Author: jcarrigan

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Wheeler Runs Pattern to Grab Early Lead for Group B at Major League Fishing Suzuki Stage Two Presented by Fenwick at Santee Cooper Lakes

CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. (Feb. 21, 2024) – For the second time in as many events this season, the Bass Pro Tour is visiting a new fishery, with the Suzuki Stage Two Presented by Fenwick at Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Once again, pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, wasted little time figuring it out.

Wheeler, whose six wins and 28 top-10 finishes in Bass Pro Tour competition are unmatched, is back atop the leaderboard through one day of qualifying for Group B. He boated 13 scorable bass for 53 pounds, 8 ounces Wednesday, 4 pounds, 11 ounces clear of Lake Havasu City, Arizona’s Dean Rojas who caught 16 bass weighing 48-14 to end the day in second place. Those two separated themselves from the rest of the pack – pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California, caught 39-0 total to finish the day in third place.

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day from competition Thursday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will wrap up their two-day Qualifying Round. Group B will finish their Qualifying Round on Friday.

The six-day tournament, hosted by the Clarendon County Chamber of Commerce, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

Like most of the field, Wheeler emerged from practice on Santee Cooper a bit concerned about the dirty water and lack of bites. He rated his practice period a 4 out of 10. But, like many, his first day of competition left him pleasantly surprised.

“Obviously, catching 29 pounds for five and catching 50-something pounds of bass is one of the best days you could ask for,” Wheeler said.

While a small handful of the Bass Pro Tour anglers had prior experience fishing Santee Cooper before the spawn, conventional wisdom suggested this would be the type of tournament in which pros would be best served picking one area and combing it thoroughly. The navigational hazards and sheer amount of cover where fish could be living didn’t figure to suit a run-and-gun approach.

Wheeler turned that idea on its head. Taking advantage of the lack of wind, he hit several areas, looking for spots with the same key ingredients — a combination he figured out thanks to one clue during practice, then dialed in Wednesday.

“I constantly changed areas,” Wheeler said. “Because it was pretty calm today, it gave me an opportunity to run around. I didn’t stay in one area. I tried to run around and sort of look for that specific pattern, and that was what I did.”

While Wheeler mostly kept coy regarding specifics, he said he used a combination of forward-facing sonar and traditional, power-fishing tactics.

“I’m doing what I love to do, but I’m also sort of mixing a few things up,” he explained. “I’m looking for something very specific, and when I can find it, I’m basically running a pattern on this lake.”

Nearly half of Wheeler’s weight came from one stop. During a 90-minute stretch in Period 2, he caught six bass totaling 26-11. That included a 4-4, a 5-5 and a 6-14 — his biggest fish of the day. With the chances of catching 20-plus scorable bass in a day being slim, Wheeler said triggering big bites and landing those fish is the single biggest key to contending on Santee Cooper.

“I had three really big bites today,” Wheeler said. “So that, to me, is everything. I knew going into this, after seeing what happened in Group A, Day 1, I had to be very calm, cool and collected and be very methodical, because it wasn’t like it was going to be fast and furious. It wasn’t a Toledo Bend. Big bites were going to be few and far between, but when you got ‘em, you better capitalize on every single one.”

Wheeler remains unsure if he’ll be able to ride his Day 1 pattern through the weekend. He predicted that, as the weather warms and the bass continue their prespawn transition, Santee Cooper will fish differently during the Knockout and Championship Rounds than it has during the first two days. In typical Wheeler fashion, he’s put himself in prime position to figure it out. As usual, he said he plans to take advantage of his fast start by using much of Friday to explore new water.

“To me, I utilized this day to the best of my ability, to be leading right now going into Day 2 and have a firm grasp right now,” he said. “I still gotta catch a few bass, probably, to solidify my spot in the Knockout Round, but I’m feeling really confident about that.”

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Santee Cooper Lakes are:

1st:        Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 13 bass, 53-8
2nd:      Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 16 bass, 48-14
3rd:       Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 11 bass, 39-0
4th:        Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 12 bass, 38-9
5th:        Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 10 bass, 37-0
6th:        Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., six bass, 29-4
7th:        Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala, 10 bass, 28-14
8th:        Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., eight bass, 27-3
9th:        Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark., five bass, 26-1
10th:     Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., seven bass, 25-10
11th:     Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., seven bass, 25-2
12th:     Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., eight bass, 24-12
13th:     Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., six bass, 22-8
14th:     Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 22-4
15th:     Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., seven bass, 21-5
16th:     Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., six bass, 20-0
17th:     Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., seven bass, 19-4
18th:     Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, six bass, 14-9
19th:     Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, four bass, 14-5
20th:     Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., six bass, 14-4

SHOW NOW!

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

Overall, there were 226 bass weighing 721 pounds, 13 ounces caught by the 40 pros on Wednesday. The catch included 16 6-pounders, three 7-pounders and two 8-pounders.

Pro Fred “Boom Boom” Roumbanis of Russellville, Arkansas, earned the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award Wednesday with an 8-pound, 6-ounce largemouth that he caught on a lipless crankbait in Period 2. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $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 Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10^th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s 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 at 7:30 a.m. ET each day from the John C. Land III Landing, located at 4404 Greenall Road in Summerton. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 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 MLFNOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com .

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 24-25, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to visit the John C. Land III landing for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the pros live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The Suzuki Stage Two at Santee Cooper Lakes Presented by Fenwick features 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 features anglers competing with a 1-pound, 8-ounce minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water 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, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Bass Pro Tour anglers also compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.

Television coverage of the Suzuki Stage Two at Santee Cooper Lakes Presented by Fenwick will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Sept. 21 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering the following Saturday on Sept. 28. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Matt Becker Takes Early Lead for Group A at Major League Fishing Suzuki Stage Two Presented by Fenwick at Santee Cooper Lakes

CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. (Feb. 20, 2024) – The reigning Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, boated 12 scorable bass Tuesday, totaling 45 pounds, 8 ounces, to jump out to the early lead in the Group A Qualifying Round at the Suzuki Stage Two Presented by Fenwick at Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina.

Just 4 pounds, 3 ounces behind Becker in second place on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard is Hot Springs, Arkansas, pro Dylan Hayes, who caught 10 bass totaling 29-11. Alton Jones, Jr., of Waco, Texas, sits in third place, less than 6 pounds back of Becker with 10 bass weighing 39-10.

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

Entering the first day of competition at Santee Cooper, Becker wasn’t feeling optimistic. The reigning AOY on the Bass Pro Tour said he had a “horrible practice” amid the muddy, prespawn conditions that greeted the field at Stage Two. He picked his starting spot because he got a single bite there during the three-day practice period.

Within the first 35 minutes of Tuesday morning, Becker had turned that one bite into six scorable bass weighing a combined 23 pounds, 6 ounces. That flurry gave him an early lead over the rest of Group A, and he never relinquished the top spot on SCORETRACKER®.

“I went to an area where I had one bite — that’s where I decided to start,” Becker said. “And before I knew it, I had six fish in the boat, and I didn’t even know what was happening. So yeah, it was fast and furious this morning. I did not expect that at all.”

