AnglersChannel

DREAM BECOMING REALITY FOR WES LOGAN

2022 Bassmaster Classic

Every bass fisherman has a different story and hails from a different part of the world. But all serious tournament bass fishermen share the same dream. Competing in the Bassmaster Classic. Humminbird^® and Minn Kota^® pro Wes Logan had such a dream—and that dream is coming true.

The first step of that dream began to blossom in 2019 when Logan signed up for the Bassmaster Opens with the main goal of winning an event and earning an automatic bid into the 2020 Bassmaster Classic. Going into each event, he had the mindset of swinging for a win. The win never came, but he recorded some impressive finishes, including two Top 5s, a 10^th, and a respectable 31^st place finish across the four events.

The reality of qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series didn’t cross Logan’s mind until the third event when he was sitting in 3^rd place and contending for overall points in the Central Division and one of the few Elite Series Rookie spots. After the last event, Logan claimed the #1 spot in the Central Opens and had officially qualified for the Elites Series. At that point, Logan was presented with a new set of goals.

The Next Level: Bassmaster Elite Series

“After qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series, my main goal moving forward was to be consistent. I wanted to make good decisions, fish clean and at the end of each tournament know that I fished as mentally clear as I could. I feel like I did that during my rookie year on the Elite Series but unfortunately didn’t have the breaks I needed to be successful that year.”

After completing his Bassmaster Elite Series rookie season in 44th place in Angler of the Year standings, Logan just missed his dream of competing in the Bassmaster Classic by three points. He then set his sights on improving in year two and punching his ticket to the 2022 Bassmaster Classic. After finishing his sophomore season with a 13th place finish in AOY standings, he did just that.

Quite the improvement from one season to the next, and when asked, Logan attributes a few things to that. “I really approached the next season with the same preparation and mindset. I fished cleaner and I executed better on the opportunities that I was presented with.”

“In the 2021 season I was able to run the new Minn Kota Raptor^® shallow water anchors, and with the tournaments we had and how I like to fish, Raptors were a key player for me. Specifically, at Lake Fork. The Raptors are super quiet which helped because I wouldn’t spook any of the fish that I was trying to sight fish.” Logan mentioned.

“In my second year, I took more time to really get dialed in on the Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging^®, which ended up really helping me in all of my tournaments. One tournament in particular was Guntersville, I finished second by throwing a vibrating jig on offshore grass and I could see all of the holes and ditches in the grass, which allowed me to make the perfect cast every time—it made me extremely efficient in that event.” Added Logan.

“The combination of my MEGA 360, Raptors and my Minn Kota Ultrex^®trolling motorat Neely Henry really helped me fish effectively. Being that Neely Henry is a current based fishery, I could systematically use both my Ultrex and Raptors to position myself in the current to best present my bait. That was one of the biggest determining factors in winning my first Bassmaster Elite Series trophy.” Logan added.

Looking Forward to the Dream Becoming Reality

“It means the world to me, truthfully. Bass fishing is my world, it’s how I make a living, it’s what I’m addicted to. I think about it every day and as a bass angler, the Bassmaster Classic is the tournament you want to get to.” Says Logan when asked what it means to fish the Bassmaster Classic.

“Now that I have qualified for the Classic, I have high expectations for myself. I want to stay consistent in making it back to the Bassmaster Classic year after year. If I can do that, I will put myself in more opportunities to potentially win it.” Logan added.

“All I wanted to do as a kid was to compete in the Bassmaster classic and not to just fish it but to win it.” Added Logan.

Join us in cheering on Wes as he makes his first Bassmaster Classic appearance on March 4^th, 2022.

In addition to Wes Logan, there are eight more Humminbird and Minn Kota Pros fishing the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell:

Brandon Card (Salisbury, North Carolina)
Seth Feider (New Market, Minnesota)
Jeff Gustafson (Keewatin, Canada)
Ray Hanselman Jr. (Del Rio, Texas)
Matt Herren (Ashville, Alabama)
Lee Livesay (Longview, Texas)
Brandon Palaniuk (Rathdrum, Idaho)
Chad Pipkens (Dewitt, Michigan)
Josh Stracner (Vandiver, Alabama)
Chris Zaldain (Fort Worth, Texas)

by AnglersChannel

Be Like Coach

This week Chris and David jump in on episode 223 released on 2.23!!! They talk about the upcoming Bassmasters Classic and who they have in their top 3 picks to win. KG is off chasing green fish on Guntersville and Chris wraps the show with a tribute to a great man and the best fishing partner a guy could have. Check it!

by AnglersChannel

BASS FISHING HALL OF FAME BOARD ANNOUNCES 2022 INDUCTION CLASS

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – For Immediate Release – 2/22/22 – A group of six individuals that includes those who excelled in tournament bass fishing and whose work in tournament operations helped popularize the sport, plus a noted journalist who promoted conservation in his writing efforts, have been voted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame (BFHOF) as part of the class of 2022. They will be honored when the bass fishing world comes together on October 6 at the Hall’s annual induction ceremonies at Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife (WOW) Museum & Aquarium in Springfield.

Based on voting by the Hall’s 30-member selection panel and current inductees, the ’22 class includes pro angler Tommy Biffle, Major League Fishing executive Kathy Fennel, past B.A.S.S. tournament director Dewey Kendrick, the late pro angler Aaron Martens, journalist Steve Quinn, and the late pro angler and lure designer Lonnie Stanley.

“We saw an overwhelming amount of interest in the nomination and voting processes for being inducted into the Hall,” said Todd Hammill, CEO of Wired2fish.com and chair of the Board’s nominations committee. “Having the venue where we celebrate our inductees within WOW, and the support we’ve received from the fishing and marine industries, past inductees, and bass anglers nationwide over the past few years, has enabled the Board to raise the awareness of the BFHOF and our mission of celebrating, promoting and preserving the sport of bass fishing.”

Tommy Biffle has exceeded $3 million in earnings fishing both B.A.S.S., FLW, and MLF events and is credited with bringing the pitching technique to bass fishing. He is known as one of the best of all-time at flipping and pitching a jig in shallow cover. Biffle currently competes on the MLF Bass Pro Tour and devotes his available free time volunteering at kids fishing derbies and mentoring high school and college anglers.

Instrumental since 1982 with popularizing tournament bass fishing across the U.S. and Canada through her efforts at FLW – and now MLF, Kathy Fennel’s influence in bass fishing is known throughout the industry. Her fingerprints are everywhere in tournament fishing operations – including internationally, where over the years she has played a pivotal role in numerous innovations involving live-release techniques, and automated weigh-in procedures. Fennel gives back to the sport by being involved with the BFHOF and the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation.

Dewey Kendrick served as the tournament director for B.A.S.S. from 1986 until 2002, implementing evolutionary changes within the professional bass fishing scene. From adding pro-am formats and pushing for unconventional and urban locations to bringing tournament bass fishing beyond its southern roots, Kendrick advocated for conservation-minded tournament changes including a five-bass limit and the rule that all sight fish must be hooked in the mouth. Kendrick was known as a strict rule enforcer with a tremendous work ethic.

For nearly anyone interested in professional bass fishing, the accomplishments of Aaron Martens are well-known. While taken too early in his career – Martens passed in 2021 after a battle with cancer, Aaron’s storied career includes fishing various iterations of B.A.S.S. circuits starting with the Bassmaster Western Opens and including 20 Bassmaster Classics. While fishing on the FLW Tour, he won events at Wheeler Lake and Lake Champlain, and also qualified for three FLW Cup championships. He later joined MLF, competing in numerous Cup events and the Bass Pro Tour. Aaron’s most meaningful innovations came using light line techniques, and he is noted for finesse and big bait techniques – and his tackle-tinkering and perfectionism. He was one of the first American pro bass anglers to reach out to Japan-based tackle companies and assisted many, including Megabass, Duo Realis, and Sunline, when they introduced their rods, lures, and line into the U.S. bass fishing market.

For more than 30 years, if you read an article about largemouth bass and bass conservation in In-Fisherman magazine, odds are it was penned by Steve Quinn. His first scientific paper in 1989 (he has authored more than 50 articles for scientific publications) added to the proof that voluntary releasing of caught largemouth bass leads to improved fishing quality. Steve’s credentials – he holds a Master of Science degree in fisheries biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst – led to his serving on committees for the prestigious American Fisheries Society (AFS) where he’s the recipient of its ‘Award of Excellence’ from AFS’s Fisheries Management section. While covering tournament fishing around the country for years, Quinn has combined science and his media outlets to promote bass fishing and conservation in both the U.S. and Canada.

A Texas bass fishing legend, Lonnie Stanley was not only the man behind a successful lure company but also found success in professional bass fishing. His jigs and spinnerbaits were the go-to baits for many pro anglers, including BFHOF inductees Rick Clunn who used a Stanley Vibra Shaft spinnerbait to win the 1986 U.S. Open on Lake Meade and Guido Hibdon casting Lonnie’s creations to win his 2002 Classic title. Stanley held his own while fishing 124 B.A.S.S. events including five Bassmaster Classic appearances. His lure business can be credited with playing a part in the creation of Texas’ LoneStar Lunker program when the then 17.67-pound state record caught on a Stanley jig became the first fish in the program. That bass – named ‘Ethel’ – found a new home at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield where millions of visitors saw her.

“On behalf of the BFHOF Board and bass anglers worldwide, we offer our congratulations to the 2022 inductees, and will look forward to celebrating all they have done for the sport of bass fishing at our Oct. 6 induction dinner,” said BFHOF Board president John Mazurkiewicz. “This year’s class has the special honor of being the first inducted where all living BFHOF inductees had the privilege to vote on who would be joining them. We were extremely pleased that 28 of the 43 eligible inductees took an active role in the process.”

For more information on the accomplishments of the BFHOF 2022 inductee, visit the biography page on all Hall inductees at https://www.bassfishinghof.com/alphabetical-list-of-inductees.

by AnglersChannel

Alton Jones Earns Win in Qualifying Round for Group B at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork

Lorena, Texas Angler Holds off Hard-Charging Fellow Texan Dakota Ebare to Advance Straight to Thursday’s Championship Round, Field of 38 Set for Knockout Round Wednesday

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 22, 2022) – Garmin pro Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas, maintained his lead throughout the day and held on to win the Qualifying Round Tuesday for Group B at the MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas. Over two days, Jones caught 28 bass totaling 117 pounds, 1 ounce to earn the first Qualifying Round victory of his career and advance straight to Thursday’s final-day Championship Round.

“I am so thankful to have caught the fish that I caught today,” said Jones, the reigning General Tire Heavy Hitters Champion. “I started on what was really my best area, from the first day, and the wind was blowing in there really hard. I think I could probably still have caught some fish in there, but it’s probably good that I didn’t because it’ll keep some of the other competitors from fishing on it as hard tomorrow in the Knockout Round. With that, I’ve also got several places that I think are going to replenish a little bit. So I think Thursday’s Championship Round could be very interesting.”

After catching 18 bass weighing 80 pounds, 7 ounces on Day 1, Jones backed it up on Day 2 with 10 more bass weighing 36-10. He said that he targeted numerous different timberlines with just two baits.

“I have found fish this week along the tree lines. They start out deep, and you can follow them a long way in – all the way up to the bank,” Jones said. “The depth range I’m fishing is from 10 to 12 feet up to 3 to 4 feet, just slow-rolling that big Stanley ¾-ounce Vibra-Shaft spinnerbait and throwing Ott’s little Rapala (Ott’s Garage Series) Slim crankbait. I’m a two-rod-Todd now – I think I can pick up those two baits and just roll with it come Championship Day.”

Bass Pro Tour newcomer Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas, caught a two-day total of 24 bass weighing 92-11 to finish the round in second place, while Dayton, Tennessee pro Andy Morgan ended the round in third place with a two-day total of 24 bass weighing 83-1. Luke Clausen of Spokane, Washington , caught 22 bass weighing 81-14 to land in fourth, while Bryan Thrift of Shelby, North Carolina, advanced to the Knockout Round in fifth place with a two-day total of 19 bass weighing 80 pounds even.

“Alton kind of teased me and I fell for it a little bit, because I thought I was going to be able to try to make a run at and maybe win this thing late in the day,” Ebare said. “I got really close – within 11 pounds at one point – but then he caught a couple of more and I just went into practice mode.

“I ran new water and was just looking to see how the fish are adjusting to the weather,” Ebare continued. “I kind of found a new pattern today that I wasn’t doing before. I had been focusing on the creek channels, but today it seemed like the fish were focusing on the inside timberlines – that’s where I caught most of my fish today.”

Fishing in just his second ever Bass Pro Tour event, Ebare is excited about the opportunity that awaits him in the Knockout Round.

“I’m really excited for the Knockout Round, and I’m excited that I’ve had a great event so far here at Lake Fork in just my second event,” Ebare went on to say. “We’ll see how it goes. The weather is supposed to be pretty nasty, but I’m thankful that I have my Gill Winter Jacket and Bibs with me to keep me warm, comfortable and dry. We’re going to go out and give it all we got tomorrow to try to make the Championship Round.

The remaining 38 anglers – 19 from each group – now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and the anglers compete to finish in the top eight to advance to the Championship Round on Thursday. The Championship Round will feature Group A winner Jacob Wheeler, Group B winner Alton Jones, and the top eight finishers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

The top 20 pros in Qualifying Group B that now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, 28 bass, 117-1
2^nd:         Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 24 bass, 92-11
3^rd:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 24 bass, 83-1
4^th:         Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 22 bass, 81-14
5^th:         Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 19 bass, 80-0
6^th:         Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 20 bass, 62-11
7^th:         Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 13 bass, 56-15
8^th:         Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 14 bass, 54-0
9^th:         Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 13 bass, 52-5
10^th:       Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 14 bass, 50-9
11^th:       Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 13 bass, 48-13
12^th:       Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., 12 bass, 48-6
13^th:       Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 13 bass, 46-10
14^th:       Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 10 bass, 45-8
15^th:       Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 13 bass, 43-10
16^th:       Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., 11 bass, 41-13
17^th:       Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 11 bass, 41-7
18^th:       Russ Lane, Prattville, Ala., 12 bass, 41-2
19^th:       Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 10 bass, 40-7
20^th:       Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 13 bass, 38-11

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall on Tuesday, there were 202 scorable bass weighing 696 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 37 pros. The catch included three 7-pounders, one 8-pounder and one 9-pounder.

Addison, Alabama pro Jesse Wiggins earned Tuesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award, catching a 9-pound, 4-ounce largemouth on a jerkbait early in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day Qualifying Round on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. Now that the Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finished in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

The 38 anglers competing in Wednesday’s Knockout Round will launch at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. The General Tire Takeout will be held at the Marina, beginning at 4:30 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.

The Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound 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 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, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2023 championship.

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

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, BallyBet, Bass Cat, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Covercraft, Favorite Fishing, Garmin, General Tire, Googan Baits, Grundéns, Guaranteed Rate, Humminbird, Lowrance, Luminox, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Nitro Performance Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Power Stop, Rapala, Starbrite, Toro, Toyota, Wrangler, Yellowstone Bourbon and Zoom.

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

Osage Beach Readies for MLF Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Feb. 22, 2022) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. is set for an event in Osage Beach, next week, March 1-3, with the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake of the Ozarks Presented by Smart Digital. The three-day tournament, hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association, is the season-opener for the Toyota Series Plains Division Presented by Outlaw Ordnance.

The tournament will feature the region’s best bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers casting 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.

“This tournament is going to be an absolute slugfest,” said Lampe, Missouri pro Eric Olliverson, who has two top-10 finishes on Lake of the Ozarks in MLF competition. “The lake has been fishing incredible. We’re seeing lots of big bags and a lot of big fish. Unlike last year, we haven’t really had any major cold fronts this year. It’s been a consistent winter, with more nice days than cold days. The way everything is setting up, this one should be a lot of fun.”

Olliverson said that he expects the majority of anglers will be throwing just two baits.

“I expect that this one will be a totally dominant Alabama-rig and jerkbait bite,” Olliverson said. “Guys will be targeting secondary points, fish in the creeks, and I expect that brush will be a major factor. Local knowledge could definitely come into play in this event.

“From the (Bagnell) dam, to Gravois, to the mid-lake area – that’s where all of the weight is going to come from,” Olliverson went on to say. “I predict it will take just a little bit more than last year – at least 63 pounds over three days to win this one.”

Anglers will take off daily at 7 a.m. CT from Public Beach No. 2 at the Lake of the Ozarks State Park, located at 711 Public Beach Road in Osage Beach. Weigh-ins will also be held at the launch 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.

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 2022 Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions and finish in the top 25 – or the top 12 from the Wild Card division – will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 cash. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2022 Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. Championship will be held Nov. 3-5 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Outlaw Ordnance, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

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

by AnglersChannel

Big Bass Tour - Berkley Lake Breakdown - Conroe

Caldemeyer Says Two Main Patterns in Play for Conroe Giants

By Pete Robbins

Lake Conroe is a perennial stop on the Big Bass Tour and for good reason – it pumps out plenty of big fish, including some giants. That was evident last year when a 14.25 pound trophy dominated the late February event, but it’s par for the course on the highly-developed lake north of Houston. Over the past five years, early season BBT events there have produced a total of 16 double digit fish. While 8 and 9 pounders can win hourly prizes, you have to catch a true dinosaur to have a chance at the top prize.

Lake Fork Guide James Caldemeyer has fished all over the Lone Star State and is on the water just about every day, especially this time of year as the true trophies move shallow. He said that anglers headed to Conroe should expect the bite to be excellent, but the particulars will depend on the pre-tournament weather patterns.

“I was at Rayburn this past week for an MLF Big5, and there’d been a warming trend the week before,” he recalled. “Then it cooled off, so even though the water temperatures were in the mid-60s, I saw a lot of empty beds. The fish had backed off. If they’re that far along at Rayburn, they should be there at Conroe, too, since it’s further south.

For spawners, he’d look to the northern end of the lake, like the area called the Jungle, where he’d flip and pitch to spawners that he can see, and also to those areas with limited visibility where he’d expect bedding fish to lie.

“Going in blind, I’d hit every north bank I could find, in little creeks and pockets,” he said. “There should already be some spawning going on, but if there’s sun, we should see even more of that.” While he’d make extensive use of the Berkley General and a Texas Rigged Power Lizard, over the last year he’s added a new bait to his arsenal for that purpose. “I’ve kept it kind of a secret over the past year because it’s been so phenomenal, but if there’s any visibility at all, and if sight fishing becomes a factor, I’d use that Berkley Chigger Bug. It comes in colors like white and chartreuse pearl, which is what I typically give my clients because they’re easier to see, but for skittish fish I believe that more natural colors are more effective. I believe these fish are on a biological clock and when it’s time to go they’re going to go to the bank, so it should be a shallow deal. Even if you can’t see them, it’ll pay to methodically pick apart the cover.”

While he fully expects there to be a bedding bass bite, Caldemeyer said that anglers who can’t or won’t make that pattern work will still find plenty of pre-spawners. For those bass he’d employ either a Berkley Stunna jerkbait or a Berkley Warpig lipless crankbait. In fact, if the weather is nasty or cold and windy, this is the pattern he’d prefer. Those fish are feeding up for the spawn, and won’t be negatively affected by the front the same way as those who’ve already started the process.

As always, Conroe promises to be a slugfest, and anglers will need to bring their “A Game” to challenge for a spot in the top 10, but as always there will be checks available to savvy strategists. Be sure to monitor the live leaderboard to get a sense of whether your smaller fish will pay big bucks.

by AnglersChannel

HANK CHERRY HUNTING FOR HISTORY

Berkley and Abu Garcia Pro Hank Cherry Jr. looking to make history as the first ever three-peat Bassmaster Classic champion.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (February 22nd, 2022) – Greenville, South Carolina. Lake Hartwell. Home to three previous Bassmaster Classics in 2008, 2015 and 2018, and now the fourth, the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. The Bassmaster Classic is always a special event but even more so when the possibility of making bass fishing history is on the line.

Two-time, back-to-back Bassmaster Classic Champion and Berkley and Abu Garcia pro Hank Cherry has the opportunity to make history if he once again wins the Bassmaster Classic. He would become a three-time, back-to-back-to-back Bassmaster Classic champion. Not only does Cherry have the opportunity to make history, he has a shot to do it in his backyard.

Just winning one Bassmaster Classic is a major accomplishment but winning back-to-back Bassmaster Classics is the stuff legends are made of. Winning three Bassmaster Classics in a row would accomplish a feat no professional angler has ever done. This is an opportunity in bass fishing history that rarely presents itself.

“What Hank Cherry has done in his career is incredibly impressive. We could not be more proud of what he has accomplished and will continue to accomplish, and we are all excited to watch him compete again this year at Lake Hartwell. Safe to say everyone on our team is rooting for him and his family at this year’s Bassmaster Classic.” says Jon Schlosser, Berkley and Abu Garcia’s Senior Vice President of Marketing.

In addition to Hank Cherry Jr., there are the five other pros representing Berkley and Abu Garcia in the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk on Lake Hartwell:

Berkley and Abu Garcia Pros:

Shane Lehew (Catawba, North Carolina - Berkley and Abu Garcia)
Hunter Shryock (Ooltewah, Tennessee - Berkley and Abu Garcia)
Matt Robertson (Central City, Kentucky - Berkley and Abu Garcia)
John Cox (DeBary, Florida - Berkley and Abu Garcia)
Bryan New (Belmont, North Carolina –Abu Garcia)
Marc Frazier (Newnan, Georgia - Abu Garcia)
Brandon Cobb (Greenwood, SC – Berkley and Abu Garcia)
Daisuke Aoki (Yamanashi, Japan – Berkley and Abu Garcia)

Schlosser mentioned, “The Bassmaster Classic is always a very exciting time of year for our team. We take a lot of pride in the pro team we have built, and we could not be happier with how they represent our brands. This Classic at Lake Hartwell is certainly special, and we can’t wait to see how it plays out. Our pros have a lot of support behind them from our team and we’re looking forward to seeing them out on the water.”

We wish all the competitors at this year’s Bassmaster Classic good luck and safety. Come visit the Berkley and Abu Garcia team at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo located at the Greenville Convention Center March 4-6, 2022.

Berkley booth – 507
Abu Garcia booth – 207

by AnglersChannel

Vandam’s All Time Texas Bass Fishing Favorites

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

Kevin VanDam proudly calls Kalamazoo, Michigan home and has said many times there’s no place he’d rather live, but he’s also unapologetic for his love and appreciation of Texas’ bass fisheries.

He’s had tremendous success in Texas throughout his phenomenal 30-year pro career. So, during the recent Major League Fishing tournament on Lake Fork, he graciously took time over a cheeseburger and basket of jalapeño poppers at Lake Fork Marina to reflect on his favorite Lone Star lures and lakes.

Favorite Lakes

Lake Fork – “It will never cease to amaze me how many 4 to 8-pounder live here, despite the crazy amount of fishing pressure. And the fact you always have a chance to catch an absolute giant on any cast never gets old. The longevity of this place is a huge testament to great management by the Texas Parks and Wildlife folks,” insist the Team Toyota angler.

Rayburn – “You could call Rayburn my sentimental favorite. It’s a world class fishery too, but it’s also home to some of my earliest success as a pro in the early 1990s. At one time, I set the B.A.S.S. single day record with a 5-bass limit I caught on a floating lizard that weighed 31-pounds,” he reflects.

Toledo Bend – “I won on Toledo Bend as recently as 2016 with a 4-day total of 96-pounds, but that giant body of water holds a lot of sentimental memories too. Heck, the legendary Tommy Martin taught me how to throw a Carolina Rig during a day with him on Toledo Bend. Not to mention, it’s a great crankbait lake, and I love to throw a deep diving crankbait.”

KVD’s Three All Time Favorite Texas Bass Fishing Lures

Jerkbait – “This may be the least talked about of my favorite Texas lures. But man, I don’t come to Texas without a Strike King 300 series jerkbait tied on. From suspended bass in treetops on Lake Fork, to grass lines on Rayburn, it’s just a phenomenal tool,” explains VanDam.

6XD deep diving crankbait – “Once the fish move off-shore in late spring, and set-up on their summer spots, a 6XD is the perfect tool for dredging underwater roadbeds, points, creek channels, and ledges in 15 to 18-feet of water.”

Thunder Cricket vibrating jig – “Ya just gotta have it – especially in the spring! It’s a phenomenal tool around aquatic vegetation, but it’s also extremely effective around wood.”

Like a basket full of jalapeno poppers, tasty honestinput from the greatest professional bass angler of all time regarding his love of Texas bass fishing.

by AnglersChannel

This Isn’t Your Dad’s Flasher – Get the All-New American Baitworks Freedom Flash Vertical Jig and Hook More Fish This Season

OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI. February 21, 2022. So much flash we decided to name it that! The Freedom Flash brings vibration and flash with 10 fish-catching colors to your ice or open water vertical jig presentation.

