Brock Reinkemeyer thought he missed the boat, but he only missed out on the party.
While the other nine Elite Qualifier graduates were spraying champagne, Reinkemeyer was halfway home to Warsaw, Mo. The 33-year-old exited Lake Okeechobee after a disappointing performance, believing he didn’t have a chance to finish among the Top 10 EQ anglers who advance to the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
“I packed my bags and left early,” Reinkemeyer said. “I thought I was completely out of it. I had a 22-hour ride home, so I might as well just get started.”
Reinkemeyer went into the third and final EQ eighth in points. Only four fish on Day 2 knocked him to a 29th-place finish, which dropped him into a tie for the final berth with 222 points. The odds of staying there didn’t look good to him.
“They’re like, ‘Stay, you’re still in the Top 10.’ I’m like, ‘Not for long, dude.’ I blew it. I knew I blew it,” he said. “I’m just going to go home. It is what it is.
“I didn’t even watch (Bassmaster) LIVE on Day 3. I didn’t even look at BassTrakk. I was just like, I don’t even want to know.”
A surprise disqualification gave Reinkemeyer possession of the 10th and final Elite invitation. He was cruising through north Alabama when a friend told him the news.
“One of the better phone calls I’ve ever had,” Reinkemeyer said. “My buddy said, ‘Dude, you’re Elite Series.’ I’m like, ‘No way!’ That was a weird deal.”
Then the realization hit him — he wasn’t there to receive his Elite Qualifier plaque or celebrate with the others.
“Oooh, that’s a pretty bad look,” he said. “I kind of felt like an idiot, but I honestly thought there was no chance.”
Reinkemeyer celebrated at home, then began his whirlwind preparations to compete in B.A.S.S.’s top circuit.
In 2019, Reinkemeyer narrowly missed out on the biggest party. He and longtime partner Brad Jelinek won the Bassmaster Team Championship on Lake Hartwell, then Reinkemeyer finished second to fellow Missourian Josh Busby by 6 ounces for a berth to the 50th Bassmaster Classic.
“That one hurt pretty bad,” Reinkemeyer said. “I would say that’s when I really got the bug to compete.”
Reinkemeyer had been working as a low voltage electrician since high school, but he moved to Truman lake and went all-in for a career in fishing.
“I just fished all the time, and here and there, I worked for my buddy’s sign company, Piros Signs out of St. Louis,” he said of his main sponsor who enjoys fishing with Reinkemeyer. “I’ve taught him everything I know.”
Reinkemeyer, who also guides on Truman, became a well-known stick in the highly competitive Ozark circuits. He fished MLF events in the region, posting most of his dozen top 10s on Truman or Lake of the Ozarks, where he won a Toyota Series event in 2022.
“If you can fish on Truman, you can damn near fish anywhere,” Reinkemeyer said. “It’s just stingy. There’s not a ton of big bites to be had. If you catch a big bag there, it’s usually on 6 or 7 fish.”
It’s only been in the past several years that he began expanding out of the region. Reinkemeyer entered the Bassmaster Opens last year hoping to finish among the top 50 in points and advance to the EQs. He wasn’t too fazed after finishing 100th in his first pro B.A.S.S. event at Sam Rayburn.
“Honestly, I was thinking, that’s my bomb for the year,” he said. “I thought I could at least make the top 50 and then move on.”
He got in the mix with a 14th at Kentucky Lake, then followed up with an 86th at Norfork before a 21st at Leech Lake put him 19th in Division 2 and on to the three-event EQ sprint starting with Lake Champlain. While he had competed once on the big New York lake, it had him a bit concerned.
“I finished a Toyota Series there and I bombed,” he said. “I told myself I wasn’t ever fishing the Inland Sea area again. I actually figured the point deal just south of takeoff.”
Finishing 27th put him in decent position, and his 13th-place finish at Wheeler Lake was a pleasant surprise. The year before, he took seventh in an event there, but things had changed.
“Practice was terrible. I dedicated my whole time fishing the Decatur Flats, and I was just getting one here, one there,” he said. “I had been fishing out in 10 to 8 feet of water. On game day, I went up shallower and found them more in that 2- to 6-foot range, which was a huge adjustment.
“I caught 15 pounds doing that in the last two hours of the first day. On Day 2, I just hammered it for another 16.”
For the Okeechobee finale, Reinkemeyer relied on his one previous time there for a game plan.
“What I learned there was to hunker down,” he said. “Once you find what you feel is right, just fish it as hard as you can and try not to run around.”
While most of the leaders fished canals, Reinkemeyer said he was “dumb” to fish the lake, where he frogged his nine bass.
“I didn’t catch much, but I guess it was just enough,” he said. “I had so many blowups that missed it. All I needed was another 12 incher and I wouldn’t have been scared to make it.”
Reinkemeyer said most of the Elite venues will be new to him, but he’s done well with no history. He’s also on board with the new rule of having some venues allowing forward-facing sonar and some without.
“I like it half and half,” he said. “I’m glad it wasn’t just deleted completely, because LiveScope is pretty fun. Who wouldn’t want to see some fish eat your bait?”
The second Elite stop on Lake Martin is one Reinkemeyer said he’s most excited because it fits his style best. He said Truman Lake requires a more old-school approach of dragging a jig or worm.
“We don’t really pick out individual fish at Truman,” he said. “You have to cast over stuff to see them, like get them to pop their head up. I don’t mind looking at them, but the best way I catch them is when you can’t see them, when they’re on stuff.
“Martin has those pole docks, and there’s some brush and cover. I’m more of a structure guy.”
Reinkemeyer will be the oldest Elite rookie in 2026. Russ Lane, 53, won’t be eligible in his return to the series, and Austin Cranford is the only other EQ angler older than 30.
“I feel like if I can stay within Rookie of the Year range, I’ll be doing pretty good because those guys are going be up there,” Reinkemeyer said. “It’s a big jump, and we’re going to try to minimize the mistakes this year. I can catch five of them suckers, I know that.
“The main goal is to get the Classic berth for next year, try to cash a check in every single one. I would like a Top 10, get on the old LIVE, and a top five would be sick.”
When the Elites launch for the Lake Guntersville opener on Feb. 5, Reinkemeyer hopes he’s not starstruck. He’s looked up to a number of Elites for years, but he knows his job. If he ever lines up next to, say, Jason Christie, his mission will be to “beat his butt.”
“That’s the mentality you got to have these days. You’ve got to,” he said. “You don’t go to come in second.”
In any case, Reinkemeyer has plans to stick around for weigh-ins and awards.
“Oh yeah,” he said, “I’ll be the dead last guy still cheering people on.”
