Kayak Adventure Series Achigan's Mississippi "BronzeQuest" Top Baits
- kayakjaknebraska
- Jul 23
- 10 min read
By Marty Hughes
Presented by Omnia Fishing, where you can purchase most of these baits and get a $50 gift card when you purchase their Omnia Pro app ($60) by using code KASPRO
When Drew Gregory established his 2025 Kayak Adventure Series Schedule he did it with precision so that anglers could experience the very best of each location. This was certainly the case for the Achigan “Bronzequest” on the Upper Mississippi near St. Cloud, Minnesota! This area is absolutely loaded with football sized and bigger smallmouth that will just about rip the rod out of your hands when hooked!
There were 76 anglers that participated on this stretch of river and smaller lakes that produced some really nice bags. Of course, smallie legend Josh Chrenko led the charge with a 100.50 inch bag followed by Minnesota’s own Michael Thompson with 97 inches. Another stout angler from the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” was Zach Gibbons who finished third with 96.75 inches of smallies. There were a wide variety of baits used and each angler had a purpose for why they threw them. Let’s see what these presentations looked like and a little about the set ups that brought success for these top anglers at this event.
Josh Chrenko from Indiana who is the co-owner of Achigan used a custom craw wakebait on a 7’ St. Croix Legend glass medium/moderate cranking rod paired with a 150XG Curado spooled with co-poly line. This presentation was primarily used in the evening Friday session where they had much cleaner water. Chrenko likes to throw these in shallow rocky areas and attempt to cover as much water as possible.
Chrenko also threw a finesse buzzbait paired with a Nikko Winnow 95 paddle tail. The smaller profile of this finesse buzzbait takes advantage of the “bug” bite that they were experiencing up there. In low light conditions, this presentation is deadly and has an awesome hookup percentage, as the fish “slurp” it like a bug. He threw this on a 7’2” medium light Expride paired with a 70XG Curado spooled with 30 lb. braid.
A favorite of Josh Chrenko’s lure package is his own creation, the “Munchee” which is a great tool to catch the attention of larger class smallmouth. With the profile of a swimbait, the the action of a fluke, it is truly a unique presentation. He has caught more big fish on the “Munchee” per cast than any other bait he has ever thrown. He threw this lure on a 7’3” medium heavy Expride spinning setup paired with a Shimano Vanford 2500 spooled with braid to a fluoro leader. The spinning setup really helps him skip this bait to its full potential.
His fourth presentation was the old reliable ½ oz. ZMan EVO bladed jig paired with a 5 inch Scented Jerk ShadZ. This bait was the workhorse of the week with water visibility being cloudy at best. The vibration of the bladed jig is second to none. Instead of retrieving it steady in the water column, he would “crawl” the chatterbait along the bottom closely imitating a fleeing crawfish. Lighter colors seemed to work better for him throughout the week and into the tournament. He thought the bigger body trailer gave the bait a larger profile and would weed out some of the smaller fish. The set up for this was a 7’3” heavy/moderate St. Croix Legend Tournament with a Curado 150 XG baitcast reel. He ran braided line with a short fluoro leader to keep rocks from fraying the braid when the lure was jumping over rocks.
Michael Thompson of Minnesota who is a die hard paddler in the swift current of the mighty Upper Mississippi got all his scored fish on the first evening of the tournament with a Strike King Denny Brauer designed structure jig. The jig was tipped with a greenish blue ZMan Hella Craw and matched the crayfish perfectly. He just flipped the jig around wood, mats of grass, eddies with scum, foam, and just about anything that was worth a toss as long as there was good flow, and not too shallow.
He caught all of his Day 1 fish with one rod, his original Berkley Lightning Rod, a 7’5” stick. It is probably over 35 years old and has three eyelets missing but still gets the job done. The rod is not pictured here because sometime on Saturday, he said he got lazy and started boat flipping lots of big bass. He went to boat a three pounder and cracked it into two pieces! That was the end of his legendary rod that produced so many great catches in the past. He said, “I had a great time on the river, some of the best bass angling I’ve ever had. And I also got my personal best five bass limit for one day.”
