Cooper conquers Conroe, earns first win in Championship Round thriller
Mitchell Forde
BASS PRO TOUR Press Release
CONROE, Texas — For about 3 hours and 40 minutes Sunday afternoon, Justin Cooper sat atop SCORETRACKER® at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Power-Pole. The Louisiana pro’s lead had been threatened repeatedly – including, at one point, Jacob Wall tying him in weight – but every time, he mustered an answer.
So, when Cooper boated a 1-pound, 10-ounce Lake Conroe largemouth with about a minute left before lines out, he thought he’d simply added a little insurance to his cushion. He didn’t realize the fish, one of the smallest of the 34 scorable bass he caught on the day, would be worth $150,000.
A few seconds earlier, Colby Miller – one of Cooper’s closest friends who’d been steadily gaining ground on him since the first period – landed a 2-10. That fish finally unseated Cooper, giving Miller a 9-ounce lead. All of 22 seconds later, Cooper’s 1-10 hit SCORETRACKER®. Another 68 seconds after that, time ran out on an epic first Championship Round of the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season.
The final tallies: 78-5 for Cooper, 77-4 for Miller. Cooper had his first professional win.
“It’s indescribable,” Cooper said. “I never thought that I could win one. I’ve always been a bridesmaid and never a bride. I just never thought it was in the cards for me to win a big event like that. I thought I could have a good, solid career but always missed that part. So, to get that win and have my family here, it means everything.”
Here’s how the Top 10 anglers finished the Championship Round:
Justin Cooper – 78-5 (34)
Colby Miller – 77-4 (35)
Jacob Wall – 74-2 (32)
Alton Jones Jr. – 69-7 (26)
Jacob Wheeler – 63-11 (29)
Jake Lawrence – 60-10 (25)
Drew Gill – 58-9 (23)
Zack Birge – 46-15 (24)
Nick LeBrun – 40-3 (18)
Justin Lucas – 26-12 (12)
Anytime the margin of victory is that narrow, it’s impossible to pinpoint a single winning moment. Indeed, without any one of the 34 scorable bass he caught during the Championship Round (including another 1-10 that narrowly beat the buzzer at the end of Period 1), Cooper would have fallen short of Miller.
But one could make the argument that Cooper’s most important catch came three days earlier, on the first day of the event.
Cooper started Day 1 slowly. He opted to use his one allotted period with forward-facing sonar in Period 1 – a strategy he’d replicate all four days – and he went more than 90 minutes before cracking SCORETRACKER®. Finally, he caught his first scorable bass of the season (once again, a 1-10), then added five more before the end of the frame. He finished the day in 33rd place, well below the 20th-place Elimination Line to qualify for the Knockout Round following Day 2; but that flurry at the end of the first period had provided a clue: The offshore, bait-chasing bass he’d found during practice had moved shallower.
So, Cooper started Day 2 in that shallower zone. He landed on the mother lode. Cooper stacked up 72-4 during the first period alone. By far the best single period of any angler all week, it not only rocketed him well above the cut line, but it also gave him confidence for the first time since joining the BPT last year that he could contend for the win.
“When I had that big period on Day 2 and I saw what was swimming around, I was like, wow, the fish are here to win it,” Cooper said.
Fast-forward to Sunday’s Championship Round, and Cooper started his day in the same 100-yard stretch. Once again utilizing a jighead minnow in conjunction with Garmin LiveScope, he rocketed out of the gates, boating 19 scorable bass for more than 40 pounds in the opening hour and a half.
This time, though, he couldn’t quite keep up the torrid pace. As his bite slowed, Wall – who fished the entire opening period less than a cast away – got hot. Wall ended up finishing Period 1 in first place with nearly 50 pounds. Cooper sat in third, a little more than 5 pounds behind. While the two coexisted amicably, their literal head-to-head battle would set the stage for the rest of the day.
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