Carolina Kayak Anglers [CKA] is a grassroots kayak tournament fishing club based in North Carolina. CKA is run by and for its anglers. Centered in the middle of the state, our annual schedule may stretch from end-to-end of North Carolina, challenging anglers to win in a variety of waters. As a result, many of us have attained national prominence in the sport of kayak bass fishing. All that accomplishment may have begun elsewhere when anglers were younger, but it was all fine-tuned in one place: CKA.
Winning a CKA tournament requires scouting, pre-fishing, and flawless execution. One mistake can cost you a win, but one victory can turn years of near misses into distant memories. It has been that way from the first event, when anglers who were seasoned against tough competition in the defunct Carolina Yakfish Trail (2010-2013) moved to CKA. CKA anglers were born directly into battle.
This page acknowledges those victors.
Top Competitors
For the historical record, through 9 complete seasons and a handful of non-points/charity events:
- Ricky Rowland has the most 1st place wins, with 7. He is followed by:
- Bryan Tsiolkas & PC Hawj (6 wins each),
- Bob Dainton and Keith McGee (4 wins),
- Matt Hawj, Will Lambert and Joey Sullivan (3 wins each).
- Jamie Denison, Jim Lor, Melvin Yang, Sammy Wilson, Buster Swisher, Christopher Decker, Clay Lanier, and Jared Stanley have two wins each in competition.
Counting the 2023 season and 87 events, 17 anglers have won 1st place multiple times for a total of 44 events, while 43 other anglers have won 1st place only once; that means that once in roughly every two events, a new angler wins first place.
Assorted Facts
- In 2019 (Keith McGee) and 2021 (Jared Stanley), the CKA Rookie of the Year also won the Tournament of Champions.
- No angler has ever swept all 3 major titles (AOY, ROY and TOC). One angler (Charles Crews†) won both the AOY and ROY in a single season (2020).
- Only three anglers (PC Hawj, 2017; Rick Rowland, 2020, Bryan Tsiolkas 2022) have ever won back to back single live events.
- Only one angler (Bryan Tsiolkas, 2023) has ever won three events in a single season.
- Only three anglers have won the same event in consecutive years. Bob Dainton won the Gate City Classic in 2018 and 2019, Jim Lor won at Shearon Harris in 2018 and 2019, and Keith McGee won the Tournament of Champions in 2019 and 2020.
- 3 anglers have won both a single season event and a Tournament of Champions (TOC) in the same year.
- In more than 80 tournaments, an active CKA director has won 1st place only four times: Eric Nelson won the 2022 Tournament of Champions, Cory Dreyer was co-champion of a team event at Randleman (2017), Dreyer won the CKA event at Falls Lake (2022) and Wayne Butler won at Lake Hickory (2018). Hank Veggian won Shearon Harris (2021) and a charity event (The Blair Fish Project in 2020), but he won both when he was inactive as a CKA director.
- No angler has ever placed in the money in all 8 regular season events. Charles Crews† nearly did so in 2020, when he placed in 7 of 8 tournaments, on his way to winning the Angler of the year title.
Year-by-Year Results
2013
Team Event (Randleman Reservoir): Record not found
2014
Event 1 (Shearon Harris): Vang Yang, 1st Place
Event 2: (Randleman): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st Place
Event 3 (Lake Reese): Record not found
Event 4 (Badin Lake): Shelly Efird, 1st Place
Event 5 (Yadkin River/High Rock): Dwayne Houser, 1st Place
Event 6 (Lookout Shoals, July): Record not found
Event 7 (Gate City Classic): Buster Swisher, 1st Place
2015
Event 1 (Jordan Lake): Jeremy Coggins, 1st Place
Event 2 (Randleman): Matt Hawj, 1st Place
Event 3 (Shearon Harris): Bob Dainton, 1st Place
Event 4 (Yadkin): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 5 (Tuckertown): John Ladd, 1st Place
Event 6 (Lake James): Vinny Ferreri, 1st place
Event 7 (Gate City Classic): P.C. Hawj, 1st Place
2016
Event 1 (Norman): Jamie Denison, 1st Place
Event 2 (Harris): Nomku Thao, 1st Place
Event 3 (Randleman): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 4 (Falls): PC Hawj, 1st Place
Event 5 (Yadkin River): Richard Kennedy, 1st place
Team Event (Randleman): Cory Dreyer/Buster Swisher, 1st Place
Event 6 (Mackintosh): Jamie Denison, 1st place
Event 7 (Gate City): Rick Rowland, 1st place
Tournament of Champions (Yadkin River): Denny Romero, 1st Place
2017
Event 1 (Norman): Melvin Yang, 1st Place
