Brian Barthelt and Bob Kud Capture Classic Titles After Two Challenging Days By Paul Switzer The Maple Bassmasters closed out the 2026 season with the club’s two-day Classic on September 26–27, competing across the sprawling Winneconne Chain. Anglers had access to Lakes Poygan, Butte des Morts and Winnebago, along with the Wolf and Fox rivers. The massive playing field offered nearly unlimited options, but finding dependable fish proved extremely difficult. Practice produced scattered bites with little consistency, and the tournament became a test of patience, execution and the willingness to abandon unproductive water. Brian Barthelt captured the boater championship with six fish weighing 12.89 pounds. Ric Stanczak finished a close second with seven fish totaling 12.04 pounds, while Mike Utermark placed third with five fish weighing 9.82 pounds. In the nonboater division, Bob Kud earned the victory with three fish weighing 5.36 pounds. Casey Wieda finished second with two fish totaling 4.71 pounds, and Zoe Blackwell placed third with one fish weighing 1.42 pounds.

Barthelt’s Gamble Changes the Tournament

[PHOTO: Brian Barthelt holding two bass — caption: “Barthelt – Classic Winner”] Practice showed Barthelt that the Winneconne Chain was fishing extremely tough. He found an occasional fish but could not establish a dependable pattern. Those difficulties continued during the opening day. Several equipment and execution mistakes cost him opportunities, and his only keeper came on a shad-colored Berkley Digger 6.5 crankbait near a seawall. With bites already scarce, there was little room for error. Facing an uphill battle on the second day, Barthelt made the bold decision to run to Lake Winnebago—a lake he had never fished or even seen before the tournament. The gamble would cost approximately an hour and a half of fishing time for the round trip, but he believed the potential reward justified the risk.

“I’ve never even seen the lake in my life. I knew it was a gamble. I’d lose at least an hour and a half of fishing just getting there and back.” — Brian Barthelt

Barthelt began at a spot recommended by a fishing friend, but it produced nothing. Rather than immediately abandoning Lake Winnebago, he began exploring the surrounding area and searching for anything that looked promising. A rocky point near the entrance to a bay produced a keeper on a drop shot paired with a green pumpkin Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm. He added another fish from a large concrete structure inside a channel and found another keeper near a small bridge leading into a backwater area. Barthelt later discovered a shallow submerged weed flat extending from another point. As he prepared to leave, his forward-facing sonar revealed bass roaming along the outside edge. By casting a drop shot just inside the vegetation and slowly dragging it toward the edge, he added several more keepers and assembled his limit. After unsuccessful attempts to upgrade on two reefs, Barthelt returned to the weed flat and made one small improvement before beginning the long run back through Butte des Morts.

A Late Frog Bite Seals the Victory

Although Barthelt had a limit, he knew he still needed better fish. During practice, he had caught a bass weighing more than four pounds from matted duckweed, so he devoted the final portion of the tournament to that pattern. He stopped at the first pad field containing matted duckweed and worked a Rainforest Black Spro Flappin’ Frog across the surface. The move produced a largemouth that upgraded his weight by approximately half a pound. At another pad field only about 100 yards away, the same presentation produced an additional upgrade of roughly four-tenths of a pound. Those two late fish proved crucial, allowing Barthelt to finish 0.85 pounds ahead of Stanczak and complete an impressive comeback from his difficult opening day.

Stanczak and Utermark Earn Top-Three Finishes

[PHOTOS: Ric Stanczak and Mike Utermark — caption: “Stanczak (top) and Utermark (right)”] Ric Stanczak kept the pressure on throughout the weekend and finished runner-up with seven fish weighing 12.04 pounds. Stanczak found success by skipping a green pumpkin Senko around docks. He rigged the bait weightless and Texas-style, allowing him to place it beneath overhanging cover and present it naturally in areas other anglers could not easily reach. Mike Utermark finished third with five fish totaling 9.82 pounds. Utermark used several presentations while targeting rocks, docks and weedlines. His fish came on a green pumpkin Speed Craw with blue pincers and drop-shot rigs paired with either a Dream Shot or Flat Worm. The variety of techniques used by the top three reflected the difficulty of the tournament. No single lure or location dominated the weekend, and success required anglers to piece together bites from several different types of cover.

