AnglersChannel

White Claims Victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Lake Chickamauga

Edgerton Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

DAYTON, Tenn. (Feb. 13, 2023) – Boater Rusty White of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 1 ounce, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Chickamauga . The tournament, hosted by Fish Dayton/Rhea Economic & Tourism, was the first event of the season for the BFL Volunteer Division. White earned $5,921 for his victory.

“It was a grind. Despite my big limit, it was tough,” said White. “I only caught five fish all day. Thankfully it started with one that weighed 9-4. My next fish was over 5 pounds and was my second biggest fish.”

White said his first bass was landed around 9 a.m., and his second fish wasn’t netted until 11 a.m.Two more keepers followed, and he said he then had to scramble just to fill his limit.

White scoured the lower end of the lake, focusing on grass flats in less than three feet of water and employing a red ½-ounce BOOYAH One Knocker to entice the few strikes he had. White said he used 25-pound monofilament line to keep the bait higher in the water column and out of the grass. He said the heavy line also gave him confidence while landing big fish.

“I didn’t know how much weight I had at the end of the day,” White said. “I thought I might have had 17 or 18 pounds. Fishing against the best guys in Tennessee and the best on Chickamauga … I’m pretty happy with this win.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Rusty White, Soddy Daisy, Tenn., five bass, 24-1, $5,921
2nd:        Dillon Falardeau, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 22-11, $2,960
3rd:        Travis Akers, Berea, Ky., four bass, 18-9, $2,954
4th:         Justin Freeman, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $1,283
4th:         Casey Majni, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 17-9, $1,283
6th:         Jason Pierce, Cookeville, Tenn., five bass, 16-14, $1,085
7th:         Derrick Stafford, Kingston, Tenn., four bass, 16-9, $987
8th:         Daniel Keyes, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 16-7, $888
9th:         Cody Mackie, McMinnville, Tenn., five bass, 16-6, $789
10th:      Chase Henley, Kingston, Tenn., five bass, 16-2, $1,391 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Akers caught a largemouth that weighed 10 pounds, 12 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $980.

Caleb Edgerton of Dayton, Ohio, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $3,710 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 13 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Caleb Edgerton, Dayton, Ohio, five bass, 13-8, $3,710
2nd:        Luke Shrader, Maple Shade, N.J., four bass, 13-6, $1,480
3rd:        Travis Sneed, Decatur, Tenn., four bass, 13-3, $988
4th:         Joshua Paul, Oliver Springs, Tenn., four bass, 11-13, $691
5th:         Scott Peters, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 11-0, $592
6th:         Lenny Bays, Dayton, Ky., five bass, 10-10, $543
7th:         Luke Fraley, South Pittsburgh, Tenn., four bass, 9-11, $493
8th:         Kevin Hughes, Bristol, Va., three bass, 9-10, $419
8th:         Stephen Vick, Dandridge, Tenn., three bass, 9-10, $419
10th:      Darryl Brown, Lebanon, Va., three bass, 9-8, $345

Jeremey Barnes of Hartsville, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $490, catching a largemouth that weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional tournament on Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

The 2023 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the BFL All-American. The 2023 All-American event will take place May 31-June 2, on Lake Hartwell in Seneca, South Carolina. The event is hosted by Visit Oconee SC.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, General Tire, Grundéns, Gill, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

John Kellett and Zeke Gossett win ABT Smith Lake with 17.88

By Jason Duran

The 10th Season of the Alabama Bass Trail began on Lewis Smith Lake in Walker County. Anticipation was high for this first event of five in the ABT North Division. A full field of 225 teams, including over 70 new teams, joined this year. They were all primed and ready for this event, and even the nasty weather couldn’t stop the best team anglers in the southeast from catching solid limits of Smith Lake bass.

During practice for this event, teams reported catching fish in ditches and suspended off shore. The key baits in practice were swimbaits, shaky heads and crankbaits. Throughout the week,the weather was on a warming trend, but on tournament morning, the weather conditions changed and brought cooler temperatures and lots of wind rain in the afternoon making the conditions horrible.

The first-place team of John Kellett and Zeke Gossett caught 17.88 pounds. They spent time in practice “trying to figure them out. With the sunny days in practice, we caught fish a lot shallower than we did today. With the cloud cover and rain, we had to make adjustments. We didn’t catch our first fish till 10:30. We discussed leaving the plan to go and catch a limit and come back but sometimes being hardheaded pays off. We stuck with the plan, and after making the decision to stay, we caught one over 4-pounds and knew we were doing the right thing. We were boat 154 with a 4:30 check-in time. We felt the fish would pull up later in the day, and the late check-in time would help with that. We made the adjustment from the shallower water and felt the fish move out a little deeper. In practice, the fish were in the 1-foot range, but today we found them form 1-12 feet range. The productive areas for us today were the deeper banks. We would put the boat in 20 feet of water and fish the bank swings. We covered a lot of water, running and gunning looking for those channel swings along the bank. We caught only five keepers today, but they were the five needed. We caught them on a Strike King Rage Swimmer Swimbait Electric shad used a belly weighed hook.” For the win they collected a $10,000 payday plus a $2000 AmFirst Bonus.

The second-place team of Terry Tucker and Jeremy Greencaught one or two small fish during Friday’s practice with a game plan today to just go fishing. “We targeted fish in staging areas. We didn’t really find anyone else doing that. The depth range was anywhere 8-12 feet in the back of pockets. We attacked those areas. We could see them on the graph and kept fishing those areas all day. Today it worked for us. The water clarity was stained, and the water temps were 52-53 degrees. We bounced around and hit about 3 or 4 areas continuing to rotate though them. We caught fish most of the day with a midday lull. The morning bite was good, and we had a limit by 9:00. This is our second year to fish the ABT, and we feel this is the best competition in the south.” They fished the whole day using crankbaits targeting fish on different brands of mid-range crankbaits in a shad patterns. They shared that they are from the Gadsden area and are “really looking forward to the Neely Henry Lake tournament later this year.” For their second-placefinish, they weighed in 17.55 and earned $5,000.

Craig Daniel and Jackie Flack are no strangers to the Smith Lake Leader board. They have had much success on this lake throughout their many years of fishing it. They weighed in 17.27 pounds- enough for third-place in this event and a $4000 check plus the $2,500 Phoenix Boats Pay Day and the $500 Garmin highest finisher for a total of $7000 including bonuses. “Depth and color mean a lot here and finding the right conditions are key at Smith Lake. The temps changed a lot, but the water temp didn’t fluctuate much so we felt the fish would be doing some of the same things today. We started out in a ditch in about 25 feetof water and caught three out of it. We moved to another ditch and caught three more, moved once again and caught about 10. We pulled the trolling motor about 100 times today fishing lots of water. We figured out we needed to focus on smaller ditches instead of big ditches. The jig bite was better today and that surprised us. The fish were tight to the bottom. You can catch one and see on the Garmin Live Scope about 10 come off the bottom with it. We caught them on a homemade jig in green pumpkin. The key to the jig was a heavy weed guard that kept it from getting hung up in the wooded areas where we were fishing.”

The top five standings are below for a complete list of standings please visit:

https://www.alabamabasstrail.org/lewis-smith-lake/results/

by AnglersChannel

Epting Notches Second Career Lake Murray Win in Phoenix Bass Fishing League Competition

Trotter Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

PROSPERITY, S.C. (Feb. 13, 2023) – Boater Chris Epting of Chapin, South Carolina, caught a five-bass limit weighing 25 pounds, 10 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Murray . The tournament, hosted by the Capital City Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board, was the first event of 2023 for the BFL South Carolina Division. Epting earned $8,500 for his victory, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus.

“I won here in 2021, but it was a lot colder and a lot wetter,” said Epting. “But fishing conditions were similar this time as to they were then.”

Epting lives on the lake and said he began fishing windy points and rocks using spinnerbaits, Lunker Lure Jigs and Buckeye Lures Jigs in the mid-lake section of Murray, but his first spot held three other boats. He managed to catch one keeper there before relocating.

“I told my co-angler that I had some spots that were kind of hidey-holes, so I said, ‘Let’s go down there and check those and see what happens,’” Epting said. “And bam-bam-bam, I had a limit.”

Epting said he started culling fish, adding one over 6 pounds and then one over 5 pounds. Epting said he braved rough wind and ran down the lake, but quickly returned to mid-lake and caught another large bass that weighed more than 7 pounds. He had a 2¾-pound bass in the livewell he tried to cull but never managed to replace.

“I was really nervous because I knew what it had been taking to win here,” Epting said. “My team partner and I weighed one of the biggest bags I’d ever heard of here not too long ago, and it went more than 29½ pounds. So, I wasn’t sure I had enough to win this time.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st: Chris Epting, Chapin, S.C., five bass, 25-10, $8,500 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:        Daniel Jordan, Hartsville, S.C., five bass, 23-13, $3,000
3rd:        Chuck Howard, Elloree, S.C., five bass, 23-9, $2,000
4th:         Spencer Black, Hickory, N.C., five bass, 22-7, $1,400
5th:         Adam Waters, Denver, N.C., five bass, 22-2, $1,200
6th:         Grayson Cook, Canton, N.C., five bass, 21-7, $1,100
7th:         Brandon Jeffcoat, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 21-1, $1,000
8th:         Wendell Causey, Jr., Irmo, S.C., five bass, 20-13, $900
9th:         Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C., five bass, 20-6, $750
9th:         Mark Collins, Inman, S.C., five bass, 20-6, $750

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Noah Nicholson of Union Mills, North Carolina, caught a largemouth bass that weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000.

Wesley Trotter of Monroe, North Carolina, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,991 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 21 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st: Wesley Trotter, Monroe, N.C., five bass, 21-11, $2,991
2nd:        Eddie Hall, Inman, S.C., five bass, 21-8, $1,495
3rd:        Trent Killian, Bostic, N.C., five bass, 16-6, $1,198
4th:         Jacob Yaden, Evans, Ga., four bass, 15-11, $898
5th:         Stephen Sprouse, Pauline, S.C., five bass, 15-10, $598
6th:         Bill Beard, Prosperity, S.C., five bass, 14-14, $548
7th:         James Warncke, Camden, S.C., five bass, 14-13, $498
8th:         Kodell Keels, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 14-5, $449
9th:         Justin Tingen, Moore, S.C., five bass, 13-1, $399
10th:      David Bright, Mooresville, N.C., five bass, 12-15, $331
10th:      Brandon Kelley, Evans, Ga., two bass, 12-15, $331

Samuel Jones of Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $495, catching a bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 19-21 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Norman in Huntersville, North Carolina. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Garrett Warren Edges Field By One Ounce for Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Lake Martin

Only Two Ounces Separate Winner From Third-Place Finisher and Auburn College Fishing Teammate Connor Jacob

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (Feb. 13, 2023) – Boater Garrett Warren of Hoover, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Martin . The tournament, hosted by the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce, was the first event for the BFL Bama Division. Warren earned $4,394 for his victory.

Warren’s winning weight was good enough to win by one ounce over second-place finisher Brady Vernon of Sterrett, Alabama, and two ounces ahead of the third-place angler, Warren’s College Fishing teammate at the University of Auburn, Connor Jacob of Peoria, Illinois.

“The conditions were so good today,” Warren said. “I had probably 60 bites and only landed about 20. I lost a 4-pounder and another 4- to 5-pounder that I saw. So I knew the conditions were fire for good fishing, if you knew what you were doing.

“A lot of the guys in that field were hammers, so I thought it was going to take 16 or 17 pounds to win,” Warren added.

Warren, a self-proclaimed “river rat,” said fishing Lake Martin doesn’t fit his style very well, but he adapted to the river bank-fishing techniques and situations that Lake Martin presented. The 22-year-old Auburn University senior said he focused on docks on the lower end of the lake with a Hornet swimbait.

“I caught my fifth keeper with maybe 15 minutes left to fish and it culled a small one that weighed maybe a pound and a quarter,” said Warren. “All of my fish were solid today. When I caught that last fish I was really pumped up because I knew I had a solid bag and was going to cut a solid check. The win was really unexpected, but I have accomplished a big goal.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Garrett Warren, Hoover, Ala., five bass, 13-6, $4,394
2nd:        Brady Vernon, Sterrett, Ala., five bass, 13-5, $2,197
3rd:        Connor Jacob, Peoria, Ill., five bass, 13-4, $1,464
4th:         Robbie Robinson, Mobile, Ala., five bass, 12-13, $1,655
5th:         Matthew Welcher, Opelika, Ala., five bass, 12-11, $879
6th:         Austin Shields, Lake View, Ala., five bass, 12-0, $805
7th:         Robbie Pritchard, Dadeville, Ala., five bass, 11-12, $732
8th:         Jake Akin, Heflin, Ala., five bass, 11-3, $659
9th:         Jonathan Powell, Elmore, Ala., five bass, 11-2, $586
10th:      Donald Griffith, Robertsdale, Ala., five bass, 10-13, $513

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Robinson caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 15 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $630.

Robinson Cruz of Montgomery, Alabama, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,197 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Robinson Cruz, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 9-5, $2,197
2nd:        Cameron Petras, Biloxi, Miss., five bass, 8-15, $915
2nd:        O’Brien Brown, Pinson, Ala., five bass, 8-15, $1,230
4th:         Jared Turnbloom, Calera, Ala., five bass, 8-7, $513
5th:         Ethan McDonald, Livingston, Tenn., five bass, 8-6, $439
6th:         Larry Harvey, Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 8-5, $403
7th:         Turner Carlisle, Columbus, Ga., five bass, 8-2, $366
8th:         Don Reeves, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 7-13, $311
8th:         Ervin Heard, Brent, Ala., five bass, 7-13, $311
10th:      James Lehman, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., five bass, 7-12, $256

Brown earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $315, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

by AnglersChannel

Spearpoint Performance Hooks adds Scott Canterbury to National Pro Staff Former Bassmaster AOY to Headline Elite Series Staff

Visalia, Calif. – February 13, 2023 – On the eve of the first event of the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series season, Spearpoint Performance Hooks announces the addition of 2019 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Scott Canterbury to the National Pro Staff.

Canterbury, from Odenville, Ala., first became acquainted with the brand at ICAST 2021 when the company introduced their Fury Flip Hooks. He visited the booth and was intrigued by the product line. Spearpoint management gave him samples, hopeful that they would make a connection with the veteran angler.

Having not heard from him several months later, the company felt that there must not have been a fit. Little did they know, Canterbury was putting the hooks through a rigorous evaluation process when he wasn’t competing in tournaments. “I really liked the concept of the Spearpoint Hooks and the VGrip® Technology, but I wanted to make sure it was a match for my style,” he said. “I really put the hooks to the test for more than a year before contacting Art (Nubaryan) to make things official.”

Canterbury said he has been impressed with the hooks in every way. “I have seen marked improvement in my hook to land ratios, which is where it matters most for a professional who counts on his equipment on the Elite Series,” said the veteran pro. “Spearpoint Hooks check off every box of the hook performance list for me, they are sharp, strong and the VGrip® Technology really digs deep and doesn’t let go; I was so impressed I wanted to represent the brand.”

For Spearpoint, having someone of Canterbury’s credentials vet the product thoroughly and return with a desire to promote the company was an honor, and was an easy decision. “Scott is the consummate professional, and the type of guy who makes you feel like you’ve known him your whole life,” said Nubaryan, Spearpoint Hooks’ Vice President. “He is someone who works hard for his partners, makes himself available to them for promotional needs and is one of the best people out there; he became a priority for us instantly.”

Erik Hennesay, President of Spearpoint Hooks agreed with his partner’s assessment. “I could tell that Scott was the kind of guy we would want to work with the moment we met him,” said Hennesay. “We are thrilled to have him on the team and look forward to seeing him have an amazing year with Spearpoint Hooks on the business end of his line.”

Canterbury began his professional fishing career in 2008 on the FLW Tour, claiming the Rookie of the Year title and has been one of the sport’s most consistent performers since he arrived on the scene. Throughout his nearly 15-year career, the Alabama pro has notched two professional wins, 53 top 10 finishes, qualified for 10 Forrest Wood Cup and two Bassmaster Classics, won the 2019 Bassmaster Angler of the Year crown and posted more than $1.8-million in career earnings.

by AnglersChannel

MLF President Boyd Duckett Issues Statement on Kevin VanDam Retirement Announcement

BENTON, Ky. (Feb. 13, 2023) – Major League Fishing President and CEO Boyd Duckett issued the following statement today regarding the announcement of Kevin VanDam’s retirement following the 2023 Bass Pro Tour season:

“Today is both a sad day and a time for celebration in our sport. Kevin VanDam, the greatest professional angler of all time, announced that he is retiring at the end of the season. Kevin has been an integral part of Major League Fishing from our very beginning and has been a pioneer in helping develop this league. There has never been a more unselfish angler when it comes to helping grow the sport of bass fishing, for the anglers or the fans.

On a personal note, having known Kevin through my entire pro career, he is not only the best angler of all time but also one of the best human beings that I know. He is the most liked and caring individual that I have ever met, and Kevin is always willing to share his time and resources with all anglers at every level. There are thousands of stories of him loaning a bait to another angler or competitor, or talking fishing and taking pictures with fans in the parking lot after a full day of competition. It truly speaks volumes about him as a human being.

On behalf of the entire MLF organization, we wish Kevin and his family all the best. I look forward to watching him compete on the water for the 2023 season, and we take comfort in knowing he is not leaving the sport, but helping to further it through his work off the water. Thank you, Kevin.”

by AnglersChannel

KVD makes a big announcement!

by AnglersChannel

Scroggins Predicts Fireworks for BPT Season Opener

Courtesy of Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships

Terry Scroggins is entering his 20th year as a full-time professional angler this week on the Kissimmee Chain as the Bass Pro Tour kicks off the 2023 season. “Big Show” is a seasoned-veteran at this point in his career, but he isn’t ashamed to say he feels like an 8-year-old on Christmas morning in anticipation of the start of the season.

The Team Toyota pro says he’s always excited to get a new year of competition started, but he’s extra fired up in 2023 due to theBPT format change and because the season is kicking off on a body of water he’s got a lot of history with.

“I’m pretty pumped to get back to a five-fish limit in some of our tournaments, and what’s better than starting off on a body of water where we can really showcase this format,” Scroggins said. “With how the weather is lining up, I think we are going to see a lot of five-to-eight-pound fish caught and I would be surprised if we don’t see some 30-lb stringers this week.”

Real time weather trends

Big Show Scroggins is a Florida native who lives on the St. Johns River, just a short drive away from the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and he’ll be the first to tell you that weather trends are everything this time of year. Weather plays a huge role in every fishing tournament, but this fact is magnified when we come to Florida in the early spring.

Bass in the sunshine state want to be shallow and spawning right now, but Florida strain largemouth are extremely susceptible to cold-fronts and weather changes. These early spring Florida fish are here today and gone tomorrow, which has burned just about every competitor in the 80-person field.

“It’s been a typical, inconsistent spring in Florida,” Scroggins offered. “We’ll have a short warming trend followed by a cold front and we’re going to experience that during our practice period. It’s supposed to dip down into the 40s on Sunday and Monday, which I expect to set the fish back a bit. But throughout the tournament the temps are going to rise, the sun is going to shine, and we should see a big wave of fish move up and get right.”

While Scroggins’ forecast gives BPT competitors and fishing fans a lot to look forward to, he warns Stage One won’t be an easy tournament to prepare for. Big Show believes practice could lead a lot of guys astray. Noting there will be anglers who have terrible practices that turn in big stringers come tourney time, while on the contrary some pros who thought they found the mother load will come back to the ramp scratching their heads.

“This will be a tournament where you have to find the fish in the event more so than practice,” Scroggins admitted. “But that’s nothing new for this bunch, the every-fish-counts format trained this group of anglers to stay on the hunt during the event. You just gotta keep an open mind.”

Patterns will be wide open

Scroggins explained one of the best things about the Kissimmee Chain this time of year is it should spread anglers out and really allow people to fish their strengths.