Built with a premium, eco-friendly zinc body, the Freedom Flash carries a belly-mounted Indiana blade which swings loosely on the fall and pick-up. Maximizing both flash and vibration while creating the erratic action of a baitfish in trouble.

The Flash’s body is wrapped in a diamond pattern with super-tough “Gator-grade” UV paint, that

will stand-up to catching even the toothiest of fish through the ice or in open water. All Freedom Flash lures are finished with 3D red eyes and have glow color options.

The Freedom Flash boasts through-wire construction transmitting blade vibration throughout the bait, which ensures maximum strength from the line tie to hook when fighting fish. The bait also features an elongated wire tail with a removable hook capability allowing anglers to remove the treble hook, slide a minnow head on the wire, and lock in the minnow head when the treble is reattached.

Designed to be retrieved vertically through the ice or on humps and rocky points in open water, the erratic action of the Freedom Flash, mimics the flutter of a baitfish in action. The Freedom Flash is a hard bait designed to impart action, with even the slightest twitch of the rod, and gives anglers the complete package of vibration, flash, strength, and scent.

Get more flash in your arsenal this season with the Freedom Flash available now on at select retailers and americanbaitworks.com

by AnglersChannel

Wheeler Coasts to Qualifying Round Win at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork

Academy Sports + Outdoors Pro Smashes Two Day Total of 30 Bass Weighing 121 Pounds to Advance Straight to Thursday’s Championship Round, 19 Anglers Advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 21, 2022) – Academy Sports + Outdoors pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, caught 16 scorable bass weighing 64 pounds, 9 ounces to earn the win Monday during the Group A Qualifying Round at the MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas.

Wheeler’s two-day Qualifying Round catch of 30 bass totaling 121 pounds even earned him the win by a wide 47-pound, 9-ounce margin over Bass Pro Shops angler Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who caught a two-day total of 22 bass weighing 74-9 to finish in second place. Pro Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, caught a two-day total of 17 bass weighing 68-5 to finish the round in third, while Toro pro Jeff Sprague of Wills Point, Texas , ended the round in fourth place with a two-day total of 16 bass for 56-14. Rounding out the top five was Favorite Fishing pro Jonathon VanDam, who caught 12 bass for 56-0 to advance in fifth place.

“It feels great to win and advance straight to the Championship Round,” said Wheeler, who will advance to his ninth Championship Round appearance in the last 11 Bass Pro Tour events. “It’s good to start the season off where we left it last season. Momentum is everything in bass fishing – everything in any sport. Right now, our old buddy ‘Mo’ seems to be looking out for us.”

Like Day 1, Wheeler spent his day throwing various jerkbaits to isolated timber, using his forward-facing sonar to key in on specific targets.

“Realistically, it came down to Jerkbait Fishing 101,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “I caught a lot of fish today on a lot of different jerkbaits, but I ended up really focusing on more of the pearl-translucent colored ones. That seemed to be the deal for me today.

“I’m excited to get back out there for the Championship Round,” Wheeler went on to say. “I’m going to regroup and prepare for a cold day on the water on Thursday. There should be some giants caught.”

The top 20 anglers from Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Qualifying Group B will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition Tuesday. The Knockout Round, featuring 38 anglers competing to finish in the top eight, will take place Wednesday. Thursday’s Championship Round will feature Wheeler, Tuesday’s Group B winner, and the top eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

The top 20 pros in Qualifying Group A that now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 30 bass, 121-0
2^nd:         Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 22 bass, 74-9
3^rd:         Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 17 bass, 68-5
4^th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 16 bass, 56-14
5^th:         Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 12 bass, 56-0
6^th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 16 bass, 55-10
7^th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 12 bass, 54-6
8^th:         Ish Monroe, Oakdale, Calif., 15 bass, 53-10
9^th:         James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 13 bass, 52-10
10^th:       Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 15 bass, 47-14
11^th:       Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 17 bass, 46-8
12^th:       Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., 10 bass, 45-12
13^th:       Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 11 bass, 44-1
14^th:       Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 11 bass, 40-2
15^th:       Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., 12 bass, 39-2
16^th:       Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 12 bass, 38-4
17^th:       Randall Tharp, Port Saint Joe, Fla., 12 bass, 37-15
18^th:       Tommy Biffle, Wagoner, Okla., 11 bass, 36-13
19^th:       Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, nine bass, 35-8
20^th:       Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., seven bass, 34-4

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 185 scorable bass weighing 687 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 39 pros Monday. The catch included five 7-pounders, four 8-pounders and one 10-pounder.

Knoxville, Tennessee’s Brandon Coulter caught a 10-pound, 2-ounce bass in Period 3, throwing a bladed swimjig near stumps and timber to earn the day’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the Marina, beginning at 4:30 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.

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morningon the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

by AnglersChannel

Gilmore Wins Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event on Pickwick Lake

Koenigsberger Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

IUKA, Miss. (Feb. 21, 2022) – Boater Heath Gilmore of Meridian, Mississippi, caught five bass Saturday weighing 21 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine on Pickwick Lake. The tournament, hosted by Tishomingo County Tourism, was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League Mississippi Division. Gilmore earned $5,395 for his victory.

“I made a cold, long ride,” Gilmore said. “But it was worth it to find the transition fish in the ditches. I pulled up on the right ditch and caught the right size fish.”

Gilmore said he caught his seven fish of the day, all keepers, on a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap focusing on ditches that were around six feet deep.

“I had to change the retrieve up,” Gilmore said. “I started the morning out using a yo-yo action, and as the day got warmer I moved it a little faster. I just tried all types of retrieves.”

Gilmore said the water temperature was 48 degrees when the tournament began but warmed up to 53 degrees as the day progressed, which allowed him to experiment with the different retrieves.

“I had seven bites all day,” Gilmore said. “It was a long day. It wore me out. But this win feels good. I’ve been fishing Pickwick about 20 years, and I’ve been close to winning a few times, and I finally did it. I love fishing Pickwick.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:        Heath Gilmore, Meridian, Miss., five bass, 21-15, $5,395
2nd:       Aaron Harrelson, Glen, Miss., five bass, 20-07, $2,348
3rd:       J.C. Coggins, Guntown, Miss., five bass, 19-7, $1,565
4th:        Garrett Riles, Potts Camp, Miss., five bass, 19-1, $1,096
5th:        Michael Wooley, Booneville, Miss., five bass, 16-12, $939
6th:        Shane Cox, Iuka, Miss., five bass, 16-7, $861
7th:        Max Moore, Fulton, Miss., five bass, 16-6, $743
7th:        Kyle Horne, Olive Branch, Miss., five bass, 16-6, $743
9th:        Luke Glasgow, Guin, Ala., five bass, 16-5, $587
9th:        Mickey Beck, Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 16-5, $587

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Gilmore had a 7-pound, 7-ounce largemouth that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $700.

Blake Koenigsberger of Columbus, Mississippi, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,348 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

1st:        Blake Koenigsberger, Columbus, Miss., five bass, 15-10, $2,348
2nd:       Cameron Petras, Biloxi, Miss., three bass, 14-12, $977
2nd:       Teddy Baggett, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 14-12, $977
4th:        Sims Meredith, Tupelo, Miss., four bass, 11-2, $548
5th:        Anthony Rasberry, New Albany, Miss., four bass, 11-1, $670
6th:        Joey Tanner, Meridian, Miss., four bass, 11-0, $410
6th:        Johnny Suratt, Lawrenceburg, Tenn., three bass, 11-0, $410
8th:        Bob Thompson, Florence, Ala., five bass, 10-10, $352
9th:        Jason James, Corinth, Miss., three bass, 9-6, $313
10th:     Larry Gipson, Ridgeland, Miss., three bass, 9-3, $274

Corey Lindsey, of Southhaven, Mississippi, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $350.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 22-24 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Smith Lake in Cullman, Alabama. Boaters will compete 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 fish for a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

The 2022 Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six Regional Championships 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 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American. The 2022 All-American will be held June 2-4 at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs.

The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers plus tournament winners from each Phoenix Bass Fishing League division will also earn priority entry into the MLF Toyota Series, the pathway to the MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and ultimately the MLF Bass Pro Tour.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Revital Outdoors, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X, YETI and Yo-Zuri.

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

Blake Hice and Jonathon Collins Take the Win with 20.17 on Neely Henry

By Jason Duran

Photos by Ben Cole and Blake McLane

Gadsden, Ala. Feb. 20- The Alabama Bass Trail North Division started its 2022 season on Neely Henry Lake. The weather in February in Alabama can be ever changing, and the week leading up to this event brought huge fluctuations in temperature and weather patterns. When anglers arrived on tournament morning, the current was swift on the main river. The large amount of water moving through the system was cold and muddy making conditions even tougher for some anglers. Teams hoped to recover from the tough practice conditions and put together a solid day of fishing to take home the $10,000 first place prize and the title.

The anglers that make up the Alabama Bass Trail are known to be some of the best teams in bass fishing. They enjoy the competition, and this event was set up to be very competitive. Tournament morning teams found air temps in the mid 20s and water temps in the high 40s at blast off. The fact it was going to be a tough fishing didn’t scare away the 225 teams who were anxious to get this season started.

The team of Blake Hice and Jonathon Collins shared at blast off, “we really didn’t have any good bites in practice.” Jonathon “only caught one fish in practice and felt it was going to be a really tough day.” Their morning started with a little bad luck getting a crankbait hung in one of their bibs, having to cut it out and breaking the handle off their net. Blake joked with Jonathon, “with all this bad luck, you know we might just win this event.”

Jonathon shared, “yesterday I just went out to practice; I didn’t practice much, but I got a bite on the Evergreen Flat Force off a Dock. I then moved around and looked for similar docks that had the same depth and color. I was really targeting docks that had the best color and stain I could find that wasn’t just mud. Today, we were going to go upriver and just fish, but we decided to go to the dock where I got that bite in practice and start there. We had people all around us fishing and doing similar things, but felt we were just doing the different things that mattered. The Evergreen Flat Force is a perfect early in the year crankbait and the Pan Fish color is a great muddy water color. It was about fishing a confident bait for me. I have a lot of confidence in this bait and really like the tight wabble. I used a 6:3 Steez reel with 20lb Sunline mono that helped to keep the bait in the strike zone. We really fished slower than the other teams around us. We would make casts around docks in 8-10 feet water. The docks had lots of brush around them, and we bounced the bait of the docks and trees to target the strikes. When we caught the first fish it felt like we might be on to something. The second and the third were nice size fish as well. It wasn’t till the fourth and fifth fish that we felt like we might have a little something going. It is hard to judge how other teams are doing. When we came to the scales, I felt like we had around 15 pounds, but when the scales read 20.17 pounds, it was amazing!”

Blake and Jonathon were able to find key bites on a very difficult day for most of the other anglers. There were only 6 limits weighed in, and many teams only weighed in one fish just to get championship points. Their first place weight doubled many of the top 10 finishers. “We really only had a few bites all day but are thankful we were able to get those fish in the boat on such a difficult day. An emotional Jonathon said,” I really have a lot of friends out here fishing today. Each event we work hard, and today it all paid off for us. It was very surreal for us to be standing here beating some of the best guys on this lake for a long time.”

The second-place team of Adam Brown and Greg Diggs call Neely Henry Home and were one of the teams favored to win this event. With 16.17 pounds they take home $5000 and a solid start to the year. They made the run upriver towards the Weiss Lake Dam. Concentrating on fishing the current breaks, they quickly culled up to about 13 pounds around 10:00. “They had 3 turbines running making the current about as strong as you can get for this lake.” Spending the rest of the day fishing the river and the current break pattern they continued to catch fish and culled up to their 16.17 pounds. The key baits for them were jigs and crankbaits. “We heard many teams were catching them on chatterbaits, but that just wouldn’t work for us.” Their top two baits were a 3/8 oz jig with a black and blue Zoom trailer and a Lucky Craft DT 6 in two different colors; chartreuse black and a custom painted color.

Ethan Franklin and Hunter McCarty took third place with 12.79 pounds and $4000. They were another team that caught them well. However, when the schedule came out, “they were dreading this event because they are more of a Tennessee River team.” They found a 10-yard stretch and worked back and forth over that area to come up with their 5 fish limit. They caught their limit between 9:30 and 11:00, and only had a few bites after that. They described their key area as a little narrow canal where the fish were probably 5 feet away when they caught them. “We found spotted bass in muddy water, and that’s not usual this time of year.” The key bait was a ½ oz ball head jig with a Zoom super chunk both in in black and blue. Starting off the year in 3^rd place this year, their goals for the rest of the year include winning AOY against this field and making the BASS Team championship.

The Top 5 places are below for a complete list of standings visit: https://www.alabamabasstrail.org/neely-henry-lake/results/

Download and listen to the ABT Podcast on your favorite Podcast app by searching for “Alabama Bass Trail Podcast.” The podcast is released each week on Tuesday.

by AnglersChannel

Fat Cat Newton, James Watson & Luke Dunkin Sign with NPFL for 2022 Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The NPFL announces 2022 live crew talent and on the water personnel.

Festus, MO (February 8,2022) — The National Professional Fishing League (NPFL) announces the live crew talent and on the water personnel for the 2022 season. Returning for his second season, Luke Dunkin is joined in the NPFL Live Studio by the one and only Fat Cat Newton.

“And… WE ARE BACK! I cannot wait to get the headset on and kick off season two of the NPFL. It is my dream job to get to run my mouth about bass fishing while these anglers' piece together the puzzles all over the country. Lake Cumberland is one of my favorite fisheries and I look forward to see what the pros from ‘The League’ bring to the table on LIVE,” says Dunkin

Fat Cat Newton spent part of the inaugural season providing on the water coverage and for the last few events, moved in the studio with Dunkin. The two jived providing live coverage and the move to bring Newton to the studio full time was an easy decision.

“I'm going to miss running my lips and shaking hips out on the water this season but I'm looking forward to joining my good friend Luke Dunkin in studio to bring the viewers the most original/entertaining commentary the professional fishing world has ever witnessed,” added Fat Cat Newton.

With both Dunkin and Newton holding down the studio, the on the water coverage for 2022 will be provided by none other than MLF Pro James ‘Worldwide’ Watson. Watson filled in at the end of the 2021 season and with Newton moving to the studio, the NPFL locked up Watson.

“I’m excited about & appreciate my invitation from NPFL to be an on the water commentator. I love the sport of bass fishing. I hope to highlight the highs & lows that anglers deal with throughout a day of competition,” said James Watson.

The 2022 National Professional kicks off the 2022 season at Lake Cumberland February 24 – 26, hosted by the City of Burnside, Kentucky.

Learn more about the NPFL, here.

by AnglersChannel

No more bread in Bobby Lane’s boat

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

Hilarious and good-hearted Florida pro, Bobby Lane, looks a little thinner these days. And at age 47, the longtime Toyota Bonus Bucks angler feels better than he has in years.

“I’m probably only about 12 or 15 pounds lighter than I was a year ago, but man do I feel better!” exclaims Lane. “No more bread in the boat! I’ve completely cleaned up my diet. And when I’m home, I try to walk 3 to 5 miles per day.”

The bread in the boat was often a part of the amazing sandwiches Lane’s treasured friend and tournament traveling companion, Tony Chachere, would pack Bobby and brother Chris to carry in their boat coolers.

“Good heavens! I mean talk about fattening a guy up! Tony would make us the most unbelievable sandwiches, with a bag of potato chips …. and are ya ready for this!? …. He’d toss in some candy bars too!” laughs Lane.

No more Tony Chachere sandwiches. And the candy bars, Bobby admits he got hooked on, have been replaced by Kind bars, almonds, and tuna fish with no crackers or bread.

Key too, is ample hydration courtesy of spring water and BodyArmor sports drinks.

Lane also credits his bride Madeline for cleaning up his diet too. She has gone gluten free, and that helps tremendously in his efforts to eat healthy at home.

Not to mention walking three to five miles a day – often times with the family dog, “Junebug” – you guessed it, named for the famous soft plastic fishing lure color.

“It just amazing how much more energetic I feel. My body tells me I can compete longer and more intensely than ever, and that’s one heck of a good feeling,” concludes the 2017 Major League Fishing General Tire World Champion.

As for how he plans to gain weight on Scoretracker at this week’s MLF event – Lane hopes a Frittside 5 crankbait, along with a Berkley Power Hawg on a 5/16-ounce Flat Out tungsten weight will be key ingredients in the diets of Lake Fork’s giant largemouth.

by AnglersChannel

Alton Jones Leads Group B Qualifying Round at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork

Lorena, Texas Angler Boats 18 Bass Totaling 80 Pounds, 7 Ounces to Pace Group B by 15 Pounds – Group A to Conclude Qualifying Round Monday

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 20, 2022) – It was the Alton Jones, Sr., show for the start of Group B’s Qualifying Round at the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas. The affable Lorena, Texas, pro caught the most bass, the biggest bass, and the most weight, Sunday to grab the early lead for Group B. Jones caught 18 bass weighing 80 pounds, 7 ounces to pace the 40-angler field.

Fellow Texan Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, fishing in just his second career Bass Pro Tour event, sits in second place, 14 pounds, 15 ounces back of Jones with 17 bass totaling 65-8. Pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, finished the day in third place with 17 bass for 61-5, while Shelby, North Carolina’s Bryan Thrift caught 10 bass totaling 42-13 to end the day in fourth place. Costa pro Casey Ashley of Donalds, South Carolina, rounds out the top five, as he caught 11 bass weighing 40 pounds, 15 ounces.

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day on Monday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Tuesday.

The six-day event, hosted by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wood County EDC, the Sabine River Authority and the Rains County Tourism Board, showcases 80 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner. The tournament is livestreamed each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MOTV app, and also filmed for broadcast later this fall on the Discovery Channel.

“Whew, what a great day today was, and my hats are off to the guys who got close to me,” Jones said as time expired. “Today couldn’t have been better – it was much better than my practice - and the rest of the field still kept up. I still can’t believe I caught an 11-2 today.”

Jones is satisfied with what he discovered Sunday and thinks his pattern will hold no matter what the weather does later in the event. Wednesday’s Knockout Round and Thursday’s Championship Round are forecasted to be substantially colder.

“I expanded my area and feel like I can still catch fish here if the weather gets bad,” Jones said. “I’m going to keep mixing it up, fishing slowly and fast, because I know how the fish are positioned and know what to look for, even if they move around in here.”

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, 18 bass, 80-7
2^nd:         Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 17 bass, 65-8
3^rd:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 17 bass, 61-5
4^th:         Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 42-13
5^th:         Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 11 bass, 40-15
6^th:         Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 11 bass, 38-4
7^th:         Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 11 bass, 33-6
8^th:         Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., eight bass, 31-8
9^th:         Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., seven bass, 30-14
10^th:       Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., nine bass, 30-5
11^th:       Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., six bass, 29-11
12^th:       Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., five bass, 29-2
13^th:       Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, eight bass, 28-15
14^th:       Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., seven bass, 25-0
15^th:       Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., six bass, 24-13
16^th:       Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., six bass, 23-10
17^th:       Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., six bass, 23-9
18^th:       Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., six bass, 22-12
19^th:       Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 19-5
20^th:       Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., seven bass, 19-1

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, on Sunday, there were 241 scorable bass weighing 904 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 39 pros.

Jones also caught the third-largest bass in MLF Bass Pro Tour history Sunday, weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces, to earn the day’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morningon the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

by AnglersChannel

Gross Earns Second Career Victory In Bassmaster Elite At Harris Chain

Buddy Gross, of Chattanooga, Tenn., has won the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a four-day total of 77 pounds, 11 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 20, 2022

LEESBURG, Fla. — A chance encounter on Day 1 directed Tennessee pro Buddy Gross to an unexpected finding that delivered four days of limit catches and propelled him to victory with a total weight of 77 pounds, 11 ounces at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain.

Gross, who also won the 2020 Elite event on Lake Eufaula, placed third on Day 1 with 22-12, then took over the Day 2 lead by adding 17-11. Semifinal Saturday tested Gross’ resolve, as he found only 14-14 and slipped to sixth, but a Championship Sunday limit of 22-6 pushed him across the finish line.

Edging Drew Benton of Blakely, Ga., by 2-10, Gross earned the $100,000 top prize.

“This snuck up on me; I had a terrible practice, but I stuck to my guns and stuck to my strengths,” Gross said.

Except for brief Day 2 visits to lakes Beauclair and Eustis, Gross spent the majority of his tournament on the east side of Lake Harris. He did most of his work in Banana Cove, but also fished a point across from the cove on Day 4.

“The first day of the tournament, I went over to this spot where I thought I could catch a couple of keepers just to get me going and then I’d go to the grass and weed through them,” Gross said. “When I stopped that morning, I caught 30 or 40 — I had some other anglers around me so I didn’t stop.”

Gross said that once he’d tallied 20 pounds on that initial spot, he started seeking similar scenarios. With opportunity blossoming, he realized he’d found a pattern with winning potential.

“As I was looking for new spots, I started catching more fish,” he said. “Some of those spots started turning into bigger fish and then they turned into bigger schools.

“Every day I’ve caught them in different places. I could never relocate a school. I just got blessed enough to find enough of them on different places. The fish just kept coming. If I busted them up, I could come back and catch them again.”

The key scenario was a shore break with deeper water close and vacant shellcracker beds. Watching the target zones on his Humminbird 360, Gross saw bass continuously traversing the area and feeding on baitfish.

“I could watch these fish and it was almost like they were running the break parallel, they would go down and a little while later, they’d come back,” he said. “I’m not saying it was the same fish, but the fish I saw were actively looking for bait and they were riding that ledge.

“It was just like being at home and it fished just like a Tennessee River (ledge). I got very blessed to catch what I caught.”

Gross caught his fish on a 5-inch Scottsboro Tackle swimbait on a 3/4-ounce swimbait head and a Zoom Z-Craw Worm. He fished the latter on a Carolina rig and a Texas rig. With each of those baits, Gross found a slow presentation most productive.

With Wednesday’s full moon coinciding with a warming trend, the stage seemed set for a full-on spawning event. Some of that did occur, but despite the big-bite potential, Gross said he formulated a different game plan.

“These (bed fishermen) catching these 9-, 10-, 11-pounders — man, that makes you want to go to the bank,” Gross said. “I went for a little while on Day 3 and didn’t have a great day. I thought I blew my chances, but the Lord blessed us today with a great limit and that gave me the confidence to stick with it.”

A slow Day 1 start found Benton with a 47th-place catch of 13-11, but he rebounded on Day 2 by catching 19-1 and rising to 23rd. Adding 21-5 on Semifinal Saturday earned him a final-round spot in eighth place. He rose six spots with a Championship Sunday limit of 21 pounds that lifted his final weight to 75-1.

Devoting most of his tournament to bedding fish, Benton caught all of his weight on a Bagley Pro Sunny B prop bait and a Texas-rigged Big Bite Baits Fighting frog.

“After Day 1, I didn’t know what to do, I had done everything I knew to do when you come to Florida and you have a full moon and a warming trend,” Benton said. “I didn’t see them coming and I just changed up areas of the lake and found a good batch of spawners to bump me up on Day 2.

“On Day 3, I was struggling again and with 30 minutes to go, I caught an 8-pounder and a 5 3/4 that got me into the final day. I caught everything that I thought I could catch.”

Day 3 leader Ray Hanselman Jr., of Del Rio, Texas, finished third with 71-8. After placing fourth on Day 1 with 22 pounds, he added 17-4 on Day 2 and climbed two spots. Hanselman moved into the top spot on Semifinal Saturday with a limit of 18-13 and concluded his run with 13-7.

Hanselman committed his week to the 3- to 7-foot grass flats of Banana Cove. Targeting pre- and postspawn bass, he caught most of his fish on a Strike King Hybrid Hunter, a rattling crankbait with a unique L-shaped bill that displaces grass.

“I just ran out of fish over there; it got pounded pretty hard this week,” Hanselman said. “Today’s (sunny skies) weren’t the ideal conditions for what I was doing, but I just ground it out. I was just two big fish away.”

Hanselman said his 8-foot Power Tackle moderate swimbait rod allowed him to launch his bait and set the hook at the end of long casts. Retrofitting his bait with oversized hooks helped him catch whatever bit.

John Cox of DeBary, Fla., won the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for the 11-0 largemouth he landed on Day 3.

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., won the $2,000 VMC Monster Bag award for the event’s heaviest limit with his Day 2 catch of 23-14.

