Wes Logan Wins 2025 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller!

Consistency vaults Logan to victory!

Alabama's Wes Logan has won the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a four-day total of 63 pounds. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS) 

BASS Press Release

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Ten months ago, Wes Logan found himself in a hospital bed with a gash across his head and a set of broken bones after hitting an unknown object on Day 2 at the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain. Logan knows how fortunate he is to even still be alive, making his second Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series trophy all the more meaningful.

“I could be dead. That is the reality of it,” Logan said. “The good Lord wants me here for some reason. I’m truly blessed to be here.”

Arguably the most consistent angler all week, Logan won the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a four-day total of 63 pounds, a Father’s Day gift for his father Doug. It is the second win of Logan’s five-year career, the first coming at the 2021 Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake on Mother’s Day.  

“I don’t deserve this,” the Springville, Ala., native said. “I got to fish how I wanted to. I got to pitch a jig like how I grew up with my dad.” 

Opening the tournament in 11th place with 14-12, Logan climbed to fifth on Day 2 with 15-13 before jumping into third on Semifinal Saturday with 15-9. He then landed the biggest bag of Championship Sunday, a 16-14 limit anchored by a 5-1 largemouth, edging out fellow Elite Series pro Andrew Loberg, who had led the first three days, by 1 ounce. 

This victory couldn’t have come at a better time for the “Little Ball of Hate.” After two good tournaments to start the 2025 season, Logan has struggled outside of the state of Florida, so much so that he questioned if he still belonged on the Elite Series stage. He entered Lake Tenkiller in 40th place in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.

2025 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller Day 3: Andrew Loberg Continues the Lead!

Canadians: Chris Johnston 12th, Kung 30, Gustafson 43th, Cory Johnston 44th & Gallant 48th 

Alabama's Andrew Loberg remains in the top spot on Day 3 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a total of 51 pounds, 6 ounces. (Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — There have been very few constants during this week’s Lowrance Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Tenkiller, but Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series rookie Andrew Loberg continues to make all of the right moves. 

The California native landed 15 pounds, 9 ounces on Semifinal Saturday, increasing his three-day total to 51-6. Loberg has never trailed this week, opening the tournament with a 17-9 limit of largemouth before catching 18-4 on the second day. After only being separated by ounces after Friday’s weigh-in, the gap between him and second-place Keith Combs is now 3-13. 

“It has been a really cool week. Nothing has set in,” Loberg said. “I’m just fishing the way I like to fish. It’s not like I have one hole I’m sitting on. I just wake up in the morning, launch the boat, buzz around and hope for the best.”

If he can hold the lead, Loberg will become the third rookie to claim an Elite Series trophy this season. Two of his roommates, Paul Marks and Tucker Smith, are responsible for those wins. The winning recipe in the house, he remarked, includes Cheez-Its, Pop-Tarts and fruit snacks.

Loberg has won two Toyota Series events in his West Coast career, but an Elite Series win would be the top accomplishment of his young career. 

“I’m still in grind mode,” Loberg said. “All I’m thinking about is catching five more good ones.”

The weather continues to be unpredictable in eastern Oklahoma. Several rounds of thunderstorms moved through Friday night, bringing the lake levels up several inches in the process. Then, an intense line of storms moved through late Saturday morning and hung around during the early afternoon hours. 

While earlier forecasts indicated a quieter Sunday, more inclement weather is now expected to impact the region overnight and into official tournament hours. The conditions, however, have played into the hands of the anglers fishing in shallow water, including Loberg who has spent most of his tournament fishing in less than 6 feet of water. 

“It went up a quarter of a foot from yesterday at least,” Loberg said. “You run down the lake and there are waterfalls everywhere. So, it will probably be a lot higher (tomorrow).

“In practice, there was so much water, and you had to find certain banks that didn’t have water behind them. Now I’m finding water that has flatter and shallower pockets that the fish can move into.”

2025 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller Day 2: Andrew Loberg Leads!

Canadians: Chris Johnston 6th, Cory Johnston 7th,  Kung 14, Gallant 20th & Gustafson 49th

Alabama's Andrew Loberg maintains the lead on Day 2 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Growing up on the California Delta, Andrew Loberg is plenty comfortable fishing shallow, and that has been on full display so far this week at the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller.