It wasn’t just Becker who found the fishing better than expected on Santee Cooper. While bass didn’t hit the scales in the same numbers as Stage One on Toledo Bend, plenty of big ones showed up. Thirteen bass weighing 6 pounds or bigger were caught Tuesday, including one over 8 pounds. Fifteen pros topped the 20-pound mark on the day.

“Honestly, everybody caught ‘em – myself included – better than I expected,” Becker said. “I did not see this coming. I expected it to be a lot tougher on everybody. But I’m super happy with how it turned out.”

Becker burst onto the national tournament scene in a big way last year, beating out the likes of Jacob Wheeler, Ott DeFoe and Jones Jr. to claim both the Stage Seven and Angler of the Year trophies at the season finale on Saginaw Bay.

Clearly, the offseason did nothing to stem his momentum.

Becker started the 2024 campaign with a Championship Round appearance on Toledo Bend. He then finished 16^th in the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals season-opener on Sam Rayburn. Now, even on a fishery that, at least on paper, doesn’t suit his strengths, Becker looks like he’s figured out the Santee Cooper bass.

Becker attributed the strong start to simply fishing with confidence.

“Definitely it’s a confidence thing,” he said. “I feel very confident in myself right now, and it just seems like every decision I make turns into the right one. Like today, for instance, I literally had one bite in that area that I started, but my gut was telling me to go start there, and it turned into the lead.

“I don’t ever want it to end. I want to keep this train rolling as long as we can.”

His fast start Tuesday only fueled his confidence. Becker said it made him believe in his area, removing the temptation to fire up his Suzuki outboard and make a time-consuming run across the treacherous fishery. He spent the rest of the day exploring new water in the same vicinity as his starting spot.

“It kind of slowed me down and allowed me to expand and fish new water,” he explained. “I had that one spot where I got a bite in practice, and then I kind of just expanded around the area the rest of the day. But having that confidence of getting a couple bites early really let me expand and keep fishing new water.”

After a bit of a lull, Becker continued to pad his total throughout the afternoon. Midway through Period 2, he boated a 6-10 kicker. On a fishery that lacks numbers of bass, triggering big bites looks like it’ll be key to contending. Seven of the top eight anglers on SCORETRACKER® caught at least one bass over 6 pounds.

“There’s a lot of big fish, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time — if you set the hook enough times, it’s going to be a 6- to 8-pounder,” Becker said. “So, it’s going to take a couple of big fish every day to do well in this tournament.”

Becker didn’t want to divulge too many details about his pattern, but he said he’s not relying on forward-facing sonar to target fish. Instead, he’s power fishing around “classic prespawn stuff.” He’s not slowing down, covering water with his trolling motor and fishing whatever cover he encounters — in his words, “pretty much just junk fishing around in one section of the lake.”

While Becker noted that he only saw one other competitor all day, which excites him, he’s not sure whether he’ll be able to ride his starting spot, or even the general area, to another Top 10. He plans to spend the second day of the Qualifying Round exploring more of the massive, habitat-rich playing field.

“I feel like I might have burnt up that area today, but you just never know,” Becker said. “It’s springtime, more fish could be coming with a warming trend. The sun was out this afternoon, and it was warming up. So maybe some more fish are coming. But I’m going to keep an open mind going into the rest of the tournament and try to expand on Day 2, try to fish some new water and maybe find something else as well.”

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Santee Cooper Lakes are:

1st:        Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 12 bass, 45-8
2nd:      Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 41-5
3rd:       Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, 10 bass, 39-10
4th:        James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 11 bass, 37-15
5th:        Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 13 bass, 36-9
6th:        Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 11 bass, 34-5
7th:        Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, nine bass, 33-5
8th:        Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 32-10
9th:        Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 11 bass, 26-15
10th:     Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., eight bass, 26-10
11th:     Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., six bass, 26-8
12th:     Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., five bass, 23-9
13th:     Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 22-3
14th:     Jesse Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., seven bass, 21-4
15th:     Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., eight bass, 20-13
16th:     Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., eight bass, 19-1
17th:     Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, four bass, 17-7
18th:     Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 17-7
19th:     Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., six bass, 17-3
20th:     Shinichi Fukae, Osaka, Japan, four bass, 15-14

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

General Tire pro Britt Myers of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, won Tuesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with an 8-pound, 3-ounce largemouth that he caught on a deep-diving crankbait with just 10 minutes remaining in the day late in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

MLF BIG-5

Arkansas’ Edwards Notches Second BFL Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Table Rock Lake

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 20, 2024
No Comments on Arkansas’ Edwards Notches Second BFL Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Table Rock Lake

KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. (Feb. 19, 2024) – Boater Landon Edwards of Springdale, Arkansas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 7 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Table Rock Lake . The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Ozark Division. Edwards earned $5,970 for his victory.

“I made a run down past Campbell Point up the White River,” said Edwards, who notched a previous BFL win on Table Rock Lake in 2022. “I found a sneaky spot in practice where I thought I could catch 18 pounds. I had graphed a spot that was just a little rock pile with a tree on it that had 20 to 30 big fish on it. I caught a 6½-pounder on it Thursday and then left it alone.”

Edwards said he ran to his “sneaky” spot during the tournament because he figured the field would be using Garmin Livescope to target bass, and he wanted to try something different to stand out from the field. He said he used a 6^th Sense Divine 5-Wire 4-Blade Umbrella Rig with 6^th Sense Divine Swimbaits to boat his bigger bass on the rock pile.

“I rolled up, threw my Alabama rig, and caught a 4½-pounder,” Edwards said. “I threw back and caught another 4½. I threw back in again and caught a 7-pounder. So, I had 15-something pounds with three fish.”

Edwards relocated to let his spot rest and pulled a 3¼-pound fish from deep water, putting him at more than 19 pounds with four fish.

“I went back to my lucky spot and caught one that weighed more than 3 pounds that put me over 22 pounds,” Edwards said. “I was having some motor problems, so we ran back to Kimberling City near weigh-in and finished up the day.

“I had confidence that I had enough weight to make the top 10,” Edwards said. “So, it was really nice to win it. These tournaments are so hard to win with all the locals who fish them. It was cool to win this.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Landon Edwards, Springdale, Ark., five bass, 22-7, $5,970
2nd:        Eric Olliverson, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 20-13, $3,082 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
3rd:        Jacob Wade, Mountain Grove, Mo., five bass, 20-12, $1,722
4th:         Aric Szambelan, Farmington, Minn., five bass, 20-6, $1,205
5th:         Cody Miller, Shell Knob, Mo., five bass, 19-14, $1,033
6th:         Clay Henderson, Purdy, Mo., five bass, 19-13, $1,247
7th:         Cody Ellison, Fordland, Mo., five bass, 19-3, $861
8th:         Brock Reinkemeyer, Warsaw, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $775
9th:         Camden Kozikoski, Edmond, Okla., five bass, 18-8, $689
10th:      Drew Sagely, Rogers, Ark., five bass, 18-1, $603

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Edwards also caught a bass that weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $805.

