KAS Anglers didn't want to leave Marinette County - Eric "Smallie" Scrivner earns the title of "BronzeKing"
Updated: Sep 8
Achigan's annual "BronzeQuest" event is starting to earn the reputation as one of the most anticipated events of each season, for both the on and off-water festivities and fellowship. This year's Northwoods BronzeQuest was no different, as the battle for BronzeKing was so intense that it took 90 inches just to land in 25th place. That speaks volumes about the smallmouth fishing in Marinette County, and quite frankly shows why KAS chose to send the anglers up to the Northwoods. Also, huge thanks to the City or Marinette for providing great venues to hold Opening Ceremonies and Awards, most notably The Lodge on Main.
The entire series, presented by GoPro, aims to take anglers to new fisheries across the US, and put the anglers in the best position to catch loads of bass, or even a fish of a lifetime. Of course the event is "action camera incentivized" so that we can witness these amazing watersheds. The anglers didn't disappoint at this event, and more photos and videos are still coming in a week after the BronzeQuest. Before we get to some of those great shots and epic catches, we must start from the beginning...
By the numbers
Angler's from 19 states traveled to this smallmouth "mecca," where they submitted 401 fish in the Individual Division and 374 in the Team Division through TourneyX. Between the two divisions there were 130 total registrations, which was an incredible turnout for such a northern trek for many of these anglers.
Opening Ceremonies
The Lodge on Main was Tournament HQ for this event; the popular local establishment kicked off hosting Thursday's Opening Ceremonies, where the anglers got checked in or registered, perused the Sponsor's tables, Ketch trophies, and asked Tournament Director Drew Gregory any final questions. In between all of that they enjoyed incredible food, drinks and fellowship. The 1st 50 anglers who registered were treated to a $100 Angler Welcome Bag. Additionally, more and more anglers are starting to bring items to the popular "Angler Garage Sale" section where they can make a little money on their new/used items to help offset costs of the trip.
Opening Ceremonies (Click here for full gallery page)
(photo credits to Jake Heppner, Drew Gregory)
The Bass U Brunch
Friday's Bass U Brunch was a huge hit, as the anglers enjoyed a catered breakfast while listening to a very informative seminar from Kristine Fischer and Jordan Westerman. On Saturday night, one angler on stage, Matt Boyle, actually credited a few tips from Jordan to helping him finish In 6th place. To come to a KAS event and not take advantage of the Bass U Brunch intel would be a big mistake, as this info helps you become a better angler for the rest of your kayak fishing days. As always KAS provides this free of charge, but of course accepts donations to help cover food, venue rentals and other costs associated with it.
Bass U Brunch (Click to view full gallery here) (photo credits to Alan Lockwood, Jake Heppner & Drew Gregory)
KASTKING Individual Angler Division
AFTCO's Afternoon Sesh - 2:15pm-7:45pm, Tournament Begins
While the Bass U Brunch is for the fellowship, AFTCO's Afternoon Sesh (Fri) is for the fish. Lines In is typically 3 p.m., and gives anglers a chance to hit the water for about a half day of fishing. However, given the BronzeQuest is such a special event, KAS allowed anglers to get a full 5.5 hours of fishing in instead of the typical 4-4.5. The half day is unique to KAS and anglers continually express how much they enjoy the relaxed start to the event. They appreciate time on the water during a weekday to avoid big local crowds and the chance to fish the typically good afternoon and evening low light bite! Since KAS is a 5-fish limit total (between both days) it's also a very forgiving format for those that don't have a great Friday or just simply make a poor decision.
One angler who made a good decision on Friday was Kristine Fischer, who early in landed this giant 21.25 inch smallie that weighed over 6lbs! Hard to believe this fish failed to win the Booyah Big Bass of the event, even though it technically probably weighed more than our Big Bass - more on James Miller and that his mega bronze later.
The bass were cooperating for most all the anglers and the limits already over 90 inches were pouring in. However, by sunset Friday, Minnesota's Eric Scrivner would take home the $250 Friday Leader BONUS with a total of 98.75 inches, with three smallmouth over 20 inches! Two main questions arose after the Friday sesh - could he hang on to take the title? Also, would he crack the century mark and earn the rare Chinook Century Belt?
Marinette county smallmouth were living up to its reputation and things were about to get wilder as positive summer fishing weather, cloudy with drizzle, was incoming for Saturday's fishing.
Send it Saturday presented by SMITH Optics - 6:15am-3:00pm
Launch time was 6:00am, with "lines in" beginning at 6:15am. Many anglers decided to just "run it back" and do whatever they did on Friday again, while others were saving a different section of lake or river to target "fresh fish."
When the BronzeQuest resumed on Saturday it was essentially a new quest, the quest to chase down Eric Scrivner who sat atop the the Realtree Fishing Real Time leaderboard powered by TourneyX.. James Miller and Collin Lamkin had 96” and 95.25” respectively, while Rus Snyders and Jordan Westerman had 94.5” apiece within the first two hours of competition. Not far behind were Michael Grimsley, Mark Schramm and Josh Chrenko, while a host of other anglers were already over 90” for the event. The day set up to be a shootout, with just about any angler within range of the leader.