Gross also took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tenn., also earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Hanselman earned an additional $2,500 as the highest-placing entrant and Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Mark Menendez of Paducah, Ky., won the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency award for the most accurate weight reporting.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., leads the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 193 points. Cox is second with 191, followed by Frazier with 179, Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., with 177 and Gross with 172.

Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 155 points.

2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes 2/17-2/20
Harris Chain Of Lakes, Leesburg FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 4

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. Buddy Gross Day 1: 5 22-12 2. Drew Benton Day 1: 5 13-11 3. Ray Hanselman Jr Day 1: 5 22-00 4. David Mullins Day 1: 5 20-02 5. Brandon Lester Day 1: 5 23-00 6. Bryan Schmitt Day 1: 5 21-13 7. John Cox Day 1: 5 18-07 8. Clifford Pirch Day 1: 5 14-06 9. Kenta Kimura Day 1: 5 16-07 10. Scott Martin Day 1: 5 17-01 ------------------ Chattanooga, TN 20 77-11 100 $100,000.00
Day 2: 5 17-11 Day 3: 5 14-14 Day 4: 5 22-06
Blakely, GA 20 75-01 99 $36,000.00
Day 2: 5 19-01 Day 3: 5 21-05 Day 4: 5 21-00
Del Rio, TX 20 71-08 98 $30,000.00
Day 2: 5 17-04 Day 3: 5 18-13 Day 4: 5 13-07
Mt Carmel, TN 20 70-01 97 $25,000.00
Day 2: 5 18-13 Day 3: 5 17-03 Day 4: 5 13-15
Fayetteville, TN 20 69-09 96 $20,000.00
Day 2: 5 11-01 Day 3: 5 20-02 Day 4: 5 15-06
Deale, MD 20 67-12 95 $19,000.00
Day 2: 5 13-02 Day 3: 5 17-14 Day 4: 5 14-15
DeBary, FL 20 67-08 94 $20,000.00
Day 2: 5 14-08 Day 3: 5 23-01 Day 4: 5 11-08
Payson, AZ 20 67-07 93 $18,000.00
Day 2: 5 17-00 Day 3: 5 22-09 Day 4: 5 13-08
Osaka JAPAN 20 66-15 92 $16,000.00
Day 2: 5 18-02 Day 3: 5 23-01 Day 4: 5 09-05
Clewiston, FL 20 65-12 91 $15,000.00
Day 2: 5 17-03 Day 3: 5 21-05 Day 4: 5 10-03
-----------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 08-10 $1,000.00
2 Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 08-13 $1,000.00
3 John Cox DeBary, FL 11-00 $1,000.00
4 Drew Benton Blakely, GA 07-03 $1,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
John Cox DeBary, FL 11-00 $1,000.00
VMC MONSTER BAG
Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 23-14 $2,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 89 457 1312-14
2 93 468 1338-09
3 47 235 714-09
4 10 50 145-09
----------------------------------
239 1210 3511-09

by AnglersChannel

Scroggins digs his Lake Fork memories

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

As Terry “Big Show” Scroggins begins competition Sunday at the major League Fishing event on Lake Fork, he can’t help but reflect on great memories he’ll forever treasure from 15 years ago on the legendary big bass fishery.

On a practice day prior to the start of the 2007 Toyota Texas Bass Classic, “Big Show” noticed a fish bust the water’s surface about 300 yards away. He idled to investigate the activity, launched a deep-diving crankbait and caught a 6 pounder. His next cast yielded a 5 pounder, and then the real magic, an 11-pounder!

“Back then, the TTBC was a team format, and James Niggemeyer was on my team. He had guided on Fork for six years at that point, but he had never seen that particular spot produce any good bass,” says Scroggins.

But oh, did that magical little ledge in Big Mustang Creek produce those next few days in April of 2007!

Using deep diving crankbaits, primarily the Norman DD22 you see tied to Scroggins rod in the attached photo, the 4-man team captained by Scroggins, that included Niggemeyer, Frank Ippoliti, and Chris Daves, dredged-up 244 pounds of bass in three days to take home the win.

“It was a channel swing by a point that dropped from about 10-feet to 14, and believe it or not, I’ve never caught ‘em there since,” Scroggins shakes his head in perplexion.

With the lake currently 6-feet low, there’s certainly no chance Scroggins will count on the magical spot from 2007 to produce this week.

“Yup, the lake is 6 feet low, and it’s a totally different time of the year. I was wearing short sleeves and flip flops in that one. But this week, it will be 35-degrees in the morning. I’ll be wearing my motorcycle helmet and Carhartt gloves when I’m running down the lake,” says “Big Show.”

While the once magic spot in Big Mustang Creek will have no bearing on his success this week, it will forever hold 244-pounds of treasured memories in the likeable Florida pro’s heart and soul.

by AnglersChannel

Hanselman Takes Lead At Bassmaster Elite On Harris Chain Of Lakes

Ray Hanselman Jr., of Del Rio, Texas, is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 19, 2022

LEESBURG, Fla. — His target zone shrunk, but Texas pro Ray Hanselman Jr., made the right adjustments and moved into the lead on Day 3 of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce.

A steady performer with an upward trajectory, Hanselman caught a 22-pound limit on Day 1 and placed fourth. He weighed 17-4 on Day 2 and added a Semifinal Saturday limit of 18-13 to edge second-place angler Kenta Kimura by 7 ounces.

Hanselman repeated the game plan he’s followed since Day 1 — diligently prospecting the 3- to 7-foot grass flats of Banana Cove on the east side of Lake Harris. He caught a 6-pounder around 10:45 a.m., but with several boats sharing the area, he saw his overall opportunity level decline.

“There were like three schools where you could get bit in a football field-size area, but now it’s down to about 1 1/2 (schools),” Hanselman said. “The others are depleted and we’re starting to crowd one another.

“You never know what can show up. Those fish know that the grass is there — it’s the only grass in the lake. The baitfish are there and they’ve been trying to have a shad spawn. It could recharge or it could be that’s what’s there.”

Hanselman described his area as a staging spot for fish that were coming and going from the spawn.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the area, the water’s getting warmer and I’m sure there’s a mixture of fish,” he said. “Most of the ones I’ve been catching have been postspawn fish, except for that big one — that one hadn’t spawned.

“I guess the ones that are there and are going to spawn are moving in. I think with that, plus the fishing pressure, you have to cast every inch.”

Hanselman caught one of his limit fish on a homemade 1/2-ounce bladed swim jig with no skirt and a minnow-style trailer. He caught the rest on a Strike King Hybrid Hunter, a rattling crankbait with a unique L-shaped bill.

Hanselman caught his biggest fish on the 3-inch Hybrid Hunter Jr. on top of a grass mat, but did most of his work with the full-size 3 1/2-inch model.

“That bill displaces grass and then it’s such a wide, hard wobble that it just deflects it more,” he said. “I put oversized hooks on both baits because I’m going so fast I want something to grab the fish.”

Hanselman threw his crankbaits on an 8-foot Power Tackle moderate swimbait rod, which allowed him to rip the bait through grass and get a firm hook set at the end of a long cast.

“I noticed I was seeing more fish off in deeper water, so I had to slow down because if you’re burning that bait, it tends to plane a little bit,” he said. “I slowed down my retrieve and used my rod tip to surge it.”

Hanselman said he’ll likely return to the place he’s fished for three days. He has options if he needs them, but he said it’ll be hard to leave what has steadily produced.

Hailing from Osaka, Japan, Kimura placed second with 57-10. After a 23rd-place limit of 16-7 on Day 1, he added 18-2 and moved into 12th. Then on Saturday, he stepped on the gas and weighed a limit of 23-1.

After starting his day by targeting the early morning shad spawn, Kimura caught a quick limit and then transitioned to a big-bite pattern. The second stage of his plan involved shellbars.

“I had to change up today because the north wind changed the water color,” Kimura said. “I didn’t have a bite between 10 and 12 and I had a little bit of a hard time.”

Kimura caught all of his fish on a swimming worm rigged on a 6/0 hook and a Ryugi football head weight, which clipped to his hook eye. He used a plum color worm in the morning and junebug in the afternoon.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., is in third with 56-2. After placing 11th with a Day 1 limit of 20-2, Mullins improved to fourth by adding 18-13. Then on Saturday, he caught 17-3 and gained another spot.

Mullins spent his first hour in Lake Harris, then ran to Lake Griffin where he fished a mix of hydrilla and eelgrass in 3 to 6 feet. He started out throwing a crankbait and when the bite slowed down with increasing sunlight, he switched to a Texas-rigged 6-inch black/blue stickworm with a 3/16-ounce weight.

“I think they’re spawning out there in that grass, but I can’t see them,” Mullins said. “I’m just trying to drop it into a grass hole, so I’m fishing it as slow as I can. On my first cast, I caught a 4-pounder.”

John Cox of DeBary, Fla., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 11-pound largemouth.

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit with his Day 2 catch of 23-14.

Mullins leads the Angler of the Year standings with 194 points. Cox is in second with 194, followed by Frazier with 179, Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., with 177 and Jamie Hartman of Newport, N.Y., with 171.

Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 155 points.

The Top 10 remaining anglers will take off at 7:30 a.m. ET Sunday from Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach). The weigh-in will be held back at Venetian Gardens at 3:30 p.m., with the winning angler claiming $100,000.

FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday. Live coverage can also be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms.

by AnglersChannel

Wheeler Leads Early at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork

Tennessee Pro Boats 14 Bass Totaling 56 Pounds, 7 Ounces to Comfortably Lead Day 1 for Group A – Group B to Compete Sunday

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 19, 2022) – Academy Sports + Outdoors pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, boated a 7-pound, 3-ounce kicker just four minutes into the start of competition Saturday and never looked back. Wheeler caught 14 scorable bass totaling 56 pounds, 7 ounces to grab the early lead for Group A on Day 1 of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas.

Wheeler will bring a comfortable lead into Monday’s second day of competition for Group A, with an 8-pound, 2-ounce cushion over second place angler pro Ish Monroe of Oakdale, California, who caught 13 bass totaling 48-5. In third place on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard is Bass Pro Shops angler Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who caught 13 bass totaling 44-14. B&W Trailer Hitches pro Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas , sits in fourth place with 13 bass weighing 33-14. Rounding out the top five is pro Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, South Carolina, who weighed in eight bass totaling 32-3.

Fresh off his victory two weeks ago at Stage One in Louisiana, Covercraft pro Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, boated the biggest bass of his career Saturday – and the second-biggest bass ever weighed in Bass Pro Tour history – an 11-pound, 11-ounce giant that earned Roy the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition Sunday. Group A will resume competition on Monday.

“Today has been a lot of fun,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “They’re not easy to catch, but when you do find some, it’s a lot of fun. This event is going to end up being all about decision-making.”

Wheeler spent the day throwing multiple different jerkbaits around the isolated timber.

“The jerkbait was the name of the game for me, today,” Wheeler continued. “I was throwing them on a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-heavy action rod, using 12-to-14-pound line, depending on the cover I was fishing. I threw a various amount of jerkbaits, but my biggest bass this morning came on a (Rapala) Shadow Rap, deep. It was first thing – my third cast of the day.”

Saturday marks the seventh time that Wheeler has “won” Day 1 of his Qualifying Round of competition. The next closest anglers to that mark are Zack Birge and Michael Neal, who each have won three times. If Wheeler can hang on and win his Qualifying Round on Monday, it will mark the sixth time that Wheeler has won his two-day Qualifying Round.

“We’ll see how it all ends up. Today was nice, but the rest of the week is a little different,” Wheeler said. “I’m going to take my day off tomorrow and regroup to come up with a gameplan on how we can win the round. The biggest thing this week is going to be about making adjustments, and I’m going to need to make some adjustments for Monday if I want to take it down.

Unlike Wheeler, who did his damage today on a jerkbait, California pro Ish Monroe caught his 13 scorable bass on a lipless crankbait.

“Congratulations to Jacob on a great day, but I’m right behind him – eight pounds on this lake is nothing,” Monroe said. “I fished hard, today, throwing a River2Sea Ruckus lipless (crankbait).

“Bradley (Roy) got an 11-pounder, which is awesome. Zack Birge got a 10, and that is awesome. But I plan on catching me a double-digit as well, so get ready.”

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 14 bass, 56-7
2^nd:         Ish Monroe, Oakdale, Calif., 13 bass, 48-5
3^rd:         Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 13 bass, 44-14
4^th:         Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 13 bass, 33-14
5^th:         Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., eight bass, 32-3
6^th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, eight bass, 32-2
7^th:         Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 28-14
8^th:         Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 28-6
9^th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., five bass, 28-3
10^th:       Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., eight bass, 27-11
11^th:       Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, six bass, 26-14
12^th:       Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 26-1
13^th:       Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., eight bass, 25-10
14^th:       Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 23-12
15^th:       Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., six bass, 23-10
16^th:       Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., six bass, 23-7
17^th:       Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, six bass, 22-10
18^th:       James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., six bass, 22-1
19^th:       Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., five bass, 21-7
20^th:       Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., seven bass, 20-12

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 218 scorable bass weighing 810 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 39 pros Saturday.

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morningon the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

by AnglersChannel

Iaconelli: Fresh Shave, Fresh Start

Courtesy of Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships

After a rocky start to his Elite Series return last week on the St Johns River, fan favorite Mike Iaconelli has quickly righted the ship with a strong showing here for the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the Harris Chain. The Team Toyota pro attacks the sport of fishing with his own unique style, which has drawn praise along with a bit of criticism throughout his career.

Iaconelli is well known for wearing his passion and emotion on his sleeve, so it was a bit of anyone’s guess to exactly how he would respond after his St Johns performance. But thanks to a fresh shave and short memory, Iaconelli rebounded in a big way on the Harris Chain.

“Florida tournaments have kind of haunted me throughout my career,” Iaconelli admitted. “I’ve learned the hard way you have to have a short memory in this sport. Earlier in my career, a bomb like I had last week would most likely have crippled me. One terrible event would have turned into two or three bad events, and you really can’t have that if you want to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic.”

Iaconelli doesn’t really credit a freshly shaved face for his quick turnaround, instead it’s the support of his wife and maturation thanks to over 23 years as a professional angler he believes helped him get his mind right for the Harris Chain.

“I know the best way to forget about a bad tournament is to have a good tournament,” Iaconelli said. “So while the rest of the guys were fishing last weekend, my mind was on this fishery. I re-rigged tackle, looked at maps, and refocused.

“And look, my wife Becky is a huge part of that. She gave me a pep talk after last week’s poor performance and that kind of support at home helps me focus on what I need to do.”

After a few years of away from Elite Series competition, it’s good to see Ike back to doing what he does best… competing at a high level and teaching the world to fish in the process. Iaconelli is back like a gypsy and is happy to tackle the new challenges that face him with this crop of Elite Series competitors.

Iaconelli’s goal coming into the Harris Chain was to leave here with a top 30 finish so he could hop in his Tundra for the eighteen-hour drive back to New Jersey in a good place. After consistently bringing limits full of three-pound bass back to the scales over the course of the first two days, he has put himself in a great position to do just that.

If he can one or two of the big bites that Florida is so famous for this time of year, Iaconelli may surpass his goal and have the Venetian Gardens crowd in Leesburg “Going Ike”.

by AnglersChannel

Gross Adjusts And Takes Over Lead At Bassmaster Elite On Harris Chain

Buddy Gross of Chattanooga, Tenn., is leading after Day 2 of the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a two-day total of 40 pounds, 7 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 18, 2022

LEESBURG, Fla. — Regrouping after an early disappointment and then replicating a specific scenario allowed Tennessee pro Buddy Gross to lead Day 2 of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a two-day total of 40 pounds, 7 ounces.

After placing third on Day 1 with 22-12, Gross added 17-11 Friday. He will head into Saturday’s semifinal round with a lead of 1-3 over Ray Hanselman, but Gross said reaching this point was no easy task since the pattern he relied on for Day 1 vanished.

“Today, I had to work and run a lot of the lakes,” Gross said. “I went to Beauclair, Eustis and I stayed in Harris for a long time today. Yesterday, I stayed in Harris, but today that was not the case.

“I don’t know whether it was the cloudiness or they just moved. I think I was catching postspawners and they were schooled up yesterday. Today, I caught one fish off somewhere I could fish yesterday; everything else came off something new.”

Since Wednesday’s full moon coincided with a warming trend, many predicted an all-out spawning event. But while some anglers reported finding bass on beds, Gross said the lack of significant spawning activity did not hurt his game plan.

“I never do the spawning thing, if I can keep from it,” he said. “I’ll always try to find one or two in case I need them, but I’m not going to go to a tournament and just (focus on) spawning.”

Admitting that he was “winging it today,” Gross said he had two keepers at noon, four at 1:45 p.m. and finished his limit at 2:30. Gross held his cards low on that second pattern, but he said he believes it exists in many areas.

“I was still throwing reaction baits; I just changed up where and how,” he said. “I think it’s something I can take elsewhere, I just have to move around a little bit more tomorrow.

“It’s about a combination of three things. It has to have a little bit of those things for me to get bit. I’ll fish 10 places like that and won’t catch a fish, and then I’ll stop on one and catch three in five casts.”

Gross said he’ll begin Day 3 fishing the spots he identified Friday, but he suspects he’ll need to find more. With the field cut from 94 to 47 for Saturday, Gross will be able to fish more aggressively.

“Tomorrow I think I’ll be a little more specific and target places where I think I can catch a bigger bite and just swing,” Gross said. “Now, we’re in the Top 47 cut, so I have to try and stay in the Top 10 and that’s going to take some weight tomorrow.”

Hailing from Del Rio, Texas, Hanselman, is in second with 39-4. He placed fourth on Day 1 with 22 pounds and gained two spots with Friday’s limit of 17-4

Hanselman said success required fast, aggressive presentations that triggered bites. He accomplished that with a Strike King Hybrid Hunter, a rattling crankbait designed for an enticing action and a 5-inch Strike King Shadalicious swimbait.

“I rigged the swimbait on a 3/8-ounce belly-weighted hook, and I put a 3/8-ounce bullet weight on the front so I could keep it down and just grind it through that grass,” Hanselman said. “I used an 8-foot Power Tackle moderate swimbait rod for long casts, (efficient) hook sets and the power to rip that bait through the grass.

“I know other guys were catching them on other things, but it seemed those bigger ones are a little wiser and I just didn’t want to give them the time to think about it. I just want them to react.”

Jake Whitaker of Fairview, N.C., also tallied 39-4 and placed third. Ties are broken by the heaviest single-day catch. After placing 10th on Day 1 with 20-9, Whitaker added 18-11 Friday.

Combining a 1/2-ounce green gizzard shad Z-Man ChatterBait with a white Big Bite Baits Kamikaze Swimon trailer and a junebug Big Bite Baits Tour Swim Worm yielded a 4-pounder and a 3-pounder for Whitaker, who caught both fish on the latter bait on consecutive casts.

Whitaker caught his fish in a popular grassy area of Lake Harris. He had plenty of company, but he strategically managed the crowded waters.

“When I’m in a lot of boats, I stick to my game and throw what I’m going to throw,” Whitaker said. “At all times, I’m watching all these boats to see where they’re going. At times today, the wind got up a little bit and it would push everybody.

“Before everybody got to the end of their drift, I’d go ahead and go back up to where there had not been as much pressure for 30 minutes. I don’t know if that helped me or not, but I have been fortunate enough to get some key bites out of those areas.”

Noting that the smaller Saturday field may help his cause, Whitaker said: “They’re in there, I know they are; I just have to catch a couple more big fish out of that area, and we can make the same thing happen.”

Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 8-13 largemouth.

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit with his Day 2 catch of 23-14.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., leads the Angler of the Year standings with 193 points. Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., is second with 189, followed by Frazier with 186, Whitaker with 185 and Jamie Hartman of Newport, N.Y., with 179.

Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 122 points.

Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. ET at Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach). The weigh-in will be back held at Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach) at 3:30 p.m. Only the Top 10 anglers will advance to Championship Sunday with a chance to win the $100,000 first-place prize.

FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday. Live coverage can also be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms.

2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes 2/17-2/20
Harris Chain Of Lakes, Leesburg FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 2