“The major spawn really occurs from January to April down here, so there will be fish in all stages,” Scroggins explained. “Some up shallow spawning, some post-spawn headed out, and some in between. You could catch a big bag sight fishing, flipping heavy cover, winding something through hydrilla, or fishing open water. It should be wide open!”

Big show also recognized that the five-fish format will allow guys to settle in and fish for fewer, bigger bites each day as opposed to searching for big groups of fish to keep up with the SCORETRACKER.

“This should be a fun one to watch for the fans, especially later in the week as the weather gets right,” Scroggins believes. “Lots of techniques at play and plenty of big bass will be caught. I’m just excited to get it going!”

Competition begins Monday morning, February 13th at 8 A.M. and you can follow the coverage on the MLF NOW! Live stream on majorleaguefishing.com

by AnglersChannel

Joshua Weaver Clinches Win at MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Power-Pole Stop 1 on Lake Okeechobee

Macon, Georgia Pro Grabs First Major Win of His Career, Takes Home Top Prize of $115,000

CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 10, 2023) – Warm Florida sunshine and a slight breeze greeted the crowd as Favorite Fishing pro Joshua Weaver of Macon, Georgia , brought a five-bass-limit to the scale on Championship Friday weighing 26 pounds, 4 ounces to win the Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats . Weaver’s three-day total of 72-9 earned him his first major career win by a whopping 8-pound, 13-ounce margin over second-place pro Colby Schrumpf of Highland, Illinois, and the top prize of $115,000, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus. Weaver will now also receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024.

The 2023 season marks Weaver’s seventh year on tour with MLF. The six-time championship qualifier said he had a dream years ago that he would get his first major win on Lake Okeechobee – a dream that finally became reality at the first 2023 Tackle Warehouse Invitational tournament.

After ending Day 1 in 61^st place with only 14 pounds, 12 ounces, Weaver weighed in the largest limit of the event on Day 2 – five bass totaling 31-9 – to catapult into 2^nd place. The Georgia pro brought another solid limit of 26-4 to the scales on Friday to seal the deal and take home the championship hardware.

“This tournament has been the kind of event you dream about having,” said Weaver. “The first day I lost quite a few fish and was pretty bummed but backing it up with over 30 pounds yesterday and another 26-pound bag today is just incredible – Okeechobee has been unbelievable to me this week.”

Championship Friday started off with a bang, with Weaver catching more than 20 pounds within the first hour. But several hard-charging pros stayed in contention throughout the day, making it impossible for him to let off the gas.

“I knew I needed at least 24 pounds to have a shot at winning, and I got pretty close to it this morning,” said Weaver. “But with Michael Neal right behind me, I knew I was nowhere near safe. I sweated it out all day, and never really thought I had it in the bag, until I got back here to the weigh-in and people began congratulating me.

“I kept with a similar game plan today, starting in the same area as the two days prior,” Weaver continued. “I got in there early this morning and things kicked off quick.

“I ran to my second spot mid-morning, where I’d caught a big bag on Day 2, but only caught 2-pounders. I pivoted back to my starting spot and caught a 3½- and a 5-pounder, so I decided to just stay in there all day and slowly culled up.”

Weaver said he credits his win to the heavy 7’6” Favorite Fishing Hex Casting Rod and reel he was throwing all week.

“I spent most of the week winding a Z-Man ChatterBait with a Googan Baits Happy Trailer and a swim jig around anything that I thought might have a female bass on a bed,” said Weaver. “This lake is really something special to me because it fits how I like to fish – I’m a shallow water grass fisherman. The last two times I’ve been here haven’t been so great, so I’m excited that we’ve righted those wrongs this week.

“It definitely hasn’t hit me yet,” Weaver went on to say. “You wait so long for a day like today, then when it happens, you’re just in a daze. I’ve wanted this for so long. This is the reason why we do what we do. For it to finally happen after seven seasons – finishing in 2^nd place multiple times and a ton of Top 10’s – to finally get it done is a relief and I’m already looking forward to the next tournament.”

The top 20 pros at the Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee finished:

1^st: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 15 bass, 72-9, $115,000
2^nd:          Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 15 bass, 63-12, $50,000
3^rd: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 15 bass, 63-1, $20,000
4^th:           Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 61-13, $18,000
5^th:           Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, 14 bass, 61-13, $17,000
6^th:           Jonathan Dietz, Corry, Pa., 15 bass, 58-2, $16,000
7^th:           Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, 15 bass, 57-2, $15,000
8^th:           Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 15 bass, 56-14, $14,000
9^th:           Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., 15 bass, 56-8, $13,000
10^th: Spike Stoker, Cisco, Texas, 15 bass, 55-14, $12,000
11^th: David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 15 bass, 55-8, $10,000
12^th: Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 15 bass, 55-6, $10,000
13^th: Troy Stokes, Trenton, Mich., 15 bass, 55-3, $10,000
14^th: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 54-14, $10,000
15^th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 54-7, $10,000
16^th: Marty Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 54-6, $10,000
17^th: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 15 bass, 53-11, $10,000
18^th: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 15 bass, 51-15, $10,000
19^th: Jacob Wheeler, Birchwood, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-9, $10,000
20^th: Tai Au, Glendale, Ariz., 15 bass, 51-2, $10,000

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 238 bass weighing 714 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 50 pros Friday. The catch included 47 five-bass limits.

The three-day tournament, hosted by the Hendry County Tourism Development Council, featured a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024 – the Bass Pro Tour championship – for the chance to win up to $300,000.

In MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday in a traditional five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 50 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advanced to the final round on Championship Friday, where they competed for the grand prize of up to $115,000, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified anglers. The winner of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats was determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024.

The season-long Invitational Bally Bet Angler of the Year (AOY) will also earn a berth into REDCREST and the Top 8 anglers in the season-long Invitational AOY point standings will qualify for the 2024 Bass Pro Tour. With his victory Friday, Weaver currently sits in first place with 200 points.

The MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats two-hour action-packed television show will premiere on the CBS Sports Network on Saturday, September 30^th.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals on the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Lake Guntersville Readies for Toyota Series Central Division Opener

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 10, 2023) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats is set to visit Lake Guntersville and Scottsboro, Alabama, next week, Feb. 16-18, for the Central Division opener – the Toyota Series at Lake Guntersville . The three-day tournament, hosted by the Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce, will feature a roster of the region’s best bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers competing for a top prize of up to $100,000 in the pro division and a new Phoenix 518 Pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor in the co-angler division.

“Lake Guntersville is fishing so strong right now, so healthy,” said Bass Pro Tour angler Fletcher Shryock of Guntersville, Alabama. “I emceed a local tournament on the lake with Boyd Duckett this past weekend, and the lake is really starting to take off. There was around 20 bags over 20 pounds, and a lot of big fish caught. It was a really good event, and I expect that the lake will continue to show out for this Toyota Series event.”

Shryock said that he expects reaction bites to be strong.

“You’re going to see a lot of lipless crankbaits – the (Bill Lewis) Rat-L-Trap is a staple there, and emceeing that tournament I heard guy after guy saying they were catching them on a ¼- or ½-ounce red Trap,” Shryock said. “I think a (Z-Man) ChatterBait (Jack Hammer) is going to play well – I’d be throwing the Fire Craw color with a Yamamoto Zako Fire Craw trailer. Possibly some jerkbaits could be in the mix, and of course the Alabama rig might be a factor as well.

“The big question for this event is going to be how the lake is affected by the three days of pressure,” Shryock went on to say. “The lake is fishing well, so I predict that the winner of this one is going to need 65 pounds to get it done.”

Anglers will take off each day at 6:30 a.m. CT from the Goose Pond Colony Marina, located at 417 Ed Hembree Drive in Scottsboro. Weigh-ins will also be held at the Marina and will begin at 2:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

In Toyota Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event, scaling up for every 20 boats over 160 and scaling down for every boat below 160. With a 160-boat field, pros fish for a top prize of $40,000, plus an extra $35,000 if Phoenix MLF Bonus qualified. Strike King co-anglers cast for the top prize of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard (valued at $33,500). With a 260-boat field, pros fish for a top award of $65,000, plus an extra $35,000 if Phoenix MLF Bonus qualified. Strike King co-anglers cast for the top prize of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard (valued at $33,500) plus $5,000 cash.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2024. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Toyota Series include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Gill, Grundéns, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Toyota Series updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Colby Schrumpf Moves Ahead on Day Two of MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Power-Pole Stop 1 on Lake Okeechobee

Joshua Weaver Busts 31-Pound Limit to Jump From 61^st to 2^nd

CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 9, 2023) – After breaking the 20-pound limit two days in a row, Phoenix Boats pro Colby Schrumpf of Highland, Illinois, has his eye on the first ever Tackle Warehouse Invitational trophy. Schrumpf brought a five-bass limit to the scales Thursday weighing 25 pounds, 6 ounces to take the Day 2 lead at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats . Schrumpf’s two-day total of 47 pounds, 5 ounces gives him a slim 1-pound lead over Favorite Fishing pro Joshua Weaver of Macon, Georgia, who caught a giant five-bass limit weighing 31-9 to move into second place.

The three-day tournament, hosted by the Hendry County Tourism Development Council, features a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024 – the Bass Pro Tour championship – for the chance to win up to $300,000.

Schrumpf said he started Day 2 in the same general area as he did the day prior and was ecstatic to see it was still producing.

“I caught 21-15 there yesterday, and probably within the first hour and a half today I had two bass over five pounds in the boat and just slowly culled my way up,” said Schrumpf. “Around midday I was able to catch another good 5½-pounder, then culled up to another 4-pounder after that.”

Schrumpf said he backed off those fish in the afternoon, in hopes they will still be there – and biting – on the final day.

“I headed back to the weigh-in thinking I would probably be within the top five,” said Schrumpf. “I’d conservatively figured I had 23 pounds today, so I was pretty excited when the scales went over 25 pounds.”

Schrumpf said he is throwing mostly moving baits but isn’t afraid to Power-Pole down and pitch when he gets into tighter areas of water.

“I’ve been throwing a vibrating jig quite a bit,” Schrumpf laughed. “Along with half the field.”

Despite having sticks like Michael Neal, Brian Latimer and Florida ace Brett Hite nipping at his heels, Schrumpf said he feels really good going into Championship Friday.

“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and as long as the big females keep moving in, I think I’ll have a pretty good opportunity,” Schrumpf said. “My area hasn’t had too many people around it, so as long as I can feel comfortable in that water and not feel pressured to protect areas or have to move around, I feel good.”

The top 50 pros after Day 2 on Lake Okeechobee are:

1^st:         Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 10 bass, 47-5
2^nd:          Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 46-5
3^rd:         Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 44-4
4^th:           Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 10 bass, 43-12
5^th:           Jonathan Dietz, Corry, Pa., 10 bass, 42-10
6^th:           Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 10 bass, 41-14
7^th:           Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 10 bass, 41-10
8^th:           Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 41-8
9^th:           David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 41-6
10^th:        Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, 10 bass, 40-11
11^th:        Tai Au, Glendale, Ariz., 10 bass, 40-4
12^th:        Rusty Salewske, Alpine, Calif., 10 bass, 40-2
13^th:        Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 39-9
14^th:        Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, nine bass, 38-4
15^th:        Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 37-13
16^th:        Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., 10 bass, 36-13
17^th:       Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 10 bass, 36-7
18^th:        Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 35-9
19^th:        Cody Petit, Arundel, Maine, nine bass, 35-6
20^th:        Joe Wieberg, Freeburg, Mo., 10 bass, 35-5
21^st:        Troy Stokes, Trenton, Mich., 10 bass, 34-15
22^nd:       Marty Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 34-15
23^rd:       John Voyles, Petersburg, Ind., 10 bass, 34-4
24^th:        Cameron Mattison, Benton, La., 10 bass, 34-2
25^th:        Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 10 bass, 33-14
26^th:        Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 33-9
27^th:        Spike Stoker, Cisco, Texas, 10 bass, 33-8
28^th:        Richard Lowitzki, Hampshire, Ill., 10 bass, 32-14
29^th:        Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 10 bass, 32-11
30^th:        William Fletcher, Dallas, Ga., 10 bass, 32-10
31^st:        Josh Butler, Hayden, Ala., 10 bass, 32-8
32^nd:       Jacob Wheeler, Birchwood, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-7
33^rd:       Jim Moynagh, Shakopee, Minn., 10 bass, 32-7
34^th:        Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 10 bass, 31-10
35^th:        Braxton Setzer, Wetumpka, Ala., 10 bass, 31-8
36^th:        Jesse Millsaps, Jasper, Ga., 10 bass, 31-7
37^th:        Fred Roumbanis, London, Ark., 10 bass, 31-6
38^th:        Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 10 bass, 31-5
39^th:        Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., 10 bass, 31-5
40^th:        Grae Buck, Green Lane, Pa., 10 bass, 31-10
41^st:        Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 10 bass, 30-14
42^nd:       Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 10 bass, 30-14
43^rd:       Tyler Stewart, Dubach, La., 10 bass, 30-13
44^th:        Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 30-12
45^th:        Frank Kitchens, Oxford, Ga., 10 bass, 30-8
46^th:        Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, 10 bass, 30-7
47^th:        Eric Panzironi, Longwood, Fla., 10 bass, 30-7
48^th:        Kollin Crawford, Broken Bow, Okla., 10 bass, 30-6
49^th:        Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 30-5
50^th:        Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 10 bass, 30-4

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Brian Latimer of Belton, South Carolina won Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with a largemouth bass weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces.

Overall, there were 696 bass weighing 1,971 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 145 pros Thursday. The catch included 129 five-bass limits.

In MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday in a traditional five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 50 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advance to the final round on Championship Friday, where they will compete for the grand prize of up to $115,000, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified anglers. The winner of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024.

The final 50 anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET, on Championship Friday, from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 W. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston. Weigh-in and trophy presentation will also be held at the marina Friday beginning at 2:50 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the event or follow the live on-the-water action online on MLF NOW! beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. ET. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

The MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats will feature live on-the-water coverage and a two-hour action-packed television show that will premiere on the CBS Sports Network on Saturday, September 30^th.

by AnglersChannel

Tight quarters to challenge Bassmaster Elite Series pros on Okeechobee

The 104 anglers of the Bassmaster Elite Series kick off the 2023 season at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee Feb. 16-19.

Photo by James Overstreet/B.A.S.S.

February 9, 2023

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Of all the factors that could influence the season-opening SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee, it might come down to supply and demand. The largest lake in the southeastern U.S., the Big O covers 734 square miles, but Bassmaster Elite Series veteran Bernie Schultzexpects only a relatively small portion to be in play.

Competition days will be Feb. 16-19 with daily takeoffs from C. Scott Driver Park at 7:30 a.m. ET and weigh-ins each day at the park at 3:30 p.m.Coverage of the weigh-ins can be streamed on Bassmaster.com.

Having pre-practiced prior to the off-limits period, Schultz found a shortage of the clear water that spawning fish will seek. The veteran pro from Gainesville, Fla., attributes this to a dramatic decrease in shallow-water vegetation.

“Water quality was a problem in a large percentage of the lake,” Schultz said. “Where there was clear water and a variety of good-quality vegetation, there was a lot of fishing pressure.

“Areas that are normally lush with vegetation were barren. There’s plenty of maidencane, flat reeds and round reeds, but those don’t filter water as well as hydrilla and eelgrass and peppergrass. A lot of that quality filtering type of vegetation has been eradicated by herbicides, and it has yielded a lot of poor conditions for a large percentage of the lake.”

On the upside, Okeechobee’s massive size always maintains productive waters, often tucked far behind outer vegetation lines. Diligent anglers who find these oases will find cooperative fish. The catch: You’ll rarely have it to yourself.

“Definitely, a couple of regions will support the bulk of the field,” Schultz said. “It may come down to someone setting up in a key area and defending it, or it may be a timing thing.”

Elite Series and local pro Scott Martin has always been clear on his belief that a lifetime of Okeechobee knowledge does not guarantee success. While he’s caught giants up to 11 pounds, 6 ounces on tournament waters, he knows he’ll be sharing the lake with 103 other competitors.

“The only home field advantage I’m going to have on this fishery is understanding how the lake fishes at its current water level and clarity,” said Martin, who grew up on Okeechobee. “Beyond that, I’m competing just like the rest of the field.”

Martin reports that the Lake Okeechobee water level held at 16.5 feet through early January and pulled back to 16.1 by month’s end. Ten days before the event, the water level was 15.96, and Martin expects it will remain just under 16 when the tournament begins. Noting that this will be one of the highest water levels for an Okeechobee tournament, he said anglers will have their work cut out for them.

“The key will be making the right decisions on areas of the lake and trying to find stuff that’s not pressured,” Martin said. “Trying to find fish in that muddy water can be challenging, but it can be very rewarding at the same time.

“Some of the guys are going to find fish in those stained-water areas and that can be the difference-maker. Those are the areas that don’t have as much pressure. The spawning areas and the clear-water areas suck all the fishermen in, and those areas have been getting pounded. So, finding areas away from all that is going to be key.”

One thing Martin stresses is that the big lake’s dynamic nature typically demands a new search each year. “Fishing history” by returning to previously productive areas will only get you in the ballpark and, with the current dearth of vegetation, will further complicate matters.

“The fish are never in the same place the next year; it’s always different,” Martin said. “There aren’t waypoints out there on the lake, there aren’t special ledges offshore, there’s not a special brushpile, there’s not a shellbar. It’s literally about fishing areas and understanding how those areas are affected by the weather.”

Unlike Northern latitudes, Florida lakes — particularly those in the state’s lower region — typically see a long, drawn-out spawning season that can last from November through May. Because the period of viable conditions can be so broad, it’s no rarity for tournaments in the year’s first quarter to find fish in multiple stages, possibly all three (prespawn, spawning, and postspawn).

If the Elite event enjoys stable weather, Martin believes anglers could find just such diversity. Those who locate bed fish will fare well with jigs or Texas-rigged creature baits, craws and stickworms. Popular search baits include bladed jigs, swim jigs, lipless crankbaits, jerkbaits, topwaters and Texas-rigged swimming worms.

“It’s definitely a deeper dive to think about the complexity of (the Florida spawn), but that’s why fishing is very consistent in Florida — you can do lots of different things,” he said. “Somebody’s catching them flipping, someone’s catching them on a worm, someone’s throwing a topwater. Those are all different types of fish.”

Considering the size of bass that call Okeechobee home, the potential exists for the Elite Series to launch a new season with a century belt winner. (The Bassmaster Century Club recognizes a 20-bass total of 100 pounds or more.) Schultz does not deny the opportunity, but he believes the current habitat situation will likely limit the output.

“I think 17 pounds a day will make the Top 10, but I don’t believe the winning weight will be much over 80 pounds,” Schultz said. “There will be too many people dividing up the fish.”

That being said, one kicker like Martin’s personal best could dramatically change someone’s situation. But while giant fish are well worth the effort, the smart game plans will focus more on daily consistency.

The full field of 104 pros will fish the first two days, with only the Top 50 advancing to Semifinal Saturday. After Saturday’s weigh-in, the Top 10 remaining pros will advance to Championship Sunday with a chance to claim the $100,000 first-place prize.

New for 2023, fans can enjoy predictions, conditions and live hits from the lake as part of the LIVE Preview show streaming on Bassmaster.comWednesday, Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. ET. Bassmaster LIVE kicks off tournament coverage Thursday and Friday mornings at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster.com, Tubi and the FOX Sports platforms while FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders on Saturday and Sunday.

by AnglersChannel

David Walker Grabs Opening Day Lead at Power-Pole Stop 1 on Lake Okeechobee

MLF Invitational Opens to Beautiful Florida Sunshine and Big Limits of Bass – 15 in Excess of 20+ Pounds

CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 8, 2023) – Bass Pro Shops pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tennessee, crossed the stage Wednesday with a five-bass limit weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce, to lead Day 1 of the season-opening Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats. Walker now holds a 1-pound, 6-ounce lead over Italian pro Jacopo Gallelli of Florence, Italy, who caught five bass weighing 26-11.