James Welch of Bolivar, Missouri, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,436 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 14 pounds, 3 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

Bolivar’s Welch Tops Strike King Co-Angler Division

1st:          James Welch, Bolivar, Mo., five bass, 14-3, $2,436
2nd:        Joshua Ramsey, Columbia, Mo., five bass, 13-10, $1,218
3rd:        Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., five bass, 12-15, $1,064
4th:         Caleb Welch, Bolivar, Mo., five bass, 12-13, $568
5th:         Grant Simmons, Blue Springs, Mo., five bass, 12-3, $487
6th:         Tim Bowers, Thayer, Mo., five bass, 12-2, $447
7th:         Shaun Smith, Smithville, Mo., five bass, 11-12, $406
8th:         Blake Miller, Cedar Falls, Iowa, four bass, 11-11, $365
9th:         Brock Krohne, Belton, Mo., five bass, 11-4, $325
10th:      Kirk Short, St. Clair, Mo., four bass, 10-14, $284

Pat Leonard of Springfield, Missouri, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $367, catching a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The next event for BFL Ozark Division anglers will be held March 30, at Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 3-5 BFL Regional tournament on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

The 2024 Phoenix BFL Presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 events throughout the season, five qualifying tournaments in each division. The top 45 boaters and Strike King co-anglers from each division, along with the five qualifying event winners, will advance to one of six BFL Regional tournaments 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 BFL All-American.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota and YETI.

MLF BIG-5

Marietta’s Anderson Starts Season with Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Lanier

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 20, 2024
No Comments on Marietta’s Anderson Starts Season with Win at Phoenix Bass Fishing League Event at Lake Lanier

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (Feb. 19, 2024) – Boater Brooks Anderson of Marietta, Georgia, caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 3 ounces, Saturday to win the MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Presented by T-H Marine on Lake Lanier . The tournament was the first event of the season for the BFL Bulldog Division. Anderson earned $4,584 for his victory.

Anderson began his day with a run to the south end of Lanier and spent the first three hours of the tournament without a fish in the boat. His first fish – a 4½-pounder – didn’t come until 11 a.m., and he ended up losing that one at the net.

“That was a heartbreaker, to finally get a good bite and then lose it,” Anderson said. He said he caught a few 2-pounders before his day turned around.

“At 11:30 I caught one that was 4¾ and got me pointed in the right direction,” Anderson said. “I ran to another hole and caught one that was just over 4 pounds, and then one that was right at 6 pounds.”

Anderson said his primary techniques used were a shaky-head rig, a Damiki rig and a spoon. He relied on Garmin Livescope to catch bass on the shaky-head rig on secondary points in 15 feet of water. He threw the spoon and Damiki rig around ditches and timber.

Anderson focused on the Six Mile Creek Park area to Buford Dam and said he added a 4-pound fish and a 4½-pound bass with 30 minutes left in the competition to post his final weight.

“When I caught that last 4½-pounder I thought I had a slight chance of winning,” Anderson said. “But I fish a lot of local tournaments out here, and you’re never safe with any weight. So, this feels awesome. It’s my first year to be able to fish a full circuit of BFLs, so I’m really excited for this year.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament:

1st:          Brooks Anderson, Marietta, Ga., five bass, 23-3, $4,584
2nd:        Alex Prince, Blue Ridge, Ga., five bass, 22-3, $2,292
3rd:        Kevin Underwood, Gillsville, Ga., five bass, 21-7, $1,529
4th:         Maddux Walters, Canton, Ga., five bass, 20-12, $1,070
5th:         Christopher Wilder, Macon, Ga., five bass, 20-1, $1,417 (includes $500 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus)
6th:         Brad Davis, Statham, Ga., five bass, 20-0, $840
7th:         Zac Bennett, Loganville, Ga., five bass, 19-12, $764
8th:         Ty Overmyer, Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 18-15, $688
9th:         Jeremy York, Conyers, Ga., five bass, 18-11, $611
10th:      Matt O’Connell, Brooks, Ga., five bass, 18-1, $835

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Kenneth Cash of Covington, Georgia, caught a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the Berkley Big Bass Boater award of $675.

Joseph Chilcott of Williamson, Georgia, won the Strike King co-angler division and $2,292 Saturday, after bringing five bass to the scale that totaled 16 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

Boater Brooks Anderson of Marietta, Georgia, and Strike-King co-angler Joseph Chilcott of Williamson, Georgia.

1st:          Joseph Chilcott, Williamson, Ga., five bass, 16-2, $2,292
2nd:        Joshua Green, Cartersville, Ga., five bass, 16-1, $1,146
3rd:        Tim Greene, Loganville, Ga., five bass, 15-2, $765
4th:         Brady Vaughn, Royston, Ga., five bass, 14-3, $535
5th:         John McCoy, Jasper, Ga., five bass, 13-13, $458
6th:         Matt Luczynski, Newnan, Ga., five bass, 13-1, $420
7th:         Tommy Royston, Hartwell, Ga., five bass, 12-13, $382
8th:         Ryan Frazier, Stone Mountain, Ga., five bass, 12-4, $344
9th:         Justin Lemaster, Royston, Ga., five bass, 11-14, $306
10th:      Steve Phillips, Douglas, Ga., five bass, 11-11, $267

Daniel Paulin of Smyrna, Georgia, earned the Berkley Big Bass co-angler award of $337, catching a bass that weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces – the largest co-angler catch of the day.

The next event for BFL Bulldog Division anglers will be held March 9, at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia. To register for the event as a boater or a co-angler, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com or call (270)-252-1000.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five tournament winners of each qualifying event, will qualify for the Oct. 10-12 BFL Regional tournament on Santee Cooper Lakes in Clarendon County, South Carolina. Boaters will fish for a top award of $60,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will compete for a top award of $50,000, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard.

BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

Kindy notches first career Bassmaster Opens victory on Lake Ouachita

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 17, 2024
No Comments on Kindy notches first career Bassmaster Opens victory on Lake Ouachita

February 17, 2024

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. —

Jeremiah Kindy has bass fished on Lake Ouachita since he could walk. In fact, he caught his first jig bass as a toddler around a set of islands 2 miles from Brady Mountain Recreation Area fishing with his dad and brother.

This week, he claimed the most impactful victory of his life by winning the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Ouachita presented by SEVIIN with a three-day total of 52 pounds, 3 ounces, earning the top prize of $44,295.

It was the Benton, Ark., native’s first Bassmaster Open appearance since the 2002 Central Open, which was also held at Ouachita.

“This is definitely the most important tournament I’ve ever won,” Kindy said. “It means the world. Just being able to compete and have so many family and friends here. Even if I wouldn’t have won, it would have been awesome. But to get this win is freaking amazing. For three days, I was the best angler on this lake. That’s pretty important.”

With bags of 19-7, 16-5 and 16-7, Kindy outlasted fellow Arkansan Matt Baker, who finished second with 46-13 and third-place Andy Newcomb who finished with 45-12. Although he isn’t currently signed up for the next two Opens in Division II, Kindy plans on fishing both of them, which will make him eligible for the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors, scheduled for March 21-23 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Since he began fishing tournaments as a teenager, Kindy has earned a reputation from fellow anglers as one of the best anglers on Lake Ouachita. With nearly 200 of the best anglers in the country coming to his home lake, many of whom planned on LiveScoping out deep, he knew he would have to do it his way if he wanted a shot at the win.

