Day: November 16, 2020, The National Angler

ANDERSON, S.C. (Nov. 13, 2020) – Boater Chris Macy of Diamond, Missouri, won the 37^th annual Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American on Lake Hartwell presented by TINCUP Friday, bringing a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce. Macy’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 34-10 was enough to overtake second-place angler Todd Goade of White Pine, Tennessee – who led the event after the second day of competition – by a 2-pound, 4-ounce margin. For the win, Macy earned the top payout of $100,000.

“This is unbelievable – going in to today, I really didn’t think I had a shot at it,” said Macy, who qualified for this tournament through the Bass Fishing League Ozark Division. “I went out this morning and thought that if I could catch 10 pounds, I’d be happy. When you make it to the last day, you kind of look at the payscale and you know that every spot you can hold or move up is another thousand bucks in your pocket. My goal was just to hang in there.

“I stumbled on to something around 1 o’clock this afternoon, and it absolutely went crazy from there,” Macy continued. “On the LiveScope, I would watch my swimbait come across the brush piles and if I could get the fish to follow it, I would kill it and let that swimbait go straight to the bottom. Every one of those fish would nose down on it, and as soon as I popped that swimbait up off the bottom, they would eat it every time.”

Macy said that of the 15 keepers he brought to the weigh-in stage this week, 14 of them came on a Keitech 2.8-inch swimbait in Tennessee Shad and Sexy Shad colors. He credited his electronics as being crucial to his win.

“Every fish that I caught came off of a brush pile,” Macy said. “My Garmin LiveScope was crucial. Every fish that I caught this week, I watched it bite. Most of the water I fished was 20- to 30-feet-deep, and if I could get the fish sitting up on top of the brush piles, it was game on.

“Overall, it has just been a super three days,” Macy went on to say. “I was just so happy to be fishing on the third day of the All-American, and I knew that if I could put a big one in the bag today that anything could happen. When it’s your time, it’s your time and today was just my day.”

The top 10 boaters on Lake Hartwell finished:

            1^st:       Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo., 15 bass, 34-10, $100,000
            2^nd:      Todd Goade, White Pine, Tenn., 15 bass, 32-6, $20,000
            3^rd:       Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 31-11, $15,000
            4^th:       Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 15 bass, 31-7, $21,000
            5^th:       Bryan Dowdy, Florence, Ala., 15 bass, 30-7, $18,000
            6^th:       Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 28-1, $12,000
            7^th:       Randall Allen, Owens Cross Roads, Ala., 15 bass, 27-11, $12,000
            8^th:       Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., 15 bass, 27-11, $10,000
            9^th:       Dustin Lippe, Lampe, Mo., 12 bass, 25-11, $9,000
            10^th:     Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 13 bass, 23-11, $8,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

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Overall, there were 45 bass weighing 77 pounds, 5 ounces, caught by the final 10 boaters Friday. The catch included eight five-bass limits.

Justin Kimmel of Athens, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $50,000 Friday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 26 pounds, 9 ounces, followed by Larry Rothweil of Saint Charles, Missouri, in second place with 12 bass weighing 22-2, good for $10,000.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

            1^st:       Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., 14 bass, 26-9, $50,000
            2^nd:      Larry Rothweil, St. Charles, Mo., 12 bass, 22-2, $10,000
            3^rd:       Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., 12 bass, 19-14, $6,000
            4^th:       David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla., 13 bass, 19-6, $5,000
            5^th:       Dalton Steele, Cherokee, Ala., 10 bass, 18-5, $4,500
            6^th:       Cole Sands, Calhoun, Tenn., 12 bass, 17-11, $4,000
            7^th:       Andrew Wiley, Joppa, Md., 13 bass, 17-7, $3,500
            8^th:       Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill., 13 bass, 16-13, $3,000
            9^th:       Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C., 11 bass, 16-2, $3,000
            10^th:     Kerry Harris, Bethel Island, Calif., 11 bass, 16-1, $2,000

Overall, there were 30 bass weighing 40 pounds, 6 ounces, caught by the final 10 co-anglers Friday. The catch included two five-bass limits.

In addition to the cash payouts, the highest-finishing boater and co-angler from each of six Regional Championships, the Wild Card Championship and The Bass Federation (TBF) National Championship at the All-American now advance to the 2020 Toyota Series Championship next month on Lake Cumberland for a shot at winning $235,000 and $33,500, respectively.

The eight boaters and co-anglers that now advance to the 2020 Toyota Series Championship are:

Region 1 (Lake Hartwell) Boater Champion: Todd Goade, White Pine, Tenn.
Region 2 (Lake Seminole) Boater Champion: Randall Allen, Owens Cross Roads, Ala.
Region 3 (Kentucky-Barkley lakes) Boater Champion: Kerry Frey, Middlebury, Ind.
Region 4 (Potomac River) Boater Champion: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C.
Region 5 (Lake Guntersville) Boater Champion: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio
Region 6 (Grand Lake) Boater Champion: Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo.
WildCard (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Bryan Dowdy, Florence, Ala.
TBF (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Blake Wilson, Benton, Ark.