At mid-morning, Rus Snyders made a move up the leaderboard, improving to second place with 96.75”, while Scrivner remained at 98.75”. Shortly before noon, James Miller moved into second place with 99.25”, while Scrivner improved his first place position by crossing the century mark with 100.75”. Tyler Cole of Iowa made a big jump into the picture by moving into fourth place with 96.25”.
As Saturday's fishing continued, so did the upgrades and culls. Local kayak anglers, Mark Schram and Matt Boyle, both crossed the 96 mark, while Kristine Fischer was able to put together more solid smallies to with her 21.25 from the day before to 95.75. Last year's "BronzeKing," Josh Chrenko, also got within a big bite or two of the lead at 95.50, which, as good as that is, only put him in 10th place! The leaderboard was turned off for the final two hours and the anlgers would have to wait for the awards back at The Lodge on Main to find out if anyone could pass Scrivner and/or if anyone else would earned the century belt.
The KAS production crew made the awards very suspenseful as always as anglers in the top 10 come up in random order with the leader taking over the Kayak Kushion "Hot Seat." Tournament Director and MC of the event Drew Gregory interviewed the anglers about their day/s as one of the largest Award Ceremony crowds, nearly 100, watched while they were also served top notch food and drinks. It was an atmosphere that has become synonymous with the BronzeQuest.
When all the bronze cards were finally laid down and submitted, despite the KAS crew laying out 3 Century Belts on the trophy table to make him sweat, Scrivner ended up being the only one to crack the mark and of course take the title of BronzeKing - wire to wire! It wasn't without late cull drama as Indiana's James Miller's hit 99.25 inches, and won the tie breaker over Fischer for the Booyah Big Bass (above), which rolls down to their next biggest bass. Late culls also come in from from Tennnessee's Rus Snyders (3rd place, 99 inches) and Iowa's Tyler Cole (4th, 98.50) to make it closer than the fans realized.
Scrivner, now a 2-time KAS Champion (Wisconsin Riverfest 2024) mentioned that he caught his fish on a Z-MAN Fishing Jackhammer chatterbait and of course the bait he is well known to rely on in rivers - a jig and craw type setup as well that you can see In the "Top Baits" article along with many of the other top angler's setups. Scrivner is no doubt methodical in his approach on the water, and savvy off the water as well; he was entered into basically every KAS Bonus & Contingency program and essentially racked up with over $5,500 In cash and another $2000 In prizes making his total winnings around $7500 of value! WOW! He won the Omnia Pro $300 In omniafishing.com credit as well as the "Top NuCanoe Angler" which gave him a $500 NuCanoe gift card. He also lodged inside Marinette County which gave him another $500 cash as part of our "County Bounty" bonus which rewards those who lodge in the host county If they are the highest placing angler.
Click here for full KastKing Individual Standings
Click here to watch the full Awards Ceremony
Scrivner also aggressively enters the Angler of the Year (AOY) race, with this 1st place finish to go along with his 4th place finish in Indiana, earlier this year at the Great Midwestivus II. Coincidentally, Midwestivus II was the event that James Miller won to go along with his 2nd place here in Wisconsin. Both anglers will be fishing their 3rd event (minimum to qualify for AOY) at Broodstock III, In Clarksville, TN in September, and trying to surpass current AOY Leader, Jordan Lovejoy who leads with 280.96 points (out of possible 300).
The event paid out 16 anglers in cash, and thanks to Guardian Angel Devices the next 5 anglers (17-21st place) also received their "micro series" light kit, which Is a $200 value!
Omnia Fishing's "On the Water" Gallery (Click to view full gallery) (photo credits to KAS Production Crew & Angler Uploaded Content)
"From the Air" Gallery (Click to view full gallery)
(photo credits to KAS Production Team)
TOYO TIRES Team Division
Team tournament fishing requires that two anglers strategize and work together to build a solid game plan that helps them not just as a team, but also as Individuals as well. The Toyo Tires Team Division pairs the best 5 bass from each of the two team anglers for a combined 10 bass total. This division tends to have a slow start with the Friday Afternoon Sesh, as one angler may find bites while his or her teammate eliminates water looking for fish. It is rare to see several teams post big limits. The Northwooods Bronzequest changed that narrative.
At the end of Friday, two teams averaged over 90” per angler, another five teams averaged more than 85” per angler, and the top dozen teams had posted healthy limits for both anglers.
The Minner Shakers (Rus Synders & Jordan Westerman) resumed fishing on Saturday with a total length of 189” while Cover Water (Eric Scrivner & Elvis Lee) sat 3.5” behind them. At mid-morning, Cover Water had improved to 189” while the Minner Shakers moved ahead to 191.25” Donkey Tales (Josh Chrenko & John Dalton) rounded out the top three with 180”.
