Categories
Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Meyer Coasts to Victory after Shattering Records on Day 2 Shotgun Round at General Tire World Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (Oct. 19, 2020) – Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Cody Meyer of Auburn, California, had a pretty special day on Lake Pokegama that premiered Saturday morning on Discovery. The California pro caught 68 largemouth bass weighing 123 pounds, 12 ounces to win Shotgun Round 2 of competition at the General Tire World Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Meyer now advances directly into the Sudden Death Round of competition in the six-day championship tournament that showcases 16 of the best bass anglers from around the world competing for a top prize of $100,000.

Meyer’s final tally of 68 bass weighing 123-12 smashed previous MLF Cup records – it was the most fish caught in a single day of competition, and also the largest single-day weight in MLF Cup history.

In the post-game press conference, Meyer said it was one of the most special days in his career.

“I really wasn’t expecting to have that kind of a day,” Meyer said. “It ended up being one of the best days that I have ever had in my career, and the most fun that I’ve had fishing in a long time. To come out on top, with the anglers that were in this group, is really special.  It was such an awesome day – all day long I felt like I could call my shot.”

Meyer found most of his success fishing main-lake docks with every fish he caught coming on a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko (green-pumpkin and purple). He fished it on a 7-foot, 4-inch Daiwa Tatula Elite rod paired with a Daiwa Exist reel, using 10-pound braided line with a 10-pound fluorocarbon leader.

“I really though someone was going to win the day by flipping, but the docks were so loaded with fish. Every single dock had 2, 3, 4, even five fish on them. I caught 68 fish, which was incredible. But, I also lost around a dozen. It was by far the most fish and the most weight I have every caught in any MLF event.

“The key that I figured out was the sand,” Meyer continued. “The docks had to be really shallow, with deep water nearby. The fish got shallower and shallower as the day progressed, and if the docks were on sand there was fish on every single one of them.”

With his win, Meyer now advances directly into the Sudden Death Round, a day that many anglers call the most stressful day of fishing they experience.

“I’m definitely confident on the fisheries up here in Minnesota, and I’m having a lot of fun,” Meyer said. “But now I need to get ready for Sudden Death, which is 100% the most stressful day that you can have in bass fishing. There is never any down time, and you have to catch them fast. I went through eight or nine bags of baits today, and I’m definitely going to need to find some more before we fish Sudden Death.”

The standings after Saturday’s airing of the Day Two Shotgun Round (Group 2) are:

                1st:          Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., 68 bass, 123-12
                2nd:         Jeff Sprague of Point, Texas, 67 bass, 105-4
                3rd:         Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., 47 bass, 94-13
                4th:         Mark Rose of Wynne, Ark., 52 bass, 84-0
                5th:         Jared Lintner of Arroyo Grande, Calif., 48 bass, 76-11
                6th:         Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., 45 bass, 72-14
                7th:         Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., 42 bass, 70-4
                8th:         Michael Neal of Dayton, Tenn., 35 bass, 54-14

Complete results and photos from the day can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

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Lintner caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a 4-pound, 5-ounce largemouth that bit a jig on the docks.

Overall, there were 404 bass weighing 1,171 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the eight pros on day two of competition on Lake Pokegama.

The 2020 Major League Fishing General Tire World Championship in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is hosted by Visit Grand Rapids.

In MLF General Tire World Championship competition, the full field of 16 pro anglers is split into two groups of eight – Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 competed in a Shotgun Round on day one, Group 2 on day two, with the winners of each day advancing directly to the Sudden Death Round. Now, the remaining seven anglers from each group carry their total weight on to the Elimination Round. The three anglers from each group’s Elimination Round with the highest cumulative two-day weight will advance to the Sudden Death Round – eight anglers total.

During the Sudden Death round, the eight anglers that advanced from the Shotgun and Elimination Rounds compete to become one of the first six to reach a qualifying weight – determined by MLF officials. The top six anglers then advance to the final Championship Round – where weights are zeroed and the highest total weight at the end of competition wins and will be declared World Champion.

Next week’s episode of the General Tire World Championship will feature Group 1 competing in their Elimination Round  – Casey Ashley, Brent Ehrler, Bobby Lane, Jordan Lee, Aaron Martens, Takahiro Omori and Greg Vinson – competing on Lake Pokegama.

The General Tire World Championship, hosted by Visit Grand Rapids, will air on the Discovery Channel as six, two-hour original episodes each Saturday morning starting Oct. 10, 2020, and running through Nov. 14, airing from 7 to 9 a.m. EDT. The full television schedule can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com/tv-schedule.

About Major League Fishing
Founded in 2011, Major League Fishing (MLF) brings the high-intensity sport of competitive bass fishing into America’s living rooms on Outdoor Channel, Discovery, CBS, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, Sportsman Channel, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). According to Nielsen ratings, Major League Fishing remains the number one series on Outdoor Channel for five years and MLF premiered as the number one outdoor show in their time slot on Discovery in 2019. 