“My day started out really good. I had some bites, but they weren’t big fish,” Walker said. “I had a couple of areas that I felt like I could get some bites in, but I didn’t know what they were. In practice I was looking for places that I would want to go back to, and I was fortunate to find a couple of areas that I felt like I could go to today. I felt confident that I could get some bites, and then we’d see how it goes. And then it went… really, really well.”

The Tennessee pro estimated that he caught around 25 keepers throughout the day.

“It’s still pretty early so I have to be a little vague, but I can say that Z-Man products were a big player for me today,” Walker said. “Going out this morning I had about a half dozen different options on the deck, and as the day went on I narrowed it down to three key baits.”

Walker mainly stuck to his area for most of the competition day, but he did venture off a couple of times as he tried to expand on his spot.

“We’ve got the possibility of some storms moving in tomorrow afternoon, and I’m in a later flight so I might be in on some of that, but hopefully not,” Walker went on to say. “Tomorrow is going to be more of the same. I’d be foolish to figure that I could do something similar, somewhere else. I think I’ve found the right place and I feel like I’m doing the right thing, and that’s all you can hope for in a tournament. Whether it pans out or not, I want to walk away knowing I did the right thing. I couldn’t talk myself into going anywhere else at this point.”

The top 15 pros after Day 1 on Lake Okeechobee are:

1^st:          David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., five bass, 28-1
2^nd:         Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, five bass, 26-11
3^rd:         Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., five bass, 25-9
4^th:         Tai Au, Glendale, Ariz., five bass, 25-4
5^th:         Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., five bass, 23-14
6^th:         Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., five bass, 23-3
7^th:         William Fletcher, Dallas, Ga., five bass, 22-1
8^th:         Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., five bass, 21-15
9^th:         Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, five bass, 21-11
10^th:       Jonathan Dietz, Corry, Pa., five bass, 21-3
11^th:       Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 21-1
12^th:       Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., five bass, 20-13
12^th:       Joe Wieberg, Freeburg, Mo., five bass, 20-13
14^th:       Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 20-9
15^th:       Eddie Carper, Valiant, Okla., five bass, 20-6

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, won Wednesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with a chunky largemouth bass that weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

Overall, there were 712 bass weighing 2,029 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 149 pros Wednesday. The catch included 127 five-bass limits.

In MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers compete in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday in a traditional five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 50 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight will advance to the final round on Championship Friday, where they will compete for the grand prize of up to $115,000, including the lucrative $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified anglers. The winner of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2024.

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET, each day through Friday, from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 W. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston. Weigh-ins will also be held at the marina daily beginning at 2:50 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the event or follow the live on-the-water action all three days of competition online on MLF NOW! beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all three days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. ET. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

by AnglersChannel

Catch live coverage of the Bassmaster Elite at Okeechobee

Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., will be among the competitors at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee Feb. 16-19.

Photo by Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.

February 8, 2023

Catch live coverage of the Bassmaster Elite at Okeechobee

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Enthusiastic fishing fans will have four days to catch live coverage of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee as 104 of the world's best anglers kick off the 2023 season on the "Big O." Plus, new for 2023, the LIVE Preview show will feature predictions, conditions and live hits from the lake.

Bassmaster LIVE kicks off tournament coverage Thursday and Friday mornings at 8 a.m. ET. FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders on Saturday and Sunday. Viewers can also join Bass Fishing Hall of Fame journalist Steve Bowman and a variety of Elite anglers for LIVE Mix on Saturday and Sunday mornings at Bassmaster.com.

Daily weigh-ins can be streamed on Bassmaster.com beginning at 3:30 p.m.

In addition to the insightful commentary from Bassmaster LIVE hosts, the anglers are making use of their time on-screen to explain the sport as well as offer tips and techniques to help fans of all levels improve their fishing.

“I want our broadcasts to be entertaining and educational for anglers of all levels whether it’s the first or 100th event they have watched,” said Elite Series pro and 2022 Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk. “That’s why I do my best to explain what I’m seeing out there in the moment.”

Date	Time (All times Eastern)	Show	Network
Wednesday, February 15	10 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.	LIVE Preview	Bassmaster.com
Thursday, February 16	8 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	Bassmaster.com; Tubi; FOX Sports Digital
Friday, February 17	8 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	Bassmaster.com; Tubi; FOX Sports Digital
Saturday, February 18	8 a.m. – 11 a.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	FS1; FOX Sports Digital
	8 a.m. – 11 a.m.	LIVE Mix	Bassmaster.com
	11 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	Bassmaster.com
Sunday, February 19	8 a.m. – 11 a.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	FS1; FOX Sports Digital
	8 a.m. – 11 a.m.	LIVE Mix	Bassmaster.com
	11 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Bassmaster LIVE	Bassmaster.com

The Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee is being hosted by Okeechobee County.

by AnglersChannel

Bass Pro Tour Set to Launch Fifth Season Next Week at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb. 8, 2023) – Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament fishing organization, is set to open the fifth season of the Bass Pro Tour, the top level of professional bass fishing, next week on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes – the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain Presented by Grundéns.

The six-day event, hosted by the Kissimmee Sports Commission, will showcase 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, including bass-fishing superstars like Kevin VanDam, Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler, Jordan Lee, and REDCREST Champions Edwin Evers and Dustin Connell. They’ll be competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters All-Star event and REDCREST, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

This event marks the third time that the MLF Bass Pro Tour will hold an event on the Kissimmee Chain – the most visited venue in the circuit’s history. The first ever Bass Pro Tour event was held on the Kissimmee Chain in January of 2019, with a return to Kissimmee in June of 2020 for the inaugural General Tire Heavy Hitters event. The same angler – Alabama’s Jordan Lee – has won both times the Bass Pro Tour has visited the Kissimmee Chain.

“I’m no Florida fishing wizard, but I understand that the lakes are always changing from year to year, and you have to be willing to adapt and fish the conditions,” said Lee. “Some years, the best bite is on Toho and others, it’s in Kissimmee. Cypress can also be good, any of them or the others in the chain could be the winning area. It varies based on the vegetation and to be successful, you need to narrow it down to the right one in two days of practice.”

Lee believes the timing of this event in mid-February is ideal for both the fishing and weather.

“This time of year in Florida is all about the cold fronts and that will be the biggest deciding factor in how good the fishing is,” he said. “You’ll always catch big fish in Florida, but a nice warming trend will push more fish shallow because they want to spawn.”

Traditional Florida fishing tactics should play in this event, according to Lee. He listed flipping, pitching, vibrating jigs, and prop baits as likely producers.

“There will also be some sight fishing going on,” Lee said. “The biggest key here is being in the right area with the best-looking grass. That’s true everywhere in the country, but even more important in Florida, where the fish tend to be more sensitive to having the cleanest water.”

On the Bass Pro Tour, pros compete using the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five (5) heaviest bass per day tallied as their day’s weight. Anglers strive to catch their heaviest five fish each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the live scoring SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament will be filmed for broadcast on the Discovery Channel in July.

Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. ET from Big Toho Marina, located at 69 Lakeview Drive in Kissimmee. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the marina, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

On Championship Saturday, Feb. 18, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF will welcome fans of all ages to come in to celebrate the top 10 and crown the Stage 1 Champion at the Trophy Presentation. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration to meet and greet fans, sign autographs, and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns will feature anglers competing with a 1-pound, 6-ounce minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, fishing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship, held March 13-17, 2024, on a fishery to be announced.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Monday and Wednesday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Tuesday and Thursday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the top 20 anglers from each group advance to Friday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by Grundéns will air as two, two-hour episodes starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 15on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, Ark Fishing, ATG + Wrangler, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bally Bet, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, Daiwa, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, Fox Rent A Car, General Tire, Grundéns, Humminbird, Lowrance, Minn Kota, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Power-Pole, Rapala, Star tron, T-H Marine, TORO, Toyota, U.S. Air Force, Yellowstone Bourbon, Yo-Zuri and Zoom Baits.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

4 feet or less

We've got Toyota Series Southern Division winner Kennie Steverson to give us the lowdown on how the event played out on the Harris Chain. We dive into the latest results, the upcoming tournaments and look at the latest news in the bass fishing world.

by AnglersChannel

Three Teams Advance from General Tire Team Series Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches

Team Crockett Creek (Wheeler-Hays-Lambert), Team Knighten (Strader-Suggs-McClelland) and Team Fox Rent A Car (Elam-Chapman-J. VanDam) Advance to Championship

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (Feb. 7, 2023) – The final episode of the Major League Fishing (MLF) General Tire Team Series Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches premiered this past weekend, and three teams have moved one step closer to the Bass Pro Shops Championship Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches and the $300,000 top prize.

Team Crockett Creek (Jacob Wheeler, Dylan Hays and Jason Lambert) rolled in Match 1, as Lambert led his squad to a huge 66-pound, 4-ounce lead after the first day of competition that allowed Team Crockett Creek to play ‘defense’ on the second day and coast to an easy victory.

In Match 2, Team Knighten Industries (Wesley Strader, Scott Suggs and Mike McClelland) dominated to earn the victory over Team Builders FirstSource by more than 100 pounds. Suggs was the top performer for Team Knighten, as the Arkansas pro alone caught 71 bass over the two days of competition totaling 146 pounds, 4 ounces to pace his squad.

In the third and final match, which premiered on Outdoor Channel this past weekend, despite starting the day with a 26-pound, 2-ounce deficit, Team Fox Rent A Car (James Elam, Jonathon VanDam and Brent Chapman) smashed 188 pounds, 12 ounces on the final day to overtake Team Star brite and earn the final qualification into the Bass Pro Shops Championship. VanDam had a stellar second day of competition, catching 43 bass for 81-10 to lead the way for Team Fox Rent A Car.

The final results from Match 1 at the Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches in Alexandria, Minnesota, were:

1^st:          Team Crockett Creek, 165 bass, 310-7
Jason Lambert, 76 bass, 131-9
*Jacob Wheeler, 44 bass, 93-11
Dylan Hays, 45 bass, 85-3
2^nd:         Team Kubota, 119 bass, 224-8
Bradley Roy, 47 bass, 94-15
Ryan Salzman, 40 bass, 68-11
*Greg Vinson, 32 bass, 60-14
3^rd:         Team Ferguson, 72 bass, 129-14
Corey Neece, 22 bass, 44-4
Marty Robinson, 27 bass, 43-4
*Shin Fukae, 23 bass, 42-6

The final results from Match 2 at the Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches in Alexandria, Minnesota, were:

1^st:          Team Knighten Industries, 177 bass, 369-13
Scott Suggs, 71 bass, 146-4
Mike McClelland, 57 bass, 120-1
*Wesley Strader, 49 bass, 103-8
2^nd:         Team Builders FirstSource, 142 bass, 269-10
*Stephen Browning, 66 bass, 124-14
Jeff Kriet, 48 bass, 93-9
Timmy Horton, 28 bass, 51-3
3^rd:         Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches, 115 bass, 237-15
Andy Morgan, 22 bass, 44-4
Brandon Coulter, 27 bass, 43-4
*Josh Bertrand, 23 bass, 42-6

The final results from Match 3 at the Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches in Alexandria, Minnesota, were:

1^st:          Team Fox Rent A Car, 173 bass, 313-15
*James Elam, 65 bass, 109-12
Jonathon VanDam, 54 bass, 103-1
Brent Chapman, 54 bass, 101-2
2^nd:         Team Star brite, 158 bass, 281-14
*Alton Jones, Jr., 53 bass, 106-14
Britt Myers, 67 bass, 105-6
Roy Hawk, 38 bass, 69-10
3^rd:         Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 153 bass, 254-14
Cliff Pace, 67 bass, 107-5
Gary Klein, 49 bass, 87-9
*Mark Davis, 37 bass, 60-0

Complete results along with photos from the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, for the entire week, there were 1,274 bass weighing 2,247 pounds, 14 ounces caught by the nine teams during three matches in the Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.

The 2023 MLF General Tire Team Series Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches was hosted by hosted by Explore Alexandria Tourism and aired on the Outdoor Channel as six, two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon, debuting on Dec. 31, 2022, and running through Feb. 4, 2023.

The next General Tire Team Series event will premiere on the Outdoor Channel on Saturday, Feb. 11 – the Costa Qualifier Presented by Toyota on Stockton Lake in Bolivar, Missouri. For a complete schedule of General Tire Team Series events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The Lucas Oil Qualifier Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches was shot over six days in October and featured nine teams of three anglers visiting Alexandria to compete on Lake Le Homme Dieu or Lake Ida on each day of competition. The fisheries were unknown to the anglers – they did not learn where they were competing until they arrived at the launch ramp each morning of competition.

All six episodes of the General Tire Team Series Lucas Oil Qualifier event from Alexandria, Minnesota, are now available for viewing on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) streaming app. The full television schedule can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF General Tire Team Series include: B&W Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Builders FirstSource, C-MAP, Crockett Creek Beef Jerky, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, General Tire, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Optima Batteries, Phoenix Boats, Power-Pole, Rapala Baits, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff, Star brite, T-H Marine, Toyota, USAA, and YETI.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the MLF General Tire Team Series events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Introducing Berkley Scent to Hard Baits with the Berkley Scented Flicker Shad

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Feb 7, 2023) – The newest innovation from Berkley Labs combines scent with hard baits. For decades, Berkley’s Gulp! soft baits and attractants have been responsible for catching fish all over the globe. Adding to a long lineup of Berkley Flicker Shad hard baits that have been cashing checks in Walleye tournaments across the country, Berkley brings you an innovative hard bait with proven Flicker Shad action and Gulp! scent technology that has been morphed into one fish-catching masterpiece.

This new lineup of Flicker Shad hard baits contains a patent-pending strip of Scent+ Pockets that hold and disperse Berkley’s Gulp! scent while trolling underwater providing fish with a scent trail that is easy to find and follow; all the way to a set of sticky Fusion19 treble hooks. Berkley’s newest innovation combines science that can only be perfected at Berkley Labs, with top-notch actions and components to help anglers trigger and catch more fish.

Berkley Scented Flicker Shad Key Features
• Patent pending Scent+ Pockets
• Gulp! Hard Bait Gel in every pack
• Same action, size, profile and dive depth as the standard Flicker Shad
• Equipped with sharp Fusion19 treble hooks
• Available in the 5 cm and 7cm sizes in the 10 best Flicker Shad color options

Colors: Firetiger • Black Silver • Blue Tiger • Pearl White • Red Tiger • Purple Tiger • Black Gold • Slick Firetiger • Flashy Perch • Slick Purple Candy
Single Pack (5 cm and 7cm): $9.99
Bulk Pack (5 cm and 7cm): $19.99
Variety Pack (5cm and 7cm): $29.99
Hard Bait Gel: $8.99

by AnglersChannel

Z-Man® Lands Three Ascending Bass Pros

Ladson, SC (February 7, 2023) – Since its humble beginnings, Z-Man Fishing has embraced the belief that angling talent of every stripe—young or seasoned, conventional or nonconformist— merely enriches the passion and the pursuit. Everyone has a voice; each angler brings an invigorating viewpoint to the sport where age, background and style know no bounds.

Reinforcing its all-star roster of exceptional anglers (and plain ol’ good people), the South Carolina based lure-makers recently landed three ascending pros, already well on their way toward living the dream.

Briana Tucker

Hometown: Trinity, Alabama

Favorite Lures/Baits: Finesse TRD™,

Big TRD™, ChatterBait JackHammer

Go-To Technique: Power fishing with a ChatterBait

Following a thrilling, successful run in competitive high school and collegiate bass fishing, new Z-Man pro Briana Tucker set two lofty goals: to be the first female angler to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series and to eventually win a Bassmaster Classic. Well on her way, Tucker continues fishing at a high level in the Major League Fishing Toyota Series and Bassmaster Opens, plus numerous regional derbies near her hometown of Trinity, Alabama.

Beyond tournaments, Tucker loves getting kids excited about fishing, captaining local high school fishing teams and working as a licensed captain and guide on Tennessee River reservoirs.

“My grandpa got me involved in fishing from an early age,” notes Tucker. “He was my boat captain in high school bass tourneys and really instilled in me a passion for being on the water. When I’m guiding today, I get to take a lot of mothers, fathers and children fishing. What’s so cool about that—even for a guide or tournament angler—is that you can learn something new from anyone of any skill level or age, just as they’re learning from you.

“Taking kids fishing helps remind me to slow down, to fish a little slower than I normally would. At times, barely reeling a ChatterBait or a worm can make all the difference.

“Typically, I’m inclined to go 90 miles an hour, punching heavy cover with a Hella CrawZ™ or cruising along with a ChatterBait. This year, though, I’ll be striving to perfect my finesse presentations. On my home waters of Pickwick Lake, those TRD Ned rig baits catch bunches of big smallmouth bass.”

Tucker adds: “Even before I joined the team, Z-Man was already making some of my favorite lures. So, for me, this is an awesome situation at a perfect time in my career. I’m fired up!”

Jamie Bruce

Hometown: Kenora, Ontario, Canada

Favorite Lures/Baits: Hula StickZ™, Trick ShotZ™, ChatterBait® JackHammer™, ChatterBait

WillowVibe™, Scented Jerk ShadZ™

Go-To Technique: Offshore power fishing—football head jig with Hula StickZ on deep structure

Favorite (non-bass fishing) Activity: Ice fishing for lake trout, walleyes and crappies

Longtime Z-Man fan and friend of the staff, Ontario’s Jamie Bruce has already established solid street cred as one of Canada’s more innovative, tournament winning anglers. Introduced to fishing by his mother “almost before I can remember,” Bruce’s gateway species was the enigmatic walleye. “In my late teens I started fishing tournaments—walleye first and then bass,” notes Bruce, now 33. “I just loved it so much, and when I started winning a few, it was game over for me.”

At age 25, Bruce won the “super bowl of Canadian bass events,” the Kenora Bass International (KBI) on Lake of the Woods. Noteworthy was Bruce’s impressive limit of largemouth bass, something of an anomaly on Lake of the Woods’ world-class smallmouth bass fishery at the time. “Growing up, the KBI was the ultimate goal. Still one of the most competitive bass tournaments anywhere, attracting great anglers from all over North America.”

When asked about influential anglers in his fishing career, Bruce is quick to call out Canadian luminary Bob Izumi and his good friend and fellow Z-Man pro, Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson. “Having a guy like Gussy in our community of anglers has been huge,” notes Bruce. “He’s always been willing to share fishing tips and info—probably more than he should have, at times. Having Gussy around to establish the bar and measure yourself against has been really important for Canadian anglers, especially as more of us begin venturing out into tournaments in Florida, Texas and beyond.”

Last year, Bruce fished his first Bassmaster Open events, finishing 19^th at Hartwell and 3^rd at Cherokee Lake, Tennessee—lakes he’d never seen before. At Cherokee, Bruce caught his bass on deep structure, “hanging a minnow” (aka moping)— an increasingly popular method popularized in Canada. Bruce and Gustafson both extol the use of a 3/8-ounce jig and 4- or 5-inch Scented Jerk ShadZ™. (Gustafson won the 2021 Bassmaster Elite at the Tennessee River with this very bait and technique.)

Shortly, Bruce will embark on a busy tournament season, with plans to fish all nine Bassmaster Opens. “Can’t wait to get back to Hartwell again. Last time, I raced 26 hours to get down there, had one hour of daylight left and caught a quick limit before the tournament stuff started the next day. Lots of big waters like Hartwell and Chickamauga hold major offshore goldmine potential. Gonna be a fun year with an awesome arsenal of Z-Man baits on board.”

Jonathan Dietz

Hometown: Corry, Pennsylvania

Favorite Lures/Baits: ChatterBait MiniMax™, Hula StickZ™, Palmetto BugZ™

Memorable Fish: A 6-1/4-pound largemouth caught on a JackHammer in an early BFL tourney at Chesapeake Bay

Ten years before new Z-Man pro Jonathan Dietzqualified for his first Bassmaster Classic, the Pennsylvania native won a gold medal that exhibited an entirely different fishing skillset. At age 16, Dietz and fellow Team USA anglers won gold at the FIPS-Mouche World Youth Fly Fishing Championships—a singular distinction that soon translated to success in collegiate competitive bass fishing and beyond. In recent years, he’s performed exceptionally well in Bass Nation, Bass Open and the MLF events, where he’s logged numerous top-10 finishes. Dietz qualified for the 2023 Bassmaster Classic via strong performances in 2022 BASS Nation events.

