PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Bailey Eigbrett entered the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Champlain presented by Native Watercraft with one goal; qualify for the 2026 Bassmaster Kayak National Championship in Knoxville.
Not only did he accomplish that goal, but he also claimed a big trophy to add to his mantle.
The Cheektowaga, N.Y., angler claimed the victory in his home state, landing a limit of smallmouth measuring 100.25 inches. Eigbrett’s total included three smallies measuring 20 inches, a 20.5-incher and a 19.75-incher, enough to edge out Pennsylvania's Nick Audi, who finished second with 100 inches.
“To win one of these is absolutely awesome. Knocking this one down in the home state is very special to me,” Eigbrett said.
Scheduled as a two-day event, anglers launched on day 2 with high hopes to build on their day 1 results. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas. Strong winds and increasing risks of strong thunderstorms forced tournament officials to cancel the final day.
“I was still going to throttle down on the fish regardless,” said Eigbrett, who also hosts the “Serious Angler” podcast. “I did think I would have a better shot to win today, because I didn’t know what I was going to do tomorrow with the wind.”
Saturday’s tournament hours featured sunny and mostly calm conditions across most of the lake and the TourneyX scoreboard reflected that. Thirty-seven of the 158-angler field landed limits of 90 inches or better while the 86th-place finisher caught 80 inches. In total, 104 limits were recorded.
While Champlain boasts an excellent largemouth fishery, Eigbrett knew smallmouth were going to be the key to winning. He focused most of his attention on a 300-yard stretch where smallmouth had a choice to either feed on schools of 6- to 7-inch alewives near the surface or perch hanging out near the bottom of the lake in 50 to 60 feet of water.
A Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow produced all his bites. For the smallmouth near the surface, he rigged the Mooch Minnow on a 3/16-ounce Owner Range Roller jighead. He used a 3/8-ounce Cipher tungsten jighead to get down to the perch eaters.
“A lot of the damage was done on the 3/8-ounce,” Eigbrett said. “A lot of the time they were traveling very high up in the water column or they would be on bottom eating bait and start rising toward the surface. I would time the cast so that when they were rising, my bait fell to them.
“I could tell on Live when they acknowledged my bait. I’d kill it, then start twitching it and reeling it back to the boat pretty quickly actually and make them chase it.”
Before heading out to his primary area, Eigbrett started on a hard break on the end of an island and landed his initial limit in short order. That initial limit, however, included one of his 20-inchers, something he was not expecting that spot to produce.
“It was just a limit spot full of 17 and 18-inchers,” he said. “My first cast was a 20-incher, a nice bonus fish. Really started the good vibes for the day.”
Once he had recorded his limit, he headed out to his primary area and by 8 a.m., he had landed two more 20-inch smallmouth.
“I started getting into some pretty good fish,” he said. “I was just doing figure 8’s with my MEGA Live 2 rigged on my Sniper Marine pole. I just tried to run into as many bass as I could and hoping for the big bites. When I caught my fourth 20-incher I knew I had a chance to do something special. I had never been able to catch 100 inches in a tournament, so it was pretty dang cool to do it in this event.”
Connecticut’s Ryan Nye finished third with 99 inches followed by Jake Angulas in fourth with 98.75 inches and Matt Kiefer in fifth with 98.25 inches. West Virginia’s Jody Queen landed a 21-inch largemouth, earning Big Bass of the Tournament honors and a $500 bonus as well as a sixth-place finish.
Final results from the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Champlain presented by Native Watercraft are scored by TourneyX and can be found here.
