2025 Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at the Upper Mississippi River Day 2: Kuphall Still Leads!

Canadians: Gallant 6th, Cory Johnston 11th, Chris Johnston 22nd, Evan Kung 82nd & Gustafson 86th.

Wisconsin's Caleb Kuphall maintains the lead on Day 2 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River with a total of 36 pounds, 2 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS) 

BASS Press Release

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Caleb Kuphall was banking on his local knowledge and that expectation delivered both metaphorically and practically as the pro from Mukwonago, Wis., retained the lead on Day 2 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River.

After setting the high mark with a first-round limit of 18-pounds, 15-ounces, Kuphall entered Day 2 an ounce ahead of second-place KJ Queen. Today, Kuphall added 17-3, tallied a total of 36-2 and widened his lead to a 1-13 margin over Bryan Schmitt, who won the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River.

“What a day today; I think I’ve weighed in the two biggest bags that I’ve ever weighed in on this river today and yesterday,” Kuphall said. “I got out of the gate good this morning and caught them right away. I think I caught five and culled like four or five times in the first 40 minutes.

“I had a lot of confidence that I can catch a lot of fish here, but the big ones show up when they want to. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully another couple big ones show up tomorrow.”

Trusting the Mississippi River pattern he learned over 20 years ago, Kuphall has been focusing on undercut banks. Key spots had an isolated tree, a cluster of weeds, or a little point to influence fish positioning.

2025 Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at the Upper Mississippi River Day 1: Caleb Kuphall Scores Lead!

Wisconsin's Caleb Kuphall has taken lead on Day 1 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River with a total of 18 pounds, 15 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS) 

BASS Press Release

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Four years ago, when Caleb Kuphall claimed his first Bassmaster Elite trophy at Lake Guntersville, the Wisconsin pro leveraged his deep knowledge of northern grass fishing to pull the winning fish out of Alabama milfoil.

Today, Kuphall intentionally avoided the typically prominent local game to find the 18-pound, 15-ounce limit that leads Day 1 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River.

Topping a tight leaderboard with only a pound and 14 ounces separating first and 10th, Kuphall leads second-place KJ Queen by an ounce. Third-place Brandon Card sits 5 ounces off the lead.

“I’m actually not fishing any grass at all,” Kuphall said. “I’m just fishing the way I like to fish up here. I mostly fish grass back home (in Mukwonago, Wis.), but I kinda avoid the grass here.

“We’ve had a major influx of eelgrass in this (area of the river) in probably the last five years. There used to be more milfoil, but most of that is gone now.”

Drawing on his solid river history, Kuphall said he did all of his work around a particular type of current break. He kept his specifics thin, but he noted that the way he’s fishing is the way he’s fished for two decades.

“I think I have something better figured out,” Kuphall said. “My first tournaments were here, way back in the early 2000s and I kinda learned this style of fishing and a particular technique throughout the years.

“This is a really consistent pattern. I caught two 4 1/2-pounders — you just don’t catch those here.”

MLF announces Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit returns in 2026 with elevated payouts, championship berths, pathway to REDCREST

BENTON, Ky. – Major League Fishing announced today details for the return of one of the sport’s most prestigious series – the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – with an upgraded program designed to deliver bigger payouts, more advancement opportunities, and a platform worthy of the sport’s best pros all with reduced entry fees.

Formerly the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, the Pro Circuit name returns in 2026 to reflect the elevated status of the league as the qualifying route to the Bass Pro Tour. With new lower entry fees, a guaranteed $100,000 first-place award at every tournament, advancement to REDCREST from every tournament and championship berths for 50 anglers, the Pro Circuit solidifies itself as the place for pro anglers to make their mark.

“Bringing back the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit name is about honoring the legacy of the circuit while also recognizing that we are delivering a program that’s bigger and better than ever,” said Kathy Fennel, MLF Executive Vice President and General Manager. “From lower entry fees to BPT advancement to national media coverage, the 2026 Pro Circuit offers unmatched value and opportunity for pros looking to compete in a five-bass, weigh-in format with limited use of forward-facing sonar and 360 imaging.”

2026 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Highlights:

• $100,000 guaranteed first-place award at all six qualifying events and the no-entry-fee Championship – plus a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus that pushes the top award to $135,000 for qualified pros.
• Lower $5,000 entry fee (down from $5,500 in 2025).
• Biggest payouts per event outside of the Bass Pro Tour.
• Seven direct berths to REDCREST 2027 – The winner of each tournament, including the Championship, advances.
• 50 Championship berths guaranteed regardless of field size.
• Top 5 anglers in AOY standings advance to the 2027 Bass Pro Tour, with no double-qualifying restrictions.
• $50,000 Fishing Clash Angler of the Year award.
• Forward-facing sonar and 360 imaging limited to 3 hours of each competition day, similar to the fan-favorite Bass Pro Tour format, using new tracking technology.
• Live on-the-water and weigh-in coverage daily, plus national television broadcasts.