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. Buddy Gross Chattanooga, TN 10 40-07 100
Day 1: 5 22-12 Day 2: 5 17-11
2. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 10 39-04 99
Day 1: 5 22-00 Day 2: 5 17-04
3. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 10 39-04 98
Day 1: 5 20-09 Day 2: 5 18-11
4. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 10 38-15 97
Day 1: 5 20-02 Day 2: 5 18-13
5. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 10 38-00 96
Day 1: 5 14-09 Day 2: 5 23-07
6. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 10 37-04 95
Day 1: 5 13-06 Day 2: 5 23-14
7. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 10 36-02 94 $1,000.00
Day 1: 5 21-04 Day 2: 5 14-14
8. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 10 35-11 93
Day 1: 5 19-03 Day 2: 5 16-08
9. Tyler Rivet Raceland, LA 10 35-05 92
Day 1: 5 19-10 Day 2: 5 15-11
10. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 10 34-15 91
Day 1: 5 21-13 Day 2: 5 13-02
11. Rick Clunn Ava, MO 10 34-10 90
Day 1: 5 18-15 Day 2: 5 15-11
12. Kenta Kimura Osaka JAPAN 10 34-09 89
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 18-02
13. Scott Martin Clewiston, FL 10 34-04 88
Day 1: 5 17-01 Day 2: 5 17-03
14. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 10 34-02 87
Day 1: 5 21-00 Day 2: 5 13-02
15. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 10 34-01 86
Day 1: 5 23-00 Day 2: 5 11-01
16. Pat Schlapper Eleva, WI 10 33-15 85
Day 1: 5 22-15 Day 2: 5 11-00
17. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 10 33-10 84
Day 1: 5 14-00 Day 2: 5 19-10
18. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 10 33-06 83
Day 1: 5 21-00 Day 2: 5 12-06
19. Cory Johnston Cavan CANADA 10 33-06 82
Day 1: 5 15-03 Day 2: 5 18-03
20. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 10 33-06 81
Day 1: 5 15-07 Day 2: 5 17-15
21. John Cox Debary, FL 10 32-15 80
Day 1: 5 18-07 Day 2: 5 14-08
22. Justin Hamner Northport, AL 10 32-12 79
Day 1: 5 11-12 Day 2: 5 21-00
23. Drew Benton Blakely, GA 10 32-12 78
Day 1: 5 13-11 Day 2: 5 19-01
24. Bryan New Saluda, SC 10 32-10 77
Day 1: 5 15-15 Day 2: 5 16-11
25. Chad Pipkens Dewitt, MI 10 32-08 76
Day 1: 5 14-12 Day 2: 5 17-12
26. KJ Queen Catawba, NC 10 32-06 75
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 5 17-01
27. Jacob Powroznik North Prince George, VA 10 31-13 74
Day 1: 5 16-03 Day 2: 5 15-10
28. Brad Whatley Bivins, TX 10 31-11 73
Day 1: 5 15-12 Day 2: 5 15-15
29. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 10 31-06 72 $1,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-06 Day 2: 5 17-00
30. Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 10 31-05 71
Day 1: 5 17-02 Day 2: 5 14-03
31. Jason Christie Park Hill, OK 10 31-03 70
Day 1: 5 16-02 Day 2: 5 15-01
32. Joshua Stracner Vandiver, AL 10 31-01 69
Day 1: 5 12-14 Day 2: 5 18-03
33. Michael Iaconelli Pittsgrove, NJ 10 31-01 68
Day 1: 5 14-14 Day 2: 5 16-03
34. Mark Menendez Paducah, KY 10 30-13 67
Day 1: 5 14-06 Day 2: 5 16-07
35. Jay Yelas Turner, OR 10 30-12 66
Day 1: 5 20-14 Day 2: 5 09-14
36. David Williams Newton, NC 10 30-11 65
Day 1: 5 14-08 Day 2: 5 16-03
37. Brandon Card Salisbury, NC 10 30-03 64
Day 1: 5 18-06 Day 2: 5 11-13
38. Mike Huff London, KY 10 29-12 63
Day 1: 5 14-01 Day 2: 5 15-11
39. Keith Combs Huntington, TX 10 29-12 62
Day 1: 5 14-10 Day 2: 5 15-02
40. Matt Herren Ashville, AL 10 29-11 61
Day 1: 5 11-12 Day 2: 5 17-15
41. Marc Frazier Newnan, GA 10 29-10 60
Day 1: 5 15-03 Day 2: 5 14-07
42. Chris Zaldain Fort Worth, TX 10 29-04 59
Day 1: 5 13-07 Day 2: 5 15-13
43. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 10 29-01 58
Day 1: 5 13-13 Day 2: 5 15-04
44. Jeff Gustafson Keewatin Ontario CANADA 10 29-00 57
Day 1: 5 14-08 Day 2: 5 14-08
45. Seth Feider New Market, MN 10 28-12 56
Day 1: 5 17-07 Day 2: 5 11-05
46. Jason Williamson Wagener, SC 10 28-10 55
Day 1: 5 11-15 Day 2: 5 16-11
47. Jay Przekurat Stevens Point, WI 10 28-10 54
Day 1: 5 14-14 Day 2: 5 13-12
48. Shane LeHew Catawba, NC 10 28-07 53 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 14-01 Day 2: 5 14-06
49. Matt Robertson Kuttawa, KY 10 28-02 52 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 17-10 Day 2: 5 10-08
50. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 10 27-14 51 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 16-01
51. Koby Kreiger Alva, FL 10 27-14 50 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 12-08 Day 2: 5 15-06
52. Clark Wendlandt Leander, TX 10 27-13 49 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 10-00 Day 2: 5 17-13
53. Gerald Swindle Guntersville, AL 10 27-10 48 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 16-02 Day 2: 5 11-08
54. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 10 27-08 47 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 5 12-03
55. Darold Gleason Many, LA 10 27-07 46 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-05 Day 2: 5 16-02
56. Joseph Webster Hamilton, AL 10 27-04 45 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 10-10 Day 2: 5 16-10
57. Cody Huff Ava, MO 10 27-02 44 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 10-13 Day 2: 5 16-05
58. Taku Ito Chiba JAPAN 10 27-02 43 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 5 14-05
59. Clent Davis Montevallo, AL 10 27-00 42 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-14 Day 2: 5 15-02
60. Hunter Shryock Ooltewah, TN 10 26-12 41 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 13-00 Day 2: 5 13-12
61. Chad Morgenthaler Reeds Spring, MO 10 26-11 40 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 13-00 Day 2: 5 13-11
62. Jacob Foutz Charleston, TN 10 26-04 39 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 12-04 Day 2: 5 14-00
63. Chris Johnston Otonabee Ontario CANADA 10 25-14 38 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-01 Day 2: 5 14-13
64. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 10 25-12 37 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 09-15 Day 2: 5 15-13
65. Brock Mosley Collinsville, MS 10 25-11 36 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 16-10 Day 2: 5 09-01
66. Luke Palmer Coalgate, OK 10 25-05 35 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 17-05 Day 2: 5 08-00
67. Hank Cherry Jr Lincolnton, NC 10 25-03 34 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 12-04 Day 2: 5 12-15
68. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 10 25-00 33
Day 1: 5 11-02 Day 2: 5 13-14
69. Lee Livesay Longview, TX 10 24-15 32
Day 1: 5 13-10 Day 2: 5 11-05
70. Todd Auten Lake Wylie, SC 10 24-15 31
Day 1: 5 13-05 Day 2: 5 11-10
71. Gregory DiPalma Millville, NJ 10 24-14 30
Day 1: 5 13-11 Day 2: 5 11-03
72. Carl Jocumsen Queensland AUSTRALIA 10 24-11 29
Day 1: 5 13-09 Day 2: 5 11-02
73. Wes Logan Springville, AL 10 23-09 28
Day 1: 5 11-00 Day 2: 5 12-09
74. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 10 23-07 27
Day 1: 5 10-12 Day 2: 5 12-11
75. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 10 23-06 26
Day 1: 5 09-03 Day 2: 5 14-03
76. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 10 23-05 25
Day 1: 5 13-10 Day 2: 5 09-11
77. Daisuke Aoki Minamitsurugun Yamanash 9 22-15 24
Day 1: 4 07-05 Day 2: 5 15-10
78. David Fritts Lexington, NC 8 22-12 23
Day 1: 3 11-02 Day 2: 5 11-10
79. Ed Loughran III Richmond, VA 10 22-05 22
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 5 09-08
80. Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 10 22-04 21
Day 1: 5 13-00 Day 2: 5 09-04
81. Josh Douglas Isle, MN 10 22-02 20
Day 1: 5 10-14 Day 2: 5 11-04
82. Frank Talley Temple, TX 10 21-08 19
Day 1: 5 08-07 Day 2: 5 13-01
83. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 10 20-14 18
Day 1: 5 10-01 Day 2: 5 10-13
84. Gary Clouse Winchester, TN 10 20-11 17
Day 1: 5 11-02 Day 2: 5 09-09
85. Steve Kennedy Auburn, AL 10 20-05 16
Day 1: 5 09-12 Day 2: 5 10-09
86. Alex Redwine Blue Ash, OH 8 19-11 15
Day 1: 3 03-15 Day 2: 5 15-12
87. Caleb Kuphall Mukwonago, WI 10 19-09 14
Day 1: 5 08-02 Day 2: 5 11-07
88. Skylar Hamilton Dandridge, TN 10 19-07 13
Day 1: 5 08-13 Day 2: 5 10-10
89. Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 10 18-05 12
Day 1: 5 10-02 Day 2: 5 08-03
90. Justin Atkins Florence, AL 10 18-00 11
Day 1: 5 07-14 Day 2: 5 10-02
91. Jesse Tacoronte Kissimmee, FL 6 16-14 10
Day 1: 1 03-04 Day 2: 5 13-10
92. Matty Wong Honolulu, HI 10 16-08 9
Day 1: 5 06-08 Day 2: 5 10-00
93. Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 8 14-15 8
Day 1: 5 10-14 Day 2: 3 04-01
94. Derek Hudnall Denham Springs, LA 6 11-01 7
Day 1: 1 01-08 Day 2: 5 09-09
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 08-10 $1,000.00
2 Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 08-13 $1,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 89 457 1312-14
2 93 468 1338-09
----------------------------------
182 925 2651-07

by AnglersChannel

Cox Keeps on Cruising

Courtesy of Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships

Anytime there is a Florida tournament on the schedule, John Cox is bound to be high on the list of favorites. That proved true coming into the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the Harris Chain of Lakes this week and for good reason. The sunshine state native is not only one of the best sight fishing and shallow water anglers on planet earth, but he also has over 25 years of experience fishing the puzzle that is the Harris Chain.

“The first time I fished this place I was 11 or 12 years old,” Cox recalled. “My mom and I came and put in at this very boat launch (Venetian Gardens). We brought my dad’s 1990 silver mini-van and took both back bench seats out of the car so we could fit our 12-foot aluminum row boat in the back of the van.

“We got the boat in the water, used oars to row out of this bay over to 9th Street canal and I caught two fish on a lipless crankbait. I still remember it like it was yesterday.”

Cox told this story just minutes before take-off for day two of competition with the same big smile and sunny disposition he seemingly always has. If he was feeling any nerves, he certainly wasn’t showing it. Cox has since upgraded the mini-van to a 2021 Toyota Tundra to tow his Crestliner boat around the country. His Tundra earned him an extra $2,000 of Toyota Bonus Bucks last week for his 4th place finish on the St Johns River.

John Crews took home the tournament trophy and the first-place Bonus Bucks payout, but Cox wasn’t complaining with his earnings for being the second highest finishing participant in the popular contingency program.

The Berkley Fishing pro is off to another solid start this week after weighing over 18-lbs yesterday, but he knows the opportunity for a much bigger bag of fish exists on the Harris Chain.

“Honestly we didn’t really show the potential of this place yesterday,” Cox said. “I mean, I saw lots of fish over eight pounds in practice, including one like 12-lber. I have no idea how big she really is, but she looked as long as my leg and the day I found her she was ready to eat.”

Unfortunately, Cox experienced what many Elite Series pros mentioned on stage yesterday… the big females being vacant from their beds. With a full moon, a warming trend, over sixty-degree waters temps, and fresh spawning beds spread throughout this fishery famous for sight fishing it’s easy to see why many anglers were scratching their heads.

“In my opinion I think it has a lot to do with boat pressure,” Cox explained. “The canals and some of the more historical spawning areas received a lot of pressure during practice. I was shocked at how many people I was seeing, and those big girls just won’t hang around when that’s going on.”

Cox isn’t letting absence of big female bass on day one discourage him, however, as it can happen at any time. He proved that last week on day three of the St Johns River event when he brought over 30-lbs of sight-fished bass to the scales and rocketed himself up the leaderboard. If the females up shallow get in a better mood, there are few anglers better equip to put them in the boat than John Cox.

“I’m just going to stay optimistic and keep my head down,” Cox said. “I’ll see how many miles I can cruise on my trolling motor and try to find a pocket of fresh fish that haven’t been messed with. If I can do that, it can go down in a hurry.”

by AnglersChannel

Lester Holds Razor-Thin Lead At Bassmaster Elite On Harris Chain Of Lakes

Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tenn., is leading after Day 1 of the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with 23 pounds.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 17, 2022

LEESBURG, Fla. — Building on the momentum of his recent success, Tennessee pro Brandon Lester caught a five-bass limit of 23 pounds Thursday to lead the first round of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain.

Two weeks after winning the St. Croix Bassmaster Southern Open on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, about an hour south of Leesburg, Lester holds the top spot in a tight Top 10 with only 2-7 separating first and 10th places. Lester will enter Day 2 with a 1 ounce lead over second-place Pat Schlapper of Eleva, Wis.

“People call it momentum, but I think you get into a good rhythm and a good pace,” Lester said. “In tournament fishing, sometimes it’s like you’re out there and the day just flies by; but right now, I’m out there (during a tournament day) and it’s like I have all the time in the world.

“It’s like I don’t have a care in the world. Part of that is the fact that I’ve already qualified for the (2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, to be held in Knoxville, Tenn., March 24-26). That takes a load off. Good things are happening out there and I’m having fun.”

Dividing his day between three different lakes, Lester focused on shallow flipping with a 7 3/4-inch Bitter’s Mega Wand in the junebug color. He spent most of his time blind bed fishing — targeting unseen fish in likely spawning areas.

“I caught one of them that I was actually looking at on the bed,” Lester said. “I was actually just fishing at that time and I looked down and it was like, ‘Oh my.’ I only caught that one off a bed and the other four came while I was just fishing.”

When he was blind casting the bedding areas, Lester fished his worm unweighted and Texas-rigged. For sight fishing, he added a Humdinger Power Spinner — a screw-in willowleaf blade for added appeal.

“You have to fish this bait slow,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing in Florida — if you go down a bank just cast, cast, cast, cast — you’ll fish right over top of them. You have to pitch it in there and just shake it in place. Most of the time, after you start shaking it, they’ll grab it.”

Lester said his day unfolded mostly as planned. He secured a limit by 10 a.m. and had his weight by 12:30. After that, he committed the rest of his day purely to sight fishing.

Despite Thursday’s promising complexion — a warming trend coinciding with a full moon phase — Lester said he did not find the shallow action he was expecting.

“After I got a good bag, I just went strictly sight fishing and looking for a great big one,” he said. “I knew I needed a good one to cull. I’m just not seeing the females up there. There are a lot of males all over the place, but the females are not showing up like I thought they would.

“It could be any day. You have to keep checking it, because if you’re the guy who misses out on that and they do show up, you’re going to look like a dummy.”

Capitalizing when opportunity availed, Schlapper is in second place with 22-15. Reporting an active day, he said a midday flurry dramatically changed his outcome.

“I had those two big bites and probably caught another 10 or 11 keepers,” Schlapper said. “My other ones were 2- to 2 1/2-pounders. Those two big fish made my bag.

“In Florida, you just never know when you’re going to get that big bite and I just got two of them and got them in the boat. One was a bed fish and the other one I got just fishing.”

Schlapper said he caught bass on a variety of presentations that included jerkbaits, lipless baits and flipping. He caught both of his big fish by flipping a Texas-rigged Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog in a small canal.

Buddy Gross of Chattanooga, Tenn., is in third with 22-12. Initial disappointment ultimately led him to a successful day, as crowded waters forced a change of game plan.

“I just made some really good decisions today,” Gross said. “Everything I wanted to fish got really crowded this morning and there were 15 to 20 boats sitting where I wanted to go, so I just stopped a little sooner, started fishing and picked up one or two.

“I went to another place and picked up one or two and then I just started keying in on them. They were little to start with but about midday I started culling up and it started getting a lot better.”

Gross said the fishing pressure pushed his bass away from where he thought they would be, but he was able to relocate them on isolated places amid offshore grass. He caught his fish on moving baits.

“I can catch them on anything,” Gross said. “When you find them, they’re biting.”

Jamie Hartman of Newport, N.Y., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 8-10 largemouth. Lester's Day 1 lead has him atop the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., leads the Angler of the Year standings with 186 points. Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., is second with 183, followed by John Cox of DeBary, Fla., with 183, Hartman with 180 and Jake Whitaker of Fairview, N.C., with 178.

Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 135 points.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. ET at Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach). The weigh-in will be held back at Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach) at 3:30 p.m. Only the Top 47 remaining anglers will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round. Full coverage will be available on Bassmaster.com.

2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes 2/17-2/20
Harris Chain Of Lakes, Leesburg FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 1

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 5 23-00 100
Day 1: 5 23-00
2. Pat Schlapper Eleva, WI 5 22-15 99
Day 1: 5 22-15
3. Buddy Gross Chatanooga, TN 5 22-12 98
Day 1: 5 22-12
4. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 5 22-00 97
Day 1: 5 22-00
5. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 5 21-13 96
Day 1: 5 21-13
6. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 5 21-04 95 $1,000.00
Day 1: 5 21-04
7. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 5 21-00 94
Day 1: 5 21-00
7. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 5 21-00 94
Day 1: 5 21-00
9. Jay Yelas Turner, OR 5 20-14 92
Day 1: 5 20-14
10. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 5 20-09 91
Day 1: 5 20-09
11. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 5 20-02 90
Day 1: 5 20-02
12. Tyler Rivet Raceland, LA 5 19-10 89
Day 1: 5 19-10
13. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 5 19-03 88
Day 1: 5 19-03
14. Rick Clunn Ava, MO 5 18-15 87
Day 1: 5 18-15
15. John Cox Debary, FL 5 18-07 86
Day 1: 5 18-07
16. Brandon Card Salisbury, NC 5 18-06 85
Day 1: 5 18-06
17. Matt Robertson Kuttawa, KY 5 17-10 84
Day 1: 5 17-10
18. Seth Feider New Market, MN 5 17-07 83
Day 1: 5 17-07
19. Luke Palmer Coalgate, OK 5 17-05 82
Day 1: 5 17-05
20. Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 5 17-02 81
Day 1: 5 17-02
21. Scott Martin Clewiston, FL 5 17-01 80
Day 1: 5 17-01
22. Brock Mosley Collinsville, MS 5 16-10 79
Day 1: 5 16-10
23. Kenta Kimura Osaka JAPAN 5 16-07 78
Day 1: 5 16-07
24. Jacob Powroznik North Prince George, VA 5 16-03 77
Day 1: 5 16-03
25. Jason Christie Park Hill, OK 5 16-02 76
Day 1: 5 16-02
25. Gerald Swindle Guntersville, AL 5 16-02 76
Day 1: 5 16-02
27. Bryan New Saluda, SC 5 15-15 74
Day 1: 5 15-15
28. Brad Whatley Bivins, TX 5 15-12 73
Day 1: 5 15-12
29. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 5 15-07 72
Day 1: 5 15-07
30. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 5 15-05 71
Day 1: 5 15-05
31. KJ Queen Catawba, NC 5 15-05 70
Day 1: 5 15-05
32. Marc Frazier Newnan, GA 5 15-03 69
Day 1: 5 15-03
32. Cory Johnston Cavan CANADA 5 15-03 69
Day 1: 5 15-03
34. Michael Iaconelli Pittsgrove, NJ 5 14-14 67
Day 1: 5 14-14
34. Jay Przekurat Stevens Point, WI 5 14-14 67
Day 1: 5 14-14
36. Chad Pipkens Dewitt, MI 5 14-12 65
Day 1: 5 14-12
37. Keith Combs Huntington, TX 5 14-10 64
Day 1: 5 14-10
38. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 5 14-09 63
Day 1: 5 14-09
39. Jeff Gustafson Keewatin Ontario CANADA 5 14-08 62
Day 1: 5 14-08
39. David Williams Newton, NC 5 14-08 62
Day 1: 5 14-08
41. Mark Menendez Paducah, KY 5 14-06 60
Day 1: 5 14-06
41. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 5 14-06 60
Day 1: 5 14-06
43. Shane LeHew Catawba, NC 5 14-01 58
Day 1: 5 14-01
44. Mike Huff London, KY 5 14-01 57
Day 1: 5 14-01
45. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 5 14-00 56
Day 1: 5 14-00
46. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 5 13-13 55
Day 1: 5 13-13
47. Drew Benton Blakely, GA 5 13-11 54
Day 1: 5 13-11
47. Gregory DiPalma Millville, NJ 5 13-11 54
Day 1: 5 13-11
49. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 5 13-10 52
Day 1: 5 13-10
49. Lee Livesay Longview, TX 5 13-10 52
Day 1: 5 13-10
51. Carl Jocumsen Queensland AUSTRALIA 5 13-09 50
Day 1: 5 13-09
52. Chris Zaldain Fort Worth, TX 5 13-07 49
Day 1: 5 13-07
53. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 5 13-06 48
Day 1: 5 13-06
54. Todd Auten Lake Wylie, SC 5 13-05 47
Day 1: 5 13-05
55. Chad Morgenthaler Reeds Spring, MO 5 13-00 46
Day 1: 5 13-00
55. Hunter Shryock Ooltewah, TN 5 13-00 46
Day 1: 5 13-00
55. Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 5 13-00 46
Day 1: 5 13-00
58. Joshua Stracner Vandiver, AL 5 12-14 43
Day 1: 5 12-14
59. Taku Ito Chiba JAPAN 5 12-13 42
Day 1: 5 12-13
59. Ed Loughran III Richmond, VA 5 12-13 42
Day 1: 5 12-13
61. Koby Kreiger Alva, FL 5 12-08 40
Day 1: 5 12-08
62. Hank Cherry Jr Lincolnton, NC 5 12-04 39
Day 1: 5 12-04
62. Jacob Foutz Charleston, TN 5 12-04 39
Day 1: 5 12-04
64. Jason Williamson Wagener, SC 5 11-15 37
Day 1: 5 11-15
65. Clent Davis Montevallo, AL 5 11-14 36
Day 1: 5 11-14
66. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 5 11-13 35
Day 1: 5 11-13
67. Justin Hamner Northport, AL 5 11-12 34
Day 1: 5 11-12
67. Matt Herren Ashville, AL 5 11-12 34
Day 1: 5 11-12
69. Darold Gleason Many, LA 5 11-05 32
Day 1: 5 11-05
70. Gary Clouse Winchester, TN 5 11-02 31
Day 1: 5 11-02
70. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 5 11-02 31
Day 1: 5 11-02
72. David Fritts Lexington, NC 3 11-02 29
Day 1: 3 11-02
73. Chris Johnston Otonabee Ontario CANADA 5 11-01 28
Day 1: 5 11-01
74. Wes Logan Springville, AL 5 11-00 27
Day 1: 5 11-00
75. Josh Douglas Isle, MN 5 10-14 26
Day 1: 5 10-14
75. Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 5 10-14 26
Day 1: 5 10-14
77. Cody Huff Ava, MO 5 10-13 24
Day 1: 5 10-13
78. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 5 10-12 23
Day 1: 5 10-12
79. Joseph Webster Hamilton, AL 5 10-10 22
Day 1: 5 10-10
80. Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 5 10-02 21
Day 1: 5 10-02
81. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 5 10-01 20
Day 1: 5 10-01
82. Clark Wendlandt Leander, TX 5 10-00 19
Day 1: 5 10-00
83. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 5 09-15 18
Day 1: 5 09-15
84. Steve Kennedy Auburn, AL 5 09-12 17
Day 1: 5 09-12
85. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 5 09-03 16
Day 1: 5 09-03
86. Skylar Hamilton Dandridge, TN 5 08-13 15
Day 1: 5 08-13
87. Frank Talley Temple, TX 5 08-07 14
Day 1: 5 08-07
88. Caleb Kuphall Mukwonago, WI 5 08-02 13
Day 1: 5 08-02
89. Justin Atkins Florence, AL 5 07-14 12
Day 1: 5 07-14
90. Daisuke Aoki Minamitsurugun Yamanash 4 07-05 11
Day 1: 4 07-05
91. Matty Wong Honolulu, HI 5 06-08 10
Day 1: 5 06-08
92. Alex Redwine Blue Ash, OH 3 03-15 9
Day 1: 3 03-15
93. Jesse Tacoronte Kissimmee, FL 1 03-04 8
Day 1: 1 03-04
94. Derek Hudnall Denham Springs, LA 1 01-08 7
Day 1: 1 01-08
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 08-10 $1,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 89 457 1312-14

by AnglersChannel

Bassmaster Fishing 2022 Video Game Releases New Lake Hartwell Option In Time For The Classic

A new Lake Hartwell Venue update launches today for Bassmaster Fishing 2022, the video game.

February 17, 2022

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — In celebration of the upcoming Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk, a new update is now available for Bassmaster Fishing 2022, the video game. With the Lake Hartwell Venue DLC, players can compete on the same waters as 55 of the world’s best anglers as well as try out the Classic three-round final in Career Mode, enjoy new challenges and more.

Bassmaster Fishing 2022 is available in a 2022 Bassmaster Classic update bundle for new players which includes the game and the Lake Hartwell DLC for a discounted price.

Competing in the iconic Bassmaster Classic is a dream of every aspiring angler. While only a select few will compete March 4-6, 2022 on Lake Hartwell, now any player can enjoy the thrill of competition and fight their way to an in-game championship with the new Lake Hartwell DLC, which was built to recreate the experience as closely as possible, including matching water temperatures, depths and fish behavior. The dynamic time of day system sets the perfect mood for a Classic competition, altering lighting and shadows across the lake for a more immersive experience.

“Dovetail Games got off to a great start with Bassmaster Fishing 2022, and their passion for bass fishing is present throughout the game,” said B.A.S.S. Vice President of Tournaments Chris Bowes. “We are excited to see how they bring the Bassmaster Classic to life for gamers and bass fishing fans and help people experience the joys of big bass fishing however they can.”

The update also includes support for the Bassmaster Classic three-round tournament structure and adds new “Legendary” named fish for players to track and catch.

Alongside the Lake Hartwell addition, Dovetail Games, which developed and published Bassmaster Fishing 2022, announced that it has signed a long-term license renewal with B.A.S.S. as the exclusive partner for video games.

“We’re committed to delivering a fantastic sports fishing experience for our players,” said Jon Rissik, CEO of Dovetail Games. “Today’s announcement is a testament to that commitment and we are thrilled to continue working with our fantastic partners at B.A.S.S.”

The Lake Hartwell Venue DLC is available for purchase on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and Windows PC via Steam, with a limited-time discount ending March 3 on Steam and March 17 on PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

by AnglersChannel

Swindle’s Spring Training

Courtesy of Luke Stoner - Dynamic Sponsorships

Talking to Gerald Swindle before day one of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the Harris Chain of Lakes, it was plain to see “the G-Man” wasn’t stressing out about his first day of competition on the massive fishery that makes up the Harris Chain. Swindle seemed locked in, at peace with the task at hand.

The Team Toyota pro admitted he didn’t have a bad practice, but he certainly didn’t find piles of giant bass he suspects it will take to win this week. Instead, Swindle attributed his demeanor to the fact he and his wife LeAnn have spent the past six weeks in the state of Florida… “spring training” as he called it.

Usually both Swindle’s are so busy with boat shows, speaking appearances, designing jerseys, truck and boat graphics packages, or rigging equipment that they arrive to the first tournament on the schedule rushed and somewhat frazzled. So, for the first time in over fifteen years, they planned to point their Tundra and 5th wheel south several weeks before the first Bassmaster Open and even further ahead of the first two Elite Series events of 2022.

“This has been one of the best decisions I’ve made in years,” Swindle smiled. “We’ve done a lot of fishing, rode bikes almost every day, ate really well, enjoyed each other’s company, and simply slowed life down a bit. It’s also given me time to work on my soon-to-be-released signature series of rods and reels from 13 Fishing. I’ve been able to pour my soul into it the past few weeks and I am really excited to get this in the hands of fishermen.”

In the life of a pro angler, January and February are among the busiest and most stressful months of their year. Even more so for this 2022 season, as the fishing industry has been affected by equipment delays and supply chain issues like the rest of the world.

Swindle said this ‘spring training’ is just what the doctor ordered to get both his body and specifically his mind ready for three straight weeks of tournaments.

“Our electronics keep getting better at clearly showing us what’s underwater, but real clarity doesn’t come from a depth finder,” Swindle offered. “It doesn’t matter what my electronics show me, if my mind isn’t clear then I ain’t going to read it right. Especially not at this level.”

