Winning a big-bass tournament usually comes down to one good bite. For Kyle Swerczek, it nearly came down to a dead outboard and the kindness of a competitor.
Swerczek, of St. Charles, Missouri, was fishing the Spring Big Bass Bash at Lake of the Ozarks over April 18-19, a two-day event with anglers from 33 states and a purse north of $350,000. Around 7:15 on Sunday morning he caught a 6.71-pound largemouth on a brush hog in shallow water along the Niangua Arm — the kind of fish that wins the whole thing in a timed-slot format.
Getting it to the scales was the problem. Motoring up the main channel near the Highway 5 Niangua bridge, his 1999 Ranger gave out. "We think we blew a cylinder out," he said. "All of a sudden we felt the motor vibrating pretty bad and it kind of died." With a fish potentially worth $100,000 sloshing in the livewell, that is the worst possible moment for engine trouble.
Help came from another angler. Jeff Humenik idled over and waved him aboard — "Oh, hop in. I can give you a ride up there" — and Swerczek carried his bass the rest of the way to Red Oak Resort while his father nursed the crippled boat back roughly five miles on the trolling motor.
The weight stood up. Swerczek's 6.71 pounds beat Jarred Russell's 6.63-pound bass, worth $20,000 for second, and Kirk Fischer's 6.59-pounder, good for $10,000 in third. The $100,000 first prize went to Swerczek and his father, who fish together often. "My dad and I have put a lot of hours in on the water," Swerczek said. "It felt nice to get validation."
The episode is a reminder of what these heavy-purse, single-fish events actually test. The bite is half of it. The other half is everything between the hookset and the stage — and on this Sunday, that gap was bridged by a rival willing to give up part of his own day to make sure the best bass of the weekend got weighed.