Born and raised near the shores of Lake Erie—and with a farm pond in his backyard—Dietz can’t recall a time he didn’t fish. “I remember making twenty bucks at a club tourney in college, thinking this was the coolest thing on earth,” recalls Dietz, who has amassed a legit following via always-active YouTube and TikTok channels.

An upbeat, high-energy angler with the skills to match, Dietz was a fan of Z-Man baits years before signing on the dotted line. “I’m such a believer in Z-Man stuff that I’ve got an entire wall of their blue packs in my garage,” he admits. “While I absolutely love slinging jerkbaits for big Lake Erie smallmouths, my boat deck always has a Z-Man ChatterBait, SlingBladeZ™ spinnerbait or ElaZtech® soft plastic. The MiniMax has become a total go-to lure for big river bass. And baits like the Billy GOAT are just awesome for punching heavy cover; they’re almost endlessly durable. (Dietz recently fished an entire Toyota Series tournament with just two weedless-rigged GOATs, boating countless bass during the three-day event.)

Highlighting the company’s continued desire to connect with authentic young anglers, Z-Man promotions director Joey Prochazka adds perspective. “It’s not always just about how many tournaments you’ve won or that you’ve caught more giants than the next angler,” notes Prochazka. “We love it when someone in our Z-Man family wins, no doubt. But more important is the way our pros engage with fans; how they tell our story. It’s about their passion to teach others and to give back to the sport of fishing, when possible. No question, Jamie, Briana and Jonathan all embody these qualities and more. Couldn’t be happier to share in all their future victories.”

by AnglersChannel

Swindle’s going to chill out this season

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships

Country music superstars Kenny Chesney and Dierks Bentley carry a large tub on tour to take ice baths in. Now, Team Toyota angler Gerald Swindle does too.

Long used by athletic training staffs to cool core body temps and reduce swelling in knees and elbows after taxing workouts for their players, cold tub therapy has become an increasingly popular means for performers from all walks of life to recover more quickly, including the 2-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year.

“Pro fishing doesn’t have an athletic training staff, so we learn to take care of ourselves. And starting this season, that’s going to include cold water therapy for me at the end of each long day on the water,” says Swindle.

Swindle was actually inspired to indulge in cold water therapy by his good buddy and Elite Series pro, Carl Jocumsen, and ironically, the 100-gallon tub he purchased at Tractor Supply is just like those used backstage at tournament weigh-ins to dip the day’s catch as anglers wait in line to weigh their fish.

But instead of filling it with largemouth or watering livestock, Swindle and his bride “Lulu” buy $20 worth of ice each day to dump in the 100-gallons of water the tub holds.

“We try to get the water temperature down to around 45 or 50 degrees, and I try to stay in it for about five minutes. After five back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, five knee surgeries, and 53 birthdays, I can tell it helps me hurt less and feel a little more energetic,” says Swindle.

In fact, he says he’s already received interest from fellow angler Brandon Palaniuk about joining his latest therapeutic endeavor.

“I told him it’s BYOB – bring your own bathing suit, because we’re not going to be sitting around the campground in our cold tubs naked,” says the always hilarious Swindle.

Humor is good medicine, and we all know Swindle’s got plenty of that to compliment his new healing regimen.

by AnglersChannel

Valley Bass Wins MLF High School Fishing Open Tournament on Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (Feb. 6, 2023) – Arizona’s Valley Bass team of Jeff Giffen of Phoenix, Arizona, and Dylan Mladick of Buckeye, Arizona, brought three bass to the scale Sunday weighing 8 pounds, 9 ounces, to win the MLF High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing Open at Lake Havasu in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. For their win, the Valley Bass duo now advance to the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship.

The top team that now advances to the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship was:

1st: Valley Bass – Jeff Giffen and Dylan Mladick, three bass, 8-9

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

2nd: Chandler High School, Chandler, Ariz. – Trevor Fredrickson and Nolan Smith, two bass, 6-14
3rd: Lake Havasu High School, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – Alfredo Guiterrez and Steven Strosnider, two bass, 4-13
4th: Lake Havasu High School, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. – Steven Brady and Daniel McCoy, two bass, 4-12
5th: Oakdale High School, Oakdale, Calif. – Donnie Graham and Mason Polhemus, one bass, 3-10
6th: Oakdale High School, Oakdale, Calif. – Oscar Centeno and John Vierra, one bass, 2-9
7th: Deer Valley High School, Glendale, Ariz. – Cohen Biggar and Shane Riley, one bass, 2-1
8th: Oakdale High School, Oakdale, Calif. – Troy Cox and Zane Ravalin, one bass, 1-10
9th: SoCal Junior Bass Anglers, Poway, Calif. – Connor Dreas and Tyler Parks, zero bass, 0-0
10th: Lake Havasu High School, Lake Havasu City. – Brayden Bernard and Christian Kee, zero bass, 0-0

Complete results from the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

MLF High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing tournaments are free, two-person (team) events for students in grades 7-12 and are open to any MLF and TBF Student Angler Federation-affiliated high school club. The top 10 percent of teams at each Open event, along with the TBF High School Fishing state championships, will advance to the 2023 High School Fishing National Championship. The 2023 MLF High School Fishing National Championship will be held on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 20-24, and is hosted by Explore La Crosse.

The High School Fishing National Champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice and advance to the 2023 MLF Toyota Series Championship to compete as co-anglers.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF High School Fishing Presented by Favorite Fishing include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Grundens, Lawless Lures, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular High School Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Simpson University Wins MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Tournament on Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (Feb. 6, 2023) – The Simpson University duo of Jacob Greene of American Canyon, California, and Austin Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, cruised to victory by more than three pounds at the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Lake Havasu Presented by Tackle Warehouse Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 10 ounces. The victory earned the Red Hawks’ bass club qualification into the 2024 MLF College Fishing National Championship.

The Red Hawks juniors stayed upriver for the tournament and threw reaction baits – square-bill and lipless crankbaits – and targeted rocks, trees and tules in 3 to 7 feet of water.

“It was kind of a grind,” said Rojas. “We didn’t get our fifth fish until 11:30. We had to cover some water and make a lot of casts.”

Rojas said the team caught six fish – all keepers – during the course of the day and said that the win was also Greene’s first MLF College Fishing event.

“That was really nice for Jacob to get the win his first time out,” Rojas said. “I was just happy getting a limit. When we caught our limit I had a good feeling we were going to finish well, but I thought somebody would probably bring in 20 pounds.”

The top two teams that qualified to compete at the 2024 College Fishing National Championship are:

1st: Simpson University – Jacob Greene, American Canyon, Calif., and Austin Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., five bass, 13-10
2nd: Texas Tech University – Corbin Craft, Lubbock, Texas, and Austin Holt, Canyon, Texas, three bass, 10-6

Rounding out the top 10 finishers were:

3rd: Simpson University – Ryan Beaty, Martinez, Calif., and Nathan Phillips, Kelseyville, Calif., three bass, 9-12
4th: Auburn University – Blake Milligan and Carty Shoen, both of Auburn, Ala., two bass, 8-4
5th: Arizona State University – Lamar Fennell, Buckeye, Ariz., and Zack Hayes, Blythe, Calif., three bass, 7-6
6th: Chico State – Jared Defremery, Brentwood, Calif., and Miles Kaneko, Berkley, Calif., three bass, 7-5
7th: Auburn University – Connor Jacob, Peoria, Ill., and Samuel Smith, Auburn, Ill., two bass, 6-1
8th: Simpson University – James Hawkinson, Granite Bay, Calif., one bass, 5-12
9th: Simpson University – Michael Bray, Merced, Calif., and Brennan Osborn, Beaverton, Ore., two bass, 4-1
10th: Sonoma State University – Dylan Debono and Justin Keegan, both of San Francisco, Calif., one bass, 1-11

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The next regular-season event for College Fishing anglers will be the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI on Lake of the Ozarks, March 17 in Osage Beach, Missouri.

The 2023 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI series features college teams from across the country competing in nine regular-season tournaments. The top 12 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament advance to the 2024 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship.

Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Black Rifle Coffee Company, E3, Favorite Fishing, Fox Rent a Car, General Tire, Grundens, Lawless Lures, Lew’s, Lowrance, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Wiley X and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular College Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Pitt Breaks Two Records, Posts Huge Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Toledo Bend

BFL All-time Big Bass and Largest Weight Ever Weighed at Toledo Bend in MLF Competition Records Fall as Five 10+ Pounders Come Visit the Scale

MANY, La. (Feb. 6, 2023) – Boater Cody Pitt of Elmer, Louisiana, caught an all-time MLF Toledo Bend-cumulative weight record five-bass limit weighing 39 pounds, 15 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Toledo Bend by a massive 8-pound, 1-ounce margin of victory. The tournament was the second event for the BFL Cowboy Division. Pitt earned $8,107 for his victory, including the lucrative $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus.

Toledo Bend Reservoir showed out this weekend, as five bass were weighed Saturday in excess of 10+ pounds.

Pitt’s day started out rather unassuming, as he started his day on a couple of big-bite spots for him – offshore, isolated hard spots that held fish in 25 feet of water. He fished those spots for an hour and a half but managed to land only two small Kentucky bass. He relocated and found fish in 32 feet of water.

“I catch them deep this time of year, but typically not that deep,” Pitt said. “I thought they were smaller fish down there, but my first cast I caught one that weighed 6 pounds.”

Pitt used a ¾-ounce V&M Cliff Pace The Flatline Pacemaker Football Jig, as well as Strike King Pro Model 6XD and 10XD crankbaits , fished anywhere from 12 to 32 feet of water to entice bites.. His third spot produced a bite on his first cast, but it didn’t hold. His second cast with the B&M jig, however, produced the record-breaking big bass.

“When I first laid my eyes on it, I told my co-angler that it weighed at least 12 pounds,” Pitt said. “Then when I put my hands on it, I thought that it actually could go in the teens.”

Pitt pulled another 6-pounder from that spot, then moved again and boated a 4-pounder to fill his five-bass limit.

“At the start of the tournament I thought I had a pretty good chance at 30 pounds or maybe a little over 30,” said Pitt. “But right at 40? And catching a bass in the teens? That never crossed my mind.”

Pitt moved around some more, trying not to disturb fish for another upcoming tournament he plans to fish, and caught another 6-pounder and a 5½-pounder in five casts before he decided to head to weigh-in an hour early.

“If you win a BFL on Toledo Bend or Sam Rayburn, you’ve really done something,” Pitt said. “To beat that field feels really good. It’s a major accomplishment to win on those lakes.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Cody Pitt, Elmer, La., five bass, 39-15, $8,107 (includes $2,500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:        Tater Reynolds, Florien, La, five bass, 31-14, $2,436
3rd:        Cal Cameron, Coppell, Texas, five bass, 23-2, $1,623
4th:         Michael Powell, Henderson, Texas, five bass, 20-7, $1,137
5th:         Casey Tate, Oakdale, La., five bass, 19-13, $974
6th:         Raymond Anselmo, Baton Rouge, La., five bass, 17-8, $893
7th:         Dylan Smith, Midlothian, Texas, four bass, 17-2, $812
8th:         Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., five bass, 16-11, $731
9th:         Cody Ross, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 16-5, $650
10th:      Joe Beebee, Huntsville, Texas, five bass, 16-1, $568

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pitt’s BFL-record largemouth weighed 13 pounds, 6 ounces, and easily earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $735.

Leroy Dee Sheperd of Mountain View, Oklahoma, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,436 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 23 pounds, 11 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:          Leroy Dee Sheperd, Mountain View, Okla., five bass, 23-11, $2,436
2nd:        Michael Fagan, Big Sandy, Texas, three bass, 17-14, $1,585
3rd:        Ray Welch, Bossier City, La., five bass, 12-8, $814
4th:         Korby Friday, Elizabeth, La., four bass, 12-1, $568
5th:         Bryan Allen, Conroe, Texas, four bass, 11-4, $487
6th:         Dustin Berry, Dayton, Texas, four bass, 10-3, $447
7th:         Jesse Rawls, Oklahoma City, Okla., four bass, 8-13, $385
7th:         David Koch, Azle, Texas, three bass, 8-13, $385
9th:         Garrett Wilson, Willis, Texas, three bass, 8-11, $325
10th:      Nathan Bourque, Prairieville, La., three bass, 7-13, $284

Fagan earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $367, catching a largemouth that weighed in at 11 pounds even– the largest co-angler catch of the day.

After two events, Cole Moore of Anacoco, Louisiana, leads the BFL Cowboy Division Boater Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 492 points, while Dustin Berry of Dayton, Texas, leads the Strike King Co-Angler Division AOY race with 484 points.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 5-7 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Oklahoma. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Minn Kota & Humminbird Announce 1st Owners Tournament!

Pickwick Landing State Park to host first annual Minn Kota and Humminbird Owners Tournament on historic Pickwick Lake

RACINE, Wis. (Feb 6, 2023) –– The Minn Kota and Humminbird brands have been trusted by anglers forever, and now it's time to gather those anglers for a big bass shootout on the historic Pickwick Lake. The first Annual Minn Kota and Humminbird Owners Tournament will be held at Pickwick Landing State Park on June 3-4, 2023. Minn Kota and Humminbird have partnered with Trifecta Fishing (Big Bass Tour) to manage the tournament marketing and event execution. Trfiecta operates one of the largest big bass tournament organizations in the country and has been in business since 2010.

The tournament is open to any *amateur boat owner with at least one Minn Kota trolling motor, shallow water anchor, on-board charger or Humminbird fishfinder installed on their vessel. With over $150,000 in total payouts, and the grand prize for the 1st place finisher taking home $50,000, anglers will have the opportunity to win additional Minn Kota and Humminbird products, more cash and other prizes for finishing in the top 5 overall.

With two days of competition, anglers will be able to compete one or both days of competition for hourly prizes. This big bass event features seven hourly weigh-ins per day giving anglers several chances to snag top 10 cash prize payouts for catching the biggest fish each hour.

Event details

• June 2: Registration day with dinner and prizes, 5-8pm

• June 3 & 4: Tournament fishing days (anglers can fish one or both days)

• Open to amateur anglers owning at least one Minn Kota or Humminbird product

• Co-anglers (non-boat owners) are not required to own Minn Kota or Humminbird product

• Seven hourly weigh-ins daily with top 10 in each winning cash payouts

• Overall event top 5 winning cash & prizes

• $150,000+ in cash and prizes with $50,000 grand prize winner

• Anglers are allowed up to three anglers total in their boat during tournament hours

In addition, those in attendance will be part of a special announcement from the Minn Kota and Humminbird brands and learn exclusive information about new products coming for 2023.

*- no professional anglers are permitted

For more information or to register for the Minn Kota & Humminbird Owners Tournament, click www.minnkotaowners.com

by AnglersChannel

Todd Kline Earns Victory at MLF Toyota Series Western Opener at Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (Feb. 5, 2023) – Pro Todd Kline of San Clemente, California, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces to win the Toyota Series at Lake Havasu Presented by Psycho Tuna and earn the top payout of $29,392. Over the three days of competition Kline weighed in 15 bass totaling 60-14 to win by a 3½-pound margin over local angler Mike Williams of Lake Havasu City, who weighed a three-day total of 57-6 to finish second and earn $11,614.

Kline entered the final day of competition Saturday with a near 7-pound lead over Williams in second place, but with a largemouth-based primary pattern that seemed to be dissipating by the hour. After nearly three hours of fishing with just one strike that he didn’t connect with, Kline stowed the heavy casting gear, broke out a 7-foot, 6-inch Okuma Dead Eye Pro Series rod and Helios reel spooled with 5-pound-test line and went to work with a ¼-ounce Coolbaits Lure Co. The Down Under Underspin, with green-pumpkin and shad-colored swimbait trailers.

“I ran at least 10 spots and put in the time on my primary pattern, but it just wasn’t happening,” Kline said. “At the time I was thinking to myself ‘Man, you have a good lead, but you can’t go in [to weigh-in] with nothing and end up finishing 10th’. I was planning in the back of my mind to make that change, but by around 9:30, 10 o’clock, it was obvious that it was time to make a move.”

Kline continued to plink away with the underspin, gradually building a 15-plus-pound bag and maintaining his composure when he lost at least one more giant while his Strike King co-angler (and eventual co-angler winner) Todd Woods piled up 14-6 on four fish fishing behind Kline.

“I had maybe eight keepers on the underspin by the end of the day and lost a couple of really big ones – I’m not going to lie, I was worried that I might’ve left the door open with those two big misses,” Kline admitted. “You don’t have any other choice but to stay focused. I’m a religious guy, so I know the outcome was already determined and that I was just along for the ride, but it was pretty stressful.”

Kline’s stress spiked during weigh-in, as first-time Toyota Series pro Jason Marquez brought 24-6 to the scale and Williams held serve with 19-1 – “I always small-eye my fish, I didn’t think I had enough,” Kline admitted.

“I’ve been in second place going into the final day and came in second to one of the Williams brothers. I didn’t want to squander this opportunity. To have that trophy now is pretty cool. I have four on the home mantle with FLW as a co-angler and now this one as a pro with MLF, and I couldn’t be happier.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Havasu finished:

1^st:          Todd Kline, San Clemente, Calif., 15 bass, 60-14, $29,392
2^nd:         Mike Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 57-6, $11,614
3^rd:         Jason Marquez, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 56-5, $8,218
4^th:         Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 55-2, $6,848
5^th:         Chris Kinley, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 15 bass, 52-7, $6,163
6^th:         Kyle Grover, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., 15 bass, 51-9, $5,478
7^th:         David Valdivia, Riverside, Calif., 15 bass, 50-12, $4,794
8^th:         Kurt Dove, Del Rio, Texas, 15 bass, 49-0, $4,109
9^th:         Justin Kerr, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 45-10, $3,424
10^th:       Mark Williams, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 12 bass, 44-0, $2,739

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Nick Salvucci of Atascadero, California, won the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces. On Friday, Kline earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize after bringing a 7-pound, 2-ounce largemouth bass to the scale.

Mike Williams took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Todd Woods of Long Beach, California, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 32 pounds, 14 ounces. Woods took home the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Havasu finished:

1^st:          Todd Woods, Long Beach, Calif., 11 bass, 32-14, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2^nd:         Tom Nokes, Riverton, Utah, seven bass, 22-7, $3,534
3^rd:         Kirk Marshall, Discovery Bay, Calif., seven bass, 20-5, $2,827
4^th:         Tyson Christman, Glendale, Ariz., eight bass, 20-4, $2,474
5^th:         Blaine Christiansen, San Jose, Calif., six bass, 18-1, $2,120
6^th:         Bruce Harris, Oakdale, Calif., eight bass, 17-3, $1,767
7^th:         Daniel Lutz, Las Vegas, Nev., six bass, 16-4, $1,414
8^th:         Jason Webb, Medford, Ore., five bass, 16-3, $1,237
9^th:         Mike Walsh, El Cajon, Calif., five bass, 14-12, $1,210
10^th:       Brett Robbins, Solvang, Calif., four bass, 13-8, $883

Ken Whalen was the Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, Thursday, with a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass, while the Day 2 $150 award went to Gabriel Diaz of Nuevo, California, with a 6-pound, 4-ounce fish.

With one regular-season event in the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse now complete, Kline jumped out to the early lead in the Western Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 260 points, while ,Woods leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 260 points.

The Toyota Series at Lake Havasu Presented by Psycho Tuna, hosted by Go Lake Havasu, was the first of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Central Division opener – the Toyota Series at Lake Guntersville, Feb. 16-18, in Scottsboro, Alabama. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

Kennie Steverson Slows Way Down to Win MLF Toyota Series Southern Division Opener at Harris Chain of Lakes

Florida Pro Dominates on Lake Apopka to Take Home Top Payout of $102,000

LEESBURG, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2023) – After bringing 24 pounds to the scale on Day 1 and 27 pounds, 11 ounces to the scale on Day 2, Umatilla, Florida pro Kennie Steverson brought a five-bass limit to the scale Friday weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces close out the win at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes and earn the top payout of $102,000. Over the three days of competition Steverson’s catch of 15 bass totaling 71-13 earned him the win by a commanding 7-pound, 6-ounce margin over Eric Panzironi of Longwood, Florida, who finished runner-up with a three-day total of 64-7, good for $27,500.