“The only way I thought I could win this tournament was to fish to my strengths, and that’s what I did,” he said. “I knew I couldn’t compete with the guys out in the middle of the lake. It set up right. The way we had them two warm days, some females moved up and I got fortunate enough to catch enough of them.”

Kindy’s success revolved around early prespawn staging areas on the main lake where big bass have historically pulled up first. The majority of his bites came up the lake in dirtier water on isolated stretches of bank.

“I ended up catching more than half of my fish up the lake,” Kindy said. “It was just key spots that I know they pull up on first. The places I caught them on, I will catch them in those same places in a month. It lasts a lot longer than people think.”

When the wind kicked up, Kindy moved down lake to clearer water and fished around hydrilla beds. The deep edge of the grass was located in 25 feet of water, but Kindy said the majority of the bass were between the bank and 14 feet of water. Mixed in with the grass were some black rocks, and the bass seemed to hover close to that warmth.

Kindy rotated through three different baits — a Norman Deep Little N crankbait in a chili bowl pattern, a 3/4-ounce Toledo gold-colored Booyah One Knocker and a 3/4-ounce Duo Realis lipless crankbait.

Temperatures rose to 65 degrees on Day 1 and Kindy opened the tournament by catching just under 20 pounds to land in fourth. While warm still, clouds and wind spread over the lake Day 2 and Kindy struggled most of the day, but rallied in the afternoon to take over the lead heading into Championship Saturday.

Air temperatures dropped close to freezing the final morning, which caused some misfortune for Kindy to start the day.

“I picked up my rod with my last Booyah XR75 and I guess my hand quit working. That rod went in the lake,” he explained. “I had my other Trap tied on, so I guess the Lord was telling me to throw that one. That is what I kept in my hands all day today, that Duo Realis one.”

From there, Kindy warmed up and was able to fill his limit by mid-morning around his grass related bass.

“Today was my favorite kind of day, windy and sunny,” he said. “You don’t get a better recipe.”

“It was all main-lake related,” Kindy continued. “I figured out something late yesterday that really helped me out. We had them two warm days and I had been catching them out over the grass. Well, with the cold front, a lot of the big ones stayed up shallow on the rocks.”

After hitting some key stuff early in the morning up the lake and not getting a bite, he returned later in the day and was able to catch three bass in a row to make a couple of key culls. He ended the day close to check-in and sealed the deal with a 3 1/2-pounder.

Entering the day in second place, Baker added 12-3 to his bags of 17-11 and 16-15 the first two days to claim second place.

“I definitely wasn’t fishing this one for second place, but I’m thankful and thankful for (Kindy),” Baker said. “He deserves it. He has 20 more years of knowledge on this place than I do. I’m thankful to be able to stand up on stage with him. That was special.”

The Glenwood, Ark., angler did a little bit of everything this week. Up the lake, he got bites throwing a War Eagle football jig and a spinnerbait. Baker also mixed in a Damiki rig and a jerkbait for bass he saw suspended on cover in the dirty water.

In clear water, he fished hydrilla beds and caught several kicker fish the first two days around that grass. A Booyah One Knocker and Hard Knocker were his best baits around the grass.

While he could see the bass on his forward-facing sonar, Baker struggled early on Day 3.

“They would come out of the structure to look at my jerkbait and it was like they were in slow motion today,” Baker said. “They were not fired up at all. I finally got one giant to eat it and I had him for a few seconds and broke him off. It was one of the right ones.”

After that, he moved into an area where the wind was blowing, began throwing his Booyah One Knocker and proceeded to fill his limit.

“This type of weather is reaction-bite weather,” he explained. “You have to be burning something. I knew it was a Trap day and I picked up the 1/2-ounce Booyah One Knocker. I weighed in my three best fish on it.”

After landing 18-0 and 14-10 the first two days, Newcomb caught four bass weighing 16-7 on the final day. He anchored his Day 3 bag with a 6-3 largemouth he caught with less than an hour left to go.

“Today was terrible,” Newcomb said. “I knew the cold was going to hurt what I was doing, but I didn’t know it was going to hurt it that bad. The bank I started on, I got a number of bites and got three of them to actually commit. I missed the majority of them. From there, it was done. I tried to force that shallow thing.”

The Camdenton, Mo., pro threw a Z-Man Evergreen JackHammer and a wacky-rigged Bait Cave Customs Slim Stick around shallow cover most of the week. The banks he targeted were “the ugliest” he could find. He said they tended to be flatter banks with isolated pieces of wood.

New York pro Zach Goutremout earned $750 for catching the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament, a 10-14 lunker largemouth he landed Day 2 using a Damiki rig. Canadian pro Evan Kung earned $500 in Garmin rewards.

By notching his second-straight Top 10 finish, Georgia’s Paul Marks leads the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifier points race with 390 points. Minnesota’s Easton Fothergill is second with 384 points, followed by Newcomb in third with 380, Kung in fourth with 376 and Missouri’s Joe Wieberg in fifth with 371. Alabama’s Tucker Smith (367), Georgia’s Emil Wagner (366), California’s Ish Monroe (360) and Texas’ Dakota Ebare (358) round out the Top 9 in points.

The tournament was hosted by Visit Hot Springs.

BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

Local knowledge powers Kindy to Day 2 lead in Bassmaster Open on Lake Ouachita

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 16, 2024
No Comments on Local knowledge powers Kindy to Day 2 lead in Bassmaster Open on Lake Ouachita

February 16, 2024

Jeremiah Kindy hasn’t caught many bass this week during the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Ouachita presented by SEVIIN. But so far, he has caught the right 10 to be leading the event with a two-day total of 35 pounds, 12 ounces.

Adding 16-5 Friday to the 19-7 he caught during Thursday’s opening round, the Benton, Ark., native is just over a pound ahead of fellow Arkansan Matt Baker while Andrew Hargrove remains in the Top 3 with a two-day total of 34-4.

“It feels great to be leading. These guys are killers. I’m proud to fish with them,” Kindy said.

Kindy has fished Lake Ouachita most of his life. But so far, he has been relatively surprised how the lake has fished the last two days.

He figured the Day 2 conditions, cloudy and windy, would create a better bite across the lake than the calm and sunny conditions on the first day. That was not the case as he and many other anglers struggled to find a consistent bite.

“I thought they were going to smash them today,” he said. “This is the exact weather you want on Lake Ouachita.”

Throughout the week, Kindy has caught bass using a crankbait and a Rat-L-Trap around rocky areas that have hydrilla close by. He has caught bass from 2 to 14 feet of water.

With so much knowledge on the lake, Kindy has tried to fish fresh water every day. His most productive spot Friday was a place he didn’t even fish on Day 1. He will likely mix in new water Saturday as well as some of his best spots from Day 1.

“All day, I’m confident that the next stop I make, I’m going to catch one,” he said.

The day did not start well for Kindy, who did not have a bass in the livewell at noon. He changed areas and managed to catch a limit weighing about 9 pounds before returning and culling all but one of those bass with his final tally in the last two hours.

His biggest bass weighed over 4 pounds.

“It is always an adventure on this lake. It is tough,” he said.

Unlike the first two days when temperatures reached the upper 60s, the high temperatures on the final day are only expected to reach the high 40s with winds out of the north Saturday. Kindy isn’t exactly sure how that will affect his bite.

