Steve Martin stumbles at Raccoon, Orr wins his 1st, MH3 back on top, and much more in this week's recap of Week 15 HKB Top Performers.
Hopefully, you all made it through this past weekend's active weather alright and without too much damage. Like the weather this year, there was no shortage of action in week 15. Don't worry, if you missed any of it, we got the full breakdown for you below!
SIYAK | SUGAR RIDGE - PRESENTED BY BIOENNO POWER
Whoah! - No one saw this one coming. Multi AOY and favorite for this event, Matt Keifer, comes up empty and both MH3 and Adam take advantage of it.
We knew Adam and MH3 would bring their A-Game for this one. The two continue to battle for the AOY title, while trying to hold off Matt and Antoine Hayes, as well as others. WIth Matt struggling to find a bite, the door was wide open and MH3 was the first to walk through it.
Merlin Hammer III ran away with his 2nd SIYAK win of the season putting up 78.5 inches anchored by the Big Bass and Wicked Weights Catch of the Week, a 22.25” Indiana Trophy Largemouth Bass.
As if a 22.25” wasn't cool enough, he caught it on top water and on a rod he built himself. To be exact, it was a Deps Buster K frog, a unique popper-style hollow body frog. This big ol’ Indiana bass ties Merlin’s PB caught on Caddo Lake.
Merlin is now 2nd place in the SIYAK AOY Race averaging 98.25 points per event, just behind Adam who is averaging 98.40 pts per event.
Brant Sharp found himself a solid limit thanks to a 16.25” kicker. He was the only other angler to break the 70-inch mark. As mentioned before, the current AOY Leader, Adam Murray, continues his hot-streak, putting up the only other limit caught in the event with 66 inches. This was Adam's 4th podium finish of the SIYAK season.
The final onsite event of this series takes place on the Blue River and then the AOY contenders will have one last chance to make their attempt to claim the AOY Title when SIYAK concludes its regular season with a month-long (statewide) derby in August.
GBRY | RACCOON LAKE #3 - PRESENTED BY XZONE LURES
After a 1st & 2nd place finish in the first two GRBY Raccoon events and a win in the IKA Raccoon event, Steve Martin stumbled a bit in the 3rd derby of the GRBY Series. That is if you can call 4th place stumbling…
Chad Cummings definitely didn't stumble though! Instead, he climbed all the way to the top of this one with an 81.75” limit! Chad made 3 upgrades throughout the day on Saturday proving once again, despite the boat traffic on this lake, the bass still bite on the weekends.
Anthony Brown lands in 2nd with 77.75” and Wyatt Gard is feeling good thanks to a 77-inch limit and 3rd place finish.
Now, remember that part about Steve stumbling and finishing in 4th… Well he was so close to the podium, in fact he tied for 3rd, but thanks to Wyatts 18.75” largemouth, Wyatt won the tie breaker and took home some big bass money.
Regardless, Steve will remain in control of this AOY race but it's definitely not over yet.
GRBY | BISCHOFF RESERVOIR - PRESENTED BY BLUE’S BAITS
Ohio’s Scott Rowe comes in and steals another podium finish from the Hoosiers and this time, he is taking home a win. Pulling out a 79.25-inch limit, Scott sealed the deal on Thursday before anyone else had a chance.
It wasn't until Saturday that he would even be challenged when Justin Ayers posted a limit early and continued to upgrade throughout the day. Justin ended with 78.75” anchored by the Big Bass of the event, a 21-inch tank largemouth bass.
Jason Merritt did what he needed to do in order to keep his AOY title hopes alive. Jason posted a 75.25-inch limit on Friday and was able to ride out the storm of anglers throughout the remainder of the competition and come out with a 3rd finish and some crucial points needed to give him the AOY lead going into the 5th and final event of the season.
The GRBY NE Trail went about as far north as you can go in the Hoosier state for its 3rd stop of the season. Unfortunately, the turnout for this one was not so great. Only 9 anglers signed up for this one.
Of the 9, was James Miller of Rome City, Indiana. James put up a big bag on Friday posting a 86.25” bag of largemouth bass.
Kevin Hopson finished in second place, with a very solid mixed limit of 81.25 - his two biggest 19.75” and a 17.50” were both smallies. His 17.50 was enough to break the Big Bass tiebreaker between him and James Miller.
Nathan Weidner rounded out the top 3 with 76.75 inches.
GRBY | JUNE MONTH LONG
The 1st ever statewide GRBY month long event is about to wrap up and it's going to go down to the wire. Currently, James Miller is showing everyone what the North is about, as he holds down the top spot with 98.25. MH3 possibly having his best month-long performance ever and is making a late charge for the win, posting a 22.25” Largemouth as his recent cull, giving him a total of 97.50. Cory Rucker currently holds 3rd just one inch behind Merlin. Keep an eye on this leaderboard as we close out the month. I've got a feeling a couple anglers in the standings have some fireworks left and are going to make some noise before it's all said and done.
USA BASSIN | LAKE MONROE SERIES #3 - PRESENTED BY JACKSON KAYAKS
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, yet again, the USA Bassin series (Monroe) has a poor showing with only 5 anglers competing and only one angler submitting 4 fish.
HOBIE BOS - CAYUGA / JAXTON ORR
He did it! He Finally DID IT! The BOY WONDER, now all grown up, has won his 1st Hobie BOS Win. After many podiums throughout the years, Jaxton finally took the top spot this past weekend on Cayuga Lake, NY.
Jaxton put up 189.50 inches over the two day competition, narrowly beating out his good friend Ewing Minor who landed a two day total of 189.25!
These two are battling it out for the AOY title as well. Ewing is sitting in 1st and Orr in 2nd before this event. Though unofficially this past weekend's results will not affect either angler's position, Orr will close the gap now being down by just 10 points going into the final events.
As we said, week 15 had plenty of action, but now the question is who is going to set off some fireworks in week 16 as anglers celebrate our nation's independence on the water doing what they love. Check out what's next below and get in on the action yourself!
UPNEXT
GRBY | COLUMBUS MOVING WATER (6/29-7/3) GRBY | SUMMIT LAKE (6/29-7/3) GRBY | NYONA (6/15-6/19) KBF | CHALLENGE SEREIS - JULY SIYAK | BLUE RIVER ( 7-16)
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