With a total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces, the 31-year-old pro leads the 101 boat field after two days of competition. Loberg backed up his 17-9 Day 1 bag with 18-4 on Friday, giving him a 12-ounce advantage over Texas pro Keith Combs. The gap between Combs and third-place Bob Downey is over 4 pounds. 

“Fishing the Delta, you have to run a tide and most of the time you have to have a big flipping stick,” Loberg said. “The water fluctuation on Tenkiller correlates to the tide a little bit. It makes sense to me and I can run around and see what looks good.”

The style of fishing in Oklahoma has suited Loberg in his first two trips to the Sooner State. He claimed a second-place finish at Lake Eufaula last year during the 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN throwing a square-bill and a jig. 

“There are big largemouth and they like to stay shallow,” Loberg said. “Even offshore fishing, they stay in 10 to 15 feet of water and that’s still shallow. I feel comfortable doing a lot of that type of stuff. The reservoirs aren’t gin clear. I don’t know, there’s something about these lakes I get honed in on.” 

While the lake level stabilized some, falling at a slower rate than it did between the day off and Day 1, the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pros battled heavy rains and thunderstorms the majority of Friday morning. Despite the adverse conditions, the entire field caught a five-bass limit for the second day in a row. 

Building off of his Day 1 performance, Loberg power fished in the shallows the entire day. Along with a flipping bait, moving baits like ChatterBaits, swim jigs and squarebills also produced key bites. Loberg even caught a bass on a buzzbait and a frog. 

His best areas have had a shad present. 

“I’ve been just rolling into a stretch, seeing what it looks like and then throwing whatever I think will work,” he said. “When something looks good, there is more bait than in other places.”

The water has dropped out of some of Loberg’s areas between Day 1 and Day 2, and the water has cleared up. He doesn’t know, however, how Friday’s heavy rainfall will impact the lake. 

Loberg started the morning fishing a shad spawn around a marina, and lost a 4-pounder early in the morning, a fish Davy Hite speculated was caught by fellow Elite Series pro Chris Johnston several hours later. Despite the missed opportunity, he was able to fill out a limit quickly.

2025 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller Day 1: Andrew Loberg Scores 17-09lbs for Lead!

Canadians: Chris & Cory Johnston 6th, Gallant 26th, Gustafson 31 & Kung 36

Alabama's Andrew Loberg has taken the lead on Day 1 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a total of 17 pounds, 9 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — On a lake where the only constant seems to be change, Andrew Loberg took advantage of the conditions on Day 1 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller. 

The California native caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces to lead the field after one day of competition on the eastern Oklahoma reservoir. He holds an 8-ounce advantage over second-place Trey McKinney. Wisconsin’s Bob Downey is third with 16-2.

Lake Tenkiller has fluctuated greatly thanks to heavy rains that spread over the area ahead of official practice. From the final day of practice on Tuesday to the start of Day 1, the water fell several feet and anglers were forced to scramble to adjust. 

The field of 101 anglers adjusted well, however, as each pro landed a limit, with 90 of those limits weighing over 10 pounds. Mixed bags of smallmouth and largemouth crossed the scales, but it was Loberg's bag of largemouth that led the way.  

“I think the conditions played really well for me,” he said. “I think the low pressure system helped the big largemouth eat a little bit better than other stuff going on.”  

While this is his first tournament at Lake Tenkiller, Loberg has shown early in his Bassmaster career he’s comfortable in Oklahoma. During the 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN season, Loberg notched a second-place finish down the road at Lake Eufaula. 

Loberg isn’t dialed in necessarily. He has 30 rods on the front deck of his bass boat and is testing both offshore and shallow patterns. On Day 1, the shallows won out as he caught all largemouth. 

“It was 50/50 between shallow and deep,” he said. “It is a timing thing, for sure. There are so many boats hitting the same stuff and I think I got lucky and pulled up on the right stretch at the right time. There were boats all over the place.”