Zach Gibbons also of Minnesota caught all of his fish on a ¼ oz. 6th Sense “Sexified Shad” swim jig. His trailer of choice was a Reaction Innovations Little Dipper in “lime ice” or “white trash” with a chartreuse dipped tail. He threw this swim jig on 30 lb. braid with a Daiwa Tatula SV 8.1 ratio with a 7’2” medium heavy/moderate St. Croix BassX rod. Gibbons targeted mostly wood in the current breaks around eel grass to catch his fish.
Eric Tracy from Indiana caught the majority of his fish on an “Electric Shad” EVO Chatterbait and “Monkey Butt” colored Whopper Plopper. The EVO was one of the few baits he was able to cover water with, without picking up eel grass that was everywhere. He primarily worked this bait in various pinch points behind islands, riffles, slower current, and rocky areas.
While not a huge fan of the Whopper Plopper, he used it to find the bigger fish. It paid off with a 20 and 19.5 inch smallmouth being caught on it. He lost a few good ones as well including one monster that got behind him when he was spotlocked in the current and the rest is history. He threw these baits on St. Croix medium heavy spinning rods with Daiwa reels. He said, “The Upper Mississippi is truly a special fishery and I hope to see a KAS event back there again next year.”
“Cole Lawrence of Illinois used a green pumpkin ZMan “Evergreen” Jackhammer with a green pumpkin Rapala Crush City “Freeloader” trailer. His rod included a 6’8” medium heavy Megabass P5 Destroyer Blade paired with a Shimano Metanium DC 70 HG reel. The line he used was 15 lb. Seaguar AbrazX. He fished this combo with a Jackhammer almost exclusively in the tournament.
The area of the river that he was fishing was really dark colored, very grassy and swift so it became obvious to him that pretty early on the bladed jig was going to be the main player. He said, “It makes a lot of commotion in that darker water and you can clear grass out by just swinging the rod and as strong as these fish were fighting the single hook was preferred. He threw other baits but this is what helped him succeed in catching the bigger fish.
Tyler Atwell of Indiana caught all of of his big fish on a green pumpkin ZMan EVO ⅜ oz. Chatterbait with a ZMan DieZel Minnow. He had some caught with the 6” Bullshad but were later culled out. His setup for the chatterbait included a Dobyns Champion XP 736 CB glass rod paired with a Lews ProSP reel for accurate casting spooled with 20 lb. Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon. When throwing the BullShad, Atwell used a Dobyns 835SB rod with a Curado 200 E7 spooled with 25 lb. Sunline Super Sniper fluro. He found his biggest three fish in the mid river grass and most of the other fish at the top V of eddies. Michael Krutzig of Minnesota has fished the Upper Mississippi his entire life and during the summer it’s almost always fast fishing pounding banks. According to Krutzig, “The river is higher than it typically is this time of year which has caused a slight stain in the water.” That was why Krutzig said the bladed the jigs worked so well during the tournament. Typically, he would be throwing a standard swim jig over a chatterbait. Black and blue seemed to be the ticket here as most of the strikes are reaction bites, so the angler wants to use a color the fish can see more clearly and not necessarily matching any sort of natural food source.
ZMan EVO ⅜ oz. Chatterbait with a ZMan DieZel Minnow. He had some caught with the 6” BullshadKrutzig found that the double tail grub outperforms a paddle tail for nearly all plastic trailer presentations. The most important thing he said was, “To catch fish on this stretch of river you will need accurate casts and land your bait as close to the bank as possible.” Big boulders, both the front and backside of shallow ripple can also be big smallmouth areas. He likes to get fairly close to the bank when he fishes, which allows him to get as many casts as possible as the river pushes him along in his kayak. Krutzig said it is very important to watch the water when you’re fishing as the larger smallmouth will often give you little indications of their presence such as a fin sticking out of the water or pushing bait up against the bank. He doesn’t fish with a motor or anything really fancy, he just prides himself on keeping his paddle on his lap and constantly directing his kayak to stay parallel to the bank. They had a strong tailwind on Day 2 of the tournament and Krutzig noted that it actually pushed him too fast and he finished about two and a half hours early on his float which caused him to lose some sleep over it.
