2025 Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at the Upper Mississippi River Day 3: Kuphall On Verge of Wire to Wire Win!

Canadians: Cory Johnston 6th, Gallant 9th & Chris Johnston 19th

Wisconsin's Caleb Kuphall maintains the lead on Day 3 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River with a total of 50 pounds, 12 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS)

BASS Press Release

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Conditions changed, but Caleb Kuphall’s game plan did not.

Sticking with a technique he employed the previous two days, the pro from Mukwonago, Wis., tallied a three-day total of 50 pounds, 12 ounces and remained atop the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River.

Kuphall, who claimed a wire-to-wire win at the 2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville, took the Day 1 lead at the Upper Mississippi River with a limit of 18-15. Following with 17-3, he maintained his position by a margin of 1-13 over Bryan Schmitt, who won the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River.

On Semifinal Saturday, Kuphall added 14-10 and heads into Championship Sunday leading Schmitt by the same amount.

“I would love to win this tournament,” Kuphall said. “It would absolutely be incredible. I have a ton of family and friends that would make the trip up. I want to win it for them, for sure.”

All week, Kuphall has been fishing the middle of Pool 8 and targeting undercut banks where big fish move up to feed. Having learned this pattern over 20 years ago, Kuphall has systematically worked through particular areas where he knows the scenario occurs.

He’s mostly working in depths of 3 feet or less and, while the fish could be on any section of the undercut banks, he has found that isolated details such as a laydown tree, a weed clump or a small point tend to be most consistent.

After relatively calm conditions on Days 1 and 2 brought early action, Kuphall endured a slow Day 3 start. That was likely the result of the third day's 15- to 20-mph winds and changing river level.

“Falling water and wind pretty much wrecked my day, compared to what I’d been catching,” Kuphall said. “I think I caught one or two fish off the stuff I had been hitting. My biggest fish came the previous day’s area.

2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors on Grand Lake Day 2: Justin Hamner Widens Lead!

Canadians Gallant 6th, Cory Johnston 20th, Chris Johnston 22nd & Gustafson 31st

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS Release

Since practice began last week, Alabama pro Justin Hamner says he hasn’t been able to duplicate two patterns from one day to the next.

That trend continued Saturday, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting him adversely.

Hamner caught yet another five-bass limit that weighed 20 pounds and increased his two-day total to 42 pounds, 6 ounces, to maintain the lead in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees.

Hamner, who has seemed strangely calm all week, said his only plan for Championship Sunday is to “win the Bassmaster Classic.” Beyond that, he isn’t sure what he’ll be doing once the tournament resumes.

“The dream is going pretty good so far, but we’ve still got one more day,” said Hamner, who is fishing only his second career Classic. “I had to do something totally different today than what I did on the first day of the tournament. The area I started in this morning had completely changed, and I left there around 10 or 10:30 (a.m.).

“In my new spot, I immediately caught three big ones and left there.”

Hamner had been hoping that increased winds would improve his bite. But on Saturday, he said it actually hurt him and forced him to change his plans.

“Yesterday, when I caught all of those fish in those creeks, there was zero bait,” he said. “Today, the wind actually blew directly into those creeks and the fish were more active. They were feeding on the bait, but I could not get those fish to bite.

“It was the weirdest thing and I have no explanation for it.”

The forecast for Championship Sunday calls for 20 to 30 mph winds with occasional gusts up to 40 mph. Hamner said he plans to start on the same brushpiles where he caught his best fish Saturday — and if that doesn’t work, he’ll redirect on the fly once again.

Trey McKinney Wins 2024 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with 130-15Lbs!

Copper Gallant with 100-07lbs!

BASS Press Release

YANTIS, Texas – Trey McKinney made history, with authority, on Championship Sunday at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork.

The Carbondale, Ill., native, exactly one week removed from his 19th birthday, finished with a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 130 pounds, 15 ounces, outlasting the field of 103 anglers in what was one of the most productive tournaments in the history of competitive bass fishing.

He became the youngest winner in Elite Series history and earned $100,000, while missing the all-time record for total weight in a four-day B.A.S.S. event — set by Paul Elias on Falcon Lake in Texas in 2008 — by just 1 pound, 9 ounces.

“This is crazy to even be up here, much less come that close to setting the all-time tournament record,” McKinney said. “To think, that one more fish and I could have had it. I lost a 7 1/2-pounder yesterday that would have given me 33 pounds and enough weight to break it.