“I thought today was going to be easy and it was hard,” he said. “I thought yesterday was going to be hard and it was easy. I still believe once they start staging, they don’t leave. They may fade back and forth, but I’m going to be throwing around them.”

With bags of 17-11 on Day 1 and 16-16 on Day 2, Baker has done a little bit of everything to achieve his two-day total of 34-10.

“I don’t feel like I’m dialed in, but I’m thankful to be where I’m at,” Baker said.

While this isn’t his home lake, Baker has fished plenty of tournaments on Ouachita. This week, he has bounced back and forth between several different areas with varying degrees of water clarity. He caught his limit using five different baits on Thursday and four different baits on Friday.

“They are around the grass in the clearer water and are in the 11- to 20-foot range,” Baker said. “In the dirtier water, I’m catching them in 2 to 8 feet. I’m seeing fish deeper in dirtier water, but I can’t catch them.”

After bouncing around a couple of spots, Baker found an area where the wind was hitting and caught his first bass, a 5-pound kicker which anchored his bag. He caught another keeper before moving to an area with dirty water and filled his limit.

“I got a limit quick,” Baker said. “It’s a place where I got a lot of my weight yesterday. I caught one of them good ones too, a 4 3/4. It doesn’t seem like there’s a bunch of bass up there. I had two big ones at that point and had all day to catch two more big ones.”

Unfortunately for Baker, he scrambled around most of the afternoon and could not locate another kicker largemouth.

“I really thought I had a chance at a big bag today coming back down here and fishing in the wind,” he said. “I finally culled about 20 or 30 minutes (before check-in), but I had a lot of down time where I wasn’t helping myself. I had to cover tons of water and junk fish and tried to find something for tomorrow.”

Entering the day in second, Hargrove added 14-5 to his 19-15 Day 1 tally. Using his forward-facing sonar, Hargrove has roamed a deep flat that features grass and brushpiles. The bass, however, aren’t relating to the cover and are instead cruising the bottom in anywhere from 20 to 40 feet of water.

“Most of the bass are just swimming on the bottom. Those are mostly singles and I try to throw to them and get them to eat,” Hargrove said. “Yesterday, a few of my bigger ones came out of brushpiles.”

New York’s Zach Goutremout caught a 10-14 largemouth that anchored his 22-0 Day 2 bag, taking control of the race for Phoenix Boats Big Bass.

Robert Jacuzzi from Mount Ida, Ark., won the co-angler competition with a two-day total of 13-11. Jacuzzi landed in eighth after Day 1 with a limit weighing 6-3 before catching 7-8 on the second day. Georgia’s Chad Stahl finished second with a total of 12-2 and Alex Allen was third with 12-1.

Jimmy O’Brien from Southampton, N.Y., earned $250 for catching the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament on the co-angler side, a 6-1 largemouth he landed on Day 1.

The Top 10 pros will launch from Brady Mountain Recreation Area at 6:45 a.m. CT Saturday and return for weigh-in at 2:45 p.m. The winner will punch his ticket to the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors, given they have fished all three tournaments in Division II.

The final day of competition will be broadcast live on FS1 Saturday morning beginning at 6:30 a.m. CT, with streaming available on Bassmaster.com, as well as FS2 and the FOX Sports digital platforms.

The tournament is being hosted by Visit Hot Springs.

MLF BIG-5

Auburn University Angler Hayden Marbut Wins Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Guntersville

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 16, 2024
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SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (Feb. 16, 2024) – Less than a week removed from 21-year-old phenom Drew Gill’s Tackle Warehouse Invitationals win at Sam Rayburn , 20-year-old Auburn University standout Hayden Marbut bested Gill (11th) Friday at Lake Guntersville in the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Central Division opener in impressive fashion, weighing in just a tick over 70 pounds of bass – the only angler in the field to crack the 70-pound mark over three days.

Like Gill at Rayburn, Marbut leaned on his aptitude with forward-facing sonar – not to mention his vast experience on Guntersville – to best an enormous field of 260 anglers. He did so with unmatched consistency, weighing in 22-10, 25-1 and 22-6, respectively, edging out Day 2 leader Matt O’Connell (69-15) by just 2 ounces.

For Marbut, the first major solo win of his bass fishing career adds to a stacked resume for a bass fishing phenom not even old enough to have a celebratory beer.

“I’m a junior this year and I’ll be a senior next year, but I plan on staying a fifth year,” he said. “I’ve fished so much the last couple years that there’s no chance of me graduating on time.

“I’ve been super fortunate. I won a high school national championship and was able to win two college national championships last year, and that’s kind of what drove me to compete at this level.”

One of the young anglers many turn to when discussing the future of the sport, Marbut’s affinity for catching big bass using forward-facing sonar is no surprise. At Guntersville, he caught all the fish he weighed in ‘Scoping, though it wasn’t as easy as just eyeballing some fish and casting to them.

After finishing fourth in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) event at Guntersville the previous weekend, Marbut spent the following few days practicing, trying to adjust to changing weather and water conditions. In the days that followed that BFL, current started ripping on Guntersville, blowing out formerly productive areas and completely changing the way fish were setting up.

“We had a lot of changing conditions this week,” he said. “Everything changed, and I had to adjust a lot. I had to find completely new fish. Everything I was fishing last week was blown out. The current really affected it.”

Because Marbut is from Birmingham and attends Auburn University, he’s spent what he estimates to be thousands of hours on Guntersville (“I’ve idled this entire lake just about and I can tell you just about where anything is out here”). As such, he was able to pivot to new, similarly productive plans that involved finding some cleaner water outside the ripping current of the main river.

“I had two main little places in an area that had a lot of bait, and I focused in on one of them today (Friday),” he said. “They were both just out of the current and there was a little bit cleaner water. I think that was something that was really special about them.

“There was clearer water, and I could get my bait down to them. They could see it from a little bit further. Trying to lead these fish with forward-facing sonar in this current and adjust with the wind and everything like that is hard to do. That cleaner water helped me get extra bites when I was looking at them.”

In those areas, bass were more prone to suspend (as opposed to sticking tight to the bottom around current breaks as the main-lake bass were often doing throughout the event), making them a little easier to target.

For the task, Marbut relied on a 3/8-ounce Picasso ball head tipped with a fluke-style bait, tied to 15-pound-test P-Line braid with a 12-pound-test P-Line fluorocarbon leader. That was spooled on 3000-size Shimano Sustain reels and a pair of different rods: A 6-foot-10 G. Loomis NRX+ and a 7-foot Hammer rod.

As for his Garmin LiveScope settings, Marbut kept it pretty simple and stuck with the range settings he’s used to: 90 feet out and 40 feet deep.

“That’s what I’ve gotten the most comfortable with,” he said. “I’ve been using that range for a long time and I’m able to hit them efficiently; I can really tell how big they are that way. You have to play with it a lot to understand and interpret everything that you’re reading on the LiveScope, but I’ve been able to look at the screen so much and get comfortable with that range that I’ve been able to target some of the bigger ones.”

