2019 Bass Pro League Lake Chickamuga Pool A: Dave Lefebre Wins Round with 59-14lbs!

Lefebre's Afternoon Flurry on Lake Chickamauga Powers Him to Shotgun Round Win 
Major League Fishing Press Release

A fast action afternoon give Dave Lefebre win.
(Photo: MLS)

The small town of Dayton, Tenn., has put a stamp on the game of tournament bass fishing with its hashtag "#BassTownUSA".  

As competition came to a close in Major League Fishing® (MLF) Shotgun Round 1 of the Bass Pro Tour Econo Lodge Stage Four Presented by Winn Grips - and Top 5 anglers Dave Lefebre, Aaron Martens, Jordan Lee, Brandon Palaniuk and Bark Rose breathed a sigh of relief - it became clear that that hashtag is not hype.

Emerging from a flurry of afternoon lead changes, 705 scorable bass caught, and several anglers jockeying up and down inside the SCORETRACKER™ Top 10, Lefebre racked up 34 fish for 59 pounds, 14 ounces to claim the top spot in Group A competition on Lake Chickamauga.

"My average weight would have been a lot higher if I could get them in the boat," Lefebre admitted. "I'm doing something that's a little bit different than what the others are doing in the area that I'm in and it's generating some big bites. I lost 4-5 of them, one was a 6 pounder and I tried to swing it. The opportunity to get a good sack is there."

Martens finished second on the day with 57-3, Lee was third with 55-8, Palaniuk was fourth with 54-12 and Rose rounded out the Top 5 with 53-8. 

Lefebre Pours it on Late

Martens entered the final period in the lead, thanks to a steady bite on a vibrating jig. That bite tailed off noticeably in Period 3: while Martens caught some quality fish (two 4s and a 3), he managed only four scorable bass in the final 2 ½ hours of competition.

Lefebre, meanwhile, poured it on, putting 16 of his 34 scorable fish on SCORETRACKER in Period 3 and leapfrogging Lee, Rose and Martens with 23-15 in the period.

"My option A was blown out and I couldn't go there, so it was all plan B today," Lefebre said. "I kind of panicked this morning when I saw my water I wanted to fish (was blown out), and just made a real quick decision to keep running when others were already fishing."

Another Heavyweight Shotgun Round 

The overall catch weight for the Group A field of 40 anglers was astounding: 1,396 pounds of bass. Six anglers recorded 50 pounds or more - one more than the first Shotgun Round slugfest at Stage Three Raleigh - and 14 caught 42-plus pounds.

2019 Bass Pro League Lake Chickamuga Pool B: Martens Pours it On; Lucas, Wiggins, Elam Escape Elimination.

Aaron Martens almost reaches 100lbs!

MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING PRESS RELEASE

Aaron Martens and Jordon Lee catch'em like crazy.
(Photo: MLF)

As has become the standard for the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Elimination Rounds, you didn't have to look far to find a multitude of storylines on Day 3 of the Econo Lodge Stage Four Presented by Evinrude.

Aaron Martens gave notice that he's onto a strong pattern on Lake Chickamauga, and is going to be a handful for the rest of the competition as he finished atop the 40 Group A anglers who competed in today's Elimination Round. And joining him in the 20 moving on to Saturday's Knockout Round are three anglers - Justin Lucas, Jesse Wiggins and James Elam - who had not previously advanced past an Elimination Round.

The way Chickamauga is producing scorable bass this week, all Group A and Group B Elimination Rounds' survivors are likely to find squeezing into the Top 20 at the end of Knockout may be harder than it ever has been.

Martens Makes the Most of His Day

Martens picked up where he left off in the Shotgun Round, weighing in 13-5 in the first hour of competition, and connecting with a 7-pound, 6-ouncer. That fish was the anchor of his 36-13 weight for the day, and helped Martens to 94-0 overall in the Shotgun and Elimination Rounds.

That weight surpassed the previous Elimination weight record of 93-4 set by Kelly Jordon at the Stage Three event in Raleigh, North Carolina, and gave the Alabama pro enough of a security blanket that he could mix up his patterns, and survey some of his best spots ahead of the Knockout Round.

2014 Bassmaster Elite Lake Seminole Day 3: Brett Hite Leads by 10lbs!

Hite waiting for day 4. He left a pod of big bass.