Jacob Wheeler Wins 2025 BPT Lowrance Stage 5 Presented by Mercury on Kentucky Lake!

 

Jacob Wheeler scored his ninth Bass Pro Tour event win on Kentucky Lake with 46 scorable bass weighing 110 pounds, 13 ounces. Photo by Phoenix Moore

By Mitchell Forde 

BASS PRO TOUR, Press Release

CALVERT CITY, Ky. — At each of the past two Bass Pro Tour regular-season events, Jacob Wheeler has finished in second place, one bite short of the win. He fell 2-3 shy of Drew Gill on Lake Murray, then lost a heartbreaker to Jake Lawrence on Chickamauga and Nickajack, when Lawrence caught a 5-9 in the final seconds before lines out.

At Lowrance Stage 5 Presented by Mercury on Kentucky Lake, Wheeler made sure no one else even got a chance to steal the trophy.

Wheeler rallied after a slow morning and stacked up 110 pounds, 13 ounces on 46 scorable bass during Sunday’s Championship Round. He turned what looked like it would be another slugfest with Lawrence, the home-lake favorite, into a rout, topping Lawrence by 32-7.

The win is Wheeler’s first of 2025 and ninth overall on the Bass Pro Tour, adding to his tour-best trophy count. This one carried special significance, not just because he was able to flip the script and get revenge on Lawrence, but because he grew up traveling to Kentucky Lake to compete in tournaments alongside his father, Curtis, who passed away from cancer in April.  

“I just felt like he was with me all week,” Wheeler said through tears shortly after the victory became official. “It’s the first tournament that I’ve fished on a lake that we fished together, and this one had a lot of meaning to it. Obviously, he was a big part of my life, and I wouldn’t be here without him. I just wanted to win it for him.”

Here’s how the Top 10 pros finished the Championship Round:

1. Jacob Wheeler – 110-13 (46)

2. Jake Lawrence – 78-6 (30)

3. Brent Ehrler – 69-8 (32)

4. Jacob Wall – 62-13 (27)

5. John Hunter – 62-10 (26)

6. Adrian Avena – 53-11 (22)

7. Cole Floyd – 51-11 (18)

8. Spencer Shuffield – 44-11 (16)

9. Andy Montgomery – 35-15 (16)

10. Michael Neal – 29-10 (12)

On paper, Stage 5 will go down looking like vintage Wheeler domination. He blasted more than 95 pounds during the first half of the first day of qualifying, then spent the rest of the day idling and scouting for new schools. He only fished for about a third of Day 2 but caught enough to win the Qualifying Round, earning himself a direct berth to the Championship Round. Sunday, while a north wind slowed the bite for everyone else, he cruised past the 100-pound mark.

The next EVOLUTION of Skeeter Bass Boats has Arrived

Introducing the new Skeeter ZXE Line of Bass Boats. Evolved with decades of experience, meticulously refined with cutting-edge technology and expert craftsmanship. Built to Dominate any water, the new ZXE ensures unmatched performance, unmatched reliability and unmatched experiences on the water.

The Next EVOLUTION has Arrived!

G.Loomis Elite Edge Tournament Rewards

Compete with confidence and get rewarded. Buy and register your G. Loomis rod in 2025 to qualify. Place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd in sanctioned tournaments to earn a key at the 2026 Spring Fishing and Boating Show. Each key unlocks the Elite Edge Rod Locker, with a chance to win $10,000 CDN MSRP in G. Loomis rods and Shimano reels.

Tournament Reward Rules

·        Eligibility: The G. Loomis Elite Edge Tournament Rewards program is open to all tournament anglers who have purchased and registered their G. Loomis rod in 2025.

·        Membership: Membership is the purchase of a G. Loomis fishing rod in 2025 from an authorized G. Loomis dealer or from G. Loomis.ca website.

·        Registration: Registration must be completed prior to any sanctioned tournament to be eligible in the program. Eligible participants are registered G. Loomis rod owners who are members of the G. Loomis Elite Edge Tournament Rewards program.