Event 2 (Falls): Brandon Jessup 1st place
Event 3 (Jordan) Mitch Rhodes, 1st place
Event 4 (Hickory): Wayne Butler, 1st Place
Event 5 (Badin): PC Hawj, 1st place
Event 6 (Randleman): PC Hawj, 1st Place
Event 7 (Shearon Harris): Jim Lor, 1st Place
Event 8 (Gate City): Tommy Xiong, 1st place
Tournament of Champions (Lake Norman) Melvin Yang, 1st place
2018
Event 1 (Hyco): Bob Dainton, 1st Place
Event 2 (Hickory): Keith McGee, 1st Place
Event 3 (High Rock): PC Hawj, 1st Place
Event 4 (Kerr Scott): Jacob Shepherd, 1st Place
Event 5 (Shearon Harris): Jim Lor, 1st Place
Event 6 (Jordan): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 7 (Mackintosh): PC Hawj, 1st Place
Event 8 (Gate City): Bob Dainton, 1st Place
Tournament of Champions (Falls Lake) Joey Sullivan, 1st Place
2019
Event 1 (Burlington Bash): Melvin Yang, 1st Place
Event 2 (Jordan): Matt Hawj, 1st Place
Event 3 (High Rock): Joey Sullivan, 1st Place
Event 4 (Tuckertown): Sammy Wilson, 1st Place
Event 5 (Randleman): Will Lambert, 1st Place
Event 6 (Kerr Lake): Tim Sabella, 1st Place
Event 7 (Kerr Scott): Keith McGee, 1st Place
Event 8 (Gate City Classic): Bob Dainton, 1st Place
Tournament of Champions (Jordan Lake): Keith McGee 1st Place
Bigguns for the Dunns: Mike Wimmer, 1st Place
2020
Carolina Shootout: Joey Sullivan, 1st Place
Event 1 (Shearon Harris): Larry Moua, 1st Place,
Event 2: (Wild Card): Sammy Wilson, 1st Place,
Event 3 (Tuckertown): Charles Crews†, 1st Place,
Event 4 (High Rock/Randleman): James Wevers, 1st Place,
Event 5 (Lake Hickory): Teng Vue, 1st Place
Event 6 (Cape Fear): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 7 (Reese/Lucas): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 8 (Gate City Classic): Dustin Matthews, 1st Place
Tournament of Champions (Kerr Lake): Keith McGee, 1st Place
The Blair Fish Project: Hank Veggian, 1st Place
2021
Event 1 (Shearon Harris): Hank Veggian, 1st Place
Event 2 (Burlington Brawl): Christopher Decker, 1st Place
Event 3 (Kerr Scott): Nick Huddleston, 1st Place
Event 4 (Badin Lake): Preston Hampton, 1st Place
Event 5 (Falls Lake): Rick Rowland, 1st Place
Event 6 (Randleman): Marcus Smith 1st Place
Event 7 (Mayo/James): R. Murphy 1st Place (James), Jereme Olshefski (Mayo)
Event 8 (Gate City Classic): Matt Hawj 1st Place
2021 Tournament of Champions (Santee Cooper): Jared Stanley, 1st Place
2022
Event 1 (Falls Lake): Cory Dreyer , 1st place
Event 2 (Lake Mackintosh): Jeremy Hicks, 1st Place
Event 3 (Jordan Lake): Bruce Deel, 1st Place
Event 4 (Badin/Tillery) Christopher Decker 1st Place
Event 5 (East/West) Jared Stanley 1st Place
Event 6 (Summer Lakes): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st Place
Event 7 (Shearon Harris): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st place
Event 8 (Gate City Classic): Jared Stanley, 1st place
2022 CKA Tournament of Champions (Lake Tillery): Eric Nelson, 1st Place
2023 (10th Anniversary Season)
Event 1 (Lake Norman): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st Place.
Event 2 (Shearon Harris): Clay Lanier, 1st Place.
Event 3 (Lake Gaston): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st Place
Event 4 (Lake Hickory): Clay Lanier, 1st Place
Event 5 (Randleman Reservoir): Bryan Tsiolkas, 1st Place
Event 6 (Lake Mackintosh): Sean Boorsma, 1st Place
Event 7 (Tuckertown): Brooks Lanier, 1st Place.
Event 8 (Gate City Classic): Will Lambert, 1st Place
2023 20 for 23 Series: Will Lambert, 1st Place.
2023 Tournament of Champions: Will Lambert, 1st Place
Separate pages on our site are dedicated to the annual AOY and ROY titles.
Whenever possible we have tried to tag every angler’s social media profiles at least one time. Please follow and support your local trail champs!
[Note: The research for this page was conducted using TourneyX event records, Fishing Chaos, review of old posts to the CKA Facebook page and also internal documents held by CKA tournament directors.
To consult individual angler records, search anglers by name on TourneyX or see the CKA club page on TourneyX here: https://tourneyx.com/app/club/carolina-kayak-anglers
CKA began using TourneyX in 2017 and those events through 2021 can be searched there at https://tourneyx.com/app/category/nc—carolina-kayak-anglers/archive
CKA started using Fishing Chaos as a tournament management system in 2022; other events can be found there.
Partial records, including AOY standings and event standings, may also be found on the CKA Facebook Page.]
