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2022 Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship Day 1 Recap

The 2022 Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship kicked off today at Richard B. Russel Lake in Anderson, South Carolina. The series championship coincides with the 2022 Bassmaster Classic being held on Lake Hartwell. Kayak championship awards will be handed out as the anglers cross the same stage as the pros will in Greenville, SC on Thursday night following Day 2 of the event.

The morning started out with Stephen Otting from Rome, Georgia taking an early lead with a quick limit of 71.5". Mark Pendergraf, the 2021 Champion, was off to a slower start with only 25" at 8 AM. Notable Bassmaster Elite Pro Mike Iaconelli entered the event and also had a slow start with a single 14.25" bass to start his day. James Foster from Murfreesboro, TN had put up an early big bass of 19.25".

Mid-morning was when the action heated up with a giant 24.75" being thrown up by Old Town and Cashion Rods Pro Casey Reed from Goode, VA. The monster bass shot Casey into the lead with 85", leading the pack by over 10". At this point Otting was unable to upgrade and Iaconelli had only managed to put a couple more fish on the board lagging behind the leaders with only 41.75".

A few moments later around 10:25 AM Eric Siddiqi from Cincinnati, OH jumped into the lead with 91.75" and posted on the socials after days of holding back the temptation to catch those fish, he was going to leave them alone once again for Day 2. At 10:50 we had a new leader when Drew Gregory of Crescent Kayaks posted up 92.5", and Iaconelli getting his limit together finally started climbing the list to 22nd place with 71".

Summersville, WV native Greg Harper took the lead at 11:45 AM with 93.5". At this point it was interesting to see a lot of well known kayak anglers not post a fish. Greg Blanchard, local Jeremy Heath who just won Kayak Bass Fishing Trail and Pro events at Lake Murray, Barry Davis of SC, Brad Case, Cody Milton, Terry Elkins, Anthony Winkleman to name a few.

The afternoon was led by John Milchling with 97.5" while Siddiqi, Reed and others did some valuable culling to help keep in a good spot heading into Day 2.

You can view the current standings at TourneyX.com!