·        Contingency Payments: Registered G. Loomis rod owners placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd overall in a sanctioned event are eligible to receive a key at the G. Loomis Elite Edge award ceremony at the 2026 Spring Fishing and Boating Show. Maximum 3 keys per winner. The key gives the opportunity to open the Elite Edge Rod Locker to win $10,000 MSRP in G. Loomis rods and Shimano reels. The winner will have the option to pick rods and reels but cannot exceed $10,000 CDN MSRP.

·        Decals: The G. Loomis Elite Edge sticker logo must be displayed on the windshield of the angler’s boat. Decal will be issued at tournament registration of your respective tournament with a copy of store receipt.

·        Rod Purchase: The rod must have been purchased in 2025 prior to the event and rod must registered on the G. Loomis website.

·        Eligible Tournaments:

o   CSFL Competitive Sport Fishing League

• Bassmania

• CAN/US Walleye

• Pro Bass Tour

• MLF Canada

o   Bait Fuel Tour

• Qualifiers

• Thousand Island Open

o   Ontario Bass Nation

• National Qualifier (Lake Nipissing 2025)

 

·        Verification: Winners must be verified through the sanctioned tournaments organizers and names sent to G. Loomis to be eligible.

·        Approval: Approval of winners is at the sole discretion of G. Loomis.

·        Participant Responsibility: It is the participant’s responsibility to know the rules of the program. G. Loomis Elite Edge Tournament Rewards participants must meet all requirements and submit proof that they were met. G. Loomis Elite Edge Tournament Rewards recipients will be responsible to attend the awards ceremony at the 2026 Spring Fishing and Boating Show (Mississauga, ON).

Shimano Expands Flagship MGL Spinning Reel Lineup with the Exsence 2500XGB

A New Size for 2025 Brings Added Offering for Finesse Freshwater Applications

Shimano North America Fishing announces the debut of its Exsence B spinning reel lineup with a new 2500-size option, tailored for light-tackle anglers targeting freshwater species with techniques. As the flagship model in Shimano’s MagnumLite series, the Exsence B sets the standard for performance in finesse applications.

“When we talk about finesse, we’re talking about control — and that’s where this Exsence B dominates,” says Kade Gewanter, Freshwater Product Marketing Manager at Shimano North America Fishing. “The new size offering within the redesigned Exsence series — the Exsence 2500XGB — expands access to Shimano’s premium technologies for finesse bass fishing, allowing more anglers to fine-tune their gear for specific techniques using a premium reel equipped with Shimano’s MGL Rotor. Whether shaking a dropshot, or strolling a minnow, the Exsence B delivers the performance edge.”

Exsence B is engineered with Shimano’s most advanced reel technologies, empowering anglers with longer, more accurate casts, ultra-responsive control, and smooth, powerful retrieves. The lightweight frame is now available in a 2500-size option with ultra-fast XG gearing (6.4:1), making it the perfect spinning reel for targeting bass with finesse tactics.

Making a Strong Case for Protection

New D-VEC Reel Bag underscores DAIWA’s commitment to protecting and transporting your reels and other valuable gear

The innovative fishing company’s new D-VEC Reel Bag puts a heavy-duty nylon forcefield around 7 to 8 small to midsize reels, spinning or baitcasting.  

The case’s innerworkings are intuitive and utilitarian. Not only does the D-VEC Reel Bag accommodate a fishing vacation’s rotisserie of reels, but it’s also designed to individualize protection for the shape and size of each one. Semi-firm and padded dividers offer a modular approach to customizing fit, panels secured with Velcro tabs. And there’s no statute that says the bag is limited to reels, either. The modular configuration lends itself to multipurpose applications. Build a fortress around that camera, maybe safely encase your binoculars and smartphone. How about a small drone? No problem. There should still be enough space for a couple DAIWA reels…

The inside lid of the D-VEC Reel Bag is assigned as well. Double zippers open and close a mesh storage pouch that is ideal for spinning reel handles, keys, and that priceless fishing license.

Externally, the rugged D-VEC Reel Bag sports a robust zipper with easy-open, oversized pull-tabs. A comfortable sewn-in handle satisfies quick grab and go’s, while an adjustable and removable shoulder strap easily totes your treasures through the airport.