Region 1 (Lake Hartwell) Boater Champion: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga.
Region 2 (Lake Seminole) Boater Champion: Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C.
Region 3 (Kentucky-Barkley lakes) Boater Champion: David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla.
Region 4 (Potomac River) Boater Champion: Mark Blankenship, Christiansburg, Va.
Region 5 (Lake Guntersville) Boater Champion: Dalton Steele, Cherokee, Ala.
Region 6 (Grand Lake) Boater Champion: Larry Rothweil, Saint Charles, Mo.
WildCard (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill.
TBF (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Andrew Wiley, Joppa, Md.

Hosted by Visit Anderson, the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American on Lake Hartwell presented by TINCUP featured a field of the top 55 boaters and 55 co-anglers from across the 24-division Bass Fishing League, TBF, Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI and High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.

Television coverage of the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American presented by TINCUP will premiere Jan. 2, 2021, on the Outdoor Channel, Jan. 4, 2021, on the World Fishing Network and be featured in the FLW television series on YouTube.com/FLWFishing. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe.

GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. (Nov. 16, 2020) – The 29-year-old Alabama superstar did it again. Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Jordan Lee of Cullman, Alabama, caught 37 bass totaling 69 pounds, 4 ounces, to narrowly edge out South Carolina’s Casey Ashley and win the 2020 General Tire World Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and the top prize of $100,000.

It was a nail-biting finale that came down to the wire in the final day Championship Round that aired Saturday on Discovery. Lee caught his last fish – a 2-pound, 2-ounce largemouth – with just 14 minutes to spare in the final period, overtaking Ashley, who had put together a frantic 17 bass third-period rally to move to the top of the leaderboard. Lee’s last fish came on a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General worm.

“Oh man, what a feeling,” said Lee, who was the 2020 Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year, winner of the inaugural Heavy Hitters tournament in February, and now the 2020 General Tire World Champion. “Casey was just killing it right there at the end. It seemed like every time I caught one, he would catch two. It was gut-wrenching. I was listening to him bumping up the SCORETRACKER® and he just kept coming and I couldn’t do anything about it. I just had to keep my head down and focus on every single bite. That last fish turned out to be the difference maker. We fished all day long and I won by less than a pound. Unreal.”

Lee started out his day on Spider Lake targeting largemouth with a vibrating jig and a swimjig, before mixing in a frog and eventually the Berkley The General worm (black and black-and-blue) as the day progressed. He keyed on the shallow reeds and lily pads on the 1,392-acre lake.

“It was mostly a fun day of flipping and frogging, and that is what I love to do,” Lee said. “I mixed up a couple of different baits to start with, but the swim jig really got me started. It clued me in that the fish were around the reeds and the pads, and then I started catching some good ones.”

Lee led after Period 1 of competition and had a near 20-pound lead into Period 2 before his bite slowed in Period 3. Meanwhile, Ashley’s pattern caught fire. Ashley took the lead with 40 minutes remaining in the event, and the two anglers battled back and forth before Lee’s last-minute heroics clinched the victory.

“We were so close, I pretty much knew that whoever caught the last scorable bass was going to win,” said Lee. “As the clock ticked down, I kept expecting my boat official to tell me that Casey had caught one at the very end to take it, but luckily for me that didn’t happen.

“To win this event is just the best feeling in the world,” Lee went on to say. “MLF puts us out in the middle of nowhere – down dirt roads, places we’ve never fished before. I love that part of this game. It’s a level playing field, and to come away with a win against this bunch of guys – they’re the best in the world. This has been a special, special week. Nothing comes easy in this sport and I don’t take it for granted. I’ve had a great year. I’m fishing with confidence and I hope I can keep the good vibes going next season.”

The final six anglers at the 2020 General Tire World Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops in Grand Rapids, Minnesota finished:

                1^st:          Jordan Lee of Cullman, Ala., 37 bass, 69-4
                2^nd:         Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., 35 bass, 68-5
                3^rd:         Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., 28 bass, 48-2
                4^th:         Takahiro Omori of Tokyo, Japan, 29 bass, 46-10
                5^th:         Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., 20 bass, 43-6
                6^th:         Cody Meyer of Star, Idaho, 10 bass, 21-10

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

Meyer caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a 5-pound, 2-ounce largemouth at the end of Period One that came on an unnamed finesse worm.

Overall, there were 159 bass weighing 297 pounds, 5 ounces caught by the final six pros during the Championship Round of competition on Spider Lake.

The 2020 General Tire World Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by Visit Grand Rapids and premiered on the Discovery Channel as six, two-hour original episodes debuting on Oct. 10, 2020, and running through Nov. 14, 2020. The event, shot over six days in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, showcased 16 MLF pro anglers culminating the 2020 Cup season and competing for the top prize of $100,000.