Keith Poche Wins 2025 Stop 5 Presented by 7 Brew Coffee on the James River!

By Jody White, Invitations 

RICHMOND, Va. – Keith Poche has a sterling record when it comes to riverine fisheries, with a bevy of Top 10s and wins on rivers proper plus high finishes plucked from the upper reaches of reservoirs. At Stop 5 Presented by 7Brew Coffee on the James River, Poche led the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event from the start after catching the biggest bag of the event on Day 1 – 23 pounds, 15 ounces. On Day 3, he tallied 12-15 for an even 53-pound total and the win, surviving 20-pound charges from Chad Mrazek and Dustin Smith and staying well clear of his closest competition at the start of the day.

The win is Poche’s third with MLF and his first at the Invitationals level, and he pocketed $80,000 for his efforts. It also sends him into next week’s Bass Pro Tour Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Athletic Brewing Company at the Potomac River (just up the Chesapeake Bay) with some prime time tidal momentum.

The perfect boat and the perfect spot

Famous for running a Gator Trax aluminum boat with a 150-horsepower Mercury, Poche is a master when it comes to getting where others can’t. This week, he caught all but one of his weigh fish out of a hard-to-reach creek off the James, which he could access at any water level – a feat that others in larger tin rigs and standard fiberglass boats couldn’t accomplish.

“That was the X-factor in the whole deal, my boat and motor,” Poche said. “I mean, having that Gator Trax with a Mercury allowed me to win. I could get there. No nobody else could. It doesn’t matter how many fish are in there if you can’t get there. That was the difference.”

In practice, Poche scouted the area, which he’s leaned on before in James events, and he immediately liked his chances.

2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Chickamauga Lake Day 3: Brock Mosley Claims Lead!

Canadians Gustafson 19th, & Chris Johnston 20th.

Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss., is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

DAYTON, Tenn. — The Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake has been anything but your typical early April event in the South.

 

At one point during Semifinal Saturday, anglers were actually sight fishing for bedding bass in 52-degree water with sleet peppering down on them. Any angler will tell you that’s not only an odd scenario, but one of the hardest to figure out.

 

Through it all, though, Mississippi pro Brock Mosley has remained consistent, building a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce to grab the lead heading into Championship Sunday. He caught 19-6 Thursday, 18-11 Friday and 20-0 Saturday and will now head into the final round with five anglers within 4 pounds of him.

 

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again,” Mosley said. “I didn’t know if I could catch a fish at all going into the first day of the tournament. I caught five that weighed 17 or 18 pounds early that first day and then laid off of them because I didn’t know if I’d be able to find anything else the second day.

 

“But what I’m doing has pretty much worked every day.”

 

While Mosley has stayed in the same basic areas each day, he has alternated between several lures, including a bladed jig, a lipless crankbait and an assortment of flipping baits. He said it’s been a process of trial and error to figure out which of those offerings the bass want.

 

“Every day they’re in a different mood,” said Mosley, who has 13 Top 10 finishes with B.A.S.S. “The last two days, the flipping bite has been slow. So, it’s been the moving baits that worked. I kind of have to mix it up until I figure out which mood they’re in.”