Krutzig used four basic presentations for his top 10 showing in the tournament. They included a ZMan Jackhammer, Mega Bass Buzzbait, 6th Sense Swim Jig, and a 6th Sense Catwalk or Zara Spook. He threw his topwater lures on either a 7’3” or 7’4” heavy St. Croix rods. His swim jigs were thrown on a Fenwick 7’1” medium heavy rod and his “Spooks” were on a 6th Sense 6' 10 medium stick. He threw mainly 20 lb. Power Pro V2 braid with no leader.
Jordan Westerman of Iowa who is well known for catching giant smallies throughout most of the country used a Zoom Speed Craw with 1-¼ to 2 oz. weights on a Dobyns Champ 766 rod to catch a lot of his fish. He also searched them out with a ⅜ oz. ZMan EVO Chatterbait trailed with a Missile Baits DBomb trailer on a Powell Endurance 724 rod.
Ryan Parker of Ohio used a ¼ oz. Brazalo swim jig in the Brazalo “bream” color with a watermelon “Pearl Bitters” big swimmer or naked swimmer as a trailer. He threw this on a TFO Professional Series 7’ medium heavy rod with a 9:1 ratio KastKing Mega Jaws reel.
Parker also used a BassDope pillhead 5/16 oz. jig with a green pumpkin “Riot Tantrum” chunk as a trailer. He threw this on a TFO Resolve Series 7’3” medium heavy rod with a 8:1 Daiwa Tatula reel. Both of his jigs and big swimmer were handpicked from his Darkhorse July subscription box which is available from darkhorsetackle.com
Erik Koffski of Minnesota (@SUPn_nd_North) caught his entire bag on the combination of @Tmjigs Tandem Buzzbait trailed with a TLux Outdoors Weed Beater Bullfrog. Throwing this at cutbanks and as far up under trees as he could produced his biggest catches. He used an Abu Garcia Revo Reel, Daiwa rod, and Power Pro 30 lb. test braid for his line. His craft to navigate the swift waters of the Upper Mississippi was the Grey Duck Outdoors Allday Hybrid SUP powered with a Motorguide XI3. His knowledge of the river was obtained by guiding river trips through Clearwaters Outfitting.
Grey Duck Outdoors Allday Hybrid SUP powered with a Motorguide XI3.
Ryan Bonikowske of Minnesota used a one two punch to cash the last check at the KA BronzeQuest, Minnesota event. Ryan focused on fast current and matched his baits to the speed of that current. When rolling through the rapids, he burned a white buzzbait in any and all slack water available. His setup for the buzzbait included a SixGill Anura 7’5” heavy power, fast rod with a Lew’s Custom Pro Speed Spool with a 7.5:1 ratio reel. His line included Suffix 832 braid in 50 lb. Low-Vis green. His bait of choice was a War Eagle Buzzbait that was ⅜ oz. in white with a Zoom “Horny Toad” in white.
Bonikowske also used a spinnerbait when the flow was moderate or the river had some depth to it. The spinnerbait would run with the flow of the current to get the most natural presentation to get those big bites. He used a ½ oz. War Eagle Spinnerbait with painted Double Willow Blades and a chartreuse Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait 3.8 in “Sight Flash.” The setup for the spinnerbait included a 7’2” medium heavy, moderate SixGill Chopper rod and matched with a Lew’s LFS
Speed Spool with a 6.4:1 ratio. He used 15 lb. P-Line Tactical Fluorocarbon on his reel.
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