Each day Steverson traveled from the launch in Lake Harris to Lake Apopka, roughly 60 miles per day, round trip, for a total of 180 miles on the week. With 260 boats in the field, and so many locking through Apopka’s tiny three-boat lock, the wait times were roughly 1½ to 2 hours to get through the lock. Each day, Steverson averaged just 3 hours of fishing time in Apopka. Since each official tournament day is 8 hours long, across three competition days he had a total of 24 hours to fish, but only fished 9 of those hours – basically just one-third of the allotted hours to fish.

“I got a bunch of bites in Apopka in practice, but didn’t set on them. So I really didn’t know what I had,” Steverson said. “But once I drew boat two on Day 1, I knew I could be the first through the lock and have first pick of the water down there. I had to go, it was like a guarantee that no one else would be on the stretch I wanted to fish.”

Anyone who has tournament fished knows that when making long runs, especially through locks, when you finally get to your water and you’re the first one there; you can’t help but be just a little jacked up when you land. With so much fishing time sacrificed, the tendency is to fish fast and cover water – but, not for Steverson.

Once he hit the Power-Poles and came to a screeching halt in the shallow reeds of Apopka, that was it. That’s where he was fishing. All told, Steverson’s best stretch was maybe 100 yards long. But he didn’t fish all 100 yards each day. Instead, he slowly digested only 30 to 40 yards of it per day.

Steverson said he needled the hay grass and reeds with a standard 6-inch Yamamoto Senko on a 1/2-ounce weight, tied to 65-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa Braid. The power end of the business was done with a 7-foot, 6-inch Fitzgerald All-Purpose rod with a Fitzgerald Stunner reel.

“I’m a slow fisherman by nature anyway,” he said. “So, these Florida bass sort of suit my style because you can’t rush them. I’ve learned to take my time, let them get comfortable and pick them apart as slow as possible, even when I only have 2½ hours to fish.”

The top 10 pros on the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:

1^st:          Kennie Steverson, Umatilla, Fla., 15 bass, 71-13, $102,000 (includes $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
2^nd:         Eric Panzironi, Longwood, Fla., 15 bass, 64-7, $27,500
3^rd:         Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 15 bass, 63-14, $18,000
4^th:         Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 63-0, $16,000
5^th:         Cory Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 61-11, $15,000
6^th:         Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 57-4, $11,500
7^th:         Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Pa., 13 bass, 55-10, $10,000
8^th:         Darold Gleason, Many, La., 15 bass, 52-11, $8,500
9^th:         Rodney Marks, Apopka, Fla., 15 bass, 51-13, $7,500
10^th:       Tyler Sheppard, Yulee, Fla., 15 bass, 50-12, $5,500

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

In addition to his tournament winner payout, Steverson also took home the $500 Day 1 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Wednesday with a chunky largemouth weighing 9 pounds, 10 ounces. On Thursday, pro Jessie Mizell of Myakka City, Florida, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize after bringing a 9-pound, 11-ounce bass to the scale.

Steverson earned an extra $35,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Erik Kraft of Port Saint Lucie, Florida, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Friday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52 pounds, 7 ounces. Kraft took home the top prize package worth $38,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:

1^st:          Erik Kraft, Port Saint Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 52-7, $38,500 incl. Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2^nd:         Alan Hults, Gautier, Miss., 15 bass, 44-4, $8,000
3^rd:         Bryan Ray, Lake Leelanau, Mich., 13 bass, 43-1, $6,500
4^th:         Joseph Owens, Leesburg, Fla., 15 bass, 41-8, $5,000
5^th:         Billy Charland, Lakeland, Fla., 13 bass, 39-13, $4,500
6^th:         Davis Dimauro, Longwood, Fla., 15 bass, 39-0, $3,900
7^th:         Nate Bloom, Winter Springs, Fla., 15 bass, 37-13, $3,250
8^th:         Scott Spencer, Raleigh, N.C., 15 bass, 35-15, $2,500
9^th:         Jeff Roper, Mineral Bluff, Ga., 13 bass, 35-5, $1,800
10^th:       Keith Honeycutt, Temple, Texas, 15 bass, 34-15, $1,600

Dimauro was the Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, Wednesday, with an 8-pound, 11-ounce fish, while Thursday’s Day 2 $150 award went to Zack Barrera of Morriston, Florida, with a 7-pound, 13-ounce fish.

With one regular-season event in the Toyota Series Southern Division now complete, Steverson leads the Southern Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 260 points, while Kraft leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 260 points.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes, hosted by Visit Lake County, Florida, was the first of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Southern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Central Division opener – the Toyota Series at Lake Guntersville, Feb. 16-18, in Scottsboro, Alabama. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST V. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

by AnglersChannel

THE 2023 THE NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL FISHING LEAGUE FIELD IS SET: IT’S TIME TO GO FISHING

The NPFL announces its 76 angler 2023 season roster, including 2021 and 2022 Progressive Angler of the Year Winners Keith Carson and Gary Adkins

Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons

WILKESVILLE, OH (Jan 3, 2022) — The National Professional Fishing League season is set to begin at Pickwick Lake in March, and the 2023 field is set. The 2023 field consists of 76 anglers competing for the $100,000 first place regular season event first place payout with the top 25 in Progressive Angler of the Year points fishing for an additional $100,000 prize at the no entry-fee Championship on Lake Amistad. In addition, the 2023 AOY winner will receive $20,000 and paid entry to the 2024 NPFL season.

“We are extremely excited for the anglers that have chosen to fish with ‘The League’ for the 2023 season,” said Paul Benson of the NPFL. “The diversity and quality of anglers within the field will make for some exciting coverage for fans to follow along this year on PHYX TV.”

The field consists of seasoned veterans with over 40 years of tournament fishing experience and some anglers who are taking their first shot at competing on the National level. The NPFL is hyper focused on expanding the platform and extending coverage to help anglers build their brands.

“We look forward to seeing what this field puts together throughout the season as they fish for a shot to compete for the 2023 NPFL Championship at Lake Amistad,” added Benson.

The Official 2023 field:
Barron Adams
Gary Adkins
T.R. Andreas
Charlie Apperson
Stuart Arthur
Hunter Baughman
Daniel Blackert
Michael Brewer
Brian Brooks
Nick Brown
Tim Cales
Quentin Cappo
Keith Carson
Douglas Chapin
Brant Cochran
Sheldon Collings
Michael Comeau
Richard Cooper
Mike Corbishley
John Cox
John Cox
Kyle Delong
Billy Doyle
Michael E Alls
Mitchell Elsey
Louis Fernandes
Bradley Fetters
Jeff Fitts
Todd Goade
Billy Hackworth
Hayden Hammond
Will Harkins
Chip Harrington
Brian Hatfield
Stephanie Hemphill-Pellerin
Jeff Hodges
Charlie Ingram
Travis Jewell
Ron Johnson
Robert Keck
Richard Kee
Scott Lindstam Jr.
Matt Looney
Stuart Martel
Lendell Martin
Kevin Martin
Matt Massey
Daniel McGehee
Reagan Nelson
Jordan Nettles
Lane Olson
Trent Palmer
Brandon Perkins
John Polasini
Timothy Reams
Jason Reyes
Darrel Robertson
Kevin Rogers
Angel Rosario
Ryan Satterfield
Adam Savage
Craig Saylor
Marc Schilling
Dustin Smith
Brad Staley
Randy Sullivan
Landon Tucker
Patrick Walters
Josh Watkins
Mitchell Webb
Danny Weems
Larry Wilcher jr.
Dustin Wilkey
Jason Wilson
Jesse Wise
Michael Yoder

Learn more about the NPFL, here.

by AnglersChannel

Doing what it takes

The guys welcome in MLF Southwestern Toyota Series winner Dakota Ebare to talk about the win on his home lake. Dakota also shares his approach to being competitive in the tournament game. Hit that play button!

by AnglersChannel

Missouri native ready to “Tackle the Outdoors” thanks to Toyota

February 2, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Grand-prize winner Stephen Lane is ready to kick off a new year thanks to Toyota’s Tackle the Outdoors sweepstakes. Lane’s grand prize included a 2023 Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro and a custom DECKED Drawer System plus $1,200 in Marathon fuel and a $1,000 Omnia Fishing gift card — a total value of more than $56,600.

Lane, an insurance professional from Kansas City, Mo., was one of 45,581 people to enter the sweepstakes at Bassmaster.com and looks forward to breaking in his new Toyota 4Runner on a big adventure alongside his wife Lauren, two young daughters and Rosie, their Boxer puppy.

“We do not have any set plans just yet, but the wheels are in motion,” said Lane. “We have family up in the Chicago area, so our first thought is to head that way for a long weekend this summer. Or maybe we will road trip to the Grand Canyon and really put these gas cards to use? The opportunities are endless!”

Lane credits his grandfather with fostering his love of fishing and the outdoors from a young age, something his family is continuing.

“For as long as I can remember, my family spent a week up in northern Wisconsin as part of our summer vacation,” he said. “My grandpa was an avid fisherman and found a small house on Lake Chetek, so we would visit him and my grandma each summer.”

Lane will be picking up his 2023 Toyota 4Runner in early February at a Kansas City-area Toyota dealership.

“On behalf of Toyota and the Kansas City Area Dealers, we’re delighted to help Stephen and his family tackle the outdoors with this new 4Runner,” said Adam Benlon, marketing manager for the Kansas City region.

For more information on current sweepstakes, visit Bassmaster.com/current-sweepstakes.

by AnglersChannel

NPAA Honors Members and Partners

Supporting Partner of the Year Award, Look to the Future Award, and $4,500 For Florida Guide Relief presented at 2023 Annual Conference.

Forestville, WI (February 2, 2023) – The National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA) has a well-earned reputation for representing all who make a living in the sportfishing industry. With a passionate and growing membership of nearly 1,400 members including everyone from guides and captains to tournament anglers, fishing department associates and management, manufacturing personnel, engine mechanics, professional rep groups and tackle shop staff, the non-profit organization is fully immersed in sportfishing advocacy, promoting entry into the sport, and providing superior networking opportunities to its members and nearly 80 supporting partners.

“We are laser-focused on growing and protecting the vital interests of the sportfishing industry,” says NPAA president, Patrick Neu, “But our mission takes more than just a community effort, it requires support from some very special members and partners that go above and beyond, time and again. I think it’s important to recognize and honor those difference makers for their outstanding efforts, which we do each year at our Annual Conference.”

To that end, NPAA made three major presentations at their 2023 Annual Conference, held in Ft. Myers, Florida, this past January.

Mercury Tournament Manager Michelle Kilburn and NPAA President Pat Neu

Mercury Marine Corporation and Michelle Kilburn, Mercury’s Manager of Tournaments and Endorsements, was presented with the NPAA 2022 ”Supporting Partner of the Year Award.” This recognizes an NPAA partner that has displayed outstanding support to the organization’s members while contributing to the overall health of the sportfishing industry. Mercury was a presenting sponsor of the 2023 Meet and Greet Event at the Conference, sponsored headline speaker Gerald Swindle’s appearance at the conference, and shared information about the NPAA with their pro-staff through their pro-staff newsletter this past year. For years, the company has asked pro-staff applicants if they are members of NPAA, listing the organization as being supportive of conservation and the overall good of the industry. “Michelle Kilburn,” added Neu, "has been an extremely helpful and engaged NPAA partner for years and was instrumental in our decision to take our conference south and hold it in Fort Myers this year. We truly appreciate her insightful input and hard work on behalf of NPAA and the sport.”

John Gillman

NPAA presented John Gillman with its “2022 Look to the Future Award,” in recognition of an individual that has contributed greatly to the future of sportfishing through efforts to support growth in angling participation. “What John does for the NPAA and the sportfishing community through donation of his time and the services of his business is just outstanding,” said Neu. “His business demands an incredible amount of his time, and he yet still finds time to work on behalf of both the NPAA and Future Angling Foundation (FAF). John’s business, ATX, warehouses the FAF grant product. They pack it, ship it, and invoice the FAF for just the freight at their cost, which is about a third less than we can ship it for ourselves – and they do all that basically for free. John truly deserves this award – and a whole lot more. We can’t thank him enough for all his help.”

“This is just my way of giving back. If everybody gives back just a little bit, it makes a huge difference – and it’s a really good feeling,” said Gillman after accepting his award.

Check in hand, Barbara Alderson, Campaign Manager for United Way of Lee County, Florida (left), and Mollie Simpkins, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Guide Relief Program, are all smiles accepting a donation earmarked to help Florida guides recover losses of business and equipment due to Hurricane Ian.

Additionally, NPAA was able to award $1,500 to The Guide Relief Program, headed by member Mollie Simpkins, of Montana, which aims to support those who make a living fishing anywhere in the country, especially after disaster strikes. Her campaign was able to triple that contribution thanks to matching funds provided by The Orvis Company and The Boat Company, resulting in a $4,500 donation to the Collaboratory and The United Way of Lee County, Florida, to help guides recover losses of business and equipment due to Hurricane Ian.

“In a nutshell, this is what the NPAA is all about,” concluded Neu. “This organization is here to grow, support, advocate for and aid those making a living in the sportfishing industry in whatever ways we can. We have a growing and passionate membership, and I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of this beneficial organization - especially when you look back over the past year and see how so many members pitched in, pulled together and truly made a difference. I thank our award winners for their tireless efforts and gestures of good will. With members and partners like you on board there’s no doubt NPAA will continue to thrive and remain a positive force in the sportfishing community and industry going forward.”

NPAA represents all who make a living in the sportfishing industry. In addition to superior networking opportunities, sportfishing advocacy and promoting entry into the sport, the organization offers a monthly member newsletter, a weekly industry NewsBLAST, and access to significant discounts on gear and services provided by many of its nearly 80 supporting partners.

For more information on joining the NPAA and exploring the many benefits membership provides, visit www.npaa.net.

by AnglersChannel

FISHERY MANAGEMENT SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM ANNOUNCED BY BASS FISHING HALL OF FAME

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – February 1, 2023 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Making sure the many lakes and reservoirs in the U.S. and Canada where anglers pursue bass are healthy and vibrant relies a great deal on the efforts from federal, state, and provincial fishery management professionals. To assure those efforts are supported, and to provide financial resources for high school and college bass anglers looking to pursue careers in the fishery management field, the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame Board is instituting a college scholarship program for students seeking a degree in a natural resource field with an end goal of becoming a practicing fishery manager.

Up to $15,000 will be awarded in July 2023 to the selected applicants. Applications for the scholarship are now being accepted at https://www.bassfishinghof.com/scholarship.

“Within many fishery management agencies, there is a definitive need to fill vacant positions with qualified individuals who understand and have a passion for both the sport of bass fishing and the science needed to manage those fisheries,” said BFHOF Board president John Mazurkiewicz. “Spearheaded by Gene Gilliland, Casey Shedd, and our Conservation Committee, this new scholarship program fits in ideally with the Hall’s mission of celebrating, promoting, and preserving the sport by supporting those whose future career path will focus on healthy fisheries, needed access, and clean rivers, lakes and reservoirs.”

Gilliland notes that scholarship applicants must be a high school senior who has committed to enroll or be an undergraduate and graduate student currently enrolled in a four-year college, university, or accredited graduate program. They must declare or have declared a major in biology, aquatic ecology, fisheries, marine science, or a closely related natural resources field. “We’re also asking every applicant to submit a short essay explaining their goals for a career in natural resources and to describe their dream agency job, along with proof of membership in a recognized bass fishing organization or provide a copy of a valid fishing license,” said Gilliland.

The BFHOF Fishery Management Scholarship Program form outlines all the application requirements. Gilliland also mentioned all applications will be reviewed by an independent panel that includes individuals involved in fishery management issues in both the U.S. and Canada, including Phil Morlock, Director of Government Affairs with the Canadian Sportfishing Industry Association; Chris Horton, Senior Director of Fisheries Policy with the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation; Ross Self, Chief of Inland Fisheries for the South Carolina DNR; and Dr. Mark Rogers, Tennessee Cooperative Fishery Research Unit Leader at Tennessee Tech University.

The application deadline is May 31, 2023 and the scholarship winners are notified by early July. For student financial aid requirements, the monetary award from the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame is considered a stipend for use by the student for any school-related expenses.

For more information on the BFHOF Fishery Management Scholarship program, visit https://www.bassfishinghof.com/scholarship

by AnglersChannel

Environmental Efforts Paying off for Z-Man® Fishing

Leading tackle company's conservation commitment moves toward carbon neutrality, zero waste and healthy fisheries

Ladson, SC (February 1, 2023) – Beyond an obsession for battling big fish, there’s one thing upon which anglers almost universally agree: Clean, healthy waterways and flourishing fish habitat lie at the heart of everything we hold sacred.

Count the people at Z-Man Fishing among America’s 60 million anglers—everyday folks you might meet at the tackle shop or along the shoreline. At some point each day, we’ll stop casting, survey our surroundings and simply marvel at the beauty both above the surface and below; we’ll pause to ponder what this awe-inspiring place might look like, 5, 10 or 100 years from now. It’s at times like these that anglers grasp their power to write the future—the same reason Z-Man has for years been working creatively, quietly, to help sustain healthy, vibrant fisheries behind the scenes.

It began early in the company’s 30-year history. From the beginning, Z-Man understood the value of supporting causes that ensure long-term sustainability of fisheries and aquatic environments. These motivations are evident in Z-Man’s product line itself, as its 10X Tough ElaZtech® soft plastic material exhibits advantages that lessen its environmental impact relative to other soft baits.

Not only does ElaZtech’s boosted durability reduce the number of soft plastic baits used by anglers, ingested by fish or discarded in the water, Z-Man’s specialized material is also one-hundred percent non-toxic and free from harmful chemicals like phthalates. Additionally, ElaZtech floats and is FDA Food Grade compliant—as opposed to traditional plastisol baits, which sink to the bottom and can be ingested by fish and other wildlife, sometimes causing digestive problems among other issues. Conversely, any inadvertently discarded ElaZtech baits will float and can be easily scooped from the water’s surface for proper disposal.

ElaZtech baits are 100-percent non-toxic and naturally buoyant, allowing for easy retreival and disposal.
Sustaining the Aquatic Ecosystem
Part of Z-Man’s mission has always been to further causes that preserve healthy ecosystems and enhance fishing opportunities. Today, Z-Man’s support of such initiatives ranges from backing action-oriented groups like Captains for Clean Water and Release Over 20 to empowering future fisheries management via Z-Man endowed graduate research assistantships at the University of Florida’s Nature Coast Biological Station in Cedar Key.

When seeking out opportunities to conserve cherished fisheries by minimizing its impact on nature, Z-Man management identified essential actions toward meaningfully reducing its carbon footprint. “Two aspects of our manufacturing process that we’ve always felt could be improved upon include minimizing the power we pull from the electrical grid and finding a way to recycle manufacturing waste from our ElaZtech production line,” remarks Z-Man President Daniel Nussbaum, a longtime conservationist and forward-thinking fishing industry executive. “Most any company can purchase enough carbon offsets to claim that it’s carbon neutral, but our goal was to find ways to actually reduce the impact of our production-related activities.” As a result of its initiatives, Z-Man recently achieved exciting benchmarks in an ongoing quest to give back to aquatic environments.

Sun-Powered Bait Making

Last year, phase one of the Z-Man sustainability program included installing a broad solar-panel array with the goal of self-generating a perpetual power supply. By nature, solar is a low emission power source; solar panels themselves produce zero pollution. Conventional energy sources, by contrast, typically involve the burning of fossil fuels, which emit up to 37 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the global atmosphere, annually.1

Nussbaum summarizes the early returns: “Following just one year of solar power generation, we’re nearly one-hundred percent self-sufficient,” he says. “In fact, rather than paying big energy bills during the summer, we’re actually selling electricity back to the power company. It’s a pretty exciting development that’s exceeded our initial hopes and started us well down a path toward minimizing our carbon footprint.”