After a strong finish in the Bassmaster Open on the Kissimmee Chain Swindle narrowly missed the cut at the St Johns River, but says he lost some key fish and had every opportunity to have another high finish. Missteps with his mechanics, not decision-making issues.

As he readied himself for his third straight week of tournament fishing with a clear mind and calm conscious, I’d say Swindle’s logic has been proven correct.

Swindle’s ‘spring training’ concludes this weekend after he attends to the business at hand on the Harris Chain. From here he’ll drive to Alabama to pick up an all-new 2022 Toyota Tundra, put the final touches on his new ride, and then head to South Carolina for his 19th Bassmaster Classic appearance.

Fishing season certainly doesn’t slow down for pro anglers this time of year, but Swindle’s PMA is right where it needs to be.

by AnglersChannel

#Seeing Whats Out There

This week Chris & the boys welcome in the newly hired VP of Marketing for Costa Sunglasses, Mr. John Acosta to the show to talk about his new role at Costa, where he came from and how he and his team plan on taking Costa to the next level. BPT Stage 1 Winner Bradley Roy also joins us to talk about his first BPT win and more!

by AnglersChannel

“Major League Fishing” Delivers Two-Thirds of All Competitive Fishing Viewing Minutes in 2021

Major League Fishing’s Top Telecast in 2021 on CBS Nearly Tripled its Competitor’s Top Telecast on FOX

DENVER (Feb. 16, 2022) – For television fans of competitive fishing, Major League Fishing (MLF) provided the events that nearly one million households were watching in 2021. Sixty-seven percent of all minutes of competitive fishing on television were consumed by viewers watching a Major League Fishing event.

Major League Fishing seen on Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, Discovery Network and CBS, delivered 67% of all viewing minutes among competitive fishing programs during 2021.
Major League Fishing’s No. 1 telecast during 2021 (12/19/21) was a CBS Sports Spectacular program which delivered more than 928,000 households, surpassing its competitor Bassmaster’s highest-viewed telecast on Fox by +174%.

“Fans watching competitive fishing on television saw the best in the business at Major League Fishing events,” MLF President and CEO Jim Wilburn said. “With two-thirds of all viewing minutes watched focused on MLF events, the networks that cover our events are the best in the business too.”

by AnglersChannel

Berkley Back As 2022 Bassmaster Premier Sponsor

February 16, 2022

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Berkley, pioneers in the science-based development of hard baits, soft baits, line and terminal tackle, has renewed their longstanding partnership with B.A.S.S. and will serve as a premier sponsor of the Bassmaster Tournament Trail for 2022.

“Berkley has been a longtime partner and we appreciate their continued commitment to supporting Bassmaster events and the community of anglers we strive to serve,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson. “And we know B.A.S.S. fans are looking forward to seeing the latest Berkley baits and meeting their pros at the Classic and on-site at other events.”

Berkley has a solid pro team fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series, including back-to-back Bassmaster Classic winner Hank Cherry and John Cox, who wrapped up the first event of the 2022 Elite season with a fourth-place finish on the St. Johns River anchored by a giant 31 pound, 15 ounce limit on Day 3 of competition — the tournament’s heaviest bag.

“I wouldn’t be here fishing the Bassmaster Elites without Berkley,” said Cox. “They have really worked hard on the science behind what makes fish bite. Our team of anglers works with the scientists to make sure we’re bringing out some of the best baits on the planet.”

Berkley, a B.A.S.S. sponsor since 2002, will serve as a premier sponsor of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk and the six-circuit Bassmaster tournament trail, including the Bassmaster Elite Series and Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

As a premier sponsor, Berkley will be highlighted frequently during onstage weigh-ins and Bassmaster LIVE, which is streamed on Bassmaster.com and broadcast Saturday and Sunday mornings on the FOX Sports platforms. During Bassmaster LIVE, fans can watch for Berkley’s new in-show feature, “Right Bait. Right Time,” which will highlight the correct lures and colors at each Elite event. Additionally, Berkley will enjoy exposure in Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times magazines and across various industry-leading social media platforms.

“For more than two decades, Berkley and B.A.S.S. have worked together to serve the angling community across all levels of the sport. In that time we’ve seen interest in fishing boom, and we are proud to continue partnering with B.A.S.S. at tournaments as we connect with passionate anglers and fans across the country,” said Jon Schlosser, SVP of Marketing at Berkley.

by AnglersChannel

Eighth-Annual MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Open Returns to Lake Chickamauga

Competition Begins Next Week for Automatic Berth into the 2023 College Fishing National Championship and a $33,500 Prize Package

DAYTON, Tenn. (Feb. 16, 2022) – Major League Fishing, the world’s largest tournament fishing organization, returns to Lake Chickamauga, Feb. 24-25, for the eighth-annual Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI Open tournament. Hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council, the tournament rewards anglers who finish within the top 20, along with one additional team for every 10 teams over 200 competing, with automatic qualification to the 2023 Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship. Event champions will also take home a new Phoenix 518 Pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard – a $33,500 prize package.

Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit angler Miles Burghoff of Dayton, Tennessee said he is excited to see collegiate teams from across the country come back to Lake Chickamauga for the competition.

“Guys can expect to see a typical pre-spawn, winter-time bite on Lake Chickamauga this time of year,” Burghoff said. “It seems like it’s all about finding the last remaining grass every year on Lake Chickamauga and fishing a handful of different baits.”

The former University of Central Florida angler said there are other areas to find fish, but he anticipates that many of the teams at the top of the leaderboard are going to be around the last remaining hydrilla.

“I expect lipless crankbaits to be a really big deal, along with ChatterBaits, jerkbaits and the Alabama Rig,” said Burghoff. “Those are definitely going to account for some of the teams making the top spots.

“You’re generally going to see big weight leading the tournament this time of year, but I suspect it will take anywhere from the low 20’s all the way up to the high 20’s this year. Chickamauga has been fishing a little bit tougher and hasn’t quite been the same lake it used to be. Ten years ago, I’d say it would have taken 30 pounds to win, but this year I wouldn’t be surprised if it was in the lower 20’s.”

Burghoff said College Fishing is a great opportunity for collegiate anglers, not only to start building their instincts and skills in competition, but also to get to know people within the industry and to start building the foundation for a potential future career.

“MLF has offered a lot of exposure for these college anglers – exposure that usually is only available in some of the larger professional trails,” continued Burghoff. “This gives college anglers a unique opportunity to really start to understand what it means to be a professional angler earlier on, giving them a lot of good experience, quickly.”

Registration for the Open will be Wednesday, February 23, from 4-6 p.m. CT at the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 185 Chickamauga Drive in Dayton, with a pre-tournament ZOOM meeting following registration at 6:15 p.m.

Anglers will take off from the Dayton Boat Dock at 7 a.m. CT on both days of competition and the entire field of competitors will compete both days of the tournament. Weigh-ins will be held lakeside at the boat dock each day, beginning at 3 p.m. and will be live streamed both days. Fans are welcome to attend the event or tune in to the weigh-in and follow the online coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com .

Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual Abu Garcia College Fishing Open advance to the following year’s Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, 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 information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI on MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

by AnglersChannel

Brian Bean Earns Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Hamilton

Freeman Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Feb. 16, 2022) – Local Hot Springs angler Brian Bean brought five bass to the stage Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Hamilton. The event was the season-opening tournament for the Bass Fishing League Arkie Division. For his win, Bean earned $6,139.

According to post-tournament reports, Bean caught his fish in the mid-to-upper-lake area of Lake Hamilton, targeting deep brush in 15 to 30 feet of water with an umbrella rig, rigged with Tennessee Shad-colored Berkley Power Swimmer swimbaits.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:        Brian Bean, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 17-15, $6,139
2nd:       Josh Ray, Alexander, Ark., five bass, 14-13, $3,152 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Bonus)
3rd:       Kevin Brown, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 13-9, $2,168
4th:        Scott Hardin, Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 13-6, $1,238
5th:        Brayden Nichols, Blanchard, La., five bass, 12-15, $1,061
6th:        Chris Huselton, Conway, Ark., five bass, 12-8, $972
7th:        Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 12-0, $884
8th:        Ethan Sutton, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 11-7, $796
9th:        Robert Jacuzzi, Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 11-6, $707
10th:     Matt Baker, Glenwood, Ark., five bass, 11-5, $619

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Bean’s 6-pound, 1-ounce bass earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $835.

Lance Freeman of Eddyville, Kentucky, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,652 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 14 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

1st:        Lance Freeman, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 14-3, $2,652
2nd:       Caden Fuller, Waldron, Ark., two bass, 8-12, $1,743
3rd:       Jonathan Simms, Hot Springs, Ark., three bass, 8-2, $887
4th:        Perry Dawson, Rockwood, Tenn., three bass, 7-9, $619
5th:        Darrin Franklin, Hot Springs, Ark., three bass, 7-6, $530
6th:        Kevin Keown, Lonoke, Ark., five bass, 6-13, $486
7th:        Stephen Tyson, Sr., Camden, Ark., two bass, 6-12, $442
8th:        Brooks Robertson, Hot Springs, Ark., four bass, 6-8, $398
9th:        Todd Garner, Pocola, Okla., five bass, 6-7, $331
9th:        Travis McKee, Fayetteville, Ark., three bass, 6-7, $331

Fuller caught a bass weighing 7 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – to earn him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $417.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 20-22 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma. Boaters will compete 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 fish for a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Rocamora Earns Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Toho

Schild Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

Photo courtesy of Cindy Joint - The Reel Deal

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb 16, 2022) – Boater Garrett Rocamora of Lithia, Florida, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Toho . The event, hosted by Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission, was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League Gator Division Presented by Revital Outdoors. Rocamora earned $7,000 for his victory.

“Last week I fished another big event and did decent. Then I worked all week and didn’t have any practice but wanted to go at it again with the same strategy,” said Rocamora, who earned his first career victory in MLF competition. “I spend a lot of time fishing here – these are my home waters, and this is my favorite place in the world to fish.

“I went straight to the lock and locked through to Lake Kissimmee,” Rocamora continued. “I fished the north end, targeting a couple of shallow hydrilla flats that are normal prespawn staging areas. I threw a black-and-blue 3/8-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a Gambler Little EZ and a 13 Fishing Loco Special jerkbait.”

Rocamora said he had a “milk run” of hydrilla flats that he targeted, making seven or eight different stops before noon. He spent the afternoon casting pads with a Gambler Fat Ace, and said he also boated two solid 3¾-pound keepers on a 3/8-ounce Outkast Tackle RTX Flipping Jig with a Gambler Little EZ.

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:        Garrett Rocamora, Lithia, Fla., five bass, 18-8, $7,000
2nd:       Cody Bertrand, Dyer, Ind., five bass, 18-6, $3,000
3rd:       Arnie Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 18-2, $2,000
4th:        Robert Pigue, Sorrento, Fla., five bass, 17-11, $2,400
5th:        Chris Neau, Gretna, La., five bass, 17-5, $1,200
6th:        Max Moneuse, Longboat Key, Fla., five bass, 17-3, $1,100
7th:        Raymond Trudeau, Saint Cloud, Fla., five bass, 16-12, $1,000
8th:        Austin Schroeder, Zephyrhills, Fla., five bass, 15-13, $900
9th:        Karlis Dipaul, Okeechobee, Fla, five bass, 15-10, $800
10th:     Jonathan Semento, Okahumpka, Fla., five bass, 15-5, $1,200 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Bonus)

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pigue boated an 11-pound, 9-ounce giant that was the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $1,000.

Gary Schild of Mundelein, Illinois, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $3,000 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 16 pounds, 1 ounce.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

1st:        Gary Schild, Mundelein, Ill., five bass, 16-1, $3,000
2nd:       Giovanni Pena, Davenport, Fla., five bass, 15-3, $1,500
3rd:       Ernie Thompson, Anthony, Fla., five bass, 15-1, $1,000
4th:        James Staton, Sorrento, Fla., five bass, 14-14, $700
5th:        Luis Lindstedt, Melbourne, Fla., five bass, 12-13, $600
6th:        Mack Traynor, Hanover, Minn., four bass, 12-3, $550
7th:        David Dimauro, Longwood, Fla., five bass, 12-1, $500
8th:        Chris Westhelle, Sanford, Fla., five bass, 11-0, $450
9th:        Adam Sangster, Sanford, Fla., four bass, 10-12, $400
10th:     Bobby McMullin, Pevely, Mo., four bass, 10-11, $350

Anthony Cruz of Mount Dora, Florida, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 8 pounds even. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $250.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each Gator Division Presented by Revital Outdoors qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 6-8 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Lake Murray in Prosperity, South Carolina. Boaters will compete 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 fish for a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Greenville’s Derrick Bridges Earns Top Honors at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Tournament on Lake Hartwell

McNair Wins Strike King Co-Angler Division

ANDERSON, S.C. (Feb. 16, 2022) – Greenville, South Carolina angler Derrick Bridges brought five bass to the scale Saturday totaling 16 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Hartwell . The event, hosted by the Anderson Convention & Visitors Bureau, was the season-opener for the Bass Fishing League South Carolina Division. Bridges earned $4,652 for his victory.

“So much of this tournament was just fishing history,” said Bridges, who earned his first career victory in MLF competition. “I’ve got a lot of experience on this lake, but I didn’t get but a couple of hours of practice. And I didn’t get to do anything in the morning, which is critical on Lake Hartwell. So, I ran history.”

Bridges said he fished in the mid-lake area, on both the Georgia and South Carolina sides. He said he caught one early on a Keitech swimbait, then the rest of his eight keepers came on a jig.

“I caught one on a brown mop jig, and the rest on a ½-ounce green-pumpkin-colored War Eagle Heavy Finesse jig,” Bridges said. I used (Zoom) Speed Craws and the Zoom Super Chunk Jr. for trailers, but I don’t think they were real important.”

Bridges credited his forward-facing sonar as being important to his success.

“Could I have won without my forward-facing sonar – sure. I’ve won a lot of tournaments with out it,” Bridges went on to say. “But it just makes you so much more efficient. You could see a fish in a bush 50 to 60 feet away and chunk your jig in there – if you didn’t see the fish come off the structure – you might as well move on.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament in:

1st:        Derrick Bridges, Greenville, S.C., five bass, 16-12, $4,652
2nd:       Randy Childers, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 16-6, $2,326
3rd:       Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., five bass, 16-2, $1,551
4th:        Greg Glouse, Liberty, S.C., five bass, 15-15, $1,086
5th:        Brent Story, Atlanta, Ga., five bass, 15-14, $930
6th:        Shannon Poore, Walhalla, S.C., five bass, 15-11, $853
7th:        Alex Cummings, Lyman, S.C., five bass, 15-8, $775
8th:        Justin Raines, Easley, S.C., five bass, 15-0, $698
9th:        Jason Burroughs, Hodges, S.C., five bass, 14-11, $1,320 (includes $500 MLF Phoenix Bonus)
10th:     Bo Price, Seneca, S.C., five bass, 14-9, $543

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Shane Cantley of Elgin, South Carolina, caught a 6½-pounder – the heaviest bass weighed in the event in the Boater Division and earned the day’s Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $685.

Albert McNair of Watkinsville, Georgia, won the Strike King Co-angler Division and $2,620 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers were:

1st:        Albert McNair, Watkinsville, Ga., five bass, 17-7, $2,620
2nd:       Blake Gillispie, Reidsville, N.C., five bass, 14-15, $1,144
3rd:       William Chris Bensel, Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 12-2, $762
4th:        Wess Johnson, Covington, Ga., three bass, 11-14, $534
5th:        Darren Ashley, Calhoun Falls, S.C., five bass, 10-13, $658
6th:        Ryan Evans, Columbia, S.C., five bass, 10-3, $419
7th:        Eddie Hall, Inman, S.C., four bass, 10-1, $381
8th:        Casey McQuerns, Appling, Ga., five bass, 9-10, $343
9th:        Arthur Harris, York, S.C., five bass, 8-11, $286
10th:     Zahreed McClinton, Fort Bragg, N.C., five bass, 8-11, $286

McNair also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in 7 pounds even. The catch earned him the day’s Berkley Big Bass Co-angler award of $332.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 13-15 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Lake Pickwick in Counce, Tennessee. Boaters will compete 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 fish for a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard.

by AnglersChannel

MLF Toyota Series Set to Return to Lake Guntersville for Central Division Tournament out of Scottsboro

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 15, 2022) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. is set for an event in Scottsboro on Lake Guntersville, next week, Feb. 22-24, with the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake Guntersville . Hosted by the Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce, the three-day tournament will feature the region’s best bass-fishing pros and Strike King co-anglers casting for a top prize of up to $115,000 in the pro division and a $46,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 518 pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor, in the co-angler division.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back out on one of the best fisheries in the country at the best time of the year,” said pro Jimmy Washam of Covington, Tennessee, who won the 2021 Toyota Series tournament on Lake Guntersville. “It looks like we’ve got a little bit of warmer weather coming in the forecast, and that’s going to make the big females want to bite, but it also is going to scatter the fish and put more fish in the creeks and spread them out. The key is going to be figuring out how to maximize your time covering water to find those quality bites.”

Washam said that he expects that the bass will still be in their late-winter and early-spring prespawn phase.

“I think a lot of guys are going to be throwing the Profound Outdoors Azuma Shaker Z (lipless crankbait),” Washam continued. “I threw the Aztec color when I won last year, and that baits has been sold out dang near everywhere since I won. I think we could get surprised if someone finds the deeper fish as well – we could see the Azuma Z-Boss 20 (crankbait) play. I also think we’ll see quite a few bladed jigs, and maybe even some swimjigs.

“It would surprise me if it didn’t take at least 60 pounds to win this event,” Washam went on to say. “With the warming trend, if a guy can get a big bite in two out of the three days he’ll be right there. I think I’d want 61½ pounds – if I can have that weight after three days, I would be content and think that I had a good chance at earning another win.”

Anglers will take off daily 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 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). At Lake Guntersville, pros fish for a top award of $80,000, plus an extra $35,000 if Phoenix MLF Bonus qualified. Strike King co-anglers cast for the top prize of a $46,000 prize package, including new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard.

by AnglersChannel

Harris Chain Of Lakes Primed For Bassmaster Elite Series Slugfest

Florida will host the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain February 17-20, 2022.

Photo by Kyle Jessie/B.A.S.S.

February 15, 2022

LEESBURG, Fla. — Stellar bass fishing is one of the many reasons folks visit Florida, and it looks like we’re about to see this natural attraction on full display during the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain.

Competition days will be Feb. 17-20 with daily takeoffs from Venetian Gardens (Ski Beach) at 7:30 a.m. ET and weigh-ins each day at the same venue at 3:30 p.m.

Comprising eight primary lakes — Apopka, Harris, Griffin, Eustis, Dora, Beauclair, Carlton and Yale — the chain covers approximately 75,000 acres. Linked by canals these lakes are full of submersed and emergent vegetation, shellbars, cypress trees, docks and seawalls. Yale, which is part of the chain but not connected by any navigable river or canal, is not part of the tournament waters.

With recent cold fronts and their ensuing warmups priming central Florida waters for a big spawning wave, the event’s timing appears nearly perfect. While the Florida bass spawn can start as early as the fall, Elite angler John Cox of DeBary, Fla., said the year’s first quarter typically sees the most action.

“Those fish are going to be on the move; it’s probably going to be a really good week,” he said. “I think the timing of this tournament is really good.”

Relevant reference

Typically, it’s the youth anglers watching the top-tier pros accomplish great things, but you can bet that 94 Elite anglers were paying attention two weeks ago when college, high school and junior anglers brought some impressive numbers to the scales during a weekend of red-hot Harris Chain fishing.

A quick recap of relevant details:

Brothers Lafe and Matt Messer of Kentucky Christian University won the Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops with a two-day total of 61 pounds, 13 ounces. The Messers’ Day 2 weight of 36-7 broke the College Series single-day record. Their winning weight also broke the Series’ two-day catch record.

Bryce Balentine and Dalton Loos of the Central Florida Youth Anglers won the Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors with a limit catch of 25 pounds, 6 ounces. Benjamin Hester and Mason Caldwell of Rhea County High School won the big fish award with a 9-7 largemouth.

In the Bassmaster Junior Series, Ty Cooper and Landen McLauchlin of the Central Florida Youth Anglers finished second with a two-fish bag that went 11-12. Their limit included Cooper’s personal best 9-9, which earned big bass honors.

Setting the stage

These youth events took place in late January — and with conditions lining up well, projections for the third week of February indicate the potential for an absolute slugfest. Also worth noting, many of the college, high school and junior teams reported catching fish in offshore grass or over shellbeds — two common prespawn staging scenarios.

Tournament week will see daytime temperatures reaching into the low to mid-80s before slipping into the 70s for the weekend. More importantly, the overnight lows will remain in the upper 50s to mid-60s — compared to the low 40s a week prior. Add to this the full moon on Feb. 16 and the fish should be ready to go.

What to expect

While the deep offshore grass scene has played in years past, Cox believes that this event’s timing — possibly on the very cusp of a spawning movement — will bring the shallower staging areas into the spotlight.

“I’m thinking it’s going to be more of a closer-to-the-bank thing — like, the college kids, it didn’t seem like they were that far off the (shoreline) grass,” Cox said. “It’s kind of like Kentucky Lake, where you have all your guys on the main ledge and then you have those guys on the points connected to the shore.

“I think that’s going to be more of our middle area where the fish are going to be wanting to go to the bank to spawn, so they’ll be on that next setup area before they go into the grass, canals, lily pads or whatever they’re going to spawn on.”

Noting that the event could see some mix of prespawn and spawning activity, Cox said the tournament will likely comprise three main patterns: “I still think someone’s going to find some good grass and crank it or fish it with a bladed jig, I’m sure a worm in the lily pads will (produce) and you’ll see a lot of guys sight fishing.”

If the event turns more heavily toward the spawn, anglers will likely find clusters of spawners. That’s generally the way Florida bass work, but Cox said the amount of muck lining the bottoms of these lakes puts a premium on the cleaner, hard-bottom spots.

“Once fish come into a good area and decide that it’s a prime spot to spawn, you’ll have multiple fish spawning on that spot,” he said. “You can catch them one after another on the same cast.”

The predictions

After a warm and mostly stable fall and early winter, the cold fronts that arrived in January and February definitely put the brakes on spawning activity. Despite the pause, the Harris Chain fish know it’s time to do their business, so the shoreward rush may end up looking like a Black Friday doorbuster stampede.

“Instead of them trickling, you could get these massive waves,” Cox said. “So, someone could sit in one place and just crush them.”

Looking at the Harris Chain’s broad potential, Cox observed: “All of the lakes are pretty good. What I think is going to happen is two or three of the lakes will turn on and the other ones will be farther behind. But it might be a perfect storm where they’re moving in all the lakes and everybody jacks them. Florida is so unpredictable.”

One thing that’s not so vague is the potential for heavy bags — and many of them.

“I’m thinking the winning total will be close to 90 or 100 pounds,” Cox said. “To make the Top 10, it could easily be close to 20 pounds a day.

“There are so many big fish in those lakes and we’re hitting it at such a good time.”

Full coverage from all four days of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain will be available on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 19-20 beginning at 8 a.m. ET.

by AnglersChannel

AFTCO Named Official Sponsor of 2022 MLF Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League

Fishing Clothing Company Offers New Contingency Program, Exclusive Discount for Registered Anglers

TULSA, Okla. (Feb. 15, 2022) – Major League Fishing (MLF), the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, announced today that American Fishing Tackle Company (AFTCO), a family-owned and operated outdoor clothing and gear manufacturer and provider of innovative, performance-driven products, has signed on as an Official Sponsor of the 2022 MLF Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. and the 2022 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine.

“AFTCO is extremely excited to expand our support of tournament bass fishing with our new partnership with Major League Fishing,” said Matt Florentino, AFTCO Marketing Director. “We are no stranger to MLF, as AFTCO has maintained a significant roster of top MLF Bass Pro Tour and MLF5 circuit anglers over the years. AFTCO has a longstanding reputation of making gear that simply works. Freshwater and saltwater anglers from coast-to-coast wear AFTCO products because our technical fishing gear keeps them warm, dry and comfortable in any conditions Mother Nature decides to dish out. We are looking forward to kicking off the 2022 season with MLF anglers and fans.”

AFTCO’s current roster of MLF pros includes 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Angler of the Year (AOY) Michael Neal, along with Bass Pro Tour anglers Todd Faircloth, Shin Fukae, Dylan Hays, Russ Lane, Jeremy Lawyer, Jared Lintner and Wesley Strader and Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers Miles Howe and Tyler Woolcott.

