Day: July 30, 2020, The National Angler

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. —

An afternoon decision paid off big for Jamie Hartman of Russellville, Ark., who nabbed a day-ending bonus that helped him claim the Day 1 lead of the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with 22 pounds, 1 ounce.

At the day’s conclusion, Hartman’s name appeared next to three of the Top 10 Big Bass — a 5-pounder, a 4-14 and a 4-4. He also added a 4-0 just 10 minutes before the weigh-ins opened at 3 p.m.

“I upgraded in the last few minutes on the way in; I was pretty much done and I just hit something on the way in, made three casts and caught a 4-pound smallmouth,” said Hartman, a native New Yorker. “That spot was just a steep drop with some grass on top of it.

“I’ve fished it in the past and I’ve never caught a big fish off of it, but I’ve caught some decent fish. I was basically scouting for tomorrow, so after catching a 4-pound smallmouth, I think they’re there.”

Hartman’s late-day bonus spot exemplified the type of habitat he eventually settled into. Finishing his day with a mixed bag of three smallmouth and two largemouth, Hartman actually got off to a slow start but eventually turned his day around by adjusting his location.

“I went up north and the water was so calm that it was tough for me to get bit at all,” he said. “I ground it out for a while, got a couple of bites and made one move. When I finally made the move to go fish what I wanted to fish, it all came together. I bounced around to several different spots within the same area, making decisions on what to fish.”

Hartman generally described his area as a mix of rock and grassbeds in 12 to 15 feet. The key, he said, was targeting the right type of grass, specifically taller patches of milfoil.

“I was watching my electronics and making sure I was around patches of grass,” he said. “I was making sure I was in the high enough grass.”

Hartman caught his bass on a mix of soft-plastic presentations. Although he tried to get the fish interested in reaction baits early, a Carolina rig proved most productive.

“I tried to catch them on a swimbait like I did in practice. But there was no wind, so they wouldn’t eat it,” he said.

With the grassy shallows of the Ticonderoga area at Champlain’s lower end presenting the tempting potential for big largemouth, Hartman admitted he considered making the 70-mile run.

“When I had a slow start, I thought I had made the wrong decision by not running to Ti, but I slowly started to put it together,” he said. “I just kept reminding myself: pick off one at a time. They’re good ones, so we’ll keep going.”

Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Ga., is in second place with 21-2. Noting that Champlain’s smallmouth have often confounded him in the past, Gross mainly focused on largemouth Thursday. But with the lake about 4 feet below normal, he caught them in places where he has targeted smallmouth.

“I had spent a lot of time looking for structure for smallmouth, but the largemouth took over some of my spots and it’s really helping a lot,” Gross said. “As low as the water is, it’s pulling the largemouth out to the first places on the drops, and it’s making them a little easier for me to find them.”

Fishing the lake’s north end, Gross caught his fish on a prototype bullethead jig from Nichols Lures with a Zoom Chunk trailer and a Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a Zoom Z-Craw trailer. The latter, he said, proved most strategic in finding his bites.

CHECK OUT ALL THE NEWEST GEAR FROM ICAST

“I used moving baits to cover a lot of water,” he said. “I haven’t been getting a ton of bites, but when I do, it has been quality. So, I’m having to run a whole lot of water.”

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., is in third place with 20-8. Targeting solely smallmouth, he committed to the lake’s north end where he targeted offshore humps, shoals and boulders in 15 to 40 feet.

“I caught my fish on a drop shot with a Yum Warning Shot and a 3/8-ounce weight,” Frazier said. “I had a midmorning flurry, and then I caught a couple of bigger ones later once the sun came out.”

Bryan Schmitt of Deale, Md., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-2 largemouth.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held back at the marina at 3 p.m.

Live coverage of the event will be available starting at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster LIVE at Bassmaster.com with simulcasts on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Check local listings for ESPN2 times.

The tournament is being hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, City of Plattsburgh and Clinton County.

LA CROSSE, Wis. (July 30, 2020) – Local pro Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard on day two of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries in La Crosse. Monsoor’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 28-11 will give him a 12-ounce advantage as the event enters into day three of competition in the four-day Super Tournament that features 200 of the world’s best bass-fishing anglers from FLW and Major League Fishing (MLF) competing for a top cash award of up to $160,000.

After starting the day in seventh place, Monsoor caught a limit in Pool No. 8 consisting of two smallmouth and three largemouth bass Thursday to move into first place. He says that the tournament is still completely up for grabs with two days of competition remaining and the fishery changing each day.

