Scott spent some time chatting with one of the kayak angling community’s most formidable competitors, 2019 KBF Angler of the Year runner-up Josh Stewart of Tennessee. If KBF published a yearbook, by the title Most Consistent you’d see a photo of Josh. That’s appropriate, but the title Josh prefers is Dee Zee KBF The TEN Champion. He’ll have a chance to earn that on January 31-February 1 at Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Florida.
This past September, Josh beat out 80 other kayak bass anglers to win the Hobie BOS title at Lake Guntersville. Big Mo carried him La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he won two KBF Championships in October-the Pro Tour and Challenge Series Championships-and placed second in the TRAIL Series Championship.
Among KBF Pros, Josh bested 2017 KBF TRAIL and Challenge Series Champion and AOY Jamie Denison, a perennial piscatorial powerhouse who finished in Second Place on the Mississippi River a whopping 7.50 inches out of the lead. To claim the Challenge Series crown, Josh overcame Wisconsin Jeremiah Burish’s home court advantage by a five-inch margin.
You’ve heard how, to escape a hungry grizzly bear, you don’t have to outrun the bear…just the other campers? Well, the concensus opinion among competitors heading to Kissimmee at month’s end is that the only person they have to outfish to win The TEN is Josh. If they can beat him, they have the rest of the field licked, because he’s going to be at or near the top of the NRS Leader Board both days.
Jamie Denison followed his Toledo Bend 2017 double-Championship feat by winning KBF’s The TEN in 2018. If there’s another KBF angler capable of repeating as a triple-crown winner, you’ll be watching him Saturday night on Scott Beutjer’s Weigh-In. (In case you’re new to kayak fishing, he wil be the one with hair on his head.)
No pressure, Josh.
Scott asked Josh how he’s holding up with a target painted on his back and probed into what it is that distinguishes him from 99% of other competitive kayak bass anglers, and hear what he thinks it’ll take for him, or anyone else, to drive home from Floriday with a Dee Zee KBF The TEN plaque beside him on the passenger seat.
____________
Scott Beutjer’s Weigh-In can be viewed on Facebook (www.kayakbassfishing.com/weig..., and you can catch up with audio recordings on all the major podcast sites, too. The Weigh-In is made possible by financial support of FishUSA, America’s Tackle Box. Dee Zee Truck Accessories is sponsor of KBF The TEN.