Earlier this year, AFTCO launched new contingency programs for registered MLF anglers, with the opportunity to win up to $50,000 in cash and AFTCO gear throughout the 2022 Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League seasons. Participating anglers will also receive an AFTCO Competitor Kit, valued at $85, along with access to an exclusive AFTCO discount.

“We are excited AFTCO has joined our amazing group of sponsors for the 2022 season,” said Randy Gerstenblatt, MLF Senior Vice President of Sponsorship and Media Sales. “AFTCO’s legacy of leadership in conservation-driven initiatives is parallel to MLF’s dedication to improve the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care. We are certain this collaboration will help both parties continue to advance those efforts and we have high expectations for the upcoming Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League seasons.”

AFTCO’s sponsorship includes a strong onsite brand presence at all Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League events and during MLF livestreams of the weigh-ins, as well as activation opportunities at MLF5 events, including the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Mercury and the Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American.

For more information on AFTCO and their performance-driven products, visit www.AFTCO.com. For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing, its tournaments and sponsors, 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

RANDY HIBLER & RANDALL CHRISTIAN WIN ON TRAVIS WITH 19.37LBS TO KICK OFF 2022 TTZ Events

RESULTS - Lake Travis - Feb. 12th, 2022

Teams: 143

Aanglers: 275

Total Fish: 391

Total Weight: 893Lbs

Avg. Fish Weight: 2.28lbs

For full results and pictures click here

by AnglersChannel

Tundra full of trash removed from St. Johns River shoreline

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

Of the more than 100 Bassmaster Elite Series events I’ve been blessed to cover in my marketing and PR role with Dynamic Sponsorships, one of the most fulfilling 2-hour periods of my career came this past Saturday morning picking up trash from the shoreline around Palatka’s Memorial Bridge at the St. Johns River Bassmaster Elite Series event.

I was a very small part of a group that included Elite Series anglers Carl Jocumsen, Mike Huff, Alex Redwine, Skylar Hamilton, and Kenta Kimura, as well as B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson, and 20 eager and willing local high school and college students.

In less than 2-hours – we filled 42 large yellow trash bags with everything from beer cans to pieces of a car bumper, and even an old NFL trading card. Enough to fill the back of an all new 2022 Toyota Tundra – all picked-up from a very small area of shoreline, within walking distance of the Bassmaster weigh-in venue.

“Our goal for the Clean-up Challenge is simple. We want to leave the communities and waterways that are gracious enough to host our tournaments cleaner than we found them,” says B.A.S.S. Director of Conservation, Gene Gilliland.

“Hopefully with conservation minded partners like Yamaha and AFTCO, we can help get the word out to folks in the communities that host our tournaments to be way more conscious of the trash that unfortunately dots the landscape of their treasured fisheries,” explains Gilliland.

Trash along treasured bass fisheries is indeed a huge problem. For example, in 2021, volunteers from the “Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful” group removed 152,522 pounds of trash from waterways such as Pickwick, Guntersville and Chickamauga.

No matter how many tournaments you’ve won or worked, removing this eyesore is not an effort beneath any of us blessed to make a living doing what we love in the sport of bass fishing.

In fact, I’ll challenge each of you to haul home one bag of trash from many of your future fishing trips. One bag. I’ll promise you there’s enough trash right around most boat ramp parking lots to make the job fast and easy.

Our time Saturday morning in Palatka made just a small dent in the larger on-going problem of litter along our favorite bass fisheries. But, I’ll also tell you our time together was fun.

I shared a lot of laughs with Jocumsen, and the other Elite anglers, not to mention got a 1-mile walk in during the process, broke a healthy sweat, strengthened friendships, and knew in my heart we had made a small ecological difference.

In less than two hours, our efforts filled a 2022 Toyota Tundra with 42 bags of trash, and filled the heart of at least one veteran marketing and PR guy with inspiration to do more of the same in future months.

by AnglersChannel

Webb Goes Wire-to-Wire to Win Toyota Series Southwestern Division Kickoff on Sam Rayburn Reservoir

BROOKELAND, Texas (Feb. 13, 2022) – Glenn Webb of Bethel, Oklahoma came out of the gate swinging at the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir . Although he only brought four bass weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces to the scale on the final day, his huge Day 1 and Day 2 bags and three-day total of 63-12 carried him to victory, earning him the win by a 1-pound, 14-ounce margin over Derek Mundy of Broaddus, Texas. Webb took home the top payout of $54,000 in the first tournament of the 2022 Toyota Series Southwestern Division.

Mundy finished second with a three-day total of 61-14, a mere 15 ounces ahead of Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas, with a three-day total of 60-15, good for third place.

“I’ve fished a lot of local tournaments back home, but this is the first time I’ve really ventured out and fished as a boater,” said Webb. “It feels great. It’s super cool to win the first big tournament on my first try.”

Webb said he wasn’t even planning to fish the event, but after a good finish in a local tournament the week before, he decided to take a shot at it and registered.

“I wasn’t really planning on fishing this event at all,” said Webb. “Once I decided to give it a try, I was able to find a link and get in and I’m so glad I did.”

Although he breezed through the first two days of competition, with more than 26 pounds on Day 1 and 28-5 on Day 2, the final day proved to be a bit more tedious for Webb, who said he threw an umbrella rig the first two days but had zero luck with it on the final day.

“There were probably more fish there on the final day than there were on Day 2 because they were loading up every day,” said Webb. “I don’t know if it was the clouds, the wind or the light, but something was off, so we had to make some adjustments.”

Webb switched to a Carolina rig late in the final day to catch his four keepers and hold on to the number one spot, returning to Oklahoma with a Toyota Series trophy and a winner’s check.

The top 10 pros on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

1^st:           Glenn Webb of Bethel, Okla., 14 bass, 63-12, $54,000
2^nd:          Derek Mundy of Broaddus, Texas, 15 bass, 61-14, $22,000
3^rd:          Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas, 15 bass, 60-15, $16,250
4^th:           Brett Cannon of Willis, Texas, 15 bass, 52-10, $13,250
5^th:           Kris Wilson of Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 49-13, $12,250
6^th:           Cole Moore of Anacoco, La., 15 bass, 49-10, $9,775
7^th:           Jeffery Rice of Bossier City, La., 15 bass, 49-8, $8,300
8^th:           Jake Ormond of Sterlington, La., 15 bass,49-7, $7,300
9^th:           Cal Cameron of Coppell, Texas, 15 bass, 49-4, $6,300
10^th:        Jack York of Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 49-0, $4,700

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Jim Moynagh of Shakopee, Minnesota won the $150 Day One Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division Thursday with a bass weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces. Moore won Friday’s $150 Berkley Big Bass award, bringing a whopping 11-pound, 15-ounce bass to the scale.

Ebare 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.

Levi Thibodaux of Thibodaux, Louisiana, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 35 pounds, 8 ounces. Thibodaux took home the top prize package worth $35,250, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

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

1^st:           Levi Thibodaux of Thibodaux, La., 15 bass, 35-8, Phonix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard + $1,750
2^nd:          Duane McDaniel of Crosby, Texas, 11 bass, 33-10, $6,625
3^rd:          Scott Parsons of Rogers, Ark., 13 bass, 32-0, $5,300
4^th:           Sieg Kilby of Kilgore, Texas, 15 bass, 31-12, $4,150
5^th:           Phillip Hudnall of Newkirk, Okla., 11 bass, 31-4, $3,650
6^th:           Alan Bernicky of Joliet, Ill., 15 bass, 29-15, $3,350
7^th:           Albert Ignacio of Dallas, Texas, 13 bass, 28-14, $2,650
8^th:           Scott Reaves of Henrietta, Texas, 13 bass, 28-6, $2,075
9^th:           Luke Bennett of College Station, Texas, 13 bass, 28-3, $1,630
10^th:        Sakae Ushio of Tonawanda, N.Y., 14 bass, 27-12, $1,390

The Day One Berkley Big Bass $100 award winner in the Strike King co-angler division, was John Hatton of Buna, Texas, with a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass, while the Day Two $100 award went to Joe Landers of Okmulgee, Oklahoma with a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth.

The Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir was hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce. It was the second regular-season Toyota Series event of 2022 and the first tournament in the Southwestern Division. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on Feb. 22-24 – the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E on Lake Guntersville in Scottsboro, Alabama, hosted by Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce. For a complete schedule, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions and finish in the top 25 – or the top 12 from the Wild Card division – will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 cash. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2022 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Championship will be held Nov. 3-5 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, AFTCO, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Outlaw Ordinance, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.

by AnglersChannel

Crews Goes Wire-to-Wire To Win Bassmaster Elite On St. Johns River

John Crews of Salem, Va., has won the 2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a four-day total of 75 pounds, 4 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 13, 2022

PALATKA, Fla. — Mother Nature did not serve up slam-dunk potential, but John Crews leveraged a stellar start and paired it with steady productivity to win the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a four-day total of 75 pounds, 4 ounces.

Edging Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 1 1/4 pounds, Crews won the top prize of $100,000 and added another blue trophy to the one he claimed a dozen years ago on the California Delta.

“I’ve said it 100 times, ‘When it’s your time, it’s your time,’” Crews said. “This week, it was just my time.”

Crews, who finished second and fifth at the St. Johns Elite in 2020 and 2019, respectively, took the Day 1 lead with 28 pounds — the event’s third-heaviest bag, behind the 31-15 that John Cox weighed on Day 3 and Downey’s Day 4 limit of 29-3. Crews’ opening catch included an 8-1.

After adding 17-3 on Day 2, Crews fought through a tougher semifinal round on Saturday to catch a 13-pound limit, anchored by a 6-pounder. On Championship Sunday, he sealed the win with 17-1.

Starting his 17th year on the Elite Series, Crews acknowledged the supreme challenge of a clean sweep and said consistency drove him to victory. He fished clean, lost no keepers and made good decisions throughout a week marked by moody Florida weather and unsettled fish.

After a cold, wet practice period, the tournament saw the typical post-frontal conditions — high pressure, clear skies and flat wind — for the first two days. Temperatures started rising quicker than expected, and just as soon as Day 3 appeared to be stabilizing, Championship Sunday brought clouds and rain early, then a sunny afternoon.

“I got unbelievably fortunate; you have to catch a huge bag at least one of the days,” Crews said. “To win a four-day event in Florida, you can’t have any days where you slip.

“I was fortunate that (Day 3) was my only slip day and I had a 6-pounder that really saved it, or it would have been really bad.”

Each day Crews spent about half of his time in Rodman Reservoir, upriver from Palatka. He also fished the main river and the Rodman Canal — both sides of the Buckman Lock accessing Rodman. Inside the reservoir, Crews caught fish on standing timber and pads, while a mix of pads and other shallow targets comprised his river and canal action.

In Rodman’s deeper areas, Crews threw a suspending jerkbait and a drop shot rigged with a prototype Missile Baits worm. He caught a bed fish in Rodman with a Texas-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm and also threw a Zoom Fluke.

Around pads in the river and canal, Crews caught bass on a 1/2-ounce white spinnerbait and a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer. He paired the latter with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color and a white Missile Baits Shockwave, based on conditions.

“I just went out and fished like I normally fish, which is all over the place,” Crews said. “I was throwing a spinning rod in 25 feet of water one minute and I’m throwing a (reaction bait) in a foot of water 20 minutes later. Luckily, on the St. Johns River, that works.

“That’s exactly what I did the last four days. I just mixed it up based on the weather.”

Finishing second with 74 pounds, Downey followed his second-place Day 1 limit of 27-4 with a disastrous Day 2 that saw him weigh a single fish that went 6-11. Downey added 10-14 on Day 3 and slipped to seventh, but roared back with that huge final-round catch of 29-3, which included an 8-pound fish.

All week, Downey fished the warm outflows of Salt Springs on the northwest side of Lake George, upriver from Palatka. He caught all of his fish on a Storm Arashi Vibe lipless bait in a gold color. After trying various lipless baits, Downey surmised that the fish responded best to the Arashi Vibe’s more subtle presence.

“What more can you ask for? It was just insane out there this morning — and to cap it off with an 8-pounder,” Downey said. “Aside from Day 2, it’s been an amazing week.

“The (colder) conditions lined up really well for me on Day 1 and then this morning was really good for me too, with the cloud cover.”

Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Shi, Japan, finished third with 69-13 and is leading the Falcon Rods Bassmaster Rookie of the Year standings. After placing 41st on Day 1 with 12-1, he bolted up the leaderboard to second after catching Day 2’s heaviest bag — 23-5. Matsushita added 17-7 on Day 3 and ended with a final-round limit of 17 pounds.

Focusing mostly on shallow cover in Crescent Lake, Matsushita threw 1/4- and 3/8-ounce versions of the Matsuraba swim jig that he designed for Deps. He used a brown craw colored swim jig with a green pumpkin black fleck Deps twin tail trailer.

Matsushita also caught fish on a free rig — a Japanese innovation that employs a 3/16-ounce teardrop-shaped sinker hanging perpendicular to the line. He used this in conjunction with a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm in junebug and redbug colors.

“Today, most of my fish were on the swim jig,” Matsushita said. “I caught maybe 10 keepers. I caught one big one — 4 1/2-pounder — on the free rig.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., won the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for the 9-13 largemouth he caught Thursday.

Cox of DeBary, Fla., won the $2,000 VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

Crews took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Cox also earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., earned an additional $2,500 and Drew Cook of Cairo, Ga., claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/10-2/13
St. Johns River, Palatka FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 4

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 20 75-04 100 $100,000.00
Day 1: 5 28-00 Day 2: 5 17-03 Day 3: 5 13-00 Day 4: 5 17-01
2. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 16 74-00 99 $36,000.00
Day 1: 5 27-04 Day 2: 1 06-11 Day 3: 5 10-14 Day 4: 5 29-03
3. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 20 69-13 98 $30,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-01 Day 2: 5 23-05 Day 3: 5 17-07 Day 4: 5 17-00
4. John Cox DeBary, FL 20 67-10 97 $28,000.00
Day 1: 5 09-06 Day 2: 5 13-13 Day 3: 5 31-15 Day 4: 5 12-08
5. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 20 64-07 96 $20,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-07 Day 2: 5 14-05 Day 3: 5 12-02 Day 4: 5 18-09
6. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 20 64-06 95 $20,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-12 Day 2: 5 18-01 Day 3: 5 15-12 Day 4: 5 17-13
7. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 20 59-04 94 $18,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-12 Day 2: 5 17-01 Day 3: 5 12-00 Day 4: 5 12-07
8. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 20 58-04 93 $17,000.00
Day 1: 5 22-00 Day 2: 5 13-05 Day 3: 5 07-08 Day 4: 5 15-07
9. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 18 56-04 92 $16,000.00
Day 1: 3 04-00 Day 2: 5 21-11 Day 3: 5 17-01 Day 4: 5 13-08
10. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 16 50-13 91 $15,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-04 Day 2: 3 07-09 Day 3: 5 14-05 Day 4: 3 08-11
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 09-13 $1,000.00
2 Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 09-07 $1,000.00
3 John Cox DeBary, FL 08-05 $1,000.00
4 Bob Downey Hudson, WI 08-04 $1,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 09-13 $1,000.00

VMC MONSTER BAG
Day

3 John Cox DeBary, FL 31-15 $2,000.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 59 393 1045-09
2 50 363 887-09
3 24 184 480-11
4 9 48 162-03

by AnglersChannel

Lake Fork Readies for Return of Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour

Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns to Showcase 80 Pro Anglers Competing Over Six Days for Purse of $805,000

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 13, 2022) – Major League Fishing (MLF) is set to return to Texas next week, Feb. 19-24, for the second event of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour regular-season – the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns.

The six-day event, hosted by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wood County EDC, the Sabine River Authority and the Rains County Tourism Board, will showcase 80 of the best professional anglers in the world, including bass-fishing superstars like Kevin VanDam, Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler , and seven Texas pros – Dakota Ebare, Todd Faircloth, Alton Jones, Alton Jones Jr., Kelly Jordon, Gary Klein and Jeff Sprague – fishing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable points in hopes of qualifying for REDCREST 2023, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

“Locals are excited for Major League Fishing to return, and to show why Lake Fork remains the best place on earth to fish,” said Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce’s Micheal Rogge. “MLF provides a major economic stimulus to our area as the competitors, staff, and fans bring in a revenue that helps keep the lake known as the Jewel of East Texas. With the best fishermen in the world on the best lake, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the Century Club mark broken. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.”

This event will mark the second time that an MLF Bass Pro Tour event has taken place on Lake Fork. When the Bass Pro Tour last visited Lake Fork in 2020, the Championship Round was held on Lake Athens after the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds took place on Lake Fork. Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe fished a wacky-rigged worm and a Tokyo-rigged swimbait to advance on Lake Fork, then threw swimbaits, jerkbaits and a Neko rig to win the Championship Round on Athens and earn the prestigious red winner’s trophy.

Local pro Kelly Jordon of Flint, Texas, said that he expects this event to be a heavyweight slugfest.

“The weather is going to be the key – looking at the forecast it looks like we’ve got a little bit of a warming trend coming. If that water can get up into the 52-, 53-to-55-degree temperatures, this event has the potential to be out of this world,” Jordon said. “The prespawn bite is going to be starting out, and those fish will be hungry and ready to eat.”

When the Bass Pro Tour last visited, the then league record for largest fish ever weighed in competition was set when pro Justin Atkins weighed in a 10½-pounder. Jordon said that he expects a bigger fish to be caught this time around.

“The way Lake Fork is setting up – this is the time of year when the fish are at their biggest, the time of year when you can catch a true giant,” Jordon said. “I don’t expect a huge number of fish to be caught, but the average size of our fish will be really impressive.”

Jordon said that prespawn reaction baits would be heavily favored among competitors – crankbaits, lipless crankbaits, squarebill crankbaits, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits and swimbaits were all mentioned specifically as lures that he would have tied on.

“The lake is low – about 6 feet – and that has the lake fishing differently,” Jordon said. “The boat docks and the grass won’t really play this time around. The key for this one will be targeting the structure – points, ridges, channels, humps and drops, along with the offshore brush piles and standing timber.

“Fork has been my home lake since the early 90s, and one of my favorite places to fish in the whole country,” Jordon went on to say. “This is going to be a really fun event, with the potential to see some new Bass Pro Tour records being set.

The tournament will feature the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament is being filmed for broadcast later this year on the Discovery Channel.

Angler will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the Marina, beginning at 4:30 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.

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morningon the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

by AnglersChannel

Big Bite Keeps Crews Atop Bassmaster Elite On St. Johns As Field Closes In

John Crews of Salem, Va., is leading after Day 2 of the 2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 3 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 12, 2022

PALATKA, Fla. — You can’t win a Bassmaster Elite event with one fish, but a single bite transformed John Crews’ day and kept the veteran from Salem, Va., in the lead on Day 3 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 3 ounces.

Crews opened the event with a Thursday limit of 28 pounds and held on to the lead on Friday with a limit of 17-3. He added a 13-pound limit Saturday — anchored by a crucial 6-pounder — and overcame a slow morning to head into Championship Sunday with a lead of just 3-1 over hard-charging John Cox of DeBary, Fla.

Breaking his pattern of starting in Rodman Reservoir, Crews spent his first hour fishing the main river, where he caught a small keeper on a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color. Transitioning to the reservoir, he spent two unproductive hours before making a key transition.

“I fished the areas where I caught my fish the first day and I never had a bite,” Crews said. “I told my cameraman ‘We need to make a change, I’m going to go shallow. I think I can catch some small fish, fill out a limit and see what happens.’

“I made a run and when I set the boat down, I looked over and saw a clump of pads. The first flip was that 6-pounder. I pitched in there and when I reeled up, my line was zipping on out to the main channel.”

Bassmaster LIVE captured the entire sequence — including Crews’ clear expression of relief and encouragement.

“That let me know I made the right decision,” Crews said. “I just settled down, caught a limit and culled one in the vicinity.

“I feel like that fish had just moved up. When they just move up, they’re sitting there with their mouths open.”

Crews caught his big fish and one more on a Texas-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm. He caught the rest of his Rodman fish on a Zoom Fluke.

Crews said he’s not comfortable that enough fish have moved up shallow in Rodman to stake his final day on that pattern. He said he believes he can catch a couple shallow if he needs to salvage his day, but he may end up expanding his game plan for Championship Sunday.

With the final round forecast showing cloudy, windy and possibly rainy weather, Crews said the change might stimulate the Rodman bite — just not necessarily the shallow game.

“If we get that weather, I think the fish may go to biting,” he said. “Rodman’s a lot clearer than the river and a little weather would probably go a long way.”

After placing 57th on Day 1 with 9-6, Cox added 13-13 on Day 2 and rose to 38th. On Saturday, he electrified the weigh-in crowd with the tournament’s heaviest catch — a massive limit of 31-15, anchored by an 8-5, which pushed him into second with 55-2.

“I’m thrilled; I’ve been waiting to catch a 30-pound bag here,” Cox said. “Every time we’ve had an event here, whether it was the (St. Croix Bassmaster) Opens, or the Elites, I always knew that was possible. I was like ‘One of these days, it’s going to line up.’ Today it did. I’m so glad I made it into Semifinal Saturday.”

Running an hour south of Palatka, Cox fished a backwater area off the main river and focused his effort on shallow cover. With daytime highs and overnight lows rising significantly since Day 1, Cox knew a shoreward movement was imminent.

“When I pulled up today, there was a buck (smaller male bass) on every bed and I was like ‘Oh gosh,’” Cox said. “I kept trolling by them and then I ran into a big one, then another big one.”

Cox caught his fish on a black prototype Berkley craw bait rigged on a 3/0 Berkley Fusion Flipping Hook. He found his fish in a variety of habitat settings and one of those fish took an hour to entice.

Elite rookie Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Shi, Japan slipped a spot to third with a three-day total of 52-13. After placing 41st on Day 1 with 12-1, he rose 39 spots to second after catching Day 2’s heaviest bag — 23-5. On Saturday, Matsushita added 17-7.

Spending his day in Crescent Lake, Matsushita caught three of his keepers on a free rig. A Japanese innovation, his rig comprised a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm (redbug color) with a teardrop shaped sinker hanging perpendicular to his line and a bobber stop keeping the weight within a limited range.

Matsushita caught the rest of his keepers on 1/4- and 3/8-ounce versions of the Deps Matsuraba swim jig that he designed. He used brown craw swim jigs and paired them with Deps twin-tail trailers in green pumpkin black fleck.

“I threw the swim jig in shallower water around wood and used a straight retrieve,” Matsushita said. “Maybe the fish were on spawning beds, I don’t know.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 9-13 largemouth he caught on Day 1.

Cox leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

Austin Felix of Eden Prairie, Minn., earned the $1,000 BassTrakk bonus for the most accurate weight reporting over the tournament’s first two days.

The Top 10 remaining pros will take off for Championship Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m., with the winning angler earning $100,000.

FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Sunday. Live coverage can also be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms.