By Deb Johnson

bass Press Release

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. — Lake Seminole bass fishing could not be setting up any better for Brett Hite: big prespawn bass traveling on “highways” to beds.

Hite casting a vibrating jig to pre-spawn bass.
(Photo: BASS)

Knowing how to target prespawners is one of his main strengths, said the Phoenix, Ariz., pro who is a Bassmaster Elite Series rookie, but prefers to call himself “young veteran” as a tip of the hat to his almost 13 years competing in big-name tournaments.

Saturday, Hite proved his experience by repeating his Friday lead in the Dick Cepek Tires Bassmaster Elite at Lake Seminole presented by Hardee’s.

And what a lead. Heading into Sunday’s championship round, Hite had 9 pounds, 12 ounces over his closest threat, Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark.

Hite’s total over the event’s first three competition days was 71-11. A consistent Davis, with a tally of 61-15 — 20 pounds and change each of three days — reached second place, up from seventh.

Bassmaster Elite Dixie Duel Wheeler Lake day 1 and 2 recap

What's going on!?
By Luigi De Rose

Sorry for the delay but here is a photo essay on the Wheeler Lake Tournament. Wheeler Lake is the last official stop on the 2011 Bassmaster Tour Season. Many anglers are killing themselves to finish high enough in the points to qualify for the Classic. Others have no chance and are just trying to cut a good cheque. Also, there is the very important Angler of the Year (AOY) race in full swing.

So, lets try and figure out what is going on. Wheeler is a TVA lake in Alabama and has current flow created by electrical power generation. Bass mood is effected and affected by the current. The weather is hot and bass should be in a summer time pattern but don't count on it; it has been a weak spring.

Many expect the cranking anglers to win and they might. Summer means off-shore cranking, big worms, a few jigs and even a spoon tossed in. This means KVD should be at the top of the standings but he isn't in the Top 5 but who cares when it seems that he'll win another AOY.

Thursday, which was Day 1 saw Ott DeFoe take the lead and on Friday, David Walker is sitting atop the leader board. Both are considered new to BASS but both are very seasoned anglers with a lot of talent. Each one wants to fish the Classic and it looks like they will finish well.  

This photo essay is courtesy of BASS photographers: Rob Russow, Seigo Saito, James Overstreet and Darrel Jacobson

Tim Horton and Kevn Wirth are sharing an off-shore spot. Sharing is the key work.

Horton battles a good one as Russ Lane watches.

Bassmaster Elite Diamond Drive Arkansas River Day 3: Mid Day Up-Date

By Luigi De Rose

On any river that has commercial barge traffic or electric generation, Saturday is always a different day. River traffic and water flow changes dramatically due to so many people not working on the weekends and a decrease in electrical energy demands. What all this means to the fisherman is that the current created by barge traffic or water flowing through turbines, is less and the bass reposition. If the current tapers off to a dribble expect the bite to die. 

According to bassmaster.com, the mid-day report's unofficial weights looks like this:
standing/name/fish/day 3 weigth/total
1 Denny Brauer 3 6-00 40-01
2 John Murray 4 10-09 33-12
3 Aaron Martens 5 12-00 33-06
4 Jonathan VanDam 5 16-00 31-10
5 Ish Monroe 5 10-08 31-07
6 Gerald Swindle 5 10-00 30-11
7 Billy McCaghren 2 3-12 28-03
8 Kevin VanDam 1 2-00 27-11
9 Timmy Horton 5 13-05 27-01
10 Keith Combs 3 5-00 24-10
11 Greg Vinsom 2 3-04 24-09
12 Takahiro Omori 1 2-01 24-07
13 Clark Rheem 2 3-03 23-15
14 Ben Parker 4 8-11 23-10
15 Randy Howell 3 5-13 23-09

Another factor is the locks. Yesterday, 5 anglers arrived late to the ramp due to delays with the locks and all suffered a late penalty. If one of the leaders comes in late today and their day's weight has deductions, the leader board can change in a hurry. Jonathan Van Dam is a great example of how one good day on the Arkansas River will change everything. On day 1 he scored a big ZERO and on day 2 his five fish limit weighted 15-10 lifting him into the Top 50. It appears he is doing well again and has leaped into the Top 10.
Stay tuned!