In Bassmaster Kayak Series competition, Kristine Fischer has racked up second, third and fourth place finishes over the past few seasons. When fishing concluded on Day 2 of the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Tenkiller presented by Native Watercraft, a day filled with several missed opportunities, Fischer was mentally prepared for the disappointment of another close call.
What she thought wasn’t good enough turned out to be plenty.
With a two-day total of 172.75 inches, the Weeping Water, Neb., native claimed her first B.A.S.S. title, earning the top prize of $7,500 and a spot in the 2026 Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship. Fischer opened the tournament in second place with a 90.5-inch limit of largemouth before jumping into the top spot with 82.25 inches Day 2, which included one smallmouth.
The BassmastHER ambassador now has victories with three different national trails.
“I’m honestly in disbelief,” Fischer said. “I thought the big fish bite was better today, and I had the bites today that I knew I would have needed to win the tournament. But the two biggest bites I got didn’t get to the boat. You get a gut feeling when one of those gets off that it was going to cost you, and I definitely had that feeling. I’m a big believer that when it is your time, it is your time. A lot lately, it hasn’t been my time, and I was just hoping to stay in the Top 3.
“I’m still reeling a little bit that I actually pulled it off.”
Oklahoma’s Luke Aryan finished second with a two-day total of 171.25 inches followed by Missouri’s Micah Funderburgh in third with 170.5 inches. Kansas angler Stony Floyd and Connecticut’s Ryan Nye rounded out the Top 5 with 170.5 and 170.25 respectively.
Fischer’s first tournament on Lake Tenkiller came early last year when she finished 36th in the 2024 Kayak Series Championship. As a St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Division I angler, Lake Tenkiller was her third and final Kayak Series tournament for the season, and she knew she needed a good finish to qualify for the 2026 Championship through the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Kayak Series Angler of the Year race.
“Your best three events (determine AOY), and I can only fish three,” Fischer said. “I knew I had to get a Top 30 finish to make sure I am in the Championship, so I had some pressure on me.”
The water levels on Lake Tenkiller changed every day. After heavy rains moved through the area, the lake rose to 8 feet above full pool midweek before the Corp of Engineers began releasing water late in the week and into the weekend.
Targeting floating docks sitting over 15 to 45 feet of water, Fischer skipped 5-, 6- and 7-inch shad-colored swimbaits (including a 6-inch Berkley Cull Shad) under those docks to generate her biggest bites. She used sidescan to locate docks with baitfish underneath before turning around and making long skips to the backside of the particular dock.
In practice, Fischer discovered some issues with her forward-facing sonar, and she was unable to use it during the tournament, which she felt turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“Some of the bigger bites were way under the dock. You almost had to hit the back of the dock,” Fischer explained. “Some of the times I couldn’t even see what was underneath.
“I didn’t turn it on once. I think that helped me. Sometimes when you have it on, it distracts you. I just did my thing around the banks and docks.”
She also flipped a Berkley Crud Craw around flooded bushes she came across during the day.
“As the water dropped, I pulled out to the midcreek areas, and anywhere I had a steeper bank with flooded bushes I would flip,” she said. “I also threw the big swimbait there and would crawl it through the flooded bushes. I got a lot of big bites doing that and had a lot of followers.”
During practice, Fischer caught quality smallmouth and largemouth. Once the tournament began, largemouth became the predominant species in her areas. After achieving a small limit in the back of a creek to open Day 1, Fischer moved out to deeper water and filled out a limit measuring just under 90 inches in the first two hours, which included a 20.5-inch largemouth.
A move down to the dam produced two culls around a stretch of chunk rock.
“I caught smallmouth in practice fishing bushes, which was very strange. They were very much mixed in with the largemouth in practice,” Fischer said. “But Day 1 I never got a smallmouth bite. The sun might have had something to do with that.”
On Day 2, Fischer felt fishing the floating docks would give her the best chance at winning. She filled out a limit around midmorning but lost a quality smallmouth and a big largemouth that would have given her a comfortable cushion over the field. Fortunately for Fischer, she didn’t need them.
“I had the big swimbait in my hand all day. I didn’t put it down,” she said. “I was hunting for those big bites, and I got them. I knew I was doing the right thing, but I felt like I needed to stay in the area and hammer down.”
West Virginia’s Phillip Backus claimed the $500 Big Bass bonus with a 21.25-inch largemouth he landed on Day 2. Rus Snyders also landed a 21.25 on Day 1, but Backus broke the tie with a 20.25-inch bass.
All anglers earned points toward the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Kayak Series Angler of the Year race. Those standings will be updated in the coming days.
The Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series presented by Native Watercraft is scored by TourneyX.
Full results from the Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series at Lake Tenkiller presented by Native Watercraft are scored by TourneyX and can be found here.