ElaZtech Softbait Recyling

Specific to the on-site manufacture of its environmentally benign ElaZtech softbaits, Z-Man recently achieved a second sustainability milestone. For the last few years, Z-Man staff has been searching for ways to prevent its manufacturing waste from entering landfills. Despite challenges in recycling this unique material—largely due to the pigments, glitter and salt used in fishing lure production—Z-Man ultimately devised a successful plan.

“Even though ElaZtech is completely non-toxic, we still felt it was critical to keep our leftover manufacturing material out of landfills,” asserts Nussbaum, who helped formulate a two-part solution. “First, we worked hard to devise a way to efficiently reprocess around sixty percent of our scrap ElaZtech material to manufacture new baits. We also re-use the excess material to flush out and clean our machines.

“Second, and maybe the most exciting aspect of our plan is working with a third-party re-processor of manufacturing waste that is able to repurpose the material,” Nussbaum continues. “After years of searching, we finally found a company that is able to use our ElaZtech waste as an ingredient in new shoe soles. Besides the environmental benefits of keeping these materials out of landfills, recycling has yielded a major cost savings over traditional waste disposal methods.”
At least part of the allure of fishing is that all participants can create positive, edifying outcomes while on the water—from catch and release to collecting trash along the shoreline and properly disposing of used fishing line and lures. Easy solutions are already at our fingertips, individually or organization wide. Every effort helps, always with the promise of sustaining natural places where water flows and wild fish reside.

by AnglersChannel

B.A.S.S. announces extended multiyear sponsorship deal with Garmin

Garmin has extended its multiyear supporting sponsorship of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail. Twenty-two members of the brand’s national pro team will be competing on the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series.

Photo by B.A.S.S.

February 1, 2023

B.A.S.S. announces extended multiyear sponsorship deal with Garmin

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S. and Garmin (NYSE: GRMN), the world’s most innovative and recognized marine electronics manufacturer, have renewed their multiyear sponsorship of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail.

“We are excited to continue our sponsorship of B.A.S.S. and further strengthen our long-standing relationship with this iconic fishing brand,” said Dave Dunn, Garmin senior director of marine and RV sales. “The Bassmaster Tournament Trail embodies the spirit of our brand, and it’s a great place for us to showcase our award-winning products and technologies to anglers and fans of all ages and skill levels.”

As a sponsor, Garmin will have an opportunity to engage with avid fans during the Bassmaster Outdoors Expo at Elite events and live weigh-ins for the Bassmaster Elite Series, St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Strike King Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Team Championship.

Additionally, just for being the highest-finishing Garmin angler, competitors can win $500 in the Bassmaster Opens and B.A.S.S. Nation regional championships or a $500 gift card in College and High School Series events thanks to the Garmin Tournament Rewards program.

The relationship between Garmin and B.A.S.S. is already strong, with 22 members of the brand’s national pro team competing on the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series, ranging from veteran angler Todd Auten to the winners of the last three Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classics, Hank Cherryand Jason Christie.

by AnglersChannel

MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Set to Kick Off 2023 Season Opener with Power-Pole Stop 1 on Lake Okeechobee

Full Field of 150 Professional Anglers to Compete for Top Prize of up to $115,000 and Total Season Purse of More Than $3.9 Million

CLEWISTON, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2023) – Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, is set to return to Clewiston, Florida next week, Feb. 8-10, for the season-opening MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Power-Pole Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee Presented by Phoenix Boats . New in 2023, the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational features a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST V – the Bass Pro Tour championship – for the chance to win up to $300,000.

Hosted by the Hendry County Tourism Development Council, the tournament marks the first of six Tackle Warehouse Invitational events in 2023, offering competitors a total season purse of more than $3.9 million. The field is also competing for valuable points to win the coveted Invitational Angler of the Year (AOY) title. The top eight pros in the Tackle Warehouse Invitational AOY standings at the end of the season will receive an invitation to compete on the Bass Pro Tour.

Over the past 29 years, MLF has held 161 tournaments on Lake Okeechobee – affectionately referred to as the “Big O” – making it the second most popular fishery visited by MLF. Only MLF’s home waters of Kentucky and Barkley Lakes has held more MLF stops, with 203 tournaments held there over the years.

“Hendry County Tourism is excited to continue our long-standing partnership with Major League Fishing and host anglers for the Tackle Warehouse Invitational,” said Emily Hunter, Tourism Coordinator for Hendry County. “We look forward to another successful tournament and welcome those visiting Hendry County.”

The distinguished field of anglers includes local favorite Jared McMillan of Clewiston, Florida, and nine other Florida pros, including Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida and Val Osinski of Fort Lauderdale, Florida , who has three career victories on Lake Okeechobee in MLF competition. They will be joined by 140 additional pros – 13 of which compete on the MLF Bass Pro Tour, including back-to-back Bass Pro Tour AOY winner Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee and reigning Pro Circuit AOY Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee.

In addition, the season-long Invitational AOY will also earn a berth into REDCREST V.

McMillan said this will be the third time he’s started a season on his home lake, and although he feels pressure and expectation to do well, there’s nowhere else he’d rather kick off the 2023 season.

“I was really excited to see that we were starting on Lake Okeechobee when the 2023 schedule was released, but after a significant hurricane season and heavy flooding, it’s fishing a little sub-par at the moment,” said McMillan. “It was about 2-foot above regular pool a month ago before it went off-limits, but it’s dropped about six inches within the past month, so hopefully it will continue dropping and will be back up to speed by the time the event starts. A lot can change in a month in Florida, so I’m excited to get out there and see what we’re working with.”

The Strike King pro said there’s plenty of good, submerged grass on the lake, but anglers will have to contend with a lot of muddy water.

“Guys are pretty much going to find the fish in 2 to 4 feet of water everywhere around the lake – it’s just going to be a matter of finding good clean grass and good clean water, along with mixed vegetation and a little bit of bait,” said McMillan. “There will be a couple of popular areas with tons of boats in them, but the anglers who can find something outside of those main areas should do really well.”

The Clewiston pro said he expects to see standard Okeechobee baits in play during the event. Z-Man ChatterBaits, Zoom Speed Worms, Yamamoto Senkos and other topwater baits will be key, although once the fish are found, McMillan said guys should be able to catch them on anything they want. The key, he said, will be to locate good areas.

“It looks like some big bags have been caught in local tournaments over the past week or so, so I think the fishery might be turning back around and looking a lot better than it was when we went off limits,” said McMillan. “We’ve seen 25-pound bags win in those recent events, which is really good.

“I think we’re going to see some of those good bags,” he continued. “I don’t think we’ll see them three days in a row, but I think you’ll see one or two big bags each day from different people, and an angler who can be consistent all three days will probably end up winning the event.”

McMillan said he believes it will take an average of 19 to 21 pounds per day to finish the event in first.

“I do think someone will have to catch a big bag at least one of the days to take home the big check,” said McMillan. “But I don’t think you’ll see one guy stay at 21 pounds a day for three days – that’s just hard to do in Florida.”

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET, Wednesday through Friday, from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 W. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston. Weigh-ins will also be held at the marina daily beginning at 2:50 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the event or follow the live on-the-water action all three days of competition online on MLF NOW! beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

by AnglersChannel

Toyota adds Mark Daniels Jr.

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships

Texas-based Toyota Motor North America proudly announces the addition of Mark Daniels Jr. to their professional bass angling team.

Daniels, who holds a degree in environmental science from Tuskegee University, is a perennial championship qualifier and a long-time member of the Toyota Bonus Bucks program.

“Not only does Mark have a long history of purchasing and towing with our Tundras, but he is also a tremendous person, a devoted family man, a consistent championship qualifier, and a fun, humble, guy who loves to engage with fishing fans. We’re grateful to have a person of his caliber as part of Team Toyota,” says Steve Appelbaum, National Manager, Sponsorship Integration, Toyota Motor North America.

“I’ve towed with a Toyota the majority of my pro career, and my Tundras have always been incredibly reliable, which means I never have to worry about making it safely and on time to the next tournament,” says Daniels, who has two tour-level wins.

“To be honest, even though I’ve been a full-time pro for a decade now, there’s still a big part of me that’s a fan of the guys I grew up watching on TV like Kevin VanDam. Not to mention so many of the other iconic anglers that are a part of Team Toyota. So, to join such an awesome group is pretty humbling,” adds Daniels.

The addition of Daniels is a testament to Toyota’s ongoing support of bass fishing, as both a sponsor of numerous top-level tournament trails, along with top pros, and amateur anglers too through its Toyota Bonus Bucks program.

by AnglersChannel

Calvert Tops Field to Win Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Lewis Smith Lake

Fernandez Claims Strike King Co-Angler Division

JASPER, Ala. (Jan. 30, 2023) – Boater Roman Calvert of Jasper, Alabama, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lewis Smith Lake. The tournament, hosted by the Walker County Chamber of Commerce, was the first event of the season for the BFL Choo Choo Division. Calvert earned $6,000 for his victory.

Calvert, who calls Lewis Smith his home waters, practiced for two days for the tournament but said his practice didn’t really produce the results he expected.

“Normally on Smith, I look for a herring bite offshore,” said Calvert. “The first half day of practice I looked for that bite, and just couldn’t find one. So, I decided to stop in a ditch and throw a swimbait and a shaky-head rig.”

Smith said that approach was unproductive on tournament day, so he relocated to another area he had found in practice. After that area failed to produce, he changed yet again and targeted laydowns with a wakebait.

“Finally, about 9:30 I caught a 5-9 largemouth with the wakebait,” Calvert said. “Then I started running stuff that I was familiar with. Most of it was laydowns, brush piles and docks with brush. Most of it had to do with fishing wood with a jig. I ran that pattern the rest of the day.”

Smith finished out the afternoon targeting fish from Duncan Bridge to the dam, and said he boated a total of seven fish during the day – including two big largemouth and three spotted bass that made up his weigh bag.

“I knew I had more than 17 pounds in the livewell, and I knew that it had been taking 17 to 18 pounds to win the local tournaments,” Calvert said. “I told my co-angler I thought I had enough to win it.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Roman Calvert, Jasper, Ala., five bass, 17-9, $6,000
2nd:       Austin Swindle, Parrish, Ala., five bass, 15-15, $3,000
3rd:       Mark McCaig, Oxford, Ala., five bass, 15-7, $2,500 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
4th:        Scott Wright, Carbon Hill, Ala., five bass, 15-5, $1,400
5th:        Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 15-3, $1,200
6th:        Jeremy Hopper, Vinemont, Ala., five bass, 14-15, $1,050
6th:        Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 14-15, $1,050
8th:        Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 14-0, $900
9th:        Bobby Padgett, Lagrange, Ga., five bass, 13-14, $800
10th:     Jennings Earnest, Guin, Ala., five bass, 13-12, $665
10th:     Sean Buntin, Cullman, Ala., four bass, 13-12, $665

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Bryan Simmons of Leoma, Tennessee, caught a bass that weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000.

Chase Fernandez of Post Falls, Idaho, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $3,000 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 12 pounds, 9 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Chase Fernandez, Post Falls, Idaho, five bass, 12-9, $3,000
2nd:       Alex Singleton, Rome, Ga., five bass, 12-8, $1,500
3rd:       Chris Kirksey, Fairmount, Ga., five bass, 11-15, $1,000
4th:        Eric Owens, Danville, Ala., five bass, 10-8, $700
5th:        Mike Slaughter, Hartselle, Ala., five bass, 10-7, $600
6th:        Doug Vaughn, Houston, Ala., five bass, 10-2, $550
7th:        Kyle Smith, Crane Hill, Ala.., five bass, 10-1, $500
8th:        Rex Henry, Hixson, Tenn., four bass, 9-14, $450
9th:        Dennis Sandoval, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 9-11, $950
10th:     Mitchell Peterson, Trussville, Ala., five bass, 9-8, $350

Alex Roberts of Franklin, Tennessee, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $500, catching a bass that weighed in at 4 pounds, 14 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Wagner Runs Away From Field with Victory at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Lake Keowee

Warrington Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

SENECA, S.C. (Jan. 30, 2023) – Boater Emil Wagner of Marietta, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds even - one ounce shy of three pounds more than second place - Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Keowee . The tournament, hosted by Visit Oconee, was the first event of the season for the BFL Savannah River Division. Wagner earned $12,455, including the lucrative $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus, for his victory.

“I started the day mid-lake and caught one really big one, then it went into a bit of a lull,” said Wagner. “At 10 o’clock I caught a 5-(pound) 9-(ounce) spot and then continued to work my way up and down the lake and hit as many sweet spots – roadbeds and stuff that I had marked - as I could.”

Wagner said the majority of his fish fell for a worm and a swimbait fished in 25 to 30 feet of water. He said he caught around 25 bass during the course of the day – 20 of them keepers.

“There were some really big schools in the ditches,” Wagner said. “Anything that had a point and a ditch or deep water next to it was good. I had a few brush piles, but they didn’t really play into my day that much.

“I caught my two biggest by 10 o’clock, then kept culling until my other fish were 2½-pounders,” Wagner said. “I knew I had close to 18 pounds and a shot to win. I finished second there three times last year, and I was really starting to doubt if I could win or not, so this feels really good.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:        Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 18-0, $12,455 (includes $7,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
2nd:       Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., four bass, 15-1, $3,068
3rd:       Joe Eubanks, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 13-12, $1,176
3rd:       Alan Poston, Travelers Rest, S.C., five bass, 13-12, $1,176
5th:        Greg Glouse, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 13-11, $1,081
6th:        Paul Marks, Cumming, Ga., five bass, 13-9, $762
7th:        Lane Clark, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 13-6, $693
8th:        Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., five bass, 13-2, $623
9th:        B.J. Ballard, Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 13-1, $554
10th:     Andrew Allen, Waterloo, S.C., five bass, 13-0, $485

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Burroughs caught a bass that weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces, the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $570.

Caleb Warrington of Watkinsville, Georgia, won the Strike King co-angler division and a total of $2,064 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 10 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1st:        Caleb Warrington, Watkinsville, Ga., five bass, 10-2, $2,064
2nd:       Trey Paul, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 9-11, $1,032
3rd:       Michael Miller, Greenville, S.C., five bass, 8-7, $688
4th:        Robin Willey, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 7-15, $482
5th:        William Bensel, Abbeville, S.C., four bass, 7-14, $413
6th:        Michael Huntley, Inman, S.C., five bass, 7-12, $378
7th:        Orion Hunt, Asheville, N.C., four bass, 7-10, $344
8th:        Mark Garrett, Walhalla, S.C., five bass, 7-9, $310
9th:        Larry Ivester, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 7-8, $275
10th:     Brent Thomas, Cleveland, Ga., three bass, 7-3, $229
10th:     Eric McClure, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 7-3, $229

Scott Gerbers of Blackstock, South Carolina, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $287, catching a bass that weighed in at 3 pounds, 12 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional tournament on Lake Eufaula in Eufaula, Alabama. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Scroggins creates new way to color soft plastics

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin - Dynamic Sponsorships

By the time Team Toyota’s Terry “Big Show” Scroggins turned 18 he was a skilled painter in his family’s Palatka, Florida autobody business. Fast forward 35 years, and he’s not only won $2 Million dollars as a pro angler, but he’s also painting soft plastic lures in a way he’s pretty certain no one ever has before.

“I painted cars for a living for more that 16 years. I was good at my job. Made good money. But man, it was hard work. Painting cars was like a9-hour aerobic workout in a paint booth that was 90-degrees and full of fumes. Trust me, pouring and painting soft plastic lures is way more fun,” smiles Scroggins.

His venture into pouring custom lures actually began a few months prior to the 2013 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake, Oklahoma. Locals were known for throwing a no-longer-made salamander lure that couldn’t be bought, so Scroggins had a buddy make a mold to replicate it.

The secret homemade amphibian imitation didn’t win him the Classic, but it ultimately led to an addictive hobby he continues to refine and market more than a decade later. His latest lure modification involves pumping outrageously popular Spike-It lure dye through a small paint gun to create one-of-a-kind colors.

“Everybody who owns a baitcasting reel probably owns Spike-It dye, but by running it through a small paint gun you can control how dark or light the shade of dye is, and more importantly turn a solid-colored lure into one with a different tail or craw pincher color,” explains Scroggins.

Years ago, factory made soft plastics featuring a green pumpkin body with orange pinchers, or a black lizard with a blue tail, for example, were plentiful at retail. But featuring two different colors on one lure body requires a ‘gate’ in the injection mold manufacturing process, and that leads to more time and smaller profits.

“I figured out the easy fix is to buy a $30 spray gun and a small compressor from Harbor Freight, fill it with the Spike-It dye color of your choice, and you can paint your own custom accents to any soft plastic lure you want,” says Scroggins.

For example, he recently made a batch of solid sapphire blue colored “Punch Bugs” like he designed for Stanford Baits. But he sprayed their bodies with black dye to create a color-combo very few others will have.

“Let’s say we get to Kissimmee for the first MLF Bass Pro Tour event and a major cold front hits that leads to everybody punching matted vegetation. Well, I know that I’m punching those same mats with a color fish haven’t seen. Which gives me confidence to get bites in highly pressured situations. And we all know confidence can be the best lure in your tackle box,” says Scroggins.

The consummate tinkerer, Scroggins, appears to have indeed found a solution to creating hard-to-find multicolored soft plastics, while at the same time boosting his competitive confidence, and it’s way more fun than painting cars all day in 90-degree heat.

by AnglersChannel

Bed fishing leads Branch and Beach to Bassmaster High School Series win on Harris Chain

Caden Branch and Connor Beach of Florida's Liberty County High School have won the 2023 Strike King Bassmaster High School Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors with 24 pounds, 3 ounces.

Photo by Chase Sansom/B.A.S.S.

January 29, 2023

LEESBURG, Fla. — Trusting in what they could not see and putting in the time to make it happen led Caden Branch and Connor Beach of Florida's Liberty County High School to a winning five-bass limit of 24 pounds, 3 ounces at the Strike King Bassmaster High School Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

Branch and Beach finished with a 3/4-pound margin over Clay County (Fla.) High School’s Parker Stalvey and Jacob Deel. For their win, Branch and Beach each collected $1,015 and earned a berth in the 2023 Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

“We fished Lake Beauclair and Lake Apopka and targeted bed fish in 3 to 4 feet,” Branch said. “We mainly targeted harder-to-fish areas and bed fish that were harder to see. Those turned out to be the bigger fish we caught.”

As Branch explained, they worked the canal end closest to Lake Apopka and searched for beds hidden amid pads and tucked behind shady areas. Most of what they fished comprised smaller areas with easily overlooked beds.

“We just followed our knowledge of spawning,” Branch said. “We checked some (traditional) spawning flats, but only found small bucks (male bass).”

Beach said he and his partner caught all of their fish by flipping custom-made red/gold flake tubes Texas rigged on 4/0 hooks with 1/8- to 1/4-ounce weights.

“The angle was very important; you had to get it right in front of their faces and go slow,” Beach said. “It all depended on the fish. Some of the ones we caught today took an hour or so and then the other ones took 10 minutes.”

Persistence proved critical, as a limit eluded the winners until the last 10 minutes. Fortunately, one of their final bass was a 9-1 that earned the $100 Big Bass award.

“It feels pretty good to start off with a win,” Beach said. “That’s what we were hoping to do — qualify for the championship, so we didn’t have to work as hard all year.”

Stalvey and Deel, who won the 2021 Harris Chain event and went on to win the 2022 Bassmaster High School Classic on Lake Keowee, placed second with 23-7.

“We risked it this morning and went all the way to Lake Apopka, but we weren’t getting the vibe like we were in practice when we were getting a lot of bites,” Stalvey said. “Around 10 o’clock, we came all the way back to Lake Harris and just flipped matted hyacinth with Kissimmee grass mixed in.”

