2025 MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River Day 3: Pat Schlapper Continues Lead!

Canadians: Gallant 3rd,  Chris Johnston 13th & Gustafson 26th

Wisconsin's Pat Schlapper maintains the lead on Day 3 of the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River with a three-day total of 29 pounds, 2 ounces. (Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

ORANGE, Texas — Pat Schlapper felt the moment slipping away, but he patiently persevered and found a late-day kicker that kept him in the lead of the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River.

The Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Eleva, Wis., took the early lead with a Day 1 limit of 12 pounds, 2 ounces and then remained in the top spot with a second-round bag that went 8-7. Catching a Semifinal Saturday limit of 8-9, Schlapper made it three days straight with a leading total of 29-2.

Coming off a 32nd-place finish last week in the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork, Schlapper heads into Championship Sunday with a 14-ounce lead over Kyoya Fujita. Schlapper attributes his Texas success to a rejuvenated perspective.

“It’s been a tough year, but I’ve kinda changed my mindset; I’m trying to have fun and I’m fishing to win,” Schlapper said. “We hear that all the time, but I’m really fishing to win this week.”

Schlapper demonstrated the determination requisite of blue trophy ownership by enduring a lean third day. Round 1 saw him catch all of his fish at a bridge near Taylor Bayou. That structure produced part of his Day 2 limit, with the rest coming from shallow shoreline cover.

Schlapper tried his bridge again on Day 3, but it did not yield any keeper bites.

“I started on some other stuff and then went (to the bridge) and didn’t catch ’em, then I just started fishing the way I did in practice,” Schlapper said. “I’m not counting on the bridge anymore. I’ll fish it tomorrow and think I can still catch some there, but I’m focused on the other way I’m catching them.”

That other pattern simply comprises covering water and flipping shallow habitat features. Schlapper said he’s fishing a mix of natural targets with a Texas-rigged creature bait and a jig.

“It could be grass, it could be wood, it could be a little undercut point,” he said. “I’m just trying to get my bait in front of as many fish as I can.

“It took me all day to get those five keepers,” Schlapper said. “I had six keeper bites and only I caught five of them.”

2025 MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River Day 1: Pat Schlapper Scores 12-02lbs and Lead!

Canadians: Gallant 7th,  Gustafson 34th,  Kung 37th,  Chris Johnston 53rd & Cory Johnston 70th

Wisconsin's Pat Schlapper has taken the lead on Day 1 of the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River with a total of 12 pounds, 2 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release 

ORANGE, Texas — Pat Schlapper had the right tool for the job and that homemade bait played a key role in delivering a 12-pound, 2-ounce limit that leads Day 1 of the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River.

On a day that saw 69 of 102 competitors fill their 5-bass limit, the pro from Eleva, Wis., heads into Day 2 with a 13-ounce lead over Arkansas pro Stetson Blaylock.

The Sabine holds a good population of fish, but the average size is significantly less than what anglers found during last week’s Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork. Aware of the fish he’d be targeting, and the shallow cover that typically dominates the Sabine action, Schlapper made a batch of jigs specifically for this event.

“I caught most of my fish on a little Do-it Molds compact finesse jig that I make myself and a Big Bite Baits chunk trailer,” Schlapper said. “It’s a 3/8-ounce jig, but it has a really short shank 2/0 hook. It’s really compact and I tied it with fine cut skirt material so it’s really lifelike.

“The jig is black and blue with a sapphire blue trailer. They like sapphire blue down here; I learned that the first year I fished here. The (entire bait) is not even 3 inches long. I made it specifically for this tournament.”

Austin Felix Wins 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Event On Lake Oahe!

Canadian Chris Johnston 2nd!

Austin Felix of Eden Prairie, Minn., has won the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Oahe with a four-day total of 71 pounds, 9 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Seto/BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

MOBRIDGE, S.D. — Austin Felix views himself as a well-rounded angler but he loves to fish for smallmouth. So, it’s fitting Felix’s first Bassmaster Elite Series title would involve catching those big, beautiful brown fish.

 

With a five-bass limit that weighed 16 pounds, 3 ounces on Championship Sunday, the Eden Prairie, Minn., native secured the victory at the Guarantee Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Oahe with a total of 71-9, earning $100,000.

 

Felix overcame a disappointing Day 1 performance of 14-2 that put him in 34th and then rebounded with the VMC Monster Bag of the tournament at 23-3 that lifted him to second place after Day 2 and earned him an additional $2,000. Felix took the lead on Day 3 with 18-1 and held off a hard-charging Chris Johnston on the final day.

 

“I feel like I have an advantage on a smallmouth event over the field, at least most of them,” the 2020 Bassmaster Rookie of the Year said. “It is my wheelhouse, I would like to think. I had never been here before but when I came here for (pre-practice) it was the most incredible fishing in the world.

 

“I fully expected driving out here that the 23-pound bag would be what you had to have to compete. But, when we got here, these fish have gotten a lot of pressure over the last year.” 

 

While he had close to 18 spots marked, two main-lake points on Lake Oahe produced the bulk of Felix’s weight, one above the Highway 212 Bridge that crosses the lake south of takeoff in Mobridge and one below the bridge. These points had an important characteristic: they dropped off sharply into deeper water and had rockpiles on the bottom.

 

For the most part, Felix’s smallmouth were relating to the bottom or close to the bottom. If he found they were set up on the bottom, he could stay off his spots and cast to them. But on many occasions, they would be constantly on the move and that’s when his Lowrance Active Target came into play.