Day 1: Lake Murray
12:45 p.m. - Blog from Mark Cisneros. Ewing Minor just upgraded by half an inch with this 18.75" largemouth. He's using forward-facing sonar on offshore point and targeting roaming fish with a fluke. With only a couple of hours left in the day, he is trying to hold his lead. His smallest fish currently is 18.50".
12:15 p.m. — Blog from Mark Cisneros:
Tennessee's Ewing Minor is the current tournament leader on TourneyX with 96.50-inches. Ewing is fishing offshore utilizing his forward-facing sonar.
He's caught over 30 fish, but the bite has slowed down for him recently.
11:15 a.m. — Blog from Mark Cisneros:
Casey Reed is still working docks trying to find his fifth keeper. He only needs a good 15-inch fish to take the lead. He moved to a different spot where he knows big fish are at.
He has no worries of catching another 20-inch fish and has plenty of time to do just that.
All his fish have been coming off of reaction baits, but he's not ready to tell all of his secrets just yet.
10:51 a.m. - Blog from Christopher Decker
We moved regions to catch up with JR Mocaby, who has had a solid start to the morning, landing a limit measuring 74.75 inches in the first few hours. The water is much dirtier here than what we’ve seen so far, but the Texan is trying to use that to his advantage. The bass have been located close to the bank and close to cover. So far, he’s looking for good depth around shallow rocks and dock posts. Bites had been pretty steady to this point, but now that the sun has risen higher in the sky things have slowed down. Mocaby said he’s letting his main area rest but then plans on going back later in the day.
9:51 a.m. - Blog from photographer Christopher Decker
Before the hurricane came through, the upper end of Lake Murray had abundant duckweed close to the bank, which could have made for exciting frog fishing in this event. Most of that duckweed is now in the middle of the river channel after being blown out by the influx of water.
9:15 a.m. — West Virginia’s Tim Isaac has a five bass limit early on Day 1 of the 2026 Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship presented by Native Watercraft.
The limit goes for 73.75-inches which is good enough for 4th on the leaderboard currently.
8:45 a.m. — Blog from photographer Mark Cisneros:
Casey Reed from Virginia caught his 23.50” big bass by working docks. He just landed his third fish and working hard towards getting his 5 fish limit.
8:30 a.m. — Blog from Christopher Decker:
West Virginia’s Tim Isaac’s is fishing up lake as well, and he has four fish logged on TourneyX, the biggest being 18 inches. Isaac’s has won two Kayak Bass Fishing tournaments and notched another third place finish out of this same area.
“Me and this holler have some history for sure.”
When he arrived for practice, Hurricane Isaias had this area muddy.
“You could see the silt. It was so muddy you could set a fence post in it.”
This morning, every bass he’s caught as been on a Senko. He’s working a ChatterBait right now, and just missed a solid bass.
“I can’t get them to eat a moving bait for nothing.”
7:45 a.m. — Blog from Christopher Decker:
North Carolina’s Jared Stanley has had a steady morning up lake, catching three bass in the first hour of fishing. He hasn’t landed big ones yet, but he knows they are around. He caught a 22-incher in practice and has seen more.
“I have one dock with 100 inches under it. I think it is a timing deal.”
Stanley wasn’t sure he could land a limit in this section of the lake this morning, but with three in the boat early, he figured he’ll stay all day now.
“It’s hard not to go after those schoolers.”
7:00 a.m. — Click here to watch the kayak anglers preview Day 1 at the 2026 Kayak Championship.