In 2019 MLF acquired FLW, which expands their portfolio to include the world’s largest grassroots-fishing organization, including the strongest five-biggest-fish format professional bass fishing tour, the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, as well as the Toyota Series, Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine, Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI, and High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.

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Categories
MLF BIG-5

Louisiana’s Johnson Wins Toyota Series Event on Sam Rayburn

BROOKELAND, Texas (Oct. 19, 2020) – Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, Louisiana, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir tournament in Brookeland, Texas. Johnson’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54-14 earned him the win by an 11-ounce margin over second-place angler Blake Schroeder of Whitehouse, Texas, and earned Johnson the top payout of $31,751 in the third and final tournament of the 2020 Toyota Series Southwestern Division.

Johnson said he won the tournament fishing entirely around shallow hydrilla with a modified square-bill crankbait. Hanging in the mid-lake for the most part, in 3 to 6 feet, he targeted clumpier sections of the grass.

“Typically, I would run it over the top or over the side,” said Johnson of his presentation. “The bait comes through pretty good, so I’ll run it over the top and to the side, pop it, stop it, twitch it, just the normal erratic stuff to try to get a reaction. There were times when I would twitch it over a clump, and then reel it fast when I got it over the other side of the clump. Every day I had probably 10 that would try to get it and just wouldn’t get it, but that’s just part of it.”

Fishing a discontinued bait that he modified with a custom color scheme, a red treble hook on the front and a filed-down bill, Johnson knew he had a good thing going.

“I have a lot of confidence in that bait,” said Johnson. “I won a two-day tournament a few years ago here with it and I know what it will do if you stay with it, so I never put it down. I threw a ChatterBait maybe 10 times and then I cut it off and put on a crankbait. I just had to stick with it.”

Johnson said he started mid-lake on days one and two, then ran more isolated places that brought him all the way north of the TX-147 bridge. He said the presence or lack of wind was key for him every day.

“Today it blew so hard, and they were biting really good in one of my main places, so I never left,” said Johnson. “Every other day, I would run and hit a couple of small patches here and there, and yesterday I did that and caught my biggest fish out of a little clump. Today, I never left, and at 2:10 I culled a 2-pounder with a 3½-pounder, and that’s what won the event.”

Johnson won a Bassmaster Open on Kentucky Lake in 2008, but this is his biggest win with FLW by far. Oddly enough, it comes after he literally zeroed in the recent Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Super Tournament on Rayburn.

“I found these fish for the BFL, and I caught none of them,” said Johnson. “However, God has a plan, and this tournament worked out. It feels great – it’s been a little while since I’ve been in the winner’s seat – so it’s good to be back. I’m very fortunate and very grateful – these are hard to win.”

The top 10 pros on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

            1st:       Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, La., 15 bass, 54-14, $31,751

            2nd:      Blake Schroeder of Whitehouse, Texas, 15 bass, 54-3, $12,303

            3rd:       Nick LeBrun of Bossier City, La., 15 bass, 45-15, $9,525

            4th:       Chris McCall of Palmer, Texas, 15 bass, 44-13, $7,938

            5th:       Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas, 15 bass, 42-1, $7,144

            6th:       Tim Reneau of Richland Springs, Texas, 15 bass, 41-15, $6,350

            7th:       Kenneth Cates of Zavalla, Texas, 15 bass, 41-12, $5,556

            8th:       Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 41-4, $4,763

            9th:       Cole Moore of Anacoco, La., 14 bass, 40-4, $4,969

            10th:     Justin O’Brian Cooper of Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 39-4, $3,175

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

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Moore took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX 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 FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Anthony Templeton of Beckville, Texas won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 28 pounds, 3 ounces. Templeton took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

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

            1st:       Anthony Templeton of Beckville, Texas, 12 bass, 28-3, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp

outboard

            2nd:      Micheal Sharp of Argyle, Texas, 10 bass, 24-14, $4,057

            3rd:       Todd Childs of Waxahachie, Texas, seven bass, 23-2, $3,314

            4th:       Grayson Honeycutt of Temple, Texas, 12 bass, 21-5, $2,840

            5th:       Kayden Tanner of Millsap, Texas, 10 bass, 20-15, $2,434

            6th:       David Keith of Haughton, La., 10 bass, 20-13, $2,029

            7th:       Donny Davis of Livingston, La., 10 bass, 20-12, $1,623

            8th:       Timothy Cooper of Pelican, La., 10 bass, 19-15, $1,420

            9th:       Aaron Freeman of Montgomery, Texas, 10 bass, 18-2, $1,217

            10th:     Randy Pewthers of Pearland, Texas, seven bass, 16-6, $1,014

The Toyota Series at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir was hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce. It was the third of three regular-season tournaments in 2020 for Southwestern Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on Oct. 29-31 with the Toyota Series at Dale Hollow Lake in Monroe, Tennessee. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The 2020 Toyota Series consists of eight divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern, Plains, Southeastern, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. Anglers who fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 FLW PHOENIX Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2020 Toyota Series Championship will be held Dec. 3-5 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.

