The 2026 Up North Bass Circuit Season

The above picture somewhat tells how the season unfolded for the UNBC anglers, in just their third season competing in the circuit Kody Hermansen & cousin Hunter Hermansen (who  recently got married) also known as the circuit's YOUNG GUNS had a awesome year. They won the Head to Head Tournament & when the pressure was at it's highest they pulled off a big win at the final tourney held on Grindstone with all largemouth bass (very unexpected) to capture the very coveted Anglers of the Year title. 

So just how did 2026 compare to past years? The 402 bass that hit the scales ranks sixth all time & the 1,067 pounds of bass that were weighed rank third while the 2.65 pound average weight of all the bass caught is second, so the total weight & average is a pretty hefty accomplishment especially when everyone thinks the good old days are gone. As far as individual records go Randy Grinnell's big bass on Long Lake puts him into the lead for Big Bass Awards with 6 it also puts Randy & Dewy into a 3 way tie for Team Big Bass Awards with 6. We had a heck of a run this year for the most consecutive 5 fish limits weighed in, Chad & Cruz were tied with Tim & Chad when they broke Rob & Mike's record of 22 consecutive limits of bass. Chad & Cruz managed to get one more when it all came to an end at Nelson Lake stopping their streak at 23 while Tim & Chad managed to get two more before Big Wood got the best of them ending their run at 24 which now stands as the record & it may not last to long because Team Wilcox/Hermansen have a current streak of 21 going with a chance to break the record next August if all goes well. We had five differant winners this year which show's the parity of this circuit, it's definitely not easy winning one of these derbies & the teams that pulled it off this past year were Grinnell/Andersen on Long Lake, Lukasik/Bierman on Lake Wapogasset, Cran/Edwards on Nelson Lake, Hermansen/Hermansen on Grindstone. The Young Guns weighed in the largest bag of the year w/18.54 lbs. on Grindstone. Big Bass winners were Randy Grinnell w/a 4.92 on Long, Doug Bierman w/a 4.94 on Wapo the biggest of the year, Chad Edwards w/a 4.91 on Nelson & Hunter Hermansen w/a 4.65 on Grindstone. The big bag of the year came from Grindstone caught by the GUNS at 18.54, Grindstone also had the largest overall weight & average this year at 262.36  & 3.12 lbs. Rob Newhouse also got married this summer, hopefully married life is gonna slow those newlywed's fishing down.

Good Luck on the hunt guys see ya in Febuary!!!!!