FORSYTH, MO. – Dittmer’s Joe Hayes wrapped up his first Mo-Yak Fishing Series season with the OMTC 2019 Rookie of the Year award. Accumulating 1331 points and 362 inches for the season put Hayes in 7th place in the Mo-Yak Angler of the Year race. He secured a berth in the 2020 Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship and finished 74 inches ahead of his closest rookie competitor, Johnathan Dominguez of Lebanon, MO., who finished 12th in AOY with 91 points.

A zero at the first event of the season didn’t deter Hayes from staying the course.  Joe bounced back with 11th at Pomme and his first top ten of the season, 3rd at Table Rock!  His best placement of the season couldn’t have been more impressive as the Table Rock event was packed with 55 of the midwest’s best kayak anglers.  Joe put up 86.75″, just short of the top spot held by Kansas’ David Cruz by two inches.

“My favorite moment of the season would probably be a tie between coming in 3rd at the Table Rock event-while my family was there-and being told I was Rookie of the Year,” says Hayes.

Joe continues, “One thing I feel like I’ll always be trying to improve on is the process of getting a solid picture of any and every fish that’s worth putting on the hog trough. The bull shoals event still haunts me lol.”

For his efforts, Joe won a trophy and a $500 gift certificate to OMTC! 

When asked about his favorite Ozark fishery on the trail, Joe told us, “Table rock again would have to be a favorite event. It started slow for me and I sat through a lot of rain but when they started biting it seemed like every time I set the hook it was a quality fish. Also, it seemed to be one of the biggest events (based on the number of competitors) of the year and finishing as high as I did had a very validating feeling to it.”

For the 2020 rookie class, Hayes gave this advice; “To the new guys, I’d say just fish as many events as possible and try not to overthink every mistake you’ll undoubtedly make. Make yourself aware of the rules and try and get some practice getting those pics taken though for sure. All and all though just go fishing, meet a great group of anglers, and have fun.”

Congrats Joe, we look forward to what your sophomore season brings in 2020.

 

 

 

 

 

Mo-Yak Fishing Series member Nate Gloria places 4th overall, and highest placing American at the Hobie Worlds tournament!  Final results posted here.

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Sticks and Crankbait Johnny talk all things MO-Yak fishing series with Joshua Boothe plus nationwide tournament recaps. Yak-a-bass, KBF Texas region, KBF southeast region, KBL.   Also cover upcoming events for KBF trail at East/West Harbor, SI-Yak Anglers klub, East Texas Kayak Fishing, Washington Kayak Bass Fishing, Hobie Worlds, and Hobie Open.

Let’s go to Guntersville!

April 2-4, 2020

This will be a 3-day event (Thur/Fri/Sat) with an optional KBF Big Bass Brawl. The field will be trimmed after Day 2, and the top 100 competitors will continue to compete for the Champion title on Saturday. While they do, all others who entered the KBF Big Bass Brawl will be invited to keep fishing on Saturday for even greater big bass prizes. Prize ceremonies and awards will be Saturday evening.

As of 7/25, here are the MoYak members who’ve punched their ticket the KBF National Championship;

Denton Giovenco
Troy Enke
Lance Burris
Chris King
Tyy Ward
Nate Gloria
Justin Brewer
Brian Hillman
Richie McMichael
Joshua Boothe
Tommy Probst

Way to go everyone that has earned a ticket to the big show!
Also remember that if any of those anglers finish in the top 10 in AOY, those end of the year invites to the NC will roll down. So keep grinding because a lot of you can still get that invite. After the river tournament everyone drops their lowest score as well. The season isn’t over yet!

Lake Guntersville

The top 5 anglers finished the day within four and a half inches of each other in a tight race on Missouri’s beautiful Lake Taneycomo.

With all the flooding occurring around her, it was a shock to some that Taneycomo was about two feet shallower than most anglers saw during practice the weeks prior. Storms threatened throughout mid-morning but anglers saw very little precipitation.

Once again, the Bull Creek area produced the winning stringer and most of the top ten reported catching their fish going out of Rockaway Beach.

Brian Hillman caught his PB kayak largemouth on a bladed jig near the mouth of the Bull which helped to propel him to become the new AOY leader.

Taneycomo 22.50" Big Bass

Caught my PB Kayak Bass yesterday during the Mo-Yak Fishing Series Taneycomo event. This lake has been good to me the last few years giving up some of my biggest catches during that time. Hobie Fishing Ozark Mountain Trading Company

Posted by Brian Hillman Fishing on Sunday, June 16, 2019

Richie McMichael made a huge jump in the standings after posting a solid second place finish with 86.25″. Other anglers making a move were Lance Burris and Jeff Mellencamp, both over 80″ on the day. Putting over 11 miles in out of Empire Park, Lance credited his Torqueedo and a frog for his third place effort.

Dorman Hughey ended the day with 86.50″ to take his third win of the season and solidify his position near the top of the AOY standings. A squarebill and a Senko were the baits that did his damage in the Bull Creek area.

TourneyX Facts:
No other Taneycomo June event, by any club, has produced more bags over 80″ than the MoYak 2019 stop #4.