“But I couldn’t be happier. This lake is just awesome. It was stressful and I had adrenaline. I was really spinning out today when I had 28 pounds and didn’t know if I had enough to win. I knew I had to have more.”

2024 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork Day 2: Trey McKinney Scores Lead!

Canadians Gallant 10th, Cory Johnston 13th, Chris Johnston 17th & Gustafson 59th

Rookie Trey McKinney has taken the lead on Day 2 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a two-day total of 67 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: Andy Crawford/ BASS) 

BASS Press Release

YANTIS, Texas — Just when you thought the fishing at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork couldn’t get better, it did.

 

Fifteen of the 103 anglers in the field caught 30 pounds or more on Day 2 of this four-day derby in the northeast corner of the Lone Star State. That was up from a total of 14 who caught 30 pounds or more on Thursday to start competition on the 27,000-acre fishery.

 

Trey McKinney, the 19-year-old wunderkind from Carbondale, Ill., leads with 10 bass totaling 67 pounds, 5 ounces. He was in fourth place after Day 1 with a 33-11 limit and held steady with a nearly identical 33-10 limit a day later.

 

McKinney is an Elite Series rookie who qualified for the tour through the 2023 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN. After finishing third in the Tackle Warehouse Elite Qualifiers division of the Opens, he’s the youngest angler to ever qualify for the Elites — and he’s already displaying a mastery beyond his years.

 

Not only does he have the lead at the halfway point of this tournament, but he has the best story of the derby to date, too.

Angling All Stars coming to Whitby, Ontario on November 15th!

 

Cory Johnston Wins the 2021 Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Open on the St. Lawrence River!

Cory Johnston sack 15 mega smallmouth for 78lbs!
(Photo: BASS)

By David A. Brown, BASS Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. — Saving the best for last, Bassmaster Elite Series angler Cory Johnston turned in his biggest bag of the week, 27 pounds, 6 ounces, and won the Basspro.com Bassmaster Northern Open at the St. Lawrence River/1000 Islands with a three-day total of 78-0.

Edging Day 1 leader Cal Climpson by 13 ounces, Johnston won the top prize of $43,433. Hailing from Cavan, Ontario, Canada, he said local knowledge proved invaluable.

“It was a great week and I had a lot of fun,” Johnston said. “I have a lot of spots out on Lake Ontario. I only pre-fished for about two days out here; I just know this place so well, but it’s burnt me so many times.

“I caught a ton of fish and I caught a lot of big fish. It just goes to show you what an incredible fishery we have here, so we have to look after this place.”

The first two days, Johnston kept himself in the hunt with limits of 25-7 and 25-3 that put him in fifth and second place. His final-round limit was the event’s second-heaviest, behind Climpson’s Day 1 bag of 27-7.

Johnston’s win provided a much-needed dose of redemption, after what looked to be a run at the victory ended with a fourth-place finish at mid-July’s Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River.

Erik Luzak and Ashley Rae Win 2018 FLW CANADA CUP!

Top team moving closer to 2019 Forrest Wood Cup!
By Luigi De Rose 

Ashley and Erik cash 10 grand and move closer to FLW Cup.
(Photo: Margaret Garnier/facebook)

		Position		PRO	CO-ANGLER	DAY 1	DAY 2	DAY 3		TOTAL
		1		ERIK LUZAK	ASHLEY RAE	20.55	18.55	16.45		55.55
		2		COOPER GALLANT	DANNY MCGARRY	21.55	18.25	12.45		52.25
		3		DAVE MACDONALD	MIKE BRAYFORD	16.1	17.55	16.9		50.55
		4		BOB IZUMI	DARREN IZUMI	15.45	18.35	15.85		49.65
		5		PETE GARNIER	BOB DECKERT	15.65	15.1	18.5		49.25
		6		DEREK GOLDIE	STEVER ERIC-MARKOVIC	17.5	15.45	14.95		47.9
		7		PHIL CURTIS	BRENT VALERE	16.25	16.85	14.55		47.65
		8		SCOTT BURNS	GORD ROGERS	17.65	16	12.95		46.6
		9		PAUL TSIGARUS	TERRY HICKEY	14.95	17.7	13.7		46.35
		10		DAN RISORTO	GERARD COCKS	20.75	12.9	11.95		45.6

Full results