While most of the United States prepared for a polar blast on Sunday, Drew Gregory was heating up the Arizona desert on the closing day of the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Havasu presented by Native Watercraft.

Gregory, a 45-year-old resident of Kent, Ohio, earned a come-from-behind win in the two-day tournament, the first derby of the 2025 Bassmaster season. His total of 10 bass measuring 165.25 inches was 2.25 inches better than Utah’s Caymen Rasmussen, who finished second with 163 total inches.

Gregory, who won the 2024 Yahama Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship scored by TourneyX on Oklahoma’s Lake Tenkiller, measured five smallmouth bass on Day 1 at Havasu for an 83.50 inch total. He followed with another limit (this time four smallmouth and one largemouth) totaling 82 inches, which was enough to slip into the pole position and take the season-opening victory on this 19,800-acre reservoir on the Arizona/California border.

Those aren’t eye-popping numbers, but as he often does, Gregory found a way to win and claimed $7,000 on Sunday.

“It was very tough this week,” he said. “But you know, that’s typical. Anywhere in winter, except maybe Florida, it’s gonna be tough fishing. The water here was cold.”

Gregory game planned for Havasu’s winter smallmouth bite. He found a school of 10 to 15 nice-sized fish stacked up on Day 1, and he caught four measurable fish from the bunch before the run ended. He started in the same area on Day 2 but managed only one bite.

Lucky for him, it was his biggest catch of the day — a 17.75-inch smallie that came on Sunday’s second cast. Gregory then started working his way upriver, employing an arsenal of Z-Man lures, including the Gobius swim bait (natural color) that was his go-to at Havasu.

“I took note of the waypoints I made yesterday and started working them today,” he said. “The river is shallow and clear, so I looked at a lot of that both days. But my fourth fish today, the only largemouth I had, came on a spinnerbait in a backwater that was a little stained. It was just a little cut with a mudline, but it stood out as a good place to catch one.”

Gregory struggled to catch a limit on Sunday, hooking his fifth fish with only 20 minutes remaining in the competition.

“I had what I think would have been the winning fish come off twice earlier in the day,” he said. “When I missed those, I figured it just wasn’t going to be my day. But I went back to that murky water, and this time, I threw a 3/8-ounce Z-Man CrossEyeZ Power Finesse jig with a Pro Craw Trailer (both in green pumpkin). That got it done.”

Gregory also said he used a prototype signature casting rod throughout the tournament at Lake Havasu, a project he’s been working on with Yakrods.

Rasmussen, who was second, claimed $3,000 of the $22,200 cash purse up for grabs at Havasu.

Rounding out the Top 5 are third, JJ Gibbs, 158 inches, $2,500; fourth, Mark Kile, 158 inches, $2,000; and fifth, John Turner, 153 inches, $1,700. Each of that trio hails from Arizona. In all, 111 kayakers from around the U.S. competed.

The $500 Big Bass Award went to California’s Kong Yang, who hooked a 21.75-incher on Day 2. Fellow Californian Chris Cabral also caught a 21.75-inch fish on Day 1, but Yang’s next biggest fish (19.50 inches) gave him the tiebreaker edge.

The kayak event on Havasu was the first of six regular-season kayak tournaments on tap in 2025. Other kayak showdowns are scheduled Feb. 1-2 on the Kissimmee (Fla.) Chain of Lakes; April 26-27 on Dale Hollow Reservoir in Tennessee; May 31-June 1 on Lake Tenkiller; July 26-27 on Lake Champlain in New York; and Sept. 27-28 at Toledo Bend on the Texas/Louisiana border.

The 2025 Yahama Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship scored by TourneyX is scheduled for March 19-20 on Texas’ Lake Fork, immediately preceding the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour on Lake Ray Roberts near Fort Worth, Texas. Top anglers from the 2025 season compete in that tournament, while this year’s best from the kayak series are vying for spots in the 2026 championship.

Full results from the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Havasu presented by Native Watercraft are scored by TourneyX and can be Full results from the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Havasu presented by Native Watercraft are scored by TourneyX and can be found here.

Go Lake Havasu sponsored the week’s activities.