By JOSH ROUSE
Special to TopSports.news
Topeka anglers Nick and Kyle Herrman followed up their season-opening win on Wilson Reservoir earlier in the month with a top-five finish during the second of two Kansas BASS Nation high school tournaments this past weekend on Milford Reservoir.
Topeka's Nick and Kyle Herrman took fourth place Sunday, Oct. 30, at Milford Lake near Junction City with 4.72 pounds of fish. [Submitted]
The twins posted 4.72 pounds of fish Sunday, Oct. 30, to finish fourth in their second tournament, which was the fourth overall tournament in the high school division this season.
"We were throwing a different bait than the other teams and were catching fish behind boats," Kyle Herrman said. "We would also mix in a drop shot when we weren’t getting bit. We managed to catch one keeper in about three to five feet of water, and our best keeper came in less than one-and-a-half feet of water. What didn’t go as planned was the size of the fish we would catch. Usually in the area we were fishing, when we caught a fish, it was a pretty good one."
Circle’s Trevor Cowman and Cooper Chadwell won the tournament with 7.46 pounds, followed by Buhler’s Evan Goering and Reid Stubbs in second place with 5.77 pounds. Hanover’s Maxwell Sawin and Brandt Beikmann took third place Sunday with 4.77 pounds, narrowly edging the Herrman twins out of the top three. Kickback Club’s Gavin Essex and Hayden Seume rounded out the top five Sunday with 4.45 pounds.
But the big bag of the weekend came the day before.
The Basehor-Linwood Bobcat Bass team of Cydney and Colton Hutchinson won the weekend’s first high school event on Saturday, Oct. 29, posting a 15.51-pound bag with a big fish of 4.21 pounds to blow the other competition out of the water. Manhattan’s Jacob Harmon and Isaac Lopez took second place with 4.48 pounds, followed by Kickback’s Philip Cooper and Leo Cain with 4.35. The fourth-place Bobcat Bass team of Joey Batesal and Agustaf Ulreich caught just one fish, but it was the second-largest fish of the day at 2.55 pounds. Sawin and Beikmann had similar luck, netting a 2.40-pounder for fifth place.
The Herrmans currently sit in second place in the Opens Division Angler of the Year standings with 19.39 points, trailing only Louisburg's Lucas Sheafer (23.38). The Hutchinsons are in third place with 17.44 points, followed by Kickback's Cale Harlan and Derek Landis in fourth with 17.01 and Buhler's Drew Stivers and Logan Snyder in fifth with 16.95.
"It feels pretty good to have a good start to the season," Nick Herrman said. "We have put in a lot of effort for the two tournaments we have had so far, and it's nice that our hard work has paid off. We will need to stay patient in the spring tournaments and we need to start throwing what we plan on throwing in the tournament now so we can gain confidence in those baits and techniques."
In the West Division AOY standings, Welch and Coughlin lead the way with 20.76 points, followed by Sawin and Beikmann with 17.94 for second place. Rounding out the top five are Circle's Brooks Clevenger and Hal Leep with 16.46, Cowman and Chadwell with 14.28 and Essex/Seume with 14.07.
The KBN youth fishing season is on hiatus now through the winter break and will pick back up in the spring, with tournaments April 1 and 2 on Melvern Lake. The anglers will then head to Perry Lake to wrap up the regular season with tournaments April 29 and 30, with the two-day state championship June 1-2 on La Cygne.
JUNIORS
In the juniors division, Kickback’s Sam Keely and Braydyn Stubenrauch scored back-to-back victories on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, the pair won narrowly, weighing one fish for 2.38 pounds to top Wheat State Anglers’ Caleb and Isaac Toubia, who weighed 2.28 pounds. On Sunday, the victory was less narrow, as they weighed 4.81 pounds of fish to outlast the only other team competing in Hanover’s Aysha and Myles Wolfgang. The Wolfgangs were runners up despite posting the big fish of the day at 2.47 pounds.
KANSAS BASS NATION
At Milford Reservoir
High school
Results Saturday, Oct. 29
Anglers, team ... Pounds of fish
1. Cy. Hutchinson/Co. Hutchinson, Bobcat Bass ... 15.51
2. Harmon/Lopez, MHK ... 4.48
3. Cooper/Cain, Kickback ... 4.35
4. Batesal/Ulreich, Bobcat Bass ... 2.55
5. Sawin/Beikmann, KnotHeads ... 2.40
6. Foos/Abbott, MHK ... 1.78
7. Nimrod/Morton, DeSoto ... 1.67
Results Sunday, Oct. 30
Anglers, team ... Pounds of fish
1. T. Cowman/Chadwell, Circle ... 7.46
2. Goering/Stubbs, Buhler ... 5.77
3. Sawin/Beikmann, KnotHeads ... 4.77
4. N. Herrman/K. Herrman, Capital City ... 4.72
5. Essex/Seume, Kickback ... 4.45
6. Welch/Coughlin, Kickback ... 3.99
7. Ruda/Thetford, Buhler ... 3.61
8. Staines/Barkley, Kickback ... 3.21
9. Thiem/Wilcox, MHK ... 2.26
10. Stude/Cook, Panthers ... 2.14
11T. Clevenger/Leep, Circle ... 2.05
11T. Razey/H. Cowman, Circle ... 2.05
13. Crosley/Curtis, OutCast ... 1.95
Juniors
Results Saturday, Oct. 29
Anglers, team ... Pounds of fish
1. Keely/Stubenrauch, Kickback ... 4.81
2. A. Wolfgang/M. Wolfgang, KnotHeads ... 4.33
Results Sunday, Oct. 30
Anglers, team ... Pounds of fish
1. Keely/Stubenrauch, Kickback ... 2.38
2. C. Toubia/I. Toubia, Wheat State Anglers ... 2.28
