The Ten is an invitational tournament hosted by Kayak Bass Fishing. It pits the best of the best on trophy bass water – Bienville Plantation, Florida. To qualify, anglers had to finish in the top ten of the KBF angler of the year points standings. Up for grabs? $10,000, winner take all.
Two qualifiers, Ron Champion and Cory Dreyer, tied for seventh in angler of the year points, would ultimately duke it out for the top spot. The result was very much in doubt after day one of the two-day fish-off.
With no pre-fishing allowed, just a navigation day, every one of The Ten competitors had to work on patterning the bass from zero. “We had to figure it out,” says Champion. He started by throwing a crankbait shallow, where he found lots of empty beds and other fish moving up. “I knew there would be some fish shallow,” he says. He quickly picked up three keepers, all big males. At that point Champion decided to switch things up and move to deeper water.
Meanwhile Cory Dreyer stayed shallow. He fished a Strike King Rage Bug in chameleon, and culled through a good 40 to 50 fish on day one. “I broke off an 8-pounder towards the end of the day. I lost a 21-incher at the boat. But I stayed in the running,” he says. His day one total was 95 inches, good enough for third overall.
Back to Champion. His move to deep water looked like it would pay off. He stuck a monster, one that was over 12 pounds, maybe even a 14 or 15, the biggest bass he’d seen in his life. “Every time I pulled it up it took me back out. It finally broke me off. I was sick. I was devastated,” he says.
He rallied. He retied, went back over and stuck a 9-pounder on the very next cast. He followed it up 15 minutes later with a 20-incher. After day one, his tally stood at an impressive 100.75 inches. It wasn’t enough for the overall lead. That went to Jay Wallen’s 101.75 inches, thought to be the fattest 5-fish single day tournament limit in KBF history.
Day two dawned, cloudy and colder. Wallen fell off the pace. Dreyer continued to fish shallow, working the same pattern, only darker. He worked his way through a good 30 fish, trying feverishly to cull up. With 40 minutes left, he was still sitting firmly in third place.
Meanwhile Champion stuck with his deeper water, figuring those fish wouldn’t be as affected by the drop in temperature. He was fish-less three hours in, then finally solved the puzzle. The fish were there, but they needed to be provoked into biting. He ripped his bait off the bottom, letting it fall, triggering strikes. He caught fish the rest of the day, solid ones, for a 94.25-inch limit. It opened the door just a crack.
Back to Dreyer, who had no quit in him. He culled an 18 up to a 20, then five minutes later connected with a chunky 23.5-inch bass, the largest of the tournament. “I was ecstatic. It was one of those feelings it is hard to explain,” he says.
Incredibly, Dreyer’s 100-inch day two total brought him to 195 – the same two-day tally as Champion. They were tied again. Dreyer takes it from here:
“As many of you know there was a confusion on the rules on tie breakers. One favored Ron as the winner and the other favored me. The written rule (officially posted) was that a tie was broken based on the time fish were submitted. The “said” rule that was first announced at Toledo Bend in October 2016 and times after that was that big bass decided the tie. Well because of the confusion Ron and I collectively decided it was best to split the winnings,” Dreyer says.
“We never wanted any conflict for Kayak Bass Fishing or for each other. I came home with the same thing that Cory did… Cory Dryer is not only an amazing angler, he is my friend , my boy , my brother… Congrats brother on a heck of a weekend,” Champion says.
