Third year Invitationals pro battles through wind and sets the bar high with 29-12

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb. 21, 2025) – Though Day 1 of Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 1 Presented by VOSKER on the Kissimmee Chain was far from balmy, which can often make for a tough bite in Florida, the fishing proved solid. A strong north wind made large swaths of Kissimmee barely fishable, and the going was slow in the morning. But by weigh-in, the quality of the field shone through.

Leading the way, pro Ryan Armstrong of Robinson, Illinois, blasted 29 pounds, 12 ounces to claim a solid lead of nearly 4 pounds. In second, pro Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, snatched up 25-13, and Berrien Springs, Michigan’s Ron Nelson caught 23-1 for third place. Three more anglers brought in 20-pound bags, and a bunch of pros got into the mid-teens, putting themselves within striking distance if they can land a couple of the big bass Florida is known for.

Competitors will conclude the two-day opening round on Saturday, with only the top 30 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advancing to Championship Sunday. The three-day tournament, hosted by Experience Kissimmee, features pro anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and valuable points to qualify for the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship in September.

“I practiced hard, like everybody else, from sunrise to sunset and kept the trolling motor down and fished a lot of water,” Armstrong said. “A couple times, I got around a lot of bites. I think I have two or three areas that I have a whole lot of faith in. I shook the fish off for the most part in practice, and so I just went to where I thought I had the best bites. I started there this morning, and I never left.”

Fishing away from most of the field, Armstrong caught fish early and often.

“I had a limit pretty quick, and I left around noon,” he said. “I just took my time getting back in and making sure I was in safe.”

While leading an Invitationals event isn’t a familiar position for Armstrong, he’s feeling good.

“I feel very, very comfortable fishing grass,” he explained. “I feel very, very comfortable in the area that I’m in. I know what’s going on. And what I’ve seen today, I learned a lot about my area that I wasn’t able to learn in practice, because I didn’t want to expose the fish anymore.

“So, today was a really good learning day for me about my area, which really is probably more important than what my weight was. Because I think I’m going to be more efficient, and I have a better idea of how many fish are around me to manage it.”

Armstrong hasn’t declared victory yet, and he’d be a little premature to call game, especially with last week’s Bass Pro Tour winner on the Harris Chain, Bobby Lane, lurking in the Top 10 along with a bevy of high-level talent within striking distance. But he couldn’t ask for a better way to open the season.

“It feels great, man,” said Armstrong. “But it’s far from over.  I’m nowhere near what we want. This is a long road, and it was a good Day 1. But we want to win, and we’re going to try to do everything in order to make it happen.”

Despite the new rules limiting forward-facing sonar this year, second-place angler Drew Gill was likely a fixture in most Phoenix Fantasy Fishing rosters, and he rewarded his faithful on Day 1. Knocking their lights out as he is known to do, the young Illinois pro is in striking position again.

“I went out there and executed the game plan,” said Gill. “It was a pretty high-risk approach, fishing isolated targets for isolated big ones. I caught eight or nine bass today and caught them all on the spinning rod – a pretty unique deal for here.”

With his echolocation machines turned off on Day 2, Gill is planning on making some pretty big changes.

“I’m going to fish mostly new water,” he said. “A little bit of the same stuff less precisely, but most of my stretches just don’t have enough of a population to catch them blind. I mean, you would throw for four hours before ever hitting a single bass.

“We’re going to try and hold serve for the last day and see if we can’t pull off something crazy,” he said. “I know 30 is doable doing what I’m doing, and I want to get another shot at it on Day 3. So, we’ve got to make it through tomorrow.”

The top 20 pros after Day 1 on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes are:

1st:        Ryan Armstrong, Robinson, Ill., five bass, 29-12
2nd:       Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., five bass, 25-13
3rd:       Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 23-1
4th:        Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, five bass, 21-14
5th:        Troy Stokes, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 21-12
6th:        Kennie Steverson, Umatilla, Fla., five bass, 20-3
7th:        Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., five bass, 19-4
8th:        Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 18-14
9th:        Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., five bass, 18-14
10th:     Joseph Webster, Hamilton, Ala., five bass, 18-13
11th:     Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 18-10
12th:     Bryson O’Steen, Live Oak, Fla., five bass, 18-8
13th:     Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., five bass, 17-7
14th:     Bobby Bakewell, Orlando, Fla., five bass, 17-7
15th:     John Brown, Wedowee, Ala., five bass, 17-0
16th:     Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas, five bass, 16-12
17th:     Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 16-10
18th:     Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 16-10
19th:     Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 16-6
20th:     Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 16-4

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

Pro Matt Reed earned the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award of the year, Friday, with a largemouth bass that weighed in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces.

In Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field compete in the two-day opening round on Days 1 and 2 in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 30 pros, based on their two-day cumulative weight, advance to the final round on Championship Sunday, where they will compete for the grand prize of up to $115,000. The winner of the Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by VOSKER will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight.

Anglers will launch at 7 a.m. ET each morning from the Big Toho Marina, located at 69 Lakeview Drive in Kissimmee, Florida. Weigh-ins will be held at the marina and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and weigh-in events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 1 at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Presented by VOSKER will air as a two-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 4 on CBS Sports Network.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Bubba, Deep Dive App, E3 Sports Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, WIX Filters and YETI.

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

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.