And then things got really tight. Minner Shakers improved slightly to 192.25” but team Cover Water closed the gap to 1.25” by improving to 191”.
However, just like on the Individual side the leading team held off the competition; Snyders and Westerman each took home an additional $1000 to go along with their winnings in the Individual Division ($2000 & $1600 respectively).
While Westerman is "technically" from Iowa, he spends much of his time in the Wisconsin Northwoods and has invited Snyders up for trips In the past. The duo put their experience In targeting these tannic water smallies to good use and they executed their game plan perfectly.
However, since this was their first event they will not have enough events left to contend for the Torqeedo Team of the Year. Leading that race, thanks to a solid finish at this event, is now the Buckeye Bassin Boys - Josiah Bihary and Clayton Carter - with 280.38 points (out of possible 30
REBEL "Live Flex" Micro-Bag Division
If Marinette County is NOT the place to go If you're looking for small bass, which our "Micro-Bag" Division focuses on. In fact, angler's vying for this "winner take all" $25 entry fee division failed to catch a limit. We're sure it is due to the abundance of fun they were all having catching big fish. Nevertheless, someone still had to win and that someone was Kevin Swan who only had 3 micro bass, but it was more than anyone else and he wisely answered Drew Gregory's question on stage "Uh, yeah sure" when asked If he was "targeting smaller bass to try and win this division?" The crowd laughed and applauded Kevin for his title.
New Primal "Next Up" Division (under 21)
Jimmy Entwistle has been no stranger to the stage this season, at both KAS events and Bassmaster events as well. He and Jordan Lovejoy are in the hunt for Team of the Year and recently won the Team side of the Juniata Regatta event. Today was his day to win the New Primal "Next UP" division, which focuses on the next generation of anglers (under 21). Entwistle, with 90.75 inches, which placed him in 19th place overall, took home the trophy and a brand new Yak Rods spinning rod.
Full Awards Gallery (Link to full gallery here)
Raffle Kayak
To end the show, KAS always raffles off a big ticket item such as a kayak or motor. Typically at the signature smallmouth event of the season we raffle off a Crescent Kayak "Smallie" and at this BronzeQuest It was no different. All proceeds went towards Kayak Fishing Certification scholarships that 10 anglers will be taking advantage of after Broodstock when they take the ACA Certified Kayak Fishing & Paddlesports Safety course.
The winner of the Smallie kayak was none other than local angler Matt Boyle, who placed 3rd In the Team Division as well as 7th in the Individual. The crowd jokingly groaned a little, but hey, the raffle has no bias and knows not if you won or lost In any of the competition portion of the event! Ha!
BONUSES PROGRAMS
AFTCO Bank Bag Cleanup
Huge shout out to the many anglers who took an AFTCO Bank Bag and helped clean up the access points, boat ramps, and rivers and lakes themselves. It Is so pristine In the Northwoods that only one angler even found enough trash to return! For their efforts AFTCO gave him a $25 to AFTCO.com
"Angler's Cut" Presented by GoPro Best GoPro "cut" from the previous event (Juniata Regatta) receives $500 cash, a brand new GoPro plus a GoPro Premium Plus Subscription for 1 year. KAS has always told the anglers that it does not have to be a fish catch video and Bryan Slaton is the first to win on such a clip as he had an unusual visitor fly onto his head during the Juniata Regatta. Thankfully he had his GoPro rolling!
However, KAS also wanted to award an extra GoPro for a fish catch video that "almost won" In Indiana earlier this year, so before Scrivner even knew he had won the BronzeQuest the KAS team showed his edit from The Great Midwestivus and awarded him a new GoPro Hero 13 black.
"Unhooked" presented by DHUKR
Lose a fish in practice or the tournament? Win $500! That's what Brian Lindemuth did at the Juniata Regatta when he got this great GoPro Max 2 clip of he and his wife fishing during practice! As we always like to say "Only a DHUKR should get a hook out that easy!"
Crosskix Cross-Country Prize - Two anglers who drove the most miles to attend receive a new pair of Crosskix!
New Angler New Kix - Two random first time KAS Anglers receive a new pair of Crosskix.
First & Last Light Bass presented by Guardian Angel
Huge thanks to Wisco Cottages again for being a great lodging partner and we can't wait to be back to Marinette County In the future! We highly recommend their "on the river" cabins for anyone who wants to just get away to some incredible fishing and scenery and just relax.
Looking Ahead
Get ready for the open finale event, Broodstock III, in Clarksville TN on Sept 18-19th. This one is going to be a BLAST with payouts deeper into the field (30%) and of course we'll crown our KastKing Angler of the Year and Torqeedo Team of the Year as well as the winner who will foever be dubbed one of the few "Broodmasters" who have won a Broodstock event!
Additional Info
For more information about the Kayak Adventure Series presented by Go Pro, visit: https://www.kayakadventureseries.com/
Click here to learn more about Go Pro cameras.
© 2026 Kayak Adventure Series. All Rights Reserved. First published June 22, 2026.
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