That was certainly the case over three days at Guntersville. Marbut’s spots, both “way down the lake,” produced multiple 5- and 6-pound fish over the first two days and kicked out more than 20 pounds early in the day on Day 3. From there, it was just a matter of slowly culling up throughout the day for enough weight to eke out the win over O’Connell in second.

For the win, Marbut was awarded a $100,000 check (which included a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus) and the pride of winning a major solo tournament so early in his fishing career. He’ll tell you, though, it wasn’t about the money.

“The money’s cool and all, but I’ve never fished for the money,” he said. “I just love bass fishing. This is what I do every single day, and it’s what I’m going to try to do every day for the rest of my life.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Guntersville finished:

1st:        Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., 15 bass, 70-1, $100,000
2nd:       Matt O’Connell, Brooks, Ga, 15 bass, 69-15, $28,300
3rd:       Mickey Beck, Lebanon, Tenn., 15 bass, 66-9, $18,000
4th:        Travis Alcock, Burlington, Wis., 15 bass, 65-15, $16,500
5th:        Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., 15 bass, 64-10, $15,000
6th:        Austin Swindle, Parrish, Ala., 15 bass, 64-4, $11,500
7th:        Dillon Falardeau, Hixson, Tenn., 15 bass, 63-1, $10,000
8th:        Clint Knight, Lewisburg, Ky., 15 bass, 62-11, $8,500
9th:        Logan Dyar, Cleveland, Ala., 13 bass, 62-2, $7,500
10th:     Michael Black, Toledo, Ill., 15 bass, 61-13, $5,500

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Pro Travis Alcock of Burlington, Wisconsin, earned the Day 1 $500 Berkley Big Bass Award on Wednesday with a largemouth weighing in at 8 pounds even, while Thursday’s Day 2 $500 Berkley Big Bass Award went to pro Matt O’Connell of Brooks, Georgia, who weighed in a nice 8-pound, 6-ounce largemouth.

Eric White of Cullman, Alabama, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Friday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 53 pounds, 1 ounce. Gonzalez took home the top co-angler prize package worth $38,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor and $5,000.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Guntersville finished:

1st:        Eric White, Cullman, Ala., 15 bass, 53-14, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard + $5,000
2nd:       Mark Schlarb, Atwater, Ohio, 15 bass, 51-15, $8,000
3rd:       Ike Gillentine, Walling, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-4, $6,500
4th:        Rich Frey, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 50-4, $5,000
5th:        Chris Bensel, Abbeville, S.C., 15 bass, 48-13, $4,650
6th:        Robert Russell, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 15 bass, 47-12, $3,750
7th:        Lenny Bays, Dayton, Ky., 15 bass, 47-11, $3,250
8th:        Brendan Johnson, Creal Springs, Ill., 15 bass, 46-5, $2,500
9th:        Brady Lunsmann, Citrus Springs, Fla., 15 bass, 45-13, $1,800
10th:     Dakota Bishop, Brodhead, Ky., 15 bass, 45-4, $1,600

Troy Calloway of Sylacauga, Alabama, earned Wednesday’s $150 Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with an 8-pound, 3-ounce largemouth, while the Day 2 $150 co-angler award on Thursday went to Luke Kerstetter of Brookfield, Wisconsin, with a 7-pound, 1-ounce bass.

The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Guntersville was hosted by the Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce. It was the first of three regular-season tournaments for the Toyota Series Central Division. The next event for the Toyota Series Central Division will be the Toyota Series at Smith Lake, April 4-6, in Cullman, Alabama. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2024 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and the Western Division Presented by Tackle Warehouse – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the six divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2025. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard. The 2024 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 7-9 on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Madison County Commission, and the Huntsville Sports Commission.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Toyota Series include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, FX Custom Rods, General Tire, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota and YETI.

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Drew Gill Wins Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir

Post author By jcarrigan
Post date February 11, 2024
No Comments on Drew Gill Wins Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir

BROOKELAND, Texas (Feb. 11, 2024) – Drew Gill has been on a heater for a while, and it was only a matter of time before the LiveScope whizz closed out a high-level win. Today, after sacking up 26 pounds, 3 ounces on Championship Sunday, Gill took home the title at Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE on Sam Rayburn Reservoir with a 69-6 total.

Gill topped fellow electronics master Jake Lawrence (second, 67-15), and had enough to overcome local Marshall Hughes’ (third, 67-4) mega-bag on Day 2, which put him more than 6 pounds ahead of the pack initially. For the win, Gill pocketed $80,000, and locked up his 2025 REDCREST qualification early.

Though still a fledgling circuit, Gill is now the youngest to win an Invitationals event, setting the mark to beat at 21 years, 8 months. Historically speaking, when you factor in FLW Tour stats, Gill slots in between Stetson Blaylock’s win at Lake Norman in 2009 (21 years, 7 months) and Jacob Wheeler’s 2012 Forrest Wood Cup title (21 years, 10 months).

The consensus favorite for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year in the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Gill has started the season about as good as you can. Just last week, he finished third in the Bass Pro Tour season opener on Toledo Bend, and, for good measure, the 21-year-old also finished 19th in the Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship with partner Evan Fields back in January.

Nothing is a really a long time coming when you’re 21, but getting over the hump for the W was a big deal for Gill.

“Any year you can do consistently well and have a lot of Top 10s is a win in itself,” said Gill. “Goal No. 1 every year is always Angler of the Year. Goal No. 1 is not to win an event. However, that is a very close goal No. 2, and to be able to accomplish that in the first event of the Invitationals season after having a third at Toledo last week, I could not be more stoked for how fishing is going right now.”

Love it or hate it, any list of the best anglers with forward-facing sonar has Gill on it, and he rode his signature strength to victory this week. Seeming to always find enough fish for a quality bag (and to trigger enough fish to bite), he stayed ahead of a lot of other anglers trying to do similar things.

A big part of that was recognizing that he needed to leave winter behind and get closer to the bank. Luckily, that might be where his LiveScope skills shine the most – when it comes to shallow ‘Scoping, Gill is near or at the top of the list.

“The first day of the tournament, I was trying to replicate what I found in practice,” he explained. “I was catching them at the fronts of main-lake pockets and drains – the very main lake. I noticed they were going down and eating my Damiki (rig) off the bottom, and I didn’t think that was going to work all week.

“Day 2, I was throwing a Damiki and a Neko, and fishing more drains than the fronts of creeks,” Gill added. “Today, I was fishing midway back of just about every pocket I fished. These were short main-lake pockets and not big main creeks; those were unmanageable and there weren’t enough fish for me to fish a major creek. If five fish roll up into an area that’s a mile long, I’m not going to find them. If they roll up into a place that’s 400 yards long, your odds of running into those five big ones is pretty high.”

For his jighead minnow, Gill used a 3/16-ounce head and a 4-inch bait. For his Neko, he used a 6-inch Big Bite Baits Shaking Squirrel Worm, a 1/8-ounce weight and a No. 1 Roboworm Rebarb Hook.

On the last two days, when Gill honed his approach, he was fishing specifically for bass that were low in the water column and not too far from classic later-winter and prespawn things.