Stalvey and Deel flipped black and blue Gambler Burner Craws with 1 1/4-ounce weights.

“We got a little limit pretty quickly, but it was probably 11:50 before we put the first decent one in the boat,” Deel said. “It was just an all-day grind, so it took a lot to put it all together. It was an all-day thing.

“We would say, ‘Just one more cast,' because any flip could be (a big fish).”

Their biggest bass weighed 8 pounds.

Bryce Balentine and Bryce Dimauro of the Seminole(Fla.) Junior Anglers placed third with 21-13.

by AnglersChannel

Brookeland Pro Dakota Ebare Wins MLF Toyota Series Season Opener at Sam Rayburn Reservoir

BROOKELAND, Texas. (Jan. 28, 2023) – Pro Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas brought a giant five-bass limit to the scale Friday weighing 32 pounds, 4 ounces to win the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Sam Rayburn Reservoir and earn the top payout of $80,500. With Day 1 cancelled due to high winds and dangerous boating conditions, Ebare weighed in 10 bass over the two days of competition totaling 48-10 to earn the win by a 1-pound, 5-ounce margin over Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, who finished second with a two-day total of 47-5, to take home $17,000.

Ebare has competed in more than 50 Toyota Series events in his young career, had several close finishes on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and finished his debut on the Bass Pro Tour in 2022 with high points and another set of close finishes, yet has never been able to pull out a major win. Until now.

“I don’t take any of that stuff for granted,” Ebare said. “All of the close calls I’ve had over the last several years have been great, and I’m thankful for every one of those good finishes. But at the end of the day, I’m a competitor and I want to win, so to finally accomplish that is a great feeling.”

The Brookeland pro ended Day 1 tied for seventh place. Not the start that he was hoping for, but he was able to salvage the day with a kicker-fish that put him at 16-6, keeping him afloat and in the running for the final day.

“The wind was gassin’ and made it really hard to set up on Day 1,” said Ebare. “I ended the day really disappointed, because I knew I had the chance to catch them big. I had a big one on the crankbait wrap me around a tree and get off, and I lost another really big one on an A-rig. I had a chance to have a giant bag and was pretty disappointed that it didn’t work out.”

Day 2 started off with a bang, with Ebare having more than 25 pounds by mid-morning.

“Today I caught a couple on a football jig and if I’d have picked up that football jig yesterday, it might have gotten really good,” Ebare said. “Because of the wind and how they were set up on Day 1, I decided to throw a Carolina rig and they weren’t really having it. I really wished I’d picked up a football jig yesterday. I’m still thinking about what I could have done better.”

Ebare said he was targeting big winter and prespawn bass in about 15 feet of water. He caught his winning fish on a Strike King 6XD, an umbrella rig with 1/4-ounce heads and Strike King Rage Swimmers, a Strike King Elite 300 jerkbait and a football jig.

“There was never a point today that I was comfortable,” said Ebare. “I had a feeling it was going to take a lot of weight to win this tournament, so I never let off the gas all day. I stopped here on the dam and tried to catch a couple with 5 minutes to go. I really felt like I needed to have more weight and I wasn’t going to stop until it was time to go in.

“I was pretty deflated when I got back on the bank and they told me Wyatt had a big bag and had over 47 pounds total,” Ebare continued. “There was no way in my mind that I thought I had over 30 pounds. I didn’t take time to weigh the bigger fish – they were really big and I knew that, but I didn’t realize how big they were. I figured I had about 29 pounds, which would have put me in second or third place, again. So, when I saw the 32-4 come across the screen on stage, I was ecstatic. That was a really exciting moment, and the biggest weight was lifted off my shoulders.”

As for what’s next, Ebare said he’s on his way to the next tournament and ready to hit the water again with an open mind.

“I’m very thankful and grateful that this one came together, and we finally got that win, but it doesn’t really change anything as far as my game plan moving forward,” Ebare said. “I’m heading to a new lake and a new tournament and we’re going to keep working hard and putting God first and let the rest fall where it may.”

The top 10 pros on Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

1^st:           Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 10 bass, 48-10, $80,500
2^nd:          Wyatt Frankens, Corrigan, Texas, 10 bass, 47-5, $17,000
3^rd:          Tater Reynolds, Florien, La., 10 bass, 42-9, $12,750
4^th:           Jason Bonds, Lufkin, Texas, seven bass, 35-14, $10,750
5^th:           Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 10 bass, 34-10, $10,250
6^th:           River Lee, Nacogdoches, Texas, 10 bass, 32-2, $8,875
7^th:           Tyler Stewart, Dubach, La., 10 bass, 31-7, $7,300
8^th:           Cole Moore, Anacoco, La., 10 bass, 30-14, $6,300
9^th:           Harold Moore, Caldwell, Texas, nine bass, 29-7, $5,300
10^th:        Garrett Hilton, China, Texas, 10 bass, 29-2, $4,200

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro River Lee of Nacogdoches, Texas won the $500 Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces. On Friday, pro Marshall Hughes of Hemphill, Texas, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass prize after bringing a whopping 9-pound, 8-ounce bass to the scale.

Ebare took home an extra $35,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Justin Swayze of Gurdon, Arkansas, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Friday with a two-day total of 8 bass weighing 25 pounds even. Swayze took home the top prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

1^st:           Justin Swayze, Gurdon, Ark., eight bass, 25-0, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2^nd:          Joe Garcia, Hobson, Texas, eight bass, 21-4, $5,375
3^rd:          Cedric Jackson, Sicily Island, La., nine bass, 20-12, $4,300
4^th:           Nick Stanislaus, Porter, Texas, six bass, 18-3, $3,650
5^th:           Jareb Logan, Brookeland, Texas, seven bass, 17-8, $3,150
6^th:           Chase Loden, Rusk, Texas, six bass, 16-14, $2,650
7^th:           Jimmy Wells, Jr., Collinsville, Ill., nine bass, 16-11, $2,150
8^th:           Cody Davis, Hico, Texas, six bass, 16-10, $1,825
9^th:           Joe Lee, Midlothian, Texas, nine bass, 16-9, $1,530
10^th:        Dustin Robinson, Glendale, Ariz., nine bass, 16-3, $1,290

Roger Dorsey of Oil City, Louisiana was the Berkley Big Bass $150 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, Thursday, with an 8-pound, 4-ounce bass, while the $150 award went to Swayze on Friday, with a 7-pound, 7-ounce bass.

With one regular-season event in the Toyota Series Southwestern Division now complete, pro Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas leads the Southwestern Division Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 260 points, while Justin Swayze of Gurdon, Arkansas leads the Strike King Co-angler Division AOY race with 260 points.

The Toyota Series at Sam Rayburn, hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce, was the first of three regular-season events for the Toyota Series Southwestern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at the Harris Chain of Lakes, Feb. 1-3, in Leesburg, Florida. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST V. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

by AnglersChannel

Blue Mountain’s Bullock and Berry win Bassmaster College Series season opener on Harris Chain

Blake Bullock and John Mark Berry of Mississippi's Blue Mountain Christian University have won the 2023 Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bass Pro Shops with a two-day total of 46 pounds, 11 ounces.

Photo by Chase Sansom/B.A.S.S.

January 27, 2023

LEESBURG, Fla. — Following their stellar start, Blake Bullock and John Mark Berry of Blue Mountain Christian University in Mississippi backed up their Day 1 lead with a solid final-round effort to win the Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bass Pro Shops with a two-day total of 46 pounds, 11 ounces.

Bullock and Berry buoyed their effort on Day 1 by posting the event’s biggest bag, 29 pounds. Adding 17-11 earned each angler a top prize of $2,599.50. The Top 25 teams qualified for the Strike King Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. Dates and location are still to be determined.

“College fishing is the toughest competition I’ve faced; there’s a lot of great anglers out there,” Berry said. “We’ve had a blessed week. I just want to thank God for the week we’ve had. It means everything to win these trophies.

“We worked hard. We grinded to the last second. Nobody lost as much sleep as we did. But now we have some weight off our shoulders after qualifying for the National Championship.”

On Day 1, Bullock and Berry led Logan Barrett and Luke Glasgow of Mississippi State University by a margin of 1-7. At the final tally, the winners edged Barrett and Glasgow by 1-1.

Helpful habitat

Bullock and Berry did all of their work in Lake Dora, specifically on a single spot 30 yards wide. As Bullock explained, the mix of coontail grass and shell bottom in 8 to 10 feet, along with proximity to a spawning bay, created the ideal prespawn staging area.

“It was really green, lush grass and it was thicker in some sections but thinner in others,” Bullock said. “The shad were all in the grass and the fish were there feeding.

“The fish were using the sparse grass to ambush shad. The shad were coming over the thicker grass and going down into the sparse grass, and that’s where the bass were eating them.”

Bullock said the coontail proved particularly beneficial, as its soft, forgiving composition facilitated their primary strategy of slowly working reaction baits through the vegetation.

Best baits

Bullock and Berry caught most of their bass on a golden shiner-colored Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Strike King Blade Minnow trailer.

“We threw a 1/2-ounce some, but the 3/8-ounce ChatterBait was the best size for slow rolling through the grass,” Berry said.

The anglers also threw a Texas-rigged junebug red Zoom Speed Worm during midday lulls. On both days the soft-plastic bait yielded keeper bites, but Berry said they only weighed one Day 2 fish on the bait.

“Every day, we had to grind through that lull and wait for the afternoon bite to pick back up,” Berry said.

The final round saw a stingy afternoon, but Day 1 saw Bullock and Berry catch a 7-pounder and a 6 on their final two casts.

Weather for the win

A cold front arriving just before the tournament left anglers fishing the dreaded bluebird post-frontal conditions. Fortunately, warm weather preceding the event had pushed a wave of fish toward the shallows.

Bullock believes the timing worked to his team’s advantage.

“I really think the cold weather helped us by keeping those prespawn fish in the grass, instead of going up to spawn,” he said. “They were close to spawning; they were all super fat. It was a magical spot, it really was.”

Barrett and Glasgow finished second with 45-10. They added 18-1 to their opening-round limit of 27-9. While their Day 1 limit included a 9-9 and one nearly 7, their largest Day 2 fish was a 5-pounder.

After throwing a mix of reaction baits and flipping on Day 1, Barrett and Glasgow stuck with 1/2-ounce chrome/blue Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap and a 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Yamamoto Zako trailer.

“I think the cold front really messed up that shallow bite,” Glasgow said. “I think the people who were bed fishing had a hard time getting the shallow bite going. We caught a couple off beds yesterday, but today, I knew we didn’t need to go to them, so we went (directly) to the offshore deal.”

Carson Kamien and Tyson Verkaik of the University of Florida finished third with 44-4. One of the most numerically consistent teams, the Gators anglers placed fifth on Day 1 with 22-12 and rose two spots in the final round by adding a limit of 21-8.

Verkaik said he and Kamien fished the same spot both days and caught their fish by flipping shallow vegetation with a Texas-rigged Gambler Fat Ace.

“We were just covering water and making as many flips as possible,” Verkaik said. “It was mostly beds in this area, but there were probably some prespawn and postspawn fish because this weather really threw them for a loop.”

Verkaik said he and Kamien adjusted to the weather by targeting thicker vegetation where bass were likely to seek shelter from the bright sun.

“I’m happy with our consistency,” Kamien said. “Whenever you can put up two big bags in Florida, you’re doing something right.”

Big bass bonanza

While the Harris Chain couldn’t break the 30-pound mark for a single day weight, the tournament saw four teams weigh in double-digit bass.

Anderson Jones and Max Muzones of Lander University in Greenwood, S.C., won the $200 big bass award for their 11-5, while Colton Hill and Tomas Matual of McKendree University caught an 11-4. Montevallo’s Dalton Head and Peyton Harris had a 10-8 and Garrett Warren and Jake Peck of Auburn University added a 10-7.

On Sunday, teams competing in the Strike King Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Bassmaster Junior Series tournaments will launch from Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach) at 7 a.m. ET. The Junior Series weigh-in starts at 2 p.m. with high school teams beginning their weigh-in at 3 p.m. Full coverage will be available on Bassmaster.com.

by AnglersChannel

Applications open for B.A.S.S. and Shimano’s Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarships for female anglers

Elizabeth Eastman and Dixie Morris won the inaugural Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarships for female anglers.

Photo by Dalton Tumblin/B.A.S.S.

January 27, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Applications are now being accepted for the 2023 Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarships for young, female anglers, which honor Sevier’s leadership and long-term vision for the growth of sportfishing. The two $2,500 scholarships are offered to high school or college women who are committed to fishing for a collegiate program.

“B.A.S.S. is excited to partner with Shimano on the Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarship. This partnership provides an outstanding opportunity to honor the incredible legacy and impact that former B.A.S.S. CEO Helen Sevier had on the entire sportfishing industry. Over the past few years, women's participation in fishing has grown significantly and we're seeing more young female anglers on our youth tournament trails. Supporting this scholarship is a wonderful opportunity to encourage and support driven female anglers as they look to take their fishing to the next level,” said Chase Anderson, B.A.S.S. CEO.

According to a report by the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, women now account for 37% of anglers in the U.S., the highest level on record. This participation trend is reflected on the tournament trail, where talented women have more opportunities than ever to leverage their passion for fishing into real money for college and potentially a competitive career.

In 2022, B.A.S.S. and Shimano partnered to award the first Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarships to Elizabeth Eastman of Fairhope, Ala., and Dixie Morris of Valley, Ala. Eastman plans to attend Louisiana State University, where she will compete on the fishing team while pursuing a degree in Fisheries and Aquaculture. Morris is a freshman on the Southern Union Community College Bison Fishing Team with plans to complete a pre-veterinary bachelor’s degree at Auburn University before veterinary school and a master’s degree.

Scholarship applications are being accepted until June 16, 2023, and will be reviewed by a panel of judges from Shimano and B.A.S.S., including Sevier.

“I’m honored my name is associated with the scholarship,” said Sevier after reviewing the 2022 scholarship nominees. “All (of the applicants) are impressive and all deserving. I wanted to vote for all for one reason or another!”

Sevier, just the second full-time member of B.A.S.S. hired by founder Ray Scott in 1970, was a pioneer at all levels of the organization. During her 31-year career at B.A.S.S., Sevier oversaw a boom in membership — the organization boasted more than 600,000 members when she sold it to ESPN in 2001 — as well as the expansion of Bassmaster’s media operation to include seven magazines and two television shows, including the iconic TV program, The Bassmasters. Sevier was also instrumental in recruiting young people to the sport through the innovative CastingKids program. In 2004, Sevier was inducted into the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame, and her induction into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame came in 2018.

“Winning the Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarship has meant so much to me,” said Morris. “I was already looking forward to fishing on the Southern Union fishing team, but now I am even more excited because this helps to show women and young girls that they can achieve great things in a male-dominated sport. This has really encouraged me to step out and try for more scholarships and things that seemed unachievable.”

“Shimano is excited to continue in support of the Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarship in 2023,” said Sarah Harper Burke, senior marketing manager, Shimano North America Fishing. “In celebration of the influence Helen Sevier’s career has had in the fishing industry, this scholarship will help ensure future ‘pioneers’ have support and recognition in their endeavors to compete at the college level. The next generation of female anglers is a clear path to growing and promoting the sportfishing industry as a whole.”

To be eligible for the Helen Sevier Pioneer Scholarship, the female angler must be either a rising senior or high school graduate and B.A.S.S. member with plans to fish competitively or must be currently fishing competitively at a four-year college or university, two-year college or university or vocational school.

More information on the scholarship requirements can be found at Bassmaster.com/Sevier-Scholarship or by contacting [email protected].

by AnglersChannel

Fishing for Social Media?

Traditions Media social media specialist presents at the 2023 NPAA Conference

Forestville, WI (January 27, 2023) – Some consider it the necessary evil – especially fishing industry dinosaurs who loathe change. The days of fully investing marketing spend in only print and television are gone. Modern marketing still includes those vehicles, but necessitates a much more dynamic blend, to include direct digital marketing, Google Ads, Amazon…and, of course, social media.

Being noticed in the white noise of social media is a preeminent challenge, however. Haphazardly throwing money at it without knowledge, or strategy, is merely checking boxes and squandering resources.

To that, NPAA invited Traditions Media social media specialist Lauren Luhman so speak at the 2023 NPAA Conference recently held in Fort Myers, Florida. It’s like a TED Talk for anyone who makes a living in the fishing industry. And NPAA is now releasing her presentation to the greater industry.

Take 30-minutes today or over the weekend and socialize your game.

NPAA represents all who make a living in the sportfishing industry. Membership includes everyone from guides/captains, to tournament anglers, fishing department associates/ management/shop owners, manufacturing personnel, engine mechanics, and professional rep groups. In addition to superior networking opportunities, sportfishing advocacy and promoting entry into the sport, the organization offers a monthly member newsletter, a weekly industry NewsBLAST, and access to significant discounts on gear and services provided by many of its nearly 80 supporting partners.

For more information on joining the NPAA and exploring the many benefits membership provides, visit npaa.net

by AnglersChannel

Blue Mountain’s Bullock and Berry lead Bassmaster College Series event on Harris Chain

Blake Bullock and John Mark Berry of Mississippi's Blue Mountain College are leading after Day 1 of the 2023 Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bass Pro Shops with 29 pounds.

Photo by Chase Sansom/B.A.S.S.

January 26, 2023

LEESBURG, Fla. — Blake Bullock and John Mark Berry of Blue Mountain College leveraged a key prespawn area to catch a 29-pound limit that leads Day 1 of the Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bass Pro Shops.

Topping a field of 275 boats, Bullock and Berry lead Logan Barrett and Luke Glasgow of Mississippi State University by just 1-7.

Running to Lake Dora, Bullock and Berry set up shop on a promising area they found in practice.

“There’s a lot of fish there and a lot of shad,” Bullock said. “I think they’ll still be there tomorrow and, hopefully, they’ll bite for us.”

Bullock said he and Berry chose to fish Dora because the habitat set up well for the prespawn staging fish they sought. Fishing in 7 to 10 feet, they focused on sparse coontail grass.

“There’s a lot of grass in there, but it’s in patches,” Bullock said. “There’s also a lot of shellbeds in there, along with spawning spots. We found an area with a spawning pocket close, a shellbed close and a patch of grass. That’s where all those fish are.”

Berry said he and his partner caught their bass by rotating between a Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Strike King Blade Minnow trailer and a Texas-rigged Zoom Speed Worm. The ChatterBait did most of the work, but the Speed Worm played an important cleanup role.

“The ChatterBait was a golden shiner color,” Berry said. “We threw a 1/2-ounce some, but the 3/8-ounce got bit more because we could slow roll it down there in the grass.

“When it became tough to get bites, I picked up the Speed Worm and made a clutch cull. We just rotated a slow bait and a moving bait.”

Bullock said they diligently worked through their spot, but late-day fireworks catapulted them into the lead.

“We had around 19 pounds at noon and we caught a few more throughout the day,” he said. “It got really slow there for about three hours and we didn’t have any bites.

“The big ones fired up at the end of the day and we caught a 7-pounder and a 6 on back-to-back casts.”

Bullock noted the winds preceding a cold front had diminished their area’s clarity. This concerned him, but the bass were less impacted than he expected.

“Yesterday, it was a little clearer, but they bit, so we’re thankful and blessed that we got it done today,” Bullock said.

Barrett and Glasgow anchored their limit of 27-9 with a 9-9 that leads the Big Bass standings. Backing that up with one just under 7 pounds gave them the boost they needed for a strong showing.

“It helps a lot whenever you have two fish like that in the well,” Glasgow said. “Those were the only two we had up until about noon. It was a struggle for us, but we finally did limit out around 1. I knew if we could get a limit we’d end up with a pretty good sack today.”

Barrett said he and his partner caught their bass on a mix of reaction baits and slow-moving baits. Essential to their success was capitalizing on an area where they found fish coming and going.

“I think there are some prespawners coming to us and some that have already left (the beds),” Glasgow said. “We’re sitting in that range where they could be prespawn or postspawn.”

Stevie Mills and Brady Duncan of Carson-Newman University placed third with 24-7. Well aware of Lake Apopka’s big-fish reputation, the anglers made the long run to the chain’s southernmost waters.