2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/10-2/13
St. Johns River, Palatka FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 3

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 15 58-03 100
Day 1: 5 28-00 Day 2: 5 17-03 Day 3: 5 13-00
2. John Cox DeBary, FL 15 55-02 99 $1,000.00
Day 1: 5 09-06 Day 2: 5 13-13 Day 3: 5 31-15
3. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 15 52-13 98
Day 1: 5 12-01 Day 2: 5 23-05 Day 3: 5 17-07
4. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 15 46-13 97
Day 1: 5 17-12 Day 2: 5 17-01 Day 3: 5 12-00
5. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 15 46-09 96
Day 1: 5 12-12 Day 2: 5 18-01 Day 3: 5 15-12
6. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 15 45-14 95
Day 1: 5 19-07 Day 2: 5 14-05 Day 3: 5 12-02
7. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 11 44-13 94
Day 1: 5 27-04 Day 2: 1 06-11 Day 3: 5 10-14
8. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 15 42-13 93
Day 1: 5 22-00 Day 2: 5 13-05 Day 3: 5 07-08
9. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 13 42-12 92
Day 1: 3 04-00 Day 2: 5 21-11 Day 3: 5 17-01
10. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 13 42-02 91
Day 1: 5 20-04 Day 2: 3 07-09 Day 3: 5 14-05
11. Taku Ito Chiba JAPAN 15 41-14 90 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-04 Day 2: 5 09-06 Day 3: 5 16-04
12. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 14 41-06 89 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 4 14-12 Day 3: 5 13-13
13. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 15 41-04 88 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-00 Day 2: 5 10-02 Day 3: 5 11-02
14. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 15 40-12 87 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-12 Day 2: 5 15-07 Day 3: 5 12-09
15. Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 14 39-13 86 $11,000.00
Day 1: 4 08-11 Day 2: 5 17-13 Day 3: 5 13-05
16. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 15 39-12 85 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 5 12-12 Day 3: 5 14-03
17. Cory Johnston Cavan CANADA 14 39-03 84 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 07-07 Day 2: 5 16-11 Day 3: 5 15-01
18. Chad Morgenthaler Reeds Spring, MO 15 38-14 83 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-05 Day 2: 5 08-12 Day 3: 5 15-13
19. Brandon Card Salisbury, NC 14 38-11 82 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-10 Day 2: 5 11-12 Day 3: 4 12-05
20. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 13 38-09 81 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-04 Day 2: 5 18-04 Day 3: 3 07-01
21. Matty Wong Honolulu, HI 12 38-01 80 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-14 Day 2: 2 06-12 Day 3: 5 11-07
22. Bryan New Saluda, SC 12 37-00 79 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-11 Day 2: 2 03-03 Day 3: 5 15-02
23. Jay Yelas Turner, OR 15 36-06 78 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-12 Day 2: 5 12-11 Day 3: 5 09-15
24. Clent Davis Montevallo, AL 12 36-03 77 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-02 Day 2: 5 15-03 Day 3: 2 07-14
25. Jason Williamson Wagener, SC 15 35-15 76 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-14 Day 2: 5 13-00 Day 3: 5 11-01
26. Jacob Powroznik North Prince George, VA 13 34-02 75 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 08-09 Day 2: 5 16-06 Day 3: 4 09-03
27. Tyler Rivet Raceland, LA 13 34-01 74 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 13-01 Day 3: 3 09-03
28. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 14 33-08 73 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-03 Day 2: 5 12-05 Day 3: 4 10-00
29. Buddy Gross Chatanooga, TN 10 33-07 72 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-02 Day 2: 1 04-10 Day 3: 4 11-11
30. Wes Logan Springville, AL 13 33-06 71 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-15 Day 2: 5 13-11 Day 3: 3 05-12
31. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 14 33-00 70 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-07 Day 2: 5 10-02 Day 3: 4 09-07
32. Chris Zaldain Fort Worth, TX 12 32-10 69 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-03 Day 2: 4 07-00 Day 3: 3 06-07
33. Jay Przekurat Stevens Point, WI 12 32-07 68 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 13-01 Day 2: 4 11-06 Day 3: 4 08-00
34. Lee Livesay Longview, TX 11 32-05 67 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-15 Day 2: 3 05-08 Day 3: 3 07-14
35. Chris Johnston Otonabee Ontario CANADA 12 32-05 66 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-09 Day 2: 5 11-12 Day 3: 2 03-00
36. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 10 32-00 65 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-04 Day 2: 3 08-03 Day 3: 2 05-09
37. Gregory DiPalma Millville, NJ 12 31-15 64 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-01 Day 2: 5 16-00 Day 3: 2 02-14
38. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 11 31-09 63 $10,000.00
Day 1: 3 08-07 Day 2: 5 14-11 Day 3: 3 08-07
39. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 13 31-08 62 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 07-10 Day 3: 3 07-07
40. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 12 30-07 61 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-02 Day 2: 5 12-09 Day 3: 2 03-12
41. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 14 30-01 60 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 08-04 Day 2: 5 13-07 Day 3: 5 08-06
42. Gary Clouse Winchester, TN 11 29-13 59 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-04 Day 2: 5 14-07 Day 3: 1 03-02
43. David Williams Newton, NC 12 29-03 58 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-11 Day 2: 4 10-12 Day 3: 3 06-12
44. Chad Pipkens Dewitt, MI 12 28-10 57 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-00 Day 2: 2 02-06 Day 3: 5 07-04
45. Justin Atkins Florence, AL 12 27-11 56 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-13 Day 2: 5 10-00 Day 3: 2 02-14
46. Luke Palmer Coalgate, OK 12 24-08 55 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-14 Day 2: 5 10-01 Day 3: 2 03-09
47. Caleb Kuphall Mukwonago, WI 8 22-14 54 $10,000.00
Day 1: 2 09-08 Day 2: 5 12-03 Day 3: 1 01-03
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 09-13 $1,000.00
2 Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 09-07 $1,000.00
3 John Cox DeBary, FL 08-05 $1,000.00

VMC MONSTER BAG
Day
3 John Cox DeBary, FL 31-15 $0.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 59 393 1045-09
2 50 363 887-09
3 24 184 480-11

by AnglersChannel

Crews Grinds Through Tough Day To Retain Bassmaster Elite Lead On St. Johns

John Crews of Salem, Va., is leading after Day 2 of the 2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a two-day total of 45 pounds, 3 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 11, 2022

PALATKA, Fla. — Fighting through a painfully slow morning, John Crews of Salem, Va., capitalized on the afternoon bite and caught a limit of 17 pounds, 3 ounces to retain his lead in the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with a two-day total of 45-3.

After posting a Day 1 limit of 28 pounds, Crews edged Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 12 ounces. On Friday, Crews greatly improved his position and will head into Saturday’s semifinal round with a 9-13 lead over Elite Series rookie Masayuki Matsushita of Tokoname-Aichi, Japan.

A telling moment that bespoke the attitude driving Crews’ decisions came midmorning when Crews’ cameraman asked if he had a target weight.

“I never do that; I want to catch as much as I can,” Crews said. “If you say, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 15,’ or, ‘I’ll be okay if I get 18,’ if you reach that, you might take your foot off the gas.

“Early on in my career, I settled more than I should have in a tournament, instead of going for the kill. Whether I finish first, second, 12th, 15th or whatever, I’m going to try to catch every fish I can catch.”

Despite high-pressure, postfrontal conditions, Crews did not take his foot off the gas Friday. Retracing his Day 1 game plan, he returned to Rodman Reservoir, where he threw a jerkbait and a drop shot. Rigged with a prototype Missile Baits worm, the latter produced all of his Rodman catches.

By the time he left Rodman at 1 p.m., Crews had only a small limit of 10-9 that he anchored with a 4-pounder. The reservoir was much more productive on Day 1, as Crews locked out with a 24-pound bag that included an 8-1.

“I got very fortunate to catch the bag that I caught yesterday, but I made some good adjustments today,” he said.

Specifically, he fished his way out of the Rodman canal and spent the rest of his afternoon targeting shallow cover on the main river. His afternoon effort allowed him to make three upgrades with a 4 1/2-pounder, a 4 and a 2.

Crews caught his main-river fish on a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer with a Missile Baits D Bomb in the bruiser (black/blue) color. While the bulky 4-inch creature bait is typically used for flipping and pitching presentations, Crews said the D Bomb proved appealing to the quality bass he needed.

“It’s a big profile and when the (ChatterBait’s) blade is vibrating, the whole tail portion of it kicks and it looks big,” Crews said. “These big fish are used to eating bream and crappie. If you throw the little stuff, you can catch some fish, but I like the bigger stuff.”

Crews’ most notable catch came around 2:35 when a fish bit and missed his bait. He threw back to the same spot and again missed a bite. On his third cast to the spot, he caught his largest fish of the day.

“I think it was the same fish,” Crews said. “Sometimes, they just get mad that they missed it.”

Crews said he’s unsure if he will return to Rodman on Day 3. After Friday’s flat calm conditions seemed to hinder the bite, he said he needs wind to stimulate the fish. If Saturday looks windy, he’ll go; if not, he’ll work his main-river spots.

Matsushita caught nearly twice what he caught on Day 1 and improved from 41st place to second with a two-day total of 35-6. Spending his day in the main river, Matsushita bolstered his Day 1 weight of 12-1 with 23-5 — the day’s heaviest catch.

“I fished all shallow water; 3 to 5 feet,” he said. “I got bites all day. I caught two big ones in the morning and when the (sun shined brightly) I caught three big bites.”

Matsushita caught all of his bass on a free rig — a Texas-rigged worm with a tear drop weight hanging from his line. He used a 3/16-ounce weight and a Zoom Magnum Finesse worm in junebug and redbug colors.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., added 13-5 to his Day 1 limit of 22 pounds and remained in third place with 35-5. Returning to the Rodman canal, Blaylock caught most of his fish on a wacky-rigged watermelon red Yum finesse worm.

Blaylock caught one of his keepers on a Booyah Hard Knocker lipless bait. While the reaction bait played a bigger role on Day 1, he was unable to replicate that success Friday.

“I went through the whole area with moving baits and never got a single bite,” Blaylock said. “It never did feel right and then once I started picking up finesse, I started catching one here, one there. I just knew right off the bat that, as soon as I got the first one, this is what it’s going to take to get bites today.

“I kept the other stuff honest throughout the day, but it just wasn’t working.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 9-13 largemouth he caught on Day 1.

Crews leads the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit with his 28-pound first-round bag.

The Top 47 remaining anglers will take off at 7:30 a.m. ET Saturday from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m., with only the Top 10 pros advancing to Championship Sunday with a chance at the $100,000 first-place prize.

Live coverage for the event can be streamed on Bassmaster.com and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will also broadcast live with the tournament leaders beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.

2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/10-2/13
St. Johns River, Palatka FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 2

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 10 45-03 100
Day 1: 5 28-00 Day 2: 5 17-03
2. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 10 35-06 99
Day 1: 5 12-01 Day 2: 5 23-05
3. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 10 35-05 98
Day 1: 5 22-00 Day 2: 5 13-05
4. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 10 34-13 97
Day 1: 5 17-12 Day 2: 5 17-01
5. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 6 33-15 96
Day 1: 5 27-04 Day 2: 1 06-11
6. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 10 33-12 95
Day 1: 5 19-07 Day 2: 5 14-05
7. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 10 31-08 94
Day 1: 5 13-04 Day 2: 5 18-04
8. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 10 30-13 93
Day 1: 5 12-12 Day 2: 5 18-01
9. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 10 30-02 92
Day 1: 5 20-00 Day 2: 5 10-02
10. Chris Johnston Otonabee Ontario CANADA 10 29-05 91
Day 1: 5 17-09 Day 2: 5 11-12
11. Gregory DiPalma Millville, NJ 10 29-01 90
Day 1: 5 13-01 Day 2: 5 16-00
12. Clent Davis Montevallo, AL 10 28-05 89
Day 1: 5 13-02 Day 2: 5 15-03
13. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 10 28-03 88
Day 1: 5 12-12 Day 2: 5 15-07
14. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 8 27-13 87
Day 1: 5 20-04 Day 2: 3 07-09
15. Wes Logan Springville, AL 10 27-10 86
Day 1: 5 13-15 Day 2: 5 13-11
16. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 9 27-09 85
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 4 14-12
17. Gary Clouse Winchester, TN 10 26-11 84
Day 1: 5 12-04 Day 2: 5 14-07
18. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 10 26-11 83
Day 1: 5 14-02 Day 2: 5 12-09
19. Matty Wong Honolulu, HI 7 26-10 82
Day 1: 5 19-14 Day 2: 2 06-12
20. Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 9 26-08 81 $1,000.00
Day 1: 4 08-11 Day 2: 5 17-13
21. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 8 26-07 80
Day 1: 5 18-04 Day 2: 3 08-03
22. Jay Yelas Turner, OR 10 26-07 79
Day 1: 5 13-12 Day 2: 5 12-11
23. Brandon Card Salisbury, NC 10 26-06 78
Day 1: 5 14-10 Day 2: 5 11-12
24. Chris Zaldain Fort Worth, TX 9 26-03 77
Day 1: 5 19-03 Day 2: 4 07-00
25. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 8 25-11 76
Day 1: 3 04-00 Day 2: 5 21-11
26. Taku Ito Chiba JAPAN 10 25-10 75
Day 1: 5 16-04 Day 2: 5 09-06
27. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 10 25-09 74
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 5 12-12
28. Jacob Powroznik North Prince George, VA 9 24-15 73
Day 1: 4 08-09 Day 2: 5 16-06
29. Tyler Rivet Raceland, LA 10 24-14 72
Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 13-01
30. Jason Williamson Wagener, SC 10 24-14 71
Day 1: 5 11-14 Day 2: 5 13-00
31. Justin Atkins Florence, AL 10 24-13 70
Day 1: 5 14-13 Day 2: 5 10-00
32. Lee Livesay Longview, TX 8 24-07 69
Day 1: 5 18-15 Day 2: 3 05-08
33. Jay Przekurat Stevens Point, WI 8 24-07 68
Day 1: 4 13-01 Day 2: 4 11-06
34. Cory Johnston Cavan CANADA 9 24-02 67
Day 1: 4 07-07 Day 2: 5 16-11
35. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 10 24-01 66
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 07-10
36. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 10 23-09 65
Day 1: 5 13-07 Day 2: 5 10-02
37. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 10 23-08 64
Day 1: 5 11-03 Day 2: 5 12-05
38. John Cox Debary, FL 10 23-03 63
Day 1: 5 09-06 Day 2: 5 13-13
39. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 8 23-02 62
Day 1: 3 08-07 Day 2: 5 14-11
40. Chad Morgenthaler Reeds Spring, MO 10 23-01 61
Day 1: 5 14-05 Day 2: 5 08-12
41. David Williams Newton, NC 9 22-07 60
Day 1: 5 11-11 Day 2: 4 10-12
42. Bryan New Saluda, SC 7 21-14 59
Day 1: 5 18-11 Day 2: 2 03-03
43. Buddy Gross Chatanooga, TN 6 21-12 58
Day 1: 5 17-02 Day 2: 1 04-10
44. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 9 21-11 57
Day 1: 4 08-04 Day 2: 5 13-07
45. Caleb Kuphall Mukwonago, WI 7 21-11 56
Day 1: 2 09-08 Day 2: 5 12-03
46. Chad Pipkens Dewitt, MI 7 21-06 55
Day 1: 5 19-00 Day 2: 2 02-06
47. Luke Palmer Coalgate, OK 10 20-15 54
Day 1: 5 10-14 Day 2: 5 10-01
48. Joseph Webster Hamilton, AL 9 20-12 53 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-05 Day 2: 4 09-07
49. Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 6 20-11 52 $3,500.00
Day 1: 1 09-13 Day 2: 5 10-14
50. Jason Christie Park Hill, OK 9 20-01 51 $2,500.00
Day 1: 4 10-14 Day 2: 5 09-03
51. Jeff Gustafson Keewatin Ontario CANADA 10 19-14 50 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 09-03 Day 2: 5 10-11
52. Gerald Swindle Guntersville, AL 10 19-14 49 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 09-10 Day 2: 5 10-04
53. Marc Frazier Newnan, GA 8 19-08 48 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 15-00 Day 2: 3 04-08
54. Josh Douglas Isle, MN 6 19-04 47 $2,500.00
Day 1: 1 02-07 Day 2: 5 16-13
55. Cody Huff Ava, MO 9 19-02 46 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 09-07 Day 2: 4 09-11
56. Scott Martin Clewiston, FL 8 19-00 45 $2,500.00
Day 1: 4 09-05 Day 2: 4 09-11
57. Hank Cherry Jr Lincolnton, NC 8 18-14 44 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 13-14 Day 2: 3 05-00
58. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 9 18-09 43 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 08-00 Day 2: 4 10-09
59. Clark Wendlandt Leander, TX 7 18-06 42 $2,500.00
Day 1: 2 05-14 Day 2: 5 12-08
60. Seth Feider New Market, MN 8 18-04 41 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 15-00 Day 2: 3 03-04
61. Matt Robertson Kuttawa, KY 8 17-15 40 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 13-00 Day 2: 3 04-15
62. Drew Benton Blakely, GA 8 17-15 39 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 11-05 Day 2: 3 06-10
63. Brock Mosley Collinsville, MS 8 17-05 38 $2,500.00
Day 1: 3 04-09 Day 2: 5 12-12
64. Matt Herren Ashville, AL 10 17-05 37 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 12-10 Day 2: 5 04-11
65. Ed Loughran III Richmond, VA 7 17-04 36 $2,500.00
Day 1: 4 06-14 Day 2: 3 10-06
66. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 10 17-02 35 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 08-15 Day 2: 5 08-03
67. Frank Talley Temple, TX 7 16-11 34 $2,500.00
Day 1: 5 14-07 Day 2: 2 02-04
68. Keith Combs Huntington, TX 9 16-03 33
Day 1: 4 07-05 Day 2: 5 08-14
69. Mark Menendez Paducah, KY 5 15-00 32
Day 1: 5 15-00 Day 2: 0 00-00
70. Carl Jocumsen Queensland AUSTRALIA 7 15-00 31
Day 1: 5 09-06 Day 2: 2 05-10
71. Todd Auten Lake Wylie, SC 9 14-14 30
Day 1: 5 06-00 Day 2: 4 08-14
72. Justin Hamner Northport, AL 9 14-13 29
Day 1: 4 07-00 Day 2: 5 07-13
73. Skylar Hamilton Dandridge, TN 9 14-06 28
Day 1: 4 05-10 Day 2: 5 08-12
74. Shane LeHew Catawba, NC 6 14-05 27
Day 1: 4 07-00 Day 2: 2 07-05
75. Hunter Shryock Ooltewah, TN 7 14-00 26
Day 1: 4 09-11 Day 2: 3 04-05
76. Koby Kreiger Alva, FL 7 13-15 25
Day 1: 2 02-05 Day 2: 5 11-10
77. Mike Huff London, KY 10 13-14 24
Day 1: 5 07-10 Day 2: 5 06-04
78. Rick Clunn Ava, MO 5 13-00 23
Day 1: 1 03-14 Day 2: 4 09-02
79. Alex Redwine Blue Ash, OH 7 12-15 22
Day 1: 5 09-15 Day 2: 2 03-00
80. Pat Schlapper Eleva, WI 7 12-03 21
Day 1: 5 10-08 Day 2: 2 01-11
81. Joshua Stracner Vandiver, AL 8 12-02 20
Day 1: 5 06-08 Day 2: 3 05-10
82. Darold Gleason Many, LA 6 11-15 19
Day 1: 4 07-03 Day 2: 2 04-12
83. Jesse Tacoronte Kissimmee, FL 6 11-15 18
Day 1: 3 04-13 Day 2: 3 07-02
84. Jacob Foutz Charleston, TN 5 11-10 17
Day 1: 3 08-14 Day 2: 2 02-12
85. Kenta Kimura Osaka JAPAN 4 11-03 16
Day 1: 3 04-11 Day 2: 1 06-08
86. Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 5 09-03 15
Day 1: 3 05-04 Day 2: 2 03-15
87. Steve Kennedy Auburn, AL 6 09-01 14
Day 1: 1 01-11 Day 2: 5 07-06
88. KJ Queen Catawba, NC 6 08-13 13
Day 1: 2 03-15 Day 2: 4 04-14
89. Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 4 06-14 12
Day 1: 2 03-12 Day 2: 2 03-02
90. Derek Hudnall Denham Springs, LA 3 04-11 11
Day 1: 3 04-11 Day 2: 0 00-00
91. Brad Whatley Bivins, TX 3 04-10 10
Day 1: 2 03-09 Day 2: 1 01-01
92. David Fritts Lexington, NC 2 03-15 9
Day 1: 1 02-06 Day 2: 1 01-09
93. Michael Iaconelli Pittsgrove, NJ 3 03-06 8
Day 1: 1 00-14 Day 2: 2 02-08
94. Daisuke Aoki Minamitsurugun Yamanash 2 03-04 7
Day 1: 0 00-00 Day 2: 2 03-04
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 09-13 $1,000.00
2 Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 09-07 $1,000.00

VMC MONSTER BAG
Day
1 John Crews Jr Salem, VA 28-00 $0.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 59 393 1045-09
2 50 363 887-09

by AnglersChannel

MLF PRO CIRCUIT ANGLER SCOTT DOBSON KICKS OFF 2022 SEASON JOINING AMERICAN BAITWORKS

OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI – February 11, 2022.

American Baitworks is excited to announce the addition of Major League Fishing Pro Circuit angler Scott Dobson to our pro fishing team. Scott will represent all American Baitworks brands; BaitFuel, NetBait, Halo Fishing Rods, Snag Proof, Scum Frog, Freedom Tackle, and STH Bait Co.

Dobson with American Baitworks Pro’s Cliff Crochet (MLF), Greg Vinson (MLF), JT Kenney (MLF), Jeremy Lawyer (MLF), Bryan Thrift (MLF), Lee Livesay (Bassmaster Elite), Justin Hamner (Bassmaster Elite), Scott Canterbury (Bassmaster Elite), Matt Robertson (Bassmaster Elite), Bryan New (Bassmaster Elite), Matty Wong (Bassmaster Elite), Chris Zaldain (Bassmaster Elite) and Patrick Walters (Bassmaster Elite).

Scott Dobson

Dobson is a pro angler who has a reputation for smallmouth fishing in Northern bodies of water. He is a bonafide Smallmouth Sniper and takes a technical approach to fishing which plays into his core strengths fishing smallmouth throughout the Great Lakes as well as Lake St. Clair and the St. Lawrence River.

“Joining the American Baitworks team is tremendously exciting for me personally as I start the 2022 season,” says Dobson. “Between the performance of the Freedom Tackle’s new lineup of terminal tackle as well as NetBait’s STH Finesse Series baits and the upcoming launch of BaitFuel, I know I am partnered with a company and a team focused on innovation and growth."

Scott has eight career wins and 60 top tens’. He also holds the 2019 Toyota Series Angler of the year title as well as the 2020 and 2016 Toyota Series Champion titles.

by AnglersChannel

Falcon Rods Signs On As New Bassmaster Rookie Of The Year Sponsor

February 11, 2022

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Falcon Rods, which has designed and built specialty rods since 1990, will serve as the title sponsor for the hotly contested Bassmaster Rookie of the Year award.

“We’re excited that Falcon Rods has decided to encourage and reward up-and-coming anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series by sponsoring Rookie of the Year,” said Chase Anderson, B.A.S.S. CEO. “The 10 rookies who qualified for the Bassmaster Elite Series this year are incredibly strong and include highly decorated and successful college anglers, former champions on other tours and celebrated international competitors.”

The 2022 Elite Series field will feature 13 new anglers this season; however, any angler who has combined earnings of at least $500,000 with B.A.S.S., FLW and MLF is not considered a rookie.

The 10 talented rookies who qualified through the Bassmaster Opens includes Japanese anglers Masayuki Matsushita and Daisuke Aoki, who finished second and third respectively in the 2021 Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year overall points race. The rookie anglers who qualified through the Central Opens are former Bassmaster College Classic Bracket winner Cody Huff of Ava, Mo., Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., and Joseph Webster of Winfield, Ala. Another former Bassmaster College Classic Bracket winner, Jacob Foutz of Charleston, Tenn., and Josh Douglas of Isle, Minn., qualified via the Southern Opens. Jonathan Kelley of Old Forge, Pa., and Alex Redwine of Blue Ash, Ohio, earned invitations through the Northern Opens to round out the rookie class of Opens anglers.

Matty Wong of Ventura, Calif., will also join the rookie class after winning the 2021 TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Louisiana’s Ouachita River.

The Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year award will be presented to the rookie who ranks highest in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year race by the end of the season.

The 2021 Rookie of the Year race came down to the last event, where the ultimate ROY winner Josh Stracner climbed over four other anglers — including Bryan New, who won the season-opening AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River — in the final event to claim victory.

“We are excited to work alongside B.A.S.S. and support what is always a dynamic competition among up-and-coming pros,” said Chris Beckwith, Falcon Rods Vice President of Marketing. “There’s no doubt that some of the 2022 Bassmaster Elite rookie class will be future household names.”

The Falcon Rods Bassmaster Rookie of the Year points race is currently underway at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite on St. Johns River.

by AnglersChannel

MLF 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Heritage Cup Filmed in Knoxville Set to Premiere on Outdoor Channel

Twenty-Four MLF Anglers Compete on Douglas and Fort Loudoun Lakes over Six Days for Prestigious Heritage Cup

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 11, 2022) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Heritage Cup Presented by Magellan Outdoors, filmed over six days in October in the Knoxville area, is set to premiere tomorrow, Feb. 12, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET on the Outdoor Channel and on-demand on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) streaming app. The event showcases 24 of the top pro anglers in the world competing in the second MLF Cup event of the 2022 season.

"It was a great week showcasing our region for this MLF Heritage Cup,” said Chad Culver, Senior Director of the Visit Knoxville Sports Commission. “We are very blessed to have numerous fisheries able to do an event of this magnitude along with our partners in Jefferson County. I can't wait to watch the episodes starting this week to see who pulled off the victory.”

The first episode, set to premiere Saturday, features the eight anglers in Group 1 competing in their opening Elimination Round. Episode two features the eight anglers in Group 2; Episode three will feature the eight anglers in Group 3. The top six finishers from each group’s Elimination Round advance to the two-day Sudden Death Round – episodes four and five – where nine anglers compete each day and try to finish in the top four. The sixth and final episode will feature the final eight anglers competing in the Championship Round to catch the most weight that they can to be crowned the 2022 Heritage Cup Champion.

The 24 Anglers that compete in the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Heritage Cup Presented by Magellan Outdoors in Knoxville are:

Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J.
Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz.
Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark.
Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan.
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.
Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark.
Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn.
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif.
James Elam, Tulsa, Okla.
Paul Elias, Petal, Miss.
Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas
Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C.
Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas
Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C.
Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn.
John Murray, Spring City, Tenn.
Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C.
Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn.
Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark.
Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas
Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La.
Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala.
Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala.

The 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Heritage Cup Presented by Magellan Outdoors was hosted by the Visit Knoxville Sports Commission and Jefferson County, Tennessee. The event will air on the Outdoor Channel as six, two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting Feb. 12, 2022, and running through March 19, airing from 2 to 4 p.m. ET. Each episode is available for viewing on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) streaming app on the Monday morning following each episode’s Saturday premiere.

The 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Heritage Cup Presented by Magellan Outdoors features 24 MLF pro anglers visiting the Knoxville area to compete on Douglas Lake and different zones of Fort Loudoun Lake on each day of competition. The fisheries are unknown to the anglers – they do not learn where they are competing until they arrive to the launch ramp each morning of competition.

The full television schedule can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the MLF Cup 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

BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES ANGLER MATT ‘ON ‘EM’ ROBERTSON HOPS ON THE SCUM FROG TEAM

OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI – February 11, 2022.

American Baitworks is excited to announce the addition of Bassmaster Elite Series angler Matt Robertson to our pro fishing team representing Scum Frog.

Robertson joins American Baitworks Pro’s Cliff Crochet (MLF), Greg Vinson (MLF), JT Kenney (MLF), Jeremy Lawyer (MLF), Bryan Thrift (MLF), Scott Dobson (MLF), Lee Livesay (Bassmaster Elite), Justin Hamner (Bassmaster Elite), Scott Canterbury (Bassmaster Elite), Bryan New (Bassmaster Elite), Matty Wong (Bassmaster Elite) Chris Zaldain (Bassmaster Elite) and Patrick Walters (Bassmaster Elite).

Matt Robertson

Robertson has quickly become one of the most recognizable anglers fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series. Matt’s no-nonsense, downhome personality and friendly, competitive attitude has made him popular amongst fans and his Bassmaster competitors. Robertson’s personality fits the Scum Frog brand effortlessly, and his journey to the Elite Series is relatable to all.

Robertson starts his 2022 season having qualified for the Bassmaster Classic three times and multiple top-ten finishes.

“I love throwing hollow-bodied frogs almost any time of year and am excited to partner with Scum Frog and show off the performance of our products,” said Matt Robertson. “The Launch Frog and Trophy Series Fro

by AnglersChannel

BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES ANGLER PATRICK WALTERS KICKS OFF 2022 SEASON JOINING AMERICAN BAITWORKS

OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI – February 11, 2022.

American Baitworks is excited to announce the addition of Bassmaster Elite Series angler Patrick Walters to our pro fishing team. Walters will represent American Baitworks brand BaitFuel Fish Attractant.

Walters joins American Baitworks Pro’s Cliff Crochet (MLF), Greg Vinson (MLF), JT Kenney (MLF), Jeremy Lawyer (MLF), Bryan Thrift (MLF), Scott Dobson (MLF), Lee Livesay (Bassmaster Elite), Justin Hamner (Bassmaster Elite), Scott Canterbury (Bassmaster Elite), Bryan New (Bassmaster Elite), Matty Wong (Bassmaster Elite), Matt Robertson (Bassmaster Elite) and Chris Zaldain (Bassmaster Elite).

Patrick Walters

Patrick Walters is no stranger to the tournament setting. Fishing for the University of South Carolina during his college years, Walters and his tournament partner took home the Title in a Carhartt Bassmaster College Series event at Winyah Bay in 2017. Winning the Bassmaster Open the following year at the Red River landed him a seat in the Bassmaster Elite Series, and his momentum has only picked up since then. In 2020 Walters won a Bassmaster Open at Lake Hartwell as well as the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest at Lake Fork where in 2021, he gained his Century Belt. It’s safe to say that Walters has made his lifelong dream of becoming a professional angler a reality and keeping up with the newest and strongest products in fishing is no different.

by AnglersChannel

BASSMASTER ELITE SERIES’ BRYAN NEW FUELS HIS BITES WITH BAITFUEL FROM AMERICAN BAITWORKS

OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI – February 11, 2022.

American Baitworks is excited to announce the addition of Bassmaster Elite Series angler Bryan New to our pro fishing team. Bryan enters the 2022 season representing American Baitworks brand BaitFuel Fish Attractant.

New joins American Baitworks Pro’s Cliff Crochet (MLF), Greg Vinson (MLF), JT Kenney (MLF), Jeremy Lawyer (MLF), Bryan Thrift (MLF), Scott Dobson (MLF), Lee Livesay (Bassmaster Elite), Justin Hamner (Bassmaster Elite), Scott Canterbury (Bassmaster Elite), Matt Robertson (Bassmaster Elite), Matty Wong (Bassmaster Elite), Chris Zaldain (Bassmaster Elite) and Patrick Walters (Bassmaster Elite).

Bryan New

One of the hottest new anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bryan New may still be considered a rookie, but he is a veteran when it comes to tournament fishing. Entering his second season on the Bassmaster Elite Series, he has fished with the greatest anglers of all time, like good friend and Major League Fishing Pro Bryan Thrift and the legendary JT Kenney. New understands being ahead of the game with the right tools and technology and adding BaitFuel Fish Attractant to his lineup will give him a proven scientific advantage on the water.

“I have always been a believer in adding scent on my baits, and now with Bait Fuel in the game, it’s always on the deck of my boat and on my baits,” said Bryan New, “Unlike other scents on the market, I can add Bait Fuel Fish Attractant gel to any of my baits! This stuff is the juice!”

Two first-place finishes and multiple top ten’s as well as a win in 2019 during the Ray Scott Championship, 2016 Co-Angler of the Year, four wins including 2014 FLW Cup win as a Co-Angler and over 40 top tens’ during his time competing in Major League Fishing Pro Circuit Events (formerly FLW Tour). New returns this week to the St John’s River where he won in 2021 and expects BaitFuel will play a big role in targeting giant, Florida-strain largemouth bass.

by AnglersChannel

Bradley Roy Earns First Career MLF Bass Pro Tour Win at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One

Covercraft Pro Weighs in 26 Pounds, 2 Ounces to Earn First Win and $100,000, For Second Consecutive Day, Howell Weighs Heaviest Bass in Bass Pro Tour History with a 12-14

MONROE-WEST MONROE, La. (Feb. 10, 2022) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole in Monroe-West Monroe, Louisiana, won’t necessarily be remembered for the number of fish caught, but it will go down in the history books for the size of the fish caught.

In an incredible day of fishing on Bussey Brake, the final 10 Bass Pro Tour anglers caught 31 scorable bass weighing 163 pounds, 2 ounces – an average weight of 5 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch included three 7-pounders, one 8-pounder, two 9-pounders and one 12-pounder, a remarkable day that had the professional bass fishing world buzzing.

After the final fish had hit the SCORETRACKER™ leaderboard Thursday evening, it was Covercraft pro Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, whose name remained at the top. Roy weighed in five bass totaling 26 pounds, 2 ounces, enough to hold off a hard-charging Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas, by a 1-pound, 3-ounce margin.

“Man, this has been a long time coming. God gets all the glory for this one, because I tried every way in the world to mess this one up,” Roy said in his post-game interview. “The third period for me was miserable. I just felt like I was taking blow after blow. Randy (Howell) catches a 12. Jordan Lee was coming – I knew he wouldn’t quit. Then Alton (Jones) – I could see him. I could see (Bryan) Thrift. They were all catching them, and I couldn’t get a bite.

“SCORETRACKER is bad when you’re around the cut, but it was another level this afternoon,” Roy continued. “I just kept looking down at the clock and listening to my official. Every time he’d clear his throat and get ready to speak again my heart would just drop. I’m just so grateful that I had enough weight. To come out on top is pretty special.”

Roy spent the day flipping bushes and isolated pieces of structure with a beaver-style bait, using a 7-foot, 6-inch Ark Essence Series flipping stick with a 7:1 gear ratio reel, spooled with 22-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon line and a 3/8-ounce Ark tungsten weight.

“I think the baby pattern must be the deal,” Roy said, of his new son Lucas who was just born in August. “Everyone always says – you have a new baby, and you win a tournament. Well, we just had Lucas, and now I win. I think there might be something to that.”

For the second consecutive day, pro Randy Howell of Guntersville, Alabama , broke the Bass Pro Tour record for heaviest bass ever weighed in during competition. After earning Wednesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award for his then record-setting 10-pound, 11-ounce giant from Caney Creek, Howell backed it up on Thursday with a new record-setting 12-pound, 14-ounce lunker – a new Bass Pro Tour record and a new lake record for Bussey Brake. Howell also won Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award and earned the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the overall largest bass of the event.

“Overall, I didn’t catch many bass this week, but I made it all the way to sixth place,” Howell said. “It just goes to show you that one flip, one cast can change your whole life. Never give up, fish to the last minute and good things will happen.

“I never really found what I know this lake is capable of, but we ended up a lot better than how we started today,” Howell continued. “Towards the end of the day I was flipping the old (Yamamoto) Senko – and the big one bit. It was a black and blue Senko, with a red Bass Pro XPS tungsten weight – I think the red gives it a little flash – and I threw it on a 7-foot, 6-inch Daiwa Ish Monroe Flipping Stick with a 8:1 Daiwa Tatula reel and 22-pound Daiwa Fluorocarbon line.”

The top 10 pros at the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole finished:

1^st:          Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 26-2, $100,000
2^nd:         Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, five bass, 24-15, $45,000
3^rd:         Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 24-9, $38,000
4^th:         Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., four bass, 23-15, $32,000
5^th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, four bass, 18-13, $30,000
6^th:         Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., two bass, 16-3, $26,000
7^th:         Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., three bass, 13-6, $23,000
8^th:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., two bass, 11-4, $28,000
9^th:         Shinichi Fukae, Osaka, Japan, one bass, 3-15, $19,000
10^th:       Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., zero bass, $16,000

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

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole featured anglers competing with a 1-pound, 8-ounce minimum weight requirement on Lake D’Arbonne, and a 2-pound minimum weight requirement on Caney Creek and Bussey Brake 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 B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole, hosted by Discover Monroe-West Monroe, showcased 80 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world competing over six days for a total purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 3 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

by AnglersChannel

Crews Leverages Two-Stage Strategy To Lead Bassmaster Elite On St. Johns

John Crews of Salem, Va., is leading after Day 1 of the 2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River with 28 pounds.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 10, 2022

PALATKA, Fla. — Looking past current conditions and considering the forthcoming weather patterns, John Crews of Salem, Va., employed a two-stage strategy and sacked up a Day 1 limit of 28 pounds to lead the season-opening AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River.

Leading Bob Downey of Hudson, Wis., by 12 ounces, Crews also sits atop the VMC Monster Bag standings for the event’s heaviest limit.

Following the miserably rainy, cold conditions that plagued practice, Day 1 dawned clear and bright. It was definitely a postfrontal, high-pressure scenario, but air temperatures quickly rose and spurred the fish.

“At the beginning of practice, I was practicing for these conditions, so it made me look really smart, like I made a good decision,” Crews said. “Hopefully, it will hold up. I think we’ll have the same weather tomorrow.”

Running upriver from Palatka, Crews started his day in Rodman Reservoir. While 22 other boats passed through the Buckman Lock with him, Crews said he never felt cramped or crowded. Covering a 2-mile area, he had to hit several spots to secure a limit.

“There was no aggregation of boats; there were three or four boats in sight of where I was at, but nobody was on top of anybody,” Crews said. “I don’t think anything is that good — at least I didn’t find it.

“It was one here, one there, one here. Then, at the end of the day, it was like, ‘You smoked them.’ But it wasn’t like that.”

Anchoring his bag with an 8-1, Crews said he used multiple techniques in Rodman and combined moving baits with slower presentations.

“I used these baits in relationship to similar places,” he said. “All the places I fished in Rodman were similar. I think I can go back tomorrow and catch some more fish, but catching big fish like that — I don’t know.”

Around 1 p.m., Crews locked out of Rodman. While he waited, he spoke with the Bassmaster LIVE crew and told them his plan was to return to the St. Johns and look for another big bite. He checked that box around 2:45 by relocating to a familiar spot and adding a 4 1/2-pounder.

“I had some things in mind; I tried some offshore stuff and I tried some other shallow stuff,” Crews said. “It’s an area where I’ve caught some in the past. I caught a 2 1/4-pounder and then I caught that 4 1/2 and then I left. It’s one of those places where you can usually catch one or two, but I’ve never caught a limit there.”

As Crews explained, his decision to leave Rodman was based on factors beyond his control.

“With (Rodman), you have to lock when you can lock (based on the predetermined schedule),” he said. “I thought, ‘When I come back to the river, maybe I can get another bite or two, and maybe it will help me at some point.’ It helped me today.”

Overcoming an early mechanical issue, Downey placed second with 27-4. He would eventually leave the water around 11:30 a.m. to have the service crew address the issues, but not before reaching his planned destination south of Palatka.

“I limped down to my area and had all my weight by 10 o’clock,” Downey said. “I caught a good fish in that area in practice and I think the weather conditions set up right — the cold last night just sucked them into this area. I only caught five fish today.

“I would have loved to have gone and practiced elsewhere today; I had some stuff south of Lake George and I would have loved to run some canals later today just to see if I could find a bigger one, but I didn’t do that because I didn’t know if I could get back or not.”

Downey caught his fish in what he described as a backwater creek. He caught his fish off the bank and used his Humminbird 360 to locate key areas. Winding a reaction bait produced all of his fish.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., is in third place with 22 pounds. Starting with a solid game plan, Blaylock realized the situation was not going to produce, so he made a wholesale change and salvaged his day.

“There are a couple of little places that people keep overlooking and every year that I’ve caught them (well) here, I’ve caught some key fish in those areas and this year was no different,” Blaylock said. “I just happened to catch a couple of really nice ones midday that really helped the cause.

“In my primary stuff, only one place out of all the stuff I’d found in practice had a fish on it. I just got one bite and that was it. Hopefully, there’s enough left in that backup spot to carry me on to a Top 10.”

Blaylock caught his bass on a trio of moving baits. His strategy was to “buzz through” the area to locate active fish that were positioning off the bank in open water.

“I definitely left them biting today,” he said. “But it’s not like you just pull up and just throw at one spot and catch them; you have to work hard to get those bites.”

Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 9-13 largemouth.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. ET from Palatka City Docks. The weigh-in will be held at Palatka Riverfront Park at 3:30 p.m.

After Friday’s weigh-in, the Top 47 remaining anglers will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

2022 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/10-2/13
St. Johns River, Palatka FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 1

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 5 28-00 100
Day 1: 5 28-00
2. Bob Downey Hudson, WI 5 27-04 99
Day 1: 5 27-04
3. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 5 22-00 98
Day 1: 5 22-00
4. Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 5 20-04 97
Day 1: 5 20-04
5. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 5 20-00 96
Day 1: 5 20-00
6. Matty Wong Honolulu, HI 5 19-14 95
Day 1: 5 19-14
7. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 5 19-07 94
Day 1: 5 19-07
8. Chris Zaldain Fort Worth, TX 5 19-03 93
Day 1: 5 19-03
9. Chad Pipkens DeWitt, MI 5 19-00 92
Day 1: 5 19-00
10. Lee Livesay Longview, TX 5 18-15 91
Day 1: 5 18-15
11. Bryan New Saluda, SC 5 18-11 90
Day 1: 5 18-11
12. Jonathan Kelley Old Forge, PA 5 18-04 89
Day 1: 5 18-04
13. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 5 17-12 88
Day 1: 5 17-12
14. Chris Johnston Otonabee Ontario CANADA 5 17-09 87
Day 1: 5 17-09
15. Buddy Gross Chatanooga, TN 5 17-02 86
Day 1: 5 17-02
16. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 5 16-07 85
Day 1: 5 16-07
17. Taku Ito Chiba JAPAN 5 16-04 84
Day 1: 5 16-04
18. Seth Feider New Market, MN 5 15-00 83
Day 1: 5 15-00
18. Marc Frazier Newnan, GA 5 15-00 83
Day 1: 5 15-00
18. Mark Menendez Paducah, KY 5 15-00 83
Day 1: 5 15-00
21. Justin Atkins Florence, AL 5 14-13 80
Day 1: 5 14-13
22. Brandon Card Salisbury, NC 5 14-10 79
Day 1: 5 14-10
23. Frank Talley Temple, TX 5 14-07 78
Day 1: 5 14-07
24. Chad Morgenthaler Reeds Spring, MO 5 14-05 77
Day 1: 5 14-05
25. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 5 14-02 76
Day 1: 5 14-02
26. Wes Logan Springville, AL 5 13-15 75
Day 1: 5 13-15
27. Hank Cherry Jr Lincolnton, NC 5 13-14 74
Day 1: 5 13-14
28. Jay Yelas Turner, OR 5 13-12 73
Day 1: 5 13-12
29. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 5 13-07 72
Day 1: 5 13-07
30. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 5 13-04 71
Day 1: 5 13-04
31. Clent Davis Montevallo, AL 5 13-02 70
Day 1: 5 13-02
32. Gregory DiPalma Millville, NJ 5 13-01 69
Day 1: 5 13-01
33. Jay Przekurat Stevens Point, WI 4 13-01 68
Day 1: 4 13-01
34. Matt Robertson Kuttawa, KY 5 13-00 67
Day 1: 5 13-00
35. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 5 12-13 66
Day 1: 5 12-13
35. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 5 12-13 66
Day 1: 5 12-13
37. Austin Felix Eden Prairie, MN 5 12-12 64
Day 1: 5 12-12
37. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 5 12-12 64
Day 1: 5 12-12
39. Matt Herren Ashville, AL 5 12-10 62
Day 1: 5 12-10
40. Gary Clouse Winchester, TN 5 12-04 61
Day 1: 5 12-04
41. Masayuki Matsushita Tokoname-Shi JAPAN 5 12-01 60
Day 1: 5 12-01
42. Jason Williamson Wagener, SC 5 11-14 59
Day 1: 5 11-14
43. Tyler Rivet Raceland, LA 5 11-13 58
Day 1: 5 11-13
44. David Williams Newton, NC 5 11-11 57
Day 1: 5 11-11
45. Drew Benton Blakely, GA 5 11-05 56
Day 1: 5 11-05
45. Joseph Webster Hamilton, AL 5 11-05 56
Day 1: 5 11-05
47. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 5 11-03 54
Day 1: 5 11-03
48. Luke Palmer Coalgate, OK 5 10-14 53
Day 1: 5 10-14
49. Jason Christie Park Hill, OK 4 10-14 52
Day 1: 4 10-14
50. Pat Schlapper Eleva, WI 5 10-08 51
Day 1: 5 10-08
51. Alex Redwine Blue Ash, OH 5 09-15 50
Day 1: 5 09-15
52. Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 1 09-13 49
Day 1: 1 09-13
53. Hunter Shryock Ooltewah, TN 4 09-11 48
Day 1: 4 09-11
54. Gerald Swindle Guntersville, AL 5 09-10 47
Day 1: 5 09-10
55. Caleb Kuphall Mukwonago, WI 2 09-08 46
Day 1: 2 09-08
56. Cody Huff Ava, MO 5 09-07 45
Day 1: 5 09-07
57. John Cox Debary, FL 5 09-06 44
Day 1: 5 09-06
57. Carl Jocumsen Queensland AUSTRALIA 5 09-06 44
Day 1: 5 09-06
59. Scott Martin Clewiston, FL 4 09-05 42
Day 1: 4 09-05
60. Jeff Gustafson Keewatin Ontario CANADA 5 09-03 41
Day 1: 5 09-03
61. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 5 08-15 40
Day 1: 5 08-15
62. Jacob Foutz Charleston, TN 3 08-14 39
Day 1: 3 08-14
63. Caleb Sumrall New Iberia, LA 4 08-11 38
Day 1: 4 08-11
64. Jacob Powroznik North Prince George, VA 4 08-09 37
Day 1: 4 08-09
65. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 3 08-07 36
Day 1: 3 08-07
66. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 4 08-04 35
Day 1: 4 08-04
67. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 5 08-00 34
Day 1: 5 08-00
68. Mike Huff London, KY 5 07-10 33
Day 1: 5 07-10
69. Cory Johnston Cavan CANADA 4 07-07 32
Day 1: 4 07-07
70. Keith Combs Huntington, TX 4 07-05 31
Day 1: 4 07-05
71. Darold Gleason Many, LA 4 07-03 30
Day 1: 4 07-03
72. Justin Hamner Northport, AL 4 07-00 29
Day 1: 4 07-00
72. Shane LeHew Catawba, NC 4 07-00 29
Day 1: 4 07-00
74. Ed Loughran III Richmond, VA 4 06-14 27
Day 1: 4 06-14
75. Joshua Stracner Vandiver, AL 5 06-08 26
Day 1: 5 06-08
76. Todd Auten Lake Wylie, SC 5 06-00 25
Day 1: 5 06-00
77. Clark Wendlandt Leander, TX 2 05-14 24
Day 1: 2 05-14
78. Skylar Hamilton Dandridge, TN 4 05-10 23
Day 1: 4 05-10
79. Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 3 05-04 22
Day 1: 3 05-04
80. Jesse Tacoronte Kissimmee, FL 3 04-13 21
Day 1: 3 04-13
81. Derek Hudnall Denham Springs, LA 3 04-11 20
Day 1: 3 04-11
81. Kenta Kimura Osaka JAPAN 3 04-11 20
Day 1: 3 04-11
83. Brock Mosley Collinsville, MS 3 04-09 18
Day 1: 3 04-09
84. Drew Cook Cairo, GA 3 04-00 17
Day 1: 3 04-00
85. KJ Queen Catawba, NC 2 03-15 16
Day 1: 2 03-15
86. Rick Clunn Ava, MO 1 03-14 15
Day 1: 1 03-14
87. Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 2 03-12 14
Day 1: 2 03-12
88. Brad Whatley Bivins, TX 2 03-09 13
Day 1: 2 03-09
89. Josh Douglas Isle, MN 1 02-07 12
Day 1: 1 02-07
90. David Fritts Lexington, NC 1 02-06 11
Day 1: 1 02-06
91. Koby Kreiger Alva, FL 2 02-05 10
Day 1: 2 02-05
92. Steve Kennedy Auburn, AL 1 01-11 9
Day 1: 1 01-11
93. Michael Iaconelli Pitts Grove, NJ 1 00-14 8
Day 1: 1 00-14
94. Daisuke Aoki Minamitsurugun Yamanash 0 00-00 0
Day 1: 0 00-00
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Brandon Cobb Greenwood, SC 09-13 $1000.00

VMC MONSTER BAG
Day
1 John Crews Jr Salem, VA 28-00 $0.00

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 59 393 1045-09

by AnglersChannel

Elite Series rookie Cody Huff isn’t tied in knots

Courtesy of Alan McGuckin / Dynamic Sponsorships

The lifelong dream of a kid from rural Southwest Missouri came true on a frosty Thursday morning at the St. Johns River in Palatka River as Cody Huff tied his Nitro to a dock, and waited to make his first cast moments later as a Bassmaster Elite Series pro.

Turns out the rope in his hands was as new as his pro career.

“My mind is in the right place, and my nerves are good, but I had a really weird wiring issue in my boat yesterday. So I bought this new dock rope at Bass Pro Shops in Gainesville yesterday while the folks in their boat service department were working hard to get me fixed-up,” smiled the always easy going Huff.

Huff is absolutely one of the most talented and accomplished bass anglers in the world under the age of 25, but until practice started Sunday, he had never made a cast on the St. Johns.

“I found one area in practice where I caught two 7-pounders. So, my plan for today is to go to that area, stay focused, keep the trolling motor in the water, and fish it super thoroughly,” says Huff.

“Because even though the fishing has been tough, I’m confident if I can get five bites in that area, they’ll be the quality I need to do really well,” he reasons.

Frosty coolness in his veins. A new dock rope in his hands. Dreams in his heart. And a solid game plan in his head.

Keep a close eye on Cody Huff, fishing fans. He may only be age 24, but he’s going to be a major player in this sport for a very long time.

by AnglersChannel

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