“I was fishing some transition areas, basically – places that were adjacent to a contour or a drain, and I had to have some sort of cover in conjunction with that that would lead them along an edge,” Gill said. “Something that would lead them swimming one direction or another and keep them on a path that I could predict. I was running edges of grass, edges of rock, edges where sand dropped off a couple feet; places where bass should travel along, and the few good ones I was around, I could run right into them.

“Almost every big one I caught this week ate it off the bottom,” he said. “I was in about 7 to 14 feet of water most of them time, and generally they would be 2 or 3 feet above the bottom. Not suspended, but hovering almost, like a maglev train. They’d follow it down … ‘bonk, zzzzzzzzz.’”

The last few years have seen a lot of young anglers excel on big stages. Some of it is collegiate fishing, some of it is skill with electronics, some of it is networking. A lot of it is time on the water with forward-facing sonar, which may have taught us more about bass behavior than every magazine ever printed. Gill is the perfect storm, a passionate young angler who has learned as much about bass in the last few years as many will learn in a lifetime.

“When you spend as many hours watching fish behave in their natural environment as I have, you’re destined to learn a lot about fish behavior, and you’re going to be really good at reading their movements,” said Gill. “I’ve spent a lot of time watching fish, not listening to fishermen or the logic built up in bass fishing lore. I’ve just gone out and watched fish behave, around their food, with the cover they relate to, with the contours they use. When you understand that much about fish, they become pretty predictable.”

The top 30 pros at the Tackle Warehouse Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

1st          Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 bass, 69-6, $80,000
2nd:       Jake Lawrence, Buchanan, Tenn., 15 bass, 67-15, $50,000
3rd:       Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 15 bass, 67-4, $20,000
4th:        Cal Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 65-5, $18,000
5th:        Keith Poche, Cecil, Ala., 15 bass, 64-15, $17,000
6th:        Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 15 bass, 62-7, $17,000
7th:        Mark Condron, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 15 bass, 59-3, $15,000
8th:        Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 15 bass, 58-9, $14,000
9th:        Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., 15 bass, 58-0, $13,000
10th:     Ramie Colson, Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 15 bass, 58-0, $12,000
11th:     Dillon Harrell, New Caney, Texas, 15 bass, 57-7, $10,000
12th:     Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., 15 bass, 54-13, $10,000
13th:     Jaden Parrish, Liberty, Texas, 15 bass, 54-9, $10,000
14th:     Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 54-8, $10,000
15th:     Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 53-13, $10,000
16th:     Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 15 bass, 53-12, $10,000
17th:     Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 15 bass, 52-15, $10,000
18th:     Ty Faber, Pagosa Springs, Colo., 15 bass, 52-10, $10,000
19th:     Brock Reinkemeyer, Warsaw, Mo., 15 bass, 52-7, $10,000
20th:     Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 15 bass, 51-7, $10,000
21st:      Cole Breeden, Lebanon, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-3, $10,000
22nd:    Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., 15 bass, 51-3, $10,000
23rd:     Britt Myers, Jr., Lake Wylie, S.C., 15 bass, 50-4, $10,000
24th:     Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 15 bass, 50-2, $10,000
25th:     Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 15 bass, 48-7, $10,000
26th:     Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 15 bass, 48-1, $10,000
27th:     Rick Harris, Kingsland, Texas, 15 bass, 47-14, $10,000
28th:     Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 47-9, $10,000
29th:     Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 46-10, $10,000
30th:     Clayton Batts, Butler, Ga., 15 bass, 45-10, $10,000

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

Overall, there were 150 bass weighing 535 pounds, 3 ounces caught by the final 30 pros Sunday. All 30 final day competitors weighed in a five-bass limit.

The three-day tournament, hosted by the Jasper County Development District, featured a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000. The next Tackle Warehouse Invitational event will take place March 1-3 at the Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 2 on West Point Lake in LaGrange, Georgia.

In Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 30 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advanced to the final round on Championship Sunday. The winner of the Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir was be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and now receives an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2025 on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Alabama.

Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole at Sam Rayburn Reservoir will air as a two-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 5 on CBS Sports Network.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak Fishing, Onyx, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota and YETI.

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Local Pro Marshall Hughes Catches 38-7 To Seize the Lead at Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir

BROOKELAND, Texas (Feb. 10, 2024) – Day 2 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE on Sam Rayburn Reservoir was an absolute fireworks show. New York pro Alec Morrison and Tennessee’s Cole Breeden both caught 11-pounders, and nine pros topped 20 pounds. Headlining it all, local rookie Marshall Hughes of Hemphill, Texas, blitzed 38 pounds, 7 ounces to tally up 50-14 and rocket into the lead. Of course, Hughes had an 11-pounder as well (the third of the day) and staked himself a little more than a 6-pound cushion after only scratching up 12-7 on Day 1.

Hughes has a sterling record on Sam Rayburn and should certainly be riding high, but he’s not safe yet. Behind him are some of the best in the game with forward-facing sonar. Hughes might have the edge on local knowledge, but Day 3 of the event could be a shootout for the ages.

The three-day tournament, hosted by the Jasper County Development District, featured a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2025. The field is now trimmed to 30, and the winner will be determined tomorrow by heaviest three-day cumulative weight.

Midway through the day, it looked like one of the storylines would be a lack of big bags. Usually, by noon of any Rayburn event, somebody has cracked a bag in the upper 20s or 30s, and they might be headed back to the dock to wait for the scales to open. Then, things started clicking for Hughes.

“I had like 14 pounds at like 11 or something; I was kind of down in the dumps with 14 pounds that late in the day,” said Hughes. “I started running around, running some new stuff. I was trying what I did yesterday, and it wasn’t working. I ran up to a hard spot, a shallower hard spot, and got bit and caught one — it was a 5-pounder, my small one.”

That was the only clue he needed.

“So, I started running that stuff, and I pulled up on one, and they had just moved up and started feeding,” he said. “It was just balls to the walls. I’ve never seen what I saw today, ever.”

Fishing in 12 to 15 feet with a Bill Lewis Scope-Stik and a 5/8-ounce Buckeye Mop Jig with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog, Hughes watched most of the fish bite on forward-facing sonar.

“I rolled in, and they were there feeding,” he said. “It wasn’t like they were schooled up together. It was one there, one here. The ones that were higher up came on the jerkbait. The water is dingy right now; it’s hard for them to see it.”

Fishing 60 or 70 tournaments a year, Hughes is a full-time fisherman who hasn’t gone national – yet. Now, he’s looking to start his rookie year with a win. All he needs to do is have another good day on a lake he calls home.

“This afternoon, I just went out and started plucking around,” he said. “I love to catch ‘em on a ‘trap’ — I feel like that’s my forte — but they ain’t eatin’ a ‘trap’ now, so they’re putting me elsewhere. I need to just go fishing like I did today.”