“I can’t believe that the River has been fishing as tough as it has been, but I had more weight today than I did yesterday so I guess it wasn’t too bad,” said Monsoor, a 17-year FLW pro veteran who has 25 previous top-10 finishes on the Mississippi River in FLW competition. “Yesterday I started out in Pool 7 and it did not work out. My two starting spots I didn’t get a bite – and I thought I could catch a limit at both. But that’s La Crosse – it can change overnight.

“Today I hunkered down in Pool 8 and it worked out a little better,” Monsoor continued. “I tried everything. I threw a topwater, I threw a popper, I threw a buzzbait, a football jig, a swimming jig, a Senko, and a homemade Bitsy Bug. All my weight is coming on the jig, but I’m trying other stuff. I see some big fish feeding but they ain’t biting. I don’t know why, yet.”

Monsoor said he remains on the lookout for the “big bite”, and that he almost had it in the boat late yesterday.

“Near the end of the day yesterday I thought I had snagged a stick, because it wasn’t fighting – it wasn’t moving. Then it came to the surface and opened its mouth – it was a 4- or 5-pounder – and the hook flew out. I’ve got good hooks, but the fish just didn’t get all of it. That bass would have been another couple of pounds, at least.

“That’s why this is still anybody’s tournament,” Monsoor went on to say. “I could get nothing tomorrow, and somebody else can catch a big bag. You can just stumble into them. I’m going to keep looking because I haven’t really found them yet.”

The top 20 pros after day two on the Mississippi River are:

            1^st:       Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., 10 bass, 28-11
            2^nd:      Scott Wiley of Bay Minette, Ala., 10 bass, 27-15
            3^rd:       Bailey Boutries of Daphne, Ala., 10 bass, 27-14
            4^th:       Zack Birge of Blanchard, Okla., 10 bass, 27-13
            5^th:       Bradford Beavers of Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 27-9
            6^th:       Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 27-4
            7^th:       Tyler Stewart of West Monroe, La., 10 bass, 27-3
            8^th:       Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-2
            9^th:       Clark Reehm of Elm Grove, La., 10 bass, 26-7
            10^th:     Clayton Batts of Butler, Ga., 10 bass, 26-1
            11^th:     Kyle Hall of Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 25-7
            12^th:     Matt Lee of Bremen, Ala., 10 bass, 25-7
            13^th:     David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-7
            14^th:     Mike McClelland of Blue Eye, Mo., 10 bass, 25-4
            15^th:     Jon Englund of Farwell, Minn., 10 bass, 25-1
            16^th:     Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., 10 bass, 25-1
            17^th:     David Gaston of Sylacauga, Ala., 10 bass, 24-15
            18^th:     Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., 10 bass, 24-13
            19^th:     Kurt Mitchell of Milford, Del., 10 bass, 24-12
            20^th:     Jesse Wiggins of Logan, Ala., 10 bass, 24-11

CHECK OUT ALL THE NEWEST GEAR FROM ICAST

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

Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas, won the $500 Berkley Big Bass award Thursday in the pro division after bringing a fish weighing 4 pounds, 10 ounces to the scale.

Overall there were 797 bass weighing 1,774 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 190 pros Thursday. The catch included 119 five-bass limits.

The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries is hosted by Explore La Crosse.

In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super-Tournament competition, the full field of 200 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday. The top 50 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight now advance to Friday. Only the top 10 pros will continue competition on Championship Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.

FLW anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota, the Pro Circuit championship. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota will be held on Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Aug. 24-29.

MLF pros competing in the Pro Circuit Super Tournaments will fish for prize money only. No points will be awarded toward any championship or title to MLF competitors. Only the original Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers will compete for the AOY title throughout the remainder of the season. AOY points in the final events will be awarded based on Pro Circuit anglers finishing order. The top-finishing FLW pro will receive “first-place points” regardless of where he finishes in the overall standings, and so on.

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. CDT each day from Stoddard Park, located at 502 Forest Lane, in Stoddard. The weigh-in each day will also be held at Stoddard Park and will begin at 4 p.m. Attendance is limited to competing anglers and essential staff only. Fans are encouraged to forgo the daily takeoffs and weigh-ins and follow the event online through the expanded four-day “FLW Live” on-the-water broadcasts and weigh-in coverage at FLWFishing.com.

Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River will premiere at 7 p.m. EDT, Sept. 11 on the Outdoor Channel. Running now through Dec. 27, FLW will air 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit action on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long episode goes in-depth to break down the final rounds of each regular-season competition. Episodes premiere in Friday night primetime slots on the Outdoor Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel.