Our new Monthly Online Challenge Series kicked off the season last Thursday, but the first single-day event took place yesterday.

Our no-limit Catch ‘Em All Brawl Series started in 2019 with the first-ever Fall Brawl. Steve Scott won that event with 471.50 inches. We followed it up with the Spring Brawl in 2020, with Derek Brundle hammering home the win with 393.25 inches.

So going into yesterday, we all should have known that you need a very good, productive lake if you want to come close to winning. For many of us, that win proved elusive. With spring temps being colder at this time than in previous years, and a cold front pushing through, that spring bite was hard to come by for a lot of us.

In fact, only nine anglers out of 35 caught five fish or more. Pretty brutal out there for most of us.

With 35 anglers, we paid out three spots, plus lunker bass and lunker pickerel.

For me, I knew fairly quickly that I had no shot. I picked a small pond in Carver that I’d never fished before (something I love to do, but maybe not the brightest move for a tournament), so when I saw Steve Scott and Matthew Conant lighting up the leaderboard early, I just hoped I could lay into a big one for the KBF State Challenge.

That didn’t happen, of course.

Meanwhile, Steve steadily increased his lead, but Matt began inching closer and closer. Birthday boy Bob Pierce started to make a run for the top as well, but at the end of the day Steve had just amassed too great of a lead from the start, one that he continued to add to throughout the day.

With 434 inches, Steve nabbed himself another Brawl victory, besting Conant’s impressive second-place haul by nearly 130 inches! Bob’s 218.25 rounded out the top three.

The lunker pools went to Joseph Daddeo and Shawn Dominik. Joe landed a 20-inch largemouth from his favorite honey hole, while Shawn laid a long 24.50-inch pickerel on the board.

Great job, fellas! Happy to be back on the water with everyone!

For the full standings, click here.