The top 30 pros advancing to the final day of competition on Sam Rayburn Reservoir are:

1st:        Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 10 bass, 50-14
2nd:       Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., 10 bass, 44-3
3rd:       Jake Lawrence, Buchanan, Tenn., 10 bass, 43-9
4th:        Cal Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 43-9
5th:        Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 10 bass, 43-3
6th:        Keith Poche, Cecil, Ala., 10 bass, 41-14
7th:        Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 10 bass, 41-5
8th:        Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 10 bass, 41-1
9th:        Brock Reinkemeyer, Warsaw, Mo., 10 bass, 38-8
10th:     Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 10 bass, 38-6
11th:     Dillon Harrell, New Caney, Texas, 10 bass, 38-6
12th:     Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 10 bass, 37-11
13th:     Jaden Parrish, Liberty, Texas, 10 bass, 37-3
14th:     Cole Breeden, Lebanon, Tenn., 10 bass, 36-12
15th:     Britt Myers, Jr., Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 36-4
16th:     Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 10 bass, 35-12
17th:     Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 10 bass, 35-8
18th:     Clayton Batts, Butler, Ga., 10 bass, 35-5
19th:     Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 35-1
20th:     Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 10 bass, 34-8
21st:      Ramie Colson, Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 10 bass, 34-2
22nd:    Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 34-1
23rd:     Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 33-15
24th:     Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 33-11
25th:     Ty Faber, Pagosa Springs, Colo., 10 bass, 33-10
26th:     Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 33-7
27th:     Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., 10 bass, 32-13
28th:     Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 32-8
29th:     Mark Condron, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-6
30th:     Rick Harris, Kingsland, Texas, 10 bass, 31-10

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

Pro Cole Breeden of Lebanon, Tennessee, earned the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award Saturday with a largemouth bass that weighed in at 11 pounds, 12 ounces.

Overall, there were 693 bass weighing 1,914 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 146 pros Saturday. The catch included 131 five-bass limits.

Historically speaking, it’s basically impossible to know if this weigh-in featured a record-breaking number of 11-pounders. It likely didn’t overall, but based on our records, it’s the first time in the long history of MLF competition on Sam Rayburn that multiple fish over 11 pounds have hit the scales in the same day, much less three of them. Similarly, Hughes’ bag is a record for the Invitationals circuit and the fourth-biggest ever on Sam Rayburn in MLF competition. It doesn’t quite crack the Top 10 heaviest limits of all-time, though – 10th in that case belongs to Terry Bolton with 38-15 that he caught in 2008 on Falcon Lake. Breeden’s 11-12 Berkley Big Bass tied for the third-biggest ever weighed during MLF competition on Rayburn.

In Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 30 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight now 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 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2025 on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Alabama.

The final 30 anglers will launch at 7 a.m. CT each day from the Umphrey Family Pavilion, located at 5438 Sam Rayburn Parkway in Brookeland. Sunday’s championship weigh-in will also be held at the pavilion 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 2:45 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Missouri’s Brock Reinkemeyer Leads Day 1 at Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir

BROOKELAND, Texas (Feb. 9, 2024) – They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the largemouth bass at Sam Rayburn Reservoir certainly fit the bill, Friday. After a 1½-hour fog delay this morning, the first Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitational event of the season kicked off at Sam Rayburn and the fishery showcased why it is widely known as one of the best in the country. A total of 11 pros crossed the 20-pound barrier, and 13 pounds went all the way down to 53rd place.

Pro Brock Reinkemeyer of Warsaw, Missouri, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Friday weighing 24 pounds, 7 ounces, to take the early lead on Day 1 of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Reinkemeyer now holds a 1-pound, 1-ounce lead over pro Nick Hatfield of Greeneville, Tennessee, who caught five bass weighing 23-6 to end the day in second. Invitationals newcomer Brody Campbell of Oxford, Ohio, sits just one ounce behind Hatfield in third with 23-5.

The full field of 150 anglers 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 the Jasper County Development District, features a roster of 150 anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2025.

Long established as one to watch around the Ozarks, Reinkemeyer showed during his rookie season on the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals last year that he’s no slouch nationally, as well. Today, he relied on a few areas and a few key bites.

“I caught one big one during practice doing off-the-wall, kind of deep stuff, and it paid off twice today,” said Reinkemeyer. “I just kind of moseyed down a stretch and just plucked two big ones off.

“It was kind of like a little drop,” he said of his area. “I scanned the hell out of this flat, and they weren’t up on top of it. So, I just went down the edges, and I found one edge where there are some shad and got lucky with two big ones.”

Of course, you can’t catch 24 pounds and change without some skill, and it’s not like Reinkemeyer is oblivious out there. While much of the field had no problem catching keepers but struggled at times to find quality bites, Reinkemeyer seems to have a beat on some big ones.

“I’ve got three spots where I’m just kind of milking ‘em,” he said. “Stumps, hard bottom — I’m fishing anywhere from 12 to 24, just kind of zig-zagging on the edges.

“I don’t feel like there are a lot of fish, but if I get a bite, it’s a good one,” he added. “I probably caught like 10 keepers today, but I was also bypassing small ones that are suspended way up. I’ve been catching them all week, and they’re all small. The bigger ones are closer to the bottom.”

One key for Reinkemeyer was staying away from the grass, which Rayburn is loaded with these days.

“I caught one out there right at 7 in practice, and this sucker was like a football,” he recalled. “And I’m like, ‘they ain’t in that grass.’ I fished two days in the grass, and Brad [Jelinek] was catching them in the grass, but nothing big. I couldn’t even catch a keeper in the grass.”

Plenty of other pros caught fish in the grass today, while others targeted hard structure or suspending fish. So, Reinkemeyer isn’t on an island from a pattern perspective. Still, he does seem to be fishing away from the pressure.

“I had them all to myself,” he said. “At my starting spot there was one other guy there; he moseyed around for two seconds and left. I’m all alone while everybody else is fishing in a crowd in the grass. Hopefully it’s the same thing tomorrow.”

The top 20 pros after Day 1 on Sam Rayburn Reservoir are:

1st:        Brock Reinkemeyer, Warsaw, Mo., five bass, 24-7
2nd:       Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., five bass, 23-6
3rd:       Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 23-5
4th:        Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., five bass, 22-12
5th:        Clayton Batts, Butler, Ga., five bass, 22-1
6th:        Cal Lane, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 21-7
7th:        Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., five bass, 21-5
8th:        Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., five bass, 21-3
9th:        Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., five bass, 21-1
10th:     Jake Lawrence, Buchanan, Tenn., five bass, 20-9
11th:     Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 20-5
12th:     Ramie Colson, Jr., Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 19-11
12th:     Michael Harlin, Sunrise Beach, Mo., five bass, 19-11
14th:     Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., five bass, 18-10
15th:     Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 18-9
16th:     Jaden Parrish, Liberty, Texas, five bass, 18-8
17th:     Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., five bass, 18-6
18th:     Ty Faber, Pagosa Springs, Colo., five bass, 17-14
19th:     Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., five bass, 17-13
20th:     Chris Groh, Spring Grove, Ill., five bass, 17-7

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

Hatfield earned Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with a largemouth bass that weighed in at 9 pounds, 3 ounces.

Overall, there were 682 bass weighing 1,787 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 149 pros Friday. The catch included 120 five-bass limits.

In Tackle Warehouse Invitational competition, the full field of 150 anglers compete in the two-day opening round on Friday and Saturday 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 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE at Sam Rayburn Reservoir will be determined by the heaviest three-day cumulative weight and will receive an invitation to compete at REDCREST 2025 on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Alabama.

Anglers will launch at 7 a.m. CT each day from the Umphrey Family Pavilion, located at 5438 Sam Rayburn Parkway in Brookeland. Weigh-ins will also be held at the pavilion 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.