Hayward, Wisconsin has long been known as a fishing destination, but on Tuesday, August 18, Lac Courte Oreilles had the opportunity to showcase another side of fishing in our area.
Twenty-five anglers who earned a spot in the season finale arrived in the Hayward Lakes area for the 2026 Champions Tour Championship. It was also a first for the Tour, marking the first Champions Tour event held entirely on an inland Wisconsin fishery.
Around here, it’s almost impossible to talk fishing without muskies entering the conversation. But anyone who spends time exploring our lakes knows that’s only part of the story. Bringing a championship bass tournament to Lac Courte Oreilles offered another opportunity to showcase Hayward area bass fishing and just how diverse fishing throughout our area can be.
I joined the tournament around the midday break and spent the remainder of the day documenting anglers on the water before returning to shore for the final hours and championship celebration. I wasn’t there to see the morning takeoff or document every fish caught throughout the day. Instead, I got to experience something I found just as interesting: watching some incredibly talented tournament anglers break down a lake and even fish some of the same areas I’ve spent time fishing myself.
And after talking with anglers throughout the day, one thing kept coming up: there is a lot more to fishing the Hayward area than any one lake or species.
Bringing the Champions Tour to Hayward
Champions Tour Tournament Director Paul Neumann said bringing the tournament to the Hayward Lakes area had been something organizers wanted to do for quite some time.
“We’ve been wanting to come to the Hayward Lakes area for quite a while, and we finally got a chance,” Neumann said.
The Champions Tour format also provides a unique way to put a fishery to the test.
Rather than a traditional tournament where anglers bring their five best bass to weigh-in, every largemouth or smallmouth bass over one pound counts toward an angler’s total weight. High school student marshals ride along in the boats, weigh qualifying fish as they’re caught and immediately release them back into the water.
Then there’s the lake split.
Competitors don’t learn until the pre-tournament meeting how the lake will be divided. They fish one half during the morning session, return for a short midday break and then head to the opposite half for the afternoon.
As Neumann explained, the format forces competitors to learn an entire lake and develop patterns rather than relying on a handful of familiar spots.
On a fishery like Lac Courte Oreilles, there are plenty of patterns to find.
Lake split map courtesy of Classic Bass.
Seeing a Familiar Lake Through Different Eyes
By the time I headed out onto LCO after the midday break, anglers were beginning the second half of their tournament on an entirely different portion of the lake: the south side.
As someone who fishes these waters myself, this was probably my favorite part of covering the event.
There is something pretty cool about riding across a lake you know and suddenly spotting a championship competitor working an area you’ve fished before. I got to see anglers pull fish from familiar stretches of water, but I also got to watch how differently they approached those areas.
One of many 20″ beautiful smallmouth I’ve caught over the years on this particular body of water.
That’s part of what makes Hayward area bass fishing so interesting. Even on one lake, anglers can encounter dramatically different water and habitat.
Aaron Teal, who traveled from central Minnesota for the championship, noticed that diversity quickly.
“You don’t have a lake with more diversity,” Teal said. “You’ve got grass, you’ve got cribs, you’ve got rock, you’ve got deep water, shallow water, smallmouth, largemouth, walleye, gar.”
His impression of the Hayward area extended beyond what was underneath the water, too.
“I think there’s a certain vibe you get when you come to this area, a certain aura,” he said. “It’s just truly a beautiful, serene place.”
Hayward Area Bass Fishing Goes Beyond LCO
Lac Courte Oreilles may have been the championship venue, but conversations with visiting anglers quickly expanded beyond the boundaries of one lake.
For Noah Schultz, the tournament marked his first trip to Wisconsin, and his introduction to fishing here went beyond LCO. Before tournament practice, he also spent time on nearby Grindstone Lake.
“The fishery is incredible,” Schultz said. “It’s like there’s just fish everywhere.”
His time on Grindstone left an impression, too.
“Everywhere you went, there’s just smallmouth crawling all over the reefs and the rock piles out there,” Schultz said, calling the waters around Hayward some of the best fisheries he’s experienced for both numbers and quality of fish.
That’s something Chad Grigsby has had much longer to discover.
Grigsby, who is sponsored by the Hayward Area Lakes Association, has been coming to the area for more than two decades. His wife’s family has been visiting since 1968.
“When people think of Hayward, Wisconsin, it is home of the world record musky, and a lot of people think musky is king around here,” Grigsby said. “But the lakes around here have world-class smallmouth fishing and largemouth, walleye.”
His recommendation to other anglers was simple.
“If you ever get a chance to come up here, I strongly advise it, because they are phenomenal fisheries.”
The Final Hours on Lac Courte Oreilles
As the afternoon continued, another element of the Champions Tour format made the final stretch particularly interesting.
At 3:30 p.m., the live leaderboard went into blackout.
Throughout most of the tournament, anglers and spectators could follow the standings through the Reel Livewell app as fish were caught, weighed and released. Once the blackout began, the anglers kept fishing, but the final outcome was no longer visible.
And there was more than the Championship itself hanging in the balance. The season-long Angler of the Year race was also coming down to the final event, with Charlie Wright holding the lead entering the Championship and defending Angler of the Year Evan Blakely still within striking distance.
During the afternoon, I had the chance to talk with Evan’s parents, Diane and Brad Blakely, as they watched that race unfold. At the time, they knew just how close the battle had become, but with the leaderboard eventually going dark, the final outcome would have to wait.
By the time everyone returned to shore, there was plenty left to be decided.
When the final results were revealed, Harrison Nelson had put together a dominant day on Lac Courte Oreilles.
Nelson caught 41 qualifying bass totaling 87 pounds, 11 ounces to become the 2026 Champions Tour Champion. John Figi finished second with 32 fish totaling 57 pounds, 10 ounces, while Evan Blakely finished third with 26 fish for an even 56 pounds.
Nelson finished nearly 30 pounds ahead of second place, closing out the season with an impressive Championship victory.
But there was another celebration still to come.
Blakely’s third-place performance on LCO was enough to overtake Wright in the season standings and complete his comeback in the Angler of the Year race, earning Blakely his second consecutive Champions Tour Angler of the Year title.
After watching that race develop throughout the afternoon, getting to see it culminate in a back-to-back title added another layer to the final awards.
And some of my favorite moments came after all of the numbers stopped mattering.
Family, friends and fellow competitors gathered around to celebrate as the Championship trophy, Angler of the Year honors and awards were presented. After spending the afternoon photographing anglers spread across LCO, getting to capture those final celebrations felt like the perfect way to close out the day.
More Than Musky Country
There is no separating Hayward from its musky fishing history. We’re home to the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame, the world-record musky and generations of stories built around chasing one of freshwater’s most iconic fish.
But that’s only one piece of fishing here. The Champions Tour Championship gave Hayward area bass fishing a different kind of stage.
Within the same area, anglers can chase smallmouth over rocks and reefs, target largemouth around vegetation, fish for walleye and panfish, pursue northern pike or spend a day hunting the muskies that helped make Hayward famous.
Sometimes an entirely different fishing experience is only a lake away.
For visiting anglers like Teal and Schultz, the Championship offered an introduction to that diversity. For anglers like Grigsby who have spent years fishing here, it reinforced something they already knew.
And for me, watching competitors fish some of the same water I’ve spent time on was a pretty great reminder of what we have right here.
For one day, Lac Courte Oreilles became a championship bass fishery.
The rest of the year, it’s one of many reasons to come fish the Hayward Lakes area.
Interested in traveling to the Hayward area? Check out my recap of the Wisconsin Governor’s Fishing Opener that took place right here in Sawyer County this spring!