Describing their spot as a classic prespawn area with hard sand bottom and grass, Duncan said they caught all of their limit fish by slow reeling a Zoom Speed Worm. A late-morning window of opportunity produced a big chunk of their weight.

“I threw out there and caught a 3-pounder, threw back out and caught a 6, then (Mills) threw out there and caught a 5 1/2,” Duncan said. “We had a flurry at 11 and a flurry around 11:30 and that’s what we had.”

The field will launch from Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach) at 7 a.m. ET and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. Full coverage will be available on Bassmaster.com.

by AnglersChannel

AFTCO sponsors Bassmaster Elite events on Santee Cooper Lakes and Lake St. Clair

AFTCO will sponsor two Bassmaster Elite Series events in 2023, including April's Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes which AFTCO pro Drew Cook won last year.

Photo by Kyle Jessie

January 26, 2023

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — AFTCO has signed on as title sponsor for two heavyweight battles during the 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series season. At the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes April 27-30, anglers will hope to match the stellar 2022 conditions that saw the entire field average over 15 1/2 pounds on Day 1, while the pros will battle big water and even bigger smallmouth at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair July 27-30.

Additionally, AFTCO will continue its long-standing partnership with B.A.S.S. as a conservation partner and supporting sponsor for the six circuits of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail as well as outfit all staff and marshals with performance fishing clothing for these events.

“As a supporting sponsor of B.A.S.S. we value our partnership tremendously, and AFTCO is extremely excited to support (B.A.S.S.) further with our fourth consecutive year of Elite Series title sponsorship,” said AFTCO Marketing Director Matt Florentino. “We’re looking forward to sponsoring two tremendous locations on the 2023 Elite Series schedule: South Carolina’s Santee Cooper Lakes and Michigan’s Lake St. Clair. We saw AFTCO pro Drew Cook earn a century belt last spring during a masterful sight fishing win at Santee Cooper, and you can bet that Lake St. Clair will be primed and ready to showcase big bags of smallmouth next July!”

Among the AFTCO-aligned pro anglers ready to tackle these fisheries — and the Elite Series schedule — is 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic champion Jason Christie.

“AFTCO is setting the standard in clothing and conservation,” Christie said. “Their sponsorship of two Bassmaster events just shows their continued dedication to our sport. I am thrilled to be part of their team!”

Full coverage from all four days of these tournaments will be available on Bassmaster.com, Tubi and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, visit Bassmaster.com.

by AnglersChannel

Newport Unveils New Electric Outboard Motors

Leader in Small Watercraft Propulsion Introduces the NT300 and NK300 Motors

Stockton, CA (January 25, 2023) – Newport, a leading innovator of clean electric technology in the boating and angling industry, has entered the electric outboard space with the launch of its latest products, the NT300 Electric Outboard Motor and the NK300 Electric Kayak Motor. Both portable, next-generation designs deliver quiet lightweight performance free from the noise, maintenance and fossil fuels of traditional gas-powered motors - allowing anglers everywhere to experience unobstructed freedom on the water.

Newport has been celebrated as the predominant brand of new-age electric trolling motors for over a decade. Its newest electric powered outboards underscore the brand’s commitment to enhance every facet of the fishing experience while lessening environmental impacts to small waterways and shallow water habitats.

“Newport is proud to move our industry forward with a totally redefined, emissions-free alternative to traditional gas powered motors,” says Josh Neville, head of marketing at Newport. “We want anglers to experience the freedom from hassle, cost and maintenance - so, we created a motor as simple and clean as the adventure it’s designed to power. Our NT300 and NK300 are designed to usher in a new era of cleaner adventures for boaters and anglers, without sacrificing the capability of gas-fueled counterparts.”

NT300 Electric Outboard
The Newport NT300 delivers incredible performance in an ultra-quiet, energy-efficient 3 horsepower equivalent (3HP) electric outboard motor. Showcasing a clean design in a compact package, the NT300 combines lightweight portability with innovative features that maximize time spent in and out of the water. Highlights include: a brushless direct-drive motor for maintenance-free reliability; field-oriented control technology (FOC) to provide smooth navigation for easy access to shallow, narrow, and tough-to-reach waters. Flexible power options give anglers the freedom to choose either the Newport 36V30 Lithium Battery or the 36V40 Lithium Battery. Capabilities include 1300w of peak power, 66 miles of est range, a top speed of 6.5MPH, and 30 hours max run time. The Newport NT300 Electric Outboard retails for an industry-leading MSRP of $999.

NK300 Kayak Motor
Designed for the serious kayak angler, the NK300 offers unheralded power in an ultra-quiet, energy-efficient 3 horsepower equivalent (3HP) electric kayak motor. A trailblazer in this growing market, the NK300 delivers cutting-edge battery power, unlocking a wider range than ever before. (FOC) to provide smooth, intuitive navigation without compromising on performance. The NK300’s flexible power options also allow anglers to choose either the Newport 36V30 Lithium Battery or the 36V40 Lithium Battery. Capabilities include 1300w of peak power, 66 miles of est range, a top speed of 6.5MPH, and 30 hours max run time. The Newport NK300 Kayak Motor retails for an industry-leading $1,299. "We’re excited to help shape a better, more efficient, and more enjoyable future for life on the water,” says Neville. “The traditional gas-powered outboard might be the way of the past, but the way forward is electric.”

The Newport NT300 Electric Outboard and NK300 Kayak Motor are available at https://newportvessels.com.

by AnglersChannel

Locate Fish Faster Through the Ice with Intuitive Technology from Humminbird

Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging and MEGA Live Imaging ice bundles allow anglers to find fish and fish holding structure faster.

On and off the water, technology is taking over the fishing industry. From high-definition mapping to forward-facing sonar, anglers have never had as many pieces of technology to choose from. Now, anglers can take that technology to the hard water. The Humminbird MEGA 360 and MEGA Live Imaging ice bundles allow anglers to find fish, and fish holding structure faster than ever before. Regardless of your species of choice, the Humminbird ice bundles will take your experience to the next level.

Humminbird Pro Brad Hawthorne has been guiding for over 19 seasons and has seen the changes as the technology for ice anglers has evolved. In his business, it all comes down to whether his clients catch fish or not that determines the success of an ice trip. Having the latest equipment has helped make his business more successful, and makes for a fun and interactive experience for his clients.

“The things I used to think I knew about the fisheries were really eye opening when MEGA 360 was available for ice anglers. I was able to learn fish behavior and their patterns quickly and dial in the mechanics of ice fishing,” said Hawthorne. “I can now look at Lakemaster VX Mapping and drill one hole. Within three to five minutes, I know if the structure is going to be productive and I can break down what I need to do to catch fish.”

Combined with MEGA Live Imaging, once Hawthorne locates fish, and learns their behavior and travel routes, the time frame to actually catching the fish is much quicker than ever before. His approach is more efficient and the process of finding and catching fish is streamlined.

“Overall, we are drilling less holes, learning way more information than ever before possible and getting around fish a lot quicker. We make less noise, we spook less fish during the process, and even the average ice angler can have all of the same information at their disposal with the Humminbird MEGA 360 and MEGA Live Imaging bundles. The landscape overall has changed and people can enjoy more time catching fish,” Hawthorne added.

Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging Ice Bundle

Intuitive technology has made its way through the seasons and onto the ice. For those who demand to see it all, MEGA 360 Imaging allows anglers to quickly locate and target structure, the bottom and fish in every direction around the hole. For finding productive fishing areas with fewer holes, anglers can also quickly track movement of schools of fish and know which direction they are heading, making it even easier to break down fisheries through the ice.

“From the ground up, I am super confident in MEGA 360 and what I am capable of accomplishing. Live sonar is the ‘new’ thing and very popular, but in my opinion the information I am able to return with 360 Imaging is unmatched, especially when it comes to fishing for walleye.” added Hawthorne.

With 360 Imaging, he can clearly see fish coming and going, structure, bottom layout and composition. Using those learnings and applying it to other areas, similar to open water, it allows Hawthorne to gain a lot of information and knowledge from one just one hole.

Hawthorne learned that when walleye are on a piece of structure, they are either moving around the spot, or its a passing through area that multiple fish are using regularly. With the help of MEGA 360, within minutes, he is able to gauge the ‘trails’ the fish utilize to move around and dial up exactly where the primary set up areas should be.

“The structural elements, mud to rock transitions and the visual look at the trails and routes the fish are using, the possibilities are endless. Once I learn the valuable information, I can switch to MEGA Live Imaging and get to work on catching fish,” said Hawthorne. MEGA 360 can simply be turned on and it works by itself. I can watch the returns and tell the group where the fish are coming in. They can then use MEGA Live to work the fish in realtime and get more bites overall.

With increased situational awareness, work smarter, not harder by dropping the MEGA 360 Imaging transducer down the hole and waiting for the screen to update. For run-and-gun anglers, these bundles are very mobile for anglers to locate and stay on top of fish. With a Humminbird HELIX fishfinder, it's easy to mark fish-holding structures and return later or in open water. Mark a waypoint and return to the spot now or later in the year on open water. MEGA 360 is a vital tool for locating ice shelters on prime spots where fish are moving around.

Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging Ice Bundle

From open water to ice, Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging has changed the way Hawthorne catches fish. The live sonar return is like sight fishing at any depth – regardless of the water clarity. Watching fish move around in real-time and responding to certain baits, he can quickly hone in and get to catching. The MEGA Live Ice bundle allows for the same real-time feedback through the ice, and helps get him dialed into the best presentation to have success.

The number one benefit is efficiency. He can break down an area with MEGA 360, and start catching them with MEGA Live Imaging.

“Once I establish the area, and I know where and how fish are moving throughout, I can drill out the area and be prepared. Walleye especially will never stop moving and I can track their movement in realtime,” said Hawthorne. “I can direct folks in the group to exactly where the fish are moving and they can make it happen with MEGA Live Imaging.”

Beyond seeing the fish, the bundle allows Hawthorne to determine the mood of the fish. Whether they are suspended, moving around, determining their size and activity level will help figure out the best tactics to get bites. With a group of anglers, he is able to direct others to exactly where the schools are and get the right baits down to the fish.

“The same for panfish, bluegills and crappies, but they seem to stay put more than walleye. There is nothing like getting on a group of panfish with MEGA Live and getting clients catching them while watching everything live on the screen. Regardless of the species, I have to quickly read the water and figure out how the day is going to go,” Hawthorne added.

With MEGA Live Imaging, fish in Forward Mode to see in front of and around the hole or Down Mode for real-time returns straight below the hole. The quick-and-easy reference points on the transducer makes it easy to dial in the best sonar possible. With either mode, you can interpret how fish respond to your presentation and it allows you to best choose what to fish, make smart lure changes and determine how to present the bait. In shallower water, Landscape Mode gives a ‘lay of the land’ view and shows fish moving around in shallow structure and cover.

In addition, the Humminbird HELIX units feature traditional 2D CHIRP Sonar and both the ice flasher and Down Imagingmodes. Anglers can fish the right mode for their situation below the transducer and fish comfortably. Both bundles have changed the ice fishing landscape. Anglers are having more fun with more data, and catching more fish.

For those hitting the ice for the first time with new technology, the MEGA Live Ice shuttle comes with the fish finder, shaft and transducer. If you have the unit installed on a boat, the Adapter Kit or HELIX ICE Conversion Kit allows for simple conversion to ice making it a year round value for one unit that can do both.

by AnglersChannel

MLF Cancels Day 1 of Toyota Series at Sam Rayburn Due to High Winds

WHAT:
In a move that most of the field could see coming and fully supports, Toyota Series Tournament Director Mark McWha canceled Day 1 of the Southwestern Division season-opener the Toyota Series at Sam Rayburn Reservoir.

A strong north wind is blowing right down the pipe on the lake, creating dangerous conditions for boaters. On Wednesday, the full field will get another day of rest and preparation. All pros and co-anglers will hit the water for two days of action on Thursday and Friday.

NOTES:
Anglers will launch each day at 7 a.m. CT from the Umphrey Family Pavilion in Brookeland. Weigh-ins will also be held at the Pavilion and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST V. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

by AnglersChannel

What’s New at FantasyFishing.com in 2023?

Public Leagues, Roster Rollovers, Visibility of Other Players’ Picks Among New features for Phoenix Fantasy Fishing

BENTON, Ky. (Jan. 25, 2023) – Phoenix Fantasy Fishing and the Abu Garcia Predictor Game Presented by Mercury are back for the second year at FantasyFishing.com. Registration is now open for you to pick your Fantasy Fishing team for Bass Pro Tour Stage One at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 1 at Lake Okeechobee, and to answer the six questions in the Predictor Game. There are also some slick enhancements to game play that will be in effect for the 2023 season.

Introducing Public Leagues
It’s fun to battle your friends and family in leagues, but what if you were able to join or create a public league for anyone? Now you can with new public leagues. Managers will have the option to create one themselves or search for public leagues to join. Some public leagues offer great prizes for top finishers.

“Use Last Selections” Protects You From Forgetting to Make Picks
If you made your picks for a tournament and then forget to make picks for the next event, the 2023 fantasy game will allow you to ride with the same eligible anglers for the next tournament with the new “Use Last Selections” feature. Forgetting to set your lineup becomes a lot less painful, and keeps you in the running for season-long competitions. Simply activate the feature and the system will automatically roll over the eligible anglers you selected from the previous tournament.

No more zeroes for your team this season!

See Other Players’ Picks
Last season, you could tell how your team was doing compared to others, but you had no idea who your competitors were picking. For 2023, though, you can now see which anglers other fantasy managers chose once the selections are officially locked for the current tournament.

You’ll also be able to go back to previous tournaments and see who other fantasy managers put on their team for all completed tournaments.

Mondays Begin the Fantasy Fishing Week
No more waiting to jump back into Fantasy Fishing for the next tournament. New tournaments will open for picks to be made the Monday following the end of the previous tournament. When the new week starts, your new picks can be made. Start your week off with some winning picks.

Pick the Top 10 & Win Big
Picking a winning team is already hard enough, but getting the entire Top 10 right for any given tournament? That’s something that should be rewarded in a big way. Phoenix Boats, Toyota and Abu Garcia agree. That’s why if you correctly pick all Top 10 anglers for any regular-season tournament this season in any order, you’ll win a brand-new Phoenix 818 Pro bass boat, a 2023 Toyota Tundra Limited and Abu Garcia fishing gear.

That’s right, a new boat, truck and fishing gear for correctly picking the Top 10 for any regular-season tournament on either the Bass Pro Tour or the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals. With 13 different opportunities to pick the perfect tournament lineup, players’ chances to win a once-in-a-lifetime Fantasy Fishing prize have never been better.

New Year, New Trips with Pros
Tens of thousands of MLF fantasy players will pick their teams every tournament throughout the 2023 season in hopes of working their way to the top of the worldwide leaderboard. However, only the two best — one for the Bass Pro Tour and one for the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals — can win an exclusive fishing trip with an MLF pro.

The season-long winner in the Bass Pro Tour competition gets an expenses-paid trip with pro Randall Tharp, while the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals winner will receive a similar trip with Greg Vinson.

But it’s not just Fantasy Fishing winners that earn a trip. If you win the Abu Garcia Predictor Game Presented by Mercury season-long competition, you’ll join Brent Ehrler on a fishing trip as well.

New Tournament Winner Prizes
Even though there are only three grand prizes, the winning doesn’t stop there. The Fantasy Fishing players who manually pick their team and finish inside the Top 20 for any tournament for the Bass Pro Tour and Tackle Warehouse Invitationals will win an Abu Garcia Vengeance combo. The Top 20 for the Predictor Game will take home Abu Garcia Elite Max spinning reels.

First- and second-place finishers in each game will also receive gift cards from Pure Fishing. First place will earn $150 with second place receiving $100.

To sign up and create your team today, visit FantasyFishing.com. For regular tournament updates, photos, news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Lake Havasu Readies for MLF Toyota Series Western Division Opener Presented by Psycho Tuna

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (Jan. 24, 2023) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats is set to launch next week, in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, Feb. 2-4, with the Toyota Series at Lake Havasu Presented by Psycho Tuna. The three-day tournament, hosted by Go Lake Havasu, is the first of three regular-season events in the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse.

The MLF Toyota Series offers the biggest payouts for the lowest entry fees of any national tournament trail. The Toyota Series is the only Western trail that offers advancement to the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship, where pros fish for $235,000, including a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus, and co-anglers compete for a $33,500 Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat powered by a 115 HP Mercury.

“I’m finally around home for a Toyota Series event, and I’m really excited to compete in this one,” said Bass Pro Tour pro Roy Hawk of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, who has 22 top-10 finishes and three career wins in MLF competition. “Overall, the lake is setting up pretty good. We’ve had some pretty cool weather, so it’ll be typical wintertime patterns – no major move toward the spawn or anything like that, yet.

“The lake level is high, which is rare for winter,” Hawk continued. “It’ll spread guys out – some guys will get way up the river, or further back into the backwaters. I think a lot of guys will be offshore, though. The key to doing well is either going to be finding a major group of fish and sticking with them, or covering a lot of water and picking fish off – one here, one there.”

Hawk said that he expects umbrella rigs, deep- and mid-diving crankbaits and general offshore tactics to be the main players, but he said the bladed jigs and squarebill crankbaits could play a role as well. For anglers targeting smallmouth Hawk said Ned rigs and jerkbaits would be popular selections.

“I think the guy who wins might not even catch a smallmouth, but it’s generally a mixed bag,” Hawk went on to say. “I think it’ll take 17½ pounds a day, average. My prediction is the winner is going to have right around 52 to 53 pound over three days.”

Anglers will take off each day at 7:30 a.m. MT from Windsor Beach at Lake Havasu State Park in Lake Havasu City. Weigh-ins will also be held at the Ski Beach at the Venetian Gardens and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2023 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST V. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2023 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 2-4 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri, and is hosted by ExploreBranson.com.

by AnglersChannel

DAIWA: Advocating for the Business of the Business

Longtime sportfishing industry leader teams with top advocacy group.

Cypress, CA (January 24, 2023) – DAIWA is proud to announce it has joined the growing ranks of National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA) partners. A worldwide leader in the recreational sportfishing industry, DAIWA turned out its first spinning reel more than 60 years ago and has been driven ever since to create and deliver anglers the most advanced and dynamic fishing gear on the market. Partnering with NPAA, says DAIWA’s Senior Marketing Manager, Marc Mills, is one way the company can further invest in the future of the fishing industry.

“This is a natural fit for us, and we’re very pleased to now be counted among the NPAA’s nearly 80 industry partners, which include some of the best-known brands and organizations in fishing, as well as newer and smaller companies that benefit from the association’s superior networking opportunities, sportfishing advocacy, and efforts to recruit, retain and reactivate anglers at every level. We feel the NPAA has the backs of all those making a living in the sportfishing industry, from guides and captains to tournament anglers, fishing department associates and management, manufacturing personnel, engine mechanics, professional rep groups, tackle shop staff, and more. We want to be a part of that positive force. For that reason, we’ve decided to sign on as a supporting partner.”

NPAA president, Patrick Neu, says he’s thrilled to welcome DAIWA into the NPAA fold. “As NPAA continues to grow our partnership ranks, the addition of DAIWA is a very exciting development,” he stated. “Their products are of exceptional quality and used extensively by our members both in freshwater and saltwater environments. DAIWA’s line counter reels, in fact, are staples for many of our members who are trollers. From salmon, walleyes, muskies and crappies in freshwater, to stripers, blues, snook, redfish and even tuna in the salt, DAIWA gear has a great reputation amongst our members. Working together, I expect we’ll accomplish some great things for the sportfishing industry in the years ahead.”

NPAA partnerships include Gold, Silver, Business, Tournament, Association & Club, and even a non-profit category. In addition to superior networking opportunities, sportfishing advocacy and promoting entry into the sport, the organization offers a monthly member newsletter, weekly industry news, and access to significant discounts on gear and services provided by many of its nearly 80 partners.

by AnglersChannel

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