Record limit lifts Canadian Erik Luzak to lead on St. Lawrence

Mitchell Forde, Toyota Press Release

MASSENA, N.Y. — The St. Lawrence River has earned a reputation as the nation’s premier smallmouth tournament fishery for a reason – it’s produced some massive bags of brown
bass through the years. None has ever measured up to Erik Luzak’s Day 2 at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats event.

Luzak brought a ridiculous 31 pounds, 5 ounces of smallmouth to the scales Friday. It’s the first time in the history of MLF/FLW that an angler has topped 30 pounds with five fish on the St. Lawrence.

Luzak’s limit was anchored by a 7-14 giant that easily won Berkley Big Bass honors. It’s the second-heaviest daily big bass in MLF competition on the river, trailing only Thomas Lavictoire’s 8-3 caught way back in 2002.

“I’m definitely speechless after a day like today,” Luzak said.

No surprise, Luzak’s massive day launched him into the lead, although his first MLF win is far from a foregone conclusion with one day of competition remaining. He’s 4-4 ahead of Day 1 leader Brody Campbell, who followed up his 26-2 opening-day bag with 26-15 and somehow fell behind. In third, Alex Korol is also above 50 pounds with 51-9.

Meanwhile, on the co-angler side, Hunter Navari topped 20 pounds for the second day in a row to climb into the top spot. He weighed 22-3 to bring his total to 43-1, which has him 3-4 clear of Eric White.

Laker Howell Wins 2025 the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Leech Lake presented by SEVIIN.

By David A. Brown

BASS Press Release

WALKER, Minn. — The only thing that stood taller than Laker Howell was the fishing rod he used to win the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Leech Lake presented by SEVIIN.

At 6-foot-5, the pro from Guntersville, Ala., armed himself with a 7-foot-9 Daiwa Kage medium swimbait rod and leaned on his largemouth prowess to tally a two-day total of 39 pounds, 13 ounces. Turning in daily weights of 19-10 and 20-3, Howell edged Texan Jace Lindsay by a pound.

The tournament’s scheduled start was postponed from Thursday to Friday due to a hazardous wind forecast. The event was shortened to two days, with the full field fishing both days.

“I don’t even have the words; I gotta thank the Lord right now,” a tearful Howell said. “Everyone who does this for a living understands why I’m crying. There’s so much you put into it. All the emotion, all the hard work. The late nights, the early mornings, all the YouTube fishing videos you study.”

2025 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division event on St. Lawrence River Day 1: Brody Campbell 1st, Luzak Tied for 2nd!

As usual, Brody Campbell put himself in contention for the win in another Toyota Series event. Photo by Jody White. 

By Tyler Brinks, Toyota Series Press Release

MASSENA, N.Y. – With several high-profile events on the mighty St. Lawrence River producing countless big bags of smallmouth in recent weeks, expectations were high coming into the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Northern Division event. It’s safe to say the famed river lived up to its reputation and maybe even surpassed it as Ohio’s Brody Campbell took the Day 1 lead with 26 pounds, 2 ounces, one of three pros to exceed the 26-pound mark.

Just 2 ounces back of Campbell are Erik Luzak and Christian Greico, who weighed 26 pounds apiece, and the weights are stacked below. Tournament Director Mark McWha welcomed many anglers to the “20-pound club” after weighing their bags, but the club became much less exclusive as the weigh-in progressed, with 56 pros and nine co-anglers reaching that number. On the co-angler side, Alabama’s Eric White bagged 23-12, a lead of more than 2 pounds over Virginia’s Hunter Tibbetts, who brought in 21-10.

This event is presented by Suzuki Marine and hosted by the Town of Massena and features a field of 140 pros and co-anglers.

Campbell starts strong with the lead and Big Bass

Campbell is a bass tournament iron man, already fishing his 19th MLF event this season across the country and at different levels. He’s already scored a Toyota Series win in January on Sam Rayburn in Texas and hopes to add another victory this week on the northern border. With over 26 pounds, he’s well on his way and reported catching his limit quickly this morning, which included the day’s big bass at 6-13.

“I made a long run, over an hour away, and once I got down there to my first spot, I had almost 27 pounds in my first 30 minutes of fishing,” he said. “It’s a place I’ve caught them before, and it was loaded. I broke one off my first cast that was over 6 pounds. Then, my second cast, I catch that one that was almost 7, and the next one after that was 6 1/2.”

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Trey McKinney Wins 2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair!

Canadians: Evan Kung 6th

BASS Press Release

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — The Yokohama Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair certainly hasn’t been difficult for Trey McKinney, but after three days of competition the second-year pro didn’t know how many big smallmouth were left in his best area.

His questions were quickly answered on Championship Sunday as McKinney caught a 6 pound, 2-ounce smallmouth within the first several minutes of fishing, putting the exclamation point on a dominating performance.