Categories
BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

Livesay Wins First Bassmaster Elite Series Title On Chickamauga Lake

DAYTON, Tenn. — Lee Livesay had options, but he committed to a singular game plan based on patience and execution to win the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with a four-day total of 58 pounds, 2 ounces.

Livesay of Longview, Texas, turned in daily limits of 13-0, 13-3, 16-13 and 15-2. Notching his first career victory, the second-year Elite Series pro won the top prize of $100,000.

On Day 1, three of the fish that made up his 10th-place sack ate a football-head jig — one on a Hiwassee River bluff and two by the Highway 60 Bridge. He caught the other two by fishing a Scum Frog Launch Frog over main-lake grass mats, a technique that accounted for each of his bass the final three days.

“I stayed in between the Dayton Boat Dock and the Highway 60 Bridge the whole time (Days 2-4),” Livesay said. “It was so tough, you had to keep your bait in the water the whole time. That area is where I had the most bites.

“The farther south you went, the more fishing pressure you got; the farther upriver, the more pressure you got. I had a little zone where I was comfortable. Right where that river comes into the lake, that’s where you have the most nutrients, the most fish and you have current flow. That’s where I decided to set up.”

Livesay was particular about the types of mats he fished, with seclusion and current flow topping his criteria. Also, venturing far into the mats’ shallowest reaches allowed him to target bass that see little to no fishing pressure.

“Quiet was the deal for me, so I was push-poling into the area with no trolling motor noise,” he said. “Also, there’s a lot of tiny shad around the outer edges of the mats, but the shallower you got, the fewer shad you’d have. They were eating bream about the size of my frog.”

Alternating between black, white and yellow frogs, Livesay added tungsten weights to the baits to improve casting distance and create attention-getting noise. Most importantly, the additional weight created a deeper impression in the mats and made the frogs easier for fish to track.

“I was making long casts and working my bait fast,” he said. “I’d let it sit for (a few seconds) to let the fish get comfortable, but then I’d start working it fast again. When I’d move it again, I’d want them to be looking for it. It’s all reaction.”

On Championship Monday, Livesay said he knew the afternoon bite would offer his best opportunities, as increasing sunlight predictably positions fish under mats. After catching his first keeper around 9:50 a.m., he steadily compiled a solid limit of 2- to 2 3/4-pounders (estimated weights) before finding one that went about 4 pounds at 1:36. A late-day cull secured his winning weight.

He also kept a swimbait on his deck for fish that he saw busting shad on the edges of mats but ended up catching all of his fish on the frog.

Visibly overcome with emotion as B.A.S.S. emcee Dave Mercer announced his victory, Livesay summarized his tears: “I’ve been wanting this my whole life. That’s 35 years of dreaming and a lot of hard work.”

Mike Huff of Corbin, Ky., finished second with 56-6. Mounting an impressive comeback effort, Huff placed 50th on Day 1 after finding only three keepers for 6-12. Catching a Day 2 limit of 12-3 moved him into 33rd and adding the event’s second-heaviest bag — 19-1 — on Day 3 pushed him up to third. His Championship Monday limit weighed 18-6.

Huff caught his fish on bluffs with a 3/8-ounce Cumberland Pro Casting Jig with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Creature Hawg trailer. He turned in the event’s most exciting performance Monday thanks to a 7-13 largemouth that dramatically changed his outcome.

“I was targeting bluffs with laydowns and current breaks,” Huff said. “That was key; they were sitting right behind those laydowns.”

Jake Whitaker of Fairview, N.C., stuck with his comfort zone, fished a unique pattern and finished third with 49-0. Committing to a marina, he dialed in a few particular boat slips that held a lot of bait and a dependable supply of bass.

Making long skips into the slips with a 2.8-inch Keitech swimbait on a 1/8-ounce swimbait head, Whitaker turned in daily limits of 11-2, 14-3, 11-14 and 11-13.

“After the second day of practice, I hadn’t caught anything, and I said, ‘I gotta do something that I know how to do just to catch a few fish,’” he said. “The second day of practice, I went in that marina and they started schooling.

“I pulled out a fluke, caught two keepers and I said, ‘Okay, there are some keepers in here. But for that place to last for four days, that’s just the good Lord blessing me.’”

Huff’s 7-13 secured Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors.

Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, S.C., took home $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, and Chad Pipkens of DeWitt, Mich., earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., remains in the lead for the Bassmaster Angler of the Year with 623 points, while Austin Felix of Eden Prairie, Minn., follows in second with 618. Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, is third with 607, followed by Whitaker with 594 and Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., with 592.

The tournament was hosted by the Rhea County Economic Development & Tourism Council. 

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota


2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Abu Garcia,Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Talon, Yamaha

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops,Carhartt, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Mossy Oak Fishing, Rapala

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partners: AFTCO, Huk  

2020 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite At Chickamauga Lake Local Host: Rhea County Economic Development & Tourism Council