COLUMBIA, S.C. — The wind howled across Lake Murray on the final day of the 2026 Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship presented by Native Watercraft. And while many anglers were forced to adjust their game plans and move areas, it was just what Ewing Minor needed to catch his biggest bag of the tournament and claim the top spot.
The 24-year-old claimed his first Kayak Series Championship with a three-day total measuring 292.75 inches, outlasting North Carolina’s Wyatt Hammond to earn the $20,000 first-place prize. Not only did he win the tournament, but he also secured the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Kayak Series Angler of the Year title.
“It’s been an incredible week. I don’t even want to go fish another lake after the things that happened this week. I don’t know how many bass I caught this week. I probably averaged 30 to 40 a day,” he said. “To seal the deal on this and AOY is unreal. Those were the two titles I was missing.”
Minor opened the tournament with 98.25 inches before catching 95 inches on Day 2 and then 99.5 inches on the final day to claim his third Kayak Series victory of 2026, the first two coming at Santee Cooper Lakes and the Susquehanna River.
The Carson-Newman University graduate had come close to winning the National Championship before, only to watch Hammond hoist the trophy on the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour stage in Fort Worth in 2025.
This time, it was Minor who got the best of Hammond.
“When the leaderboard went off during that tournament, I was leading,” Minor said. “I ended up dropping to third or fourth. I had some close calls with the Hobie BOS Tournament of Champions. I really wanted to win this championship. It is the biggest title in kayak fishing.”
While many of his fellow competitors struggled to generate bites in practice, Minor enjoyed a productive practice. In fact, the first stop of the first day of practice produced a quality largemouth.
“I was very consistent,” he said. “I had other areas where I could catch bigger fish, but I figured if I could catch 95 a day I could be in contention.”
All tournament long, Minor targeted largemouth suspending under schools of blueback herring and threadfin shad in the midlake region of Lake Murray. While he covered more than 20 miles each day, one zone produced most of his bigger bites. Using his forward-facing sonar, Minor noticed the bass suspending between 5 feet of water and 25 feet of water.
His Newport NK300 helped him keep a steady pace and position effectively in the wind.
In that area, the lake narrows, creating pinch points and funnels for the bass to feed. On the final day, the wind pushed even more bait through those funnels and Minor was able to take advantage, landing a 20.5-inch largemouth and a 20.25 as well as multiple 19 inchers.
Minor triggered all of his bites with a variety of Fluke-style soft plastics on either a straight shank hook or an Owner Cover Shot with the point exposed on top of the bait. While the brand didn’t matter, they all had to be chartreuse, and they all had to be rigged weightless in order to generate strikes.
“They can see the chartreuse from a long way,” Minor said. “This is a little dingier of a lake than Lake Hartwell and Lanier. They wanted something bright.”
He tossed those flukes on a Little Miami Outfitters Utah spinning rods with Shimano reels spooled with 10-pound Seaguar Smackdown braid connected to a 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. His retrieve differed from how flukes are usually fished.
“I had to let it sink, and once they saw it I would start reeling it slowly,” Minor explained. “As they sped up and closed the gap I would speed up. These fish want something moving in a straight line. They don’t like it twitching.”
Entering the final day 3 inches behind, Minor wasn’t sure if he would be able to catch Hammond. The morning started slowly, but as the wind picked up and the sun came out, more and more bass started showing up. He caught one of his 20-inchers around midday before landing his second early in the afternoon.
“The wind helped my bite. It was pushing the bait down through that area and the longer the day went, the more fish were in the area. It was unreal how many bass were in that pinch point. Yesterday the big ones weren’t there, so I was a little worried. But it was the only thing I had that was remotely protected so I just zig zagged all day long.”
His last cull happened with minutes left to go in the day, which devoured the last fluke he had in the boat.
Hammond wrapped up the tournament in second place with 290.75 inches, two inches away from his second Championship trophy. The Fayetteville, N.C., angler was the only one to break the 100-inch mark this week, doing so on the second day of the tournament. He caught 95.75 on Day 1 and then 94.5 on the final day.
“I knew keeping a 15-incher on Day 1 was going to come back and bite me. These guys are too good. You can’t slip at all,” Hammond said. “I lost a good bass on Thursday, and you have to fish clean if you are going to fish against the best. Still had a great tournament. I caught so many fish.”
The 2025 Lake Fork champion stayed shallow, targeting wolfpacks of largemouth in eight feet of water or less that were hanging around the sides of points and in saddles close to the points.
“Any of the points I was near, they school on herring,” he said. “When there aren’t herring, they slide to the breaks next to the points and to the sides of the points. There were pods of bass all over those points and breaks.”
Along those banks, Hammond looked for a certain type of vegetation that coats the bottom of the lake floor.
“I don’t remember what it is called, but if it carpeted the bottom, the bass would be picking crayfish out of the grass. I had several spit up those crayfish and they were bright red. I was able to match the hatch.”
While he mixed in a buzzbait, all of Hammond’s bass ate a 1/2-ounce homemade jig made with living rubber paired with either a 6th Sense Prawn or a Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg.
With limits measuring 98.5, 87 and 91, Day 1 leader Jacob Berryhill finished third with 276.5 inches in his first ever Kayak Series Championship appearance. The Carson-Newman student angler targeted bass suspending under bait balls in one of the major creeks.
“I was in 30 to 60 feet of water and they were sitting anywhere from 20 to the surface,” Berryhill said. “They were there today. I pulled in and caught a 20 and two 18s back-back-to-back. From there I just had to catch two more to go with them.”
On Day 2, Berryhill could not locate the better-than-average largemouth, but with the wind blowing into his area on the final day, more big bass showed up and he was able to capitalize. A chartreuse fluke was his best bait while a jighead minnow and a jigging spoon also triggered bites.
“I had to work the fluke fast,” Berryhill said. “When the waves were crashing, I had to work it a little slower just to give the bass time to see it. The first day it was super calm, and I could really work it fast. If it came out of the water, they would come up and blow it out of the water.”
Virginia’s Casey Reed caught the Big Bass of the Tournament, a 23.5-inch largemouth he landed on Day 1.
Minor wrapped up the season with 995 points followed by Hammond in second with 982 points, Rus Snyders in third with 976 points, Ryan Matylewicz in fourth with 971 points and Jake Angulas in fifth with 967 points. Full results will be available on Bassmaster.com.
Click here to view the final results from the 2026 Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship presented by Native Watercraft.
Capital City/Lake Murray Country hosted this tournament.