The 20-year-old from Carbondale, Ill., claimed his second Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series trophy in wire-to-wire fashion, catching 96 pounds, 1 ounce over four days at Lake St. Clair. It is the heaviest winning weight in Bassmaster competition at Lake St. Clair and the fifth heaviest winning weight in a smallmouth event in B.A.S.S. history. 

“It was an incredible week,” McKinney said. “Once I caught those fish this morning, I was so excited. It was a pretty awesome day. When I got to my spot, I made three casts and that 6-2 came up and smoked it.” 

The victory just adds to an already stunning resume. In just two years at the highest level, McKinney has two titles (2024 Lake Fork, 2025 St. Clair), nine Top 10s in 17 events and a runner-up finish at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. That doesn’t include the four Top 10s he racked up in the 2023 Bassmaster Opens. 

Opening the tournament third in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year, McKinney is now in a tie with Canadian pro Chris Johnston with 690 points heading into the final event at the Upper Mississippi River.  

McKinney was in control from the jump at St. Clair, landing 24-11 on Day 1 before adding limits weighing 23-10, 23-15 and 23-13 to his tally the next three days to beat second-place Logan Parks by over 5 1/2 pounds.  

“The cool thing about it was, I didn’t really have them found. And we fished around everybody. The thing I’m proud of this week is putting my head down and being able to out-fish everyone. It was a really good area if no one else was fishing it, but with everyone out there, you saw a quarter of the fish and they were hard to get to bite. So it was a pretty big achievement to (do that).”

Jacob Wheeler Wins 2025 Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats on Saginaw Bay!

By Mitchell Forde 

BASS PRO TOUR 

BAY CITY, Mich. — Jacob Wheeler couldn’t help himself. 

Time had already run out in Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats on Saginaw Bay with Wheeler atop SCORETRACKER®, his 10th career Bass Pro Tour win secured. Yet after Wheeler addressed the MLFNOW! viewers and offered some thank yous to those who had helped him get his tournament fishing start growing up in Indiana, he picked his rod back up and pitched a topwater frog back to the clump of reeds and lily pads in front of his boat, trying to elicit one more blowup.

That summed up Wheeler’s week on Saginaw Bay. Needing only to finish 27th or better to secure his fourth Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in the past five seasons, he could have played it safe, then celebrated and gone through the motions after he secured the hardware on Friday. Instead, he not only made Sunday’s Championship Round but overcame an early 22-pound deficit to Todd Faircloth and willed his way to a win in a three-way battle with Faircloth and Edwin Evers. His total of 110 pounds even on 42 scorable bass ultimately topped Faircloth by 7-6.

For the win, Wheeler earned $150,000 – he’ll leave Saginaw Bay with $250,000 and two trophies thanks to his AOY victory. The dream end to yet another dominant season left even Wheeler, who is no stranger to recapping victories, short for words.

“I still don’t know what to say, to be honest with you,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t even believe it half the time. I just go fishing and things happen. I’m just speechless. It’s crazy, it really is.” 

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

1. Jacob Wheeler – 110-0 (42)

2. Todd Faircloth – 102-10 (40)

3. Edwin Evers – 86-10 (36)

4. Cole Floyd – 66-2 (26)

5. Brent Ehrler – 61-2 (25)

6. Bryan Thrift – 58-0 (23)

7. Nick Hatfield – 54-12 (23)

8. Spencer Shuffield – 49-15 (21)

9. Keith Carson – 45-7 (18)

10. James Elam – 43-6 (18)

Complete results

Wheeler separates himself with strategy yet again

Wheeler took his first lead of the Championship Round with about 10 minutes left in Period 2. From there, he and Faircloth traded blows, the top spot on

2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair Day 3: Trey McKinney Remains Leader!

Canadians: Evan Kung 6th, Chris Johnston 11th, Cory Johnston 29th, Gallant 34th & Gustafson 50th.

BASS Press Release

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — When Trey McKinney is at his best, the 20-year-old can dissect one big area of a body of water and find where the bigger bass are within that location. 

That strategy has worked to perfection through three days of the Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair as McKinney has combed through one area to catch a three-day total of 72 pounds, 4 ounces. 

“I do like this style of fishing,” he said. “I know I’m going to see fish, and if I do my thing right, they are going to be pretty nice ones. I’m an area guy. I find an area and find where they go within that area. (This lake) is fitting my style pretty well.”

The second-year pro from Carbondale, Ill., has never trailed in this tournament, opening the tournament with 24-11 before catching 23-10 on Day 2. His leads were just ounces over the second-place angler the first two days, but with a 23-15 limit of smallmouth on Semifinal Saturday, he increased his lead to 4-10 over Logan Parks.

In total, McKinney now has nine Top 10 finishes in Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series competition and is five quality smallies away from winning his second blue trophy in as many years. The 2024 Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year also finds himself in an unofficial tie for first in the 2025 Progressive Angler of the Year race with five days left of competition.