY prize package.
Top Lady Angler & Z-Man Micro-Bag Tournament
The Micro-Bass tournament of the Kayak Adventure Series is sponsored by Z-Man Micro Finesse, while the Top Lady Angler is presented by the Women’s Fishing federation. The two separate events shared a common link this weekend in Wild Whitehall, as two teammates won the separate events. They were Edie Wilkinson and Glenda Celestino of the Bad Bass Women team….
Indiana angler Edie Wilkinson is no stranger to tournament fishing. She has fished in her home state, across the Midwest trails and beyond, compiling a strong record over the past five years.
When the standings closed for the Afternoon Sesh on Friday, Wilkinson held the lead among women in competition. She was in 35th place, with four fish overall. She told KAS “I found them in weed lines close to big areas loaded with bluegill beds. A bluegill colored wacky worm got all my bites!”
When it was over, Wilkinson finished with a total limit of 79.50”. In fact, she fished the same waters as the Torqeedo Individual Event champion, Ryan Parker. As Parker told KAS: “Edie was the only other competitor near me…I bet she heard me yelling when I caught that fish [the 22” Smallmouth].” She was nearby, but as she told KAS: “He [Parker] figured out the bigger fish, but I had a great topwater bite, which I caught on a Berkley Choppo.” In fact, her final limit consisted of all beautiful Smallmouth Bass.
Wilkinson’s day did not end well, however, as she was stranded at a ramp and missed the awards ceremony. She reflected on the moment: “It was disappointing, but when I watched the video of the awards it was so cool to see the Women’s Fishing Federation Trophy.”
Wilkinson also celebrated something that is unique to the Kayak Adventure Series: “I loved the focus on family. I brought my son, and we had a great time.”
Emily Rigby placed second overall in the women’s division, while Missouri angler Glenda Celestino placed third.
Wilkinson competed together with Celestino competed in the X2Power Team event. They each posted four bass on Friday to push them into 6th place overall with a limit of 109.75”. They concluded the event in 9th place overall.
And while the team’s main focus was big bites, Celestino proved excellent at finding smaller bites, too. In fact, she was so good at it that she won the Micro-Bag Tournament presented by Z-Man!
Other Divisions & Awards
Edie Wilkinson wasn’t finished yet, however.
The "Day Two Darkhorse" presented by Darkhorse Tackle prize winner was Trent Martin, who had 0 fish in the Afternoon Sesh and then jumped up to 18th place with 81.75” on Saturday.
As “Director of Fun” Drew Gregory noted, “Since the Darkhorse tackle owners Josh and Zach were at the event, and they always go above and beyond, they decided to give away two Day 2 Darkhorse prizes! Emily Rigney won that second one for climbing to 27th place overall in the rankings after also zeroing on Friday.
Raising money for pediatric cancer through kayak raffle
One of the coolest part of the Kayak Adventure Series is being able to raffle a kayak off at each event to support pediatric cancer. At Wild Whitehall, the official kayak partner for the event, NuCanoe, donated one of their new U10 models to be raffled. KAS anglers raised nearly $1300 for the PUNT Foundation and are thrilled at being able to make an impact in the lives of those affected by cancer way too young. The winner was Tiffany Hopkins of Traverse City, MI. Tiffany was especially excited because she said all they have are cheapo kayaks and this is "a big upgrade!" Huge thanks to NuCanoe for that donation and all their support!
Special Guests and Youtubers
The weekend included visits and talks from a range of people who work in the kayak fishing industry. They included:
· Jeff Little (Boonedox & The Little Stuff YouTube channel
· Jeff Burlingame (Aggressively Average Anglers YouTube channel)
· Mike McKinistry (The Bassquatch Hunter)
· Josh Chrenko (Achigan Brand/Smallie Talk Podcast)
· Alex Rudd (Alex Rudd Fishing)
Also huge thanks to the Michigan Kayak Trail & Topwater Kayak Series for their joint events and Involvement in the event. Thanks to Waterdog Outfitters for hosting the Bass U Brunch on Friday in which 50 anglers were served breakfast and learned a lot about smallmouth bass from Drew Gregory, Josh Chrenko and Jeff Little. Steve Crooks at Waterdog was instrumental in bringing this event to the area and supporting the local kayak fishing community as much as any shop in the country. Huge thanks to Toyota of Grand Rapids for bringing new Toyota trucks to show off and demo. All trophies were impressive, and provided and manufactured by Ketch Products, makers of the Ketch boards that are approved standard measuring boards for KAS events.
Also big thanks to Chanty's Custom Baits for donating a lure package to the top 3 anglers. Also a special thanks to Reel Swede Enterprises for donating an incredible largemouth bass replica to the winner, Ryan Parker. If you're looking for a replica we highly recommend Reel Swede.
Lastly, and most importantly thanks to the Playhouse at White Lake for being such amazing hosts as the festival had to be moved Into their lobby due to weather and the entire staff at the White Lake Area Chamber of Commerce for helping make this event so special for all of us.
Looking Ahead
Kayak Adventure Series is not just a tournament – it’s an experience. Experience it for yourself when we visit your area. We turn from Whitehall, Hemingway and Michigan and looks ahead to the next event. Our next stop will be “Ozarkana” in Poplar Bluff, MO.
Additional Info
For more information about the Kayak Adventure Series presented by GoPro, visit: https://www.kayakadventureseries.com/
To watch the awards ceremony, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_ZRgME0tVE
Click here to learn more about Go Pro cameras.
Click here for complete Torqeedo individual event standings from Wild Whitehall.
To see the photo of Hemingway with a Smallmouth Bass from the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University, click here.
© 2024 Kayak Adventure Series. All Rights Reserved. First published June 9, 2024.
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Winners & Awards photo gallery
