2023 Bass Pro Tour VanDam grabs Saginaw Bay lead, eyes victory in final regular-season event of career

 

Kevin VanDam leaned into 21 pounds, 8 ounces to seize the lead on Saginaw Bay.
Photo by Cobi Pellerito.

By Tyler Brinks 

BASS PRO TOUR

BAY CITY, Mich. – The Knockout Round provided punch after punch, but none landed harder than Kevin VanDam‘s 21-pound, 8-ounce haymaker bag of smallmouth on Saginaw Bay at Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Suzuki.

Fishing in his last regular-season event ever, the bass fishing G.O.A.T. holds a 2-13 lead over Dakota Ebare heading into Sunday’s Championship ROund and aims to retire with an exclamation point and a storybook ending.

There’s intrigue at the very top of SCORETRACKER®, but you don’t have to go far to find more. The Bally Bet Angler of the Year race will come down to the last day of the season, with Jacob Wheeler (third), Ott DeFoe (fourth) and Matt Becker (fifth) still fishing, all having legitimate shots to take the title. Current leader Alton Jones Jr. is still mathematically alive, even though he didn’t advance with a 16th-place finish. Jones entered the tournament just seven points ahead of Wheeler, nine ahead of DeFoe and 10 ahead of Becker.

Tomorrow will be one for the ages, and all our burning questions will be answered at the end of the final period – and it might take until right up until the final bell for everything to be decided.

VanDam hopes to go out on top

It didn’t take long for VanDam to rocket to the top of SCORETRACKER®, landing on smallmouth from the jump and putting a huge limit in the boat in a hurry. His initial limit took only 23 minutes to catch and weighed 17-11. 

Spence Shuffield Wins 2022 Title Championship!

By Sean Ostruszka Tackle Warehouse Pro Curcuit

MASSENA, N.Y. – Spencer Shuffield always knew – he didn’t know when or the rough road of heartbreak and near-misses he’d travel to do it, but he knew one day he’d get that major victory.

Today, that knowing finally became reality. Shuffield is the Tackle Warehouse TITLE Presented by Mercury champion.

The Arkansas pro brought in 22 pounds, 12 ounces to take home the TITLE belt and $200,000. But that hardly tells the whole story, because in doing so, he not only bested the other nine anglers in the Championship Round. He battled and beat a lifetime of nemeses, from Mother Nature to the snake-bitten curse he’s seemingly carried since reviving his career only a few years back.

“I knew I was going to do it,” Shuffield said of his win. “I didn’t know when or how hard I was going to have to work to do it, but when you set your mind to something, you’re going to accomplish it, and I did.

“I really thought (the 2020 Tackle Warehouse TITLE) at Sturgeon Bay was the one. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t my time, but it was today.”

Shuffield admits he got a feeling it could happen while launching this morning.

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Kyle Hall Wins Lake Champlain Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Event by 1 Ounce!

By Joe Sills

Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Kyle Hall sat on the hot seat with two competitors headed to the scales. The 21 pounds, 6 ounces he boated during a 10-man shootout on Championship Monday was enough to get him close to a trophy and a $135,000 payday; but to claim it, he would have to go through a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit champion and his closest trail brother.

Prolific angler Jon Canada was up first. Canada, who already claimed a Pro Circuit win this year at Pickwick, was on a tear and the entire lake knew it. According to the tournament’s unofficial live leaderboard, Canada was tied atop the standings with Hall. But, when the veteran’s monstrous bag of smallmouth finally hit the scales, it came in at 21-5 — just an ounce shy of Hall.

When those numbers blinked across the screen, Canada smiled and laughed.

“We were talking about a fish-off in the line,” said Canada, referring to the one-hour fish-off that would break a tie for first place. “But I’ve already won one this year. I’m just as excited for these kids as I would be for me.”

As he left the stage, Canada pointed at Hall. Perhaps, because he knew an all-time Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit moment was about to take place. As Hall squirmed in the hot seat, the final angler approached. Dakota Ebare, his longtime roommate, stepped up to the stage.

Ebare, too, had been a lightning rod for smallmouth on the tournament’s final day. Like Canada, Ebare also carried a 21-pound total on the unofficial live leaderboard. As Ebare toted a hefty bag of bass towards the scale, the crowd gathered on the Plattsburgh waterfront began to realize what was at stake.

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2022 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me on the James River: Buck Breaks into Lead!

MLF PRESS RELEASE

RICHMOND, Va. – The James River showed out on Thursday. After 154 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world launched this morning at the Toyota Stop 5 on the James River Presented by PowerStop Brakes, 153 of those pros returned to the weigh-in scale this afternoon with a five-bass limit. And the lone pro that didn’t catch a limit still managed to bring four bass to the scale.

After the final fish had been tallied, Green Lane, Pennsylvania, pro Grae Buck, who has two Top-25 finishes already this season, jumped out to the early lead with a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces. He’ll bring a slim 4-ounce lead into Day 2 over Brookeland, Texas’, Dakota Ebare, who weighed a limit totaling 20-15. Chris Groh of Spring Grove, Illinois, sits just 8 ounces behind Ebare in third place with five bass for 20-7. Weights are stacked – just over 5 pounds separates first place from 20th – and with three days left in the competition it is still anyone’s event.

“I found two different areas (in practice) that had fish in it, but I never caught quality like this by any means,” Buck said. “Once I finally settled in today I got to see what was actually there and I caught them pretty consistently.”

Buck said that he caught around 15 keepers on Thursday, with a nice 6-pound, 6-ouncer coming right around noon.

“The tide definitely played a role in where I was starting and where I was fishing at,” Buck said. “I’m hoping I can go out there again and catch a bunch of fish. I got that big one in the afternoon. I had to go looking for it – it wasn’t in the same spot where I caught a limit. Hopefully I can get another big one like that tomorrow. Those big bites really go far.”

Buck mentioned that there were numerous other competitors fishing in the same areas. 

“There are a lot of people fishing there, but hopefully we can all work around the area together and catch them,” he said.

Although second-place pro Ebare is much more used to fishing in southern states like Texas and Louisiana, he said that he felt comfortable with how the James River was setting up for him.

“It felt a little like home in how it sets up,” Ebare said. “The tide swings are much bigger here than they are in Louisiana, but once I figured out where I needed to be and how the fish were setting up, I settled in and knew exactly what to look for. I was at the right place at the right time today and was able to start running the tide, which is the key to all tidal waters. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as much as where you’re doing it.

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