Kud Wins the Nonboater Championship

[PHOTO: Bob Kud — caption: “Kud – Nonboater Winner”] Bob Kud claimed the nonboater title with three fish weighing 5.36 pounds. Kud concentrated on shallow weed cover, generally fishing approximately 10 feet from shore in four feet of water. He worked holes and openings in the vegetation with a green pumpkin Silent Chaser jig and a peanut butter-and-jelly-colored Predator jig. Although keeper bites were difficult to find, Kud remained around plenty of active fish. He caught more than 20 bass measuring between 13 and 14 inches but had to work throughout the weekend to find fish exceeding the 14-inch minimum. That persistence ultimately earned him the Classic victory.

Wieda Finds a Topwater Bite

[PHOTO: Casey Wieda — caption: “Wieda – Nonboater 2nd Place”] Casey Wieda finished second in the nonboater division with two fish weighing 4.71 pounds. Both of Wieda’s keepers came on a Yo-Zuri pencil popper fished over grass in three to four feet of water. His largest bass, weighing 2.74 pounds, came from a point where fish had been located earlier in the weekend. The fish earned Wieda the nonboater big-bass honor and demonstrated that, even under difficult conditions, a carefully worked topwater bait could still generate quality bites. Zoe Blackwell completed the nonboater Top Three with one fish weighing 1.42 pounds. Her keeper came on a black Spro Flappin’ Frog, adding another productive topwater presentation to the weekend’s mix. Joe Browning recorded the largest bass in the boater division with a 3.44-pound fish.

The Pattern

Anglers caught fish from seawalls, docks, rocks, bridges, shallow vegetation, outside weedlines and matted duckweed across several different bodies of water. Several themes emerged during the weekend:

• • Keeper-sized bass were scattered and difficult to pattern.

• • Shallow vegetation produced fish for both divisions.

• • Green pumpkin was the weekend’s most consistent soft-plastic and jig color.

• • Drop shots produced around rocks, weedlines and isolated structure.

• • Weightless Senkos were effective when skipped beneath docks.

• • Topwater baits produced several important fish over grass and duckweed.

• • Forward-facing sonar helped locate bass roaming outside weed edges.

• • Remaining flexible was more important than forcing an established practice pattern.

Barthelt’s winning performance captured the central lesson of the tournament. After struggling on the opening day, he committed to a long run into completely unfamiliar water, adapted when his original destination failed and continued searching until he found enough fish to change the outcome. [PHOTO: Zoe Blackwell with her bass]

“I FINALLY caught my first one ever on a frog!” — Zoe Blackwell

Full Results Snapshot

Boater Division

• • 1st – Brian Barthelt – 6 fish – 12.89 lbs

• • 2nd – Ric Stanczak – 7 fish – 12.04 lbs

• • 3rd – Mike Utermark – 5 fish – 9.82 lbs

Boater Big Bass – Joe Browning – 3.44 lbs [PHOTO: Joe Browning — caption: “Joe Browning – Big Bass”]

Nonboater Division

• • 1st – Bob Kud – 3 fish – 5.36 lbs

• • 2nd – Casey Wieda – 2 fish – 4.71 lbs

• • 3rd – Zoe Blackwell – 1 fish – 1.42 lbs

Nonboater Big Bass – Casey Wieda – 2.74 lbs

A Classic Finish to the 2026 Season

The Maple Bassmaster Classic provided a fitting conclusion to a season filled with changing conditions, difficult decisions and memorable performances. Barthelt’s comeback demonstrated the value of taking a calculated risk when the original plan is not working. Kud’s victory showed how persistence can pay off when surrounded by fish that fall just short of keeper size. Throughout both divisions, the anglers who continued adjusting were the ones who ultimately rose to the top. On a fishery large enough to offer almost endless possibilities, the 2026 Classic was not won by finding one perfect pattern. It was won by making the right decisions when nothing seemed dependable—and by finding just enough quality bites when they mattered most.