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2020 Preseason Rankings and Angler of the Year

Looking forward to the 2020 season, the Oklahoma Kayak Anglers has come out with its inaugural preseason rankings. The rankings are listed at the bottom of this article. These rankings are composed of fifteen anglers that are most likely to win an OKA trail event, the 2020 State Championship, or Angler of the Year. The list was compiled by combining an anglers 2019 Angler of the Year Standing with the anglers finish at the 2019 State Championship on Skiatook Lake. The anglers score was then divided by two and ranked according to that number. Both Luke Aryan and Chris Montgomery tied at the top spot with three and half points. The tiebreaker was an anglers best day at a trail series event which gave the edge to Luke Aryan. Aryan had an amazing 95" day on Chimney Rock Lake beating Montgomery by 1.75", who had 93.25" on the Spavinaw/Eucha Lake Road Runner.

Luke Aryan is an angler who cut his teeth on Creek County farm ponds and small lakes. After returning home from service in the United States Marines,  Aryan began to test kayak fishing and began competing with the OKA in 2016. Aryan finished second in the 2018 and 2019 AOY race but is excited as ever to finally win an AOY trophy. After learing of his number one ranking, Aryan was quoted: "There are a lot of amazing anglers out there deserving of being ranked #1, but to be at the top of something finally after two years of second place at AOY is awesome." Aryan even had some advice to the new anglers who will be joining us this year. "If I had advice to anglers fishing competitively is to fish the entire tournament like you have four fish and one hour left til lines out". 

Two-time defending Angler of the Year, Houa Xiong who won three Angler of the Year titles in the last four seasons comes in fifth place. Until someone knocks off  Houa Xiong, Houa seems to be the clear cut favorite for the long game of AOY. "Always, the goal in mind is to defend my AOY title", Houa added. However, brother and very competitive angler Kong Xiong is due for a strong season after winning the OKA State Championship in 2017 but coming up short the last two seasons.

The Xiongs are not the only anglers ready for the 2020 season. 2019 OKA State Champion Russell Kendrick is poised with a list of goals ready for the 2020 season. These goals to my surprise were not "win this tournament" or "catch a 10lber ", these goals are what he as angler needs to get better at. Which is not what one would think Kendrick would be thinking about since he won the second event of 2019 at Lake Konowa and then of course the State Championship on Skiatook Lake. Two of the goals that standout were to develop a plan B before the tournament starts and not "spin out when things go wrong." The second of the these goals is "getting to know my fellow competitors better."

The 2020 OKA Angler of the Year will be one for the records books as the OKA will continue to pay the winner a guaranteed $1,000. The OKA has also partnered with Dobyns Rods. The rod company will sponsor the AOY winner for one full season. To win Angler of the Year, an anglers best 5 events will be scored using a points system. Each angler will recieve points for placing in a trail series event, the points are as follows: 100 points for first place, 99 for second and so on. Any angler who does not score a legal fish will receive a (-15) points from the last angler to score a legal fish. The AOY race will began March 21st, at the Season Opener at Lake Murray presented by Dobyns Rods.



2020 OKA Preseason Rankings

1. Luke Aryan
2. Chris Montgomery
3. Tou Vue
4. Jason Ray
5. Houa Xiong
6. Kong Xiong
7. Russell Kendrick
8. Chris Metcalf
9. Avery Metcalf
10. Mike Ring
11. Josh Barlow
12. Danny Bowen
13. Jon Queen
14. Ryan Hendricks
15. Josh Crosby


- Luke Aryan with another LiveScope fish

- 3X AOY Champion Houa Xiong



- Russell Kendrick with State Championship Hardware



- Luke Aryan with his 21.50" bass on Chimney Rock Lake





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