Nick Hatfield cruises to first Bass Pro Tour win at B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops, Jeff Sprague earns $100,000 Big Bass Award

Tennessee pro catches 12 bass for 42-12 in Championship Round to earn $100,000 top prize, Sprague catches 6-2 largemouth to earn $100,000 Berkley Big Bass Award

MLF Press Release

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – Entering the Championship Round at B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops, Nick Hatfield didn’t really believe he had much of a chance of leaving with the title belt. Sure, he tried to talk himself into a scenario in which every other angler struggled and he found a magic school of Smith Mountain Lake bass. But given that he’d never led at any point during his first three days of competition and squeaked into the Top 10 by finishing eighth in the Knockout Round, his focus was more on winning the $100,000 Berkley Big Bass award up for grabs on the final day.

Yet Hatfield took the lead 5 minutes after lines in Thursday and never looked back. He stacked up 42 pounds, 12 ounces on 12 scorable bass to top Justin Lucas by 13-12 for his first Bass Pro Tour victory. That earned him not only the championship belt but a $100,000 paycheck, plus an extra $10,000 for catching the biggest bass during his second day of qualifying.

Hatfield wasn’t the only angler to leave Smith Mountain with a six-figure payday. While Jeff Sprague caught just two scorable bass on the day, one of them tipped the scales at 6-2. More than a pound heavier than the next-largest bass, that easily earned Berkley Big Bass honors, netting Sprague his second career $100,000 big bass bonus.

Hatfield never felt farther away from the Heavy Hitters title than at the end of his first day competing on Smith Mountain Lake. During Group A’s first day of the Qualifying Round, he mustered just five scorable bass for 15-1, which had him nearly 10 pounds back of the elimination line.

Yet that lackluster day laid the foundation for Hatfield’s win. He’d caught all his weight off the same spot during the first period – a flat, main-lake point where both largemouth and smallmouth were ambushing spawning blueback herring. However, having never competed on Smith Mountain before, when his bite slacked, he set off in search of something better. He never caught another scorable bass on the day.

2023 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals on Lake Okeechobee Day 2: Colby Schrumpf Leads with 47-05lbs

By EriK Gaffron

MLF PRESS RELEASE

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Lake Okeechobee impressed again on Day 2 of the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, with three pros catching more than 25 pounds on the day. Sacking up 25-6 to go with 21-15 from Day 1, Colby Schrumpf totaled 47-1 for the lead in Power-Pole Stop 1 Presented by Phoenix Boats. In second, Joshua Weaver tallied 31-9 on Day 2 for a 46-5 total, and “Real Deal” Michael Neal slipped into third place with 44-4. Tomorrow, the Top 50 pros will fish for the win on a truly spectacular Lake Okeechobee.

Schrumpf’s day started off strong with a pair of 5-pounders early and continued with a steady output of quality catches throughout the day.

“Probably in the first hour and a half I had two over 5 pounds in the boat and just slowly culled my way up,” he said. “Late this afternoon, I was able to catch a 5 1/2-pounder about midday. Then I caught a 4-pounder and made a nice cull with that. I left those fish so that way they’re ready to go tomorrow.”

TOP 10 BELOW

2021 Bassmaster Elite at Tennessee River Day 2: Gustafson Remains Leader with 33-08lbs!

Canadians Cory Johnston 33rd & Chris Johnston 46th

By Christopher Decker

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Focusing on smallmouth, Gussy is making it work despite rainy conditions. 
(Photo: BASS)

Despite cool, rainy conditions, Jeff Gustafson maintained the lead during Friday’s second round of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Tennessee River, catching a limit of smallmouth bass that weighed 15 pounds, 10 ounces.

His two-day total of 33-8 gives him more than a 3-pound advantage of Tennessee pro Brandon Card, who is second with 30-7.

Gustafson, a two-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier from Canada, said he never expected to catch two limits of smallmouth with the 18-inch minimum size restriction in place for this week’s tournament waters.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “Now with the position I’m in, there’s that stress. It’s been a good week so far. You could have signed me up for 50th place on Wednesday night. One thing I’ve learned doing this, these chances to win don’t come along very often and you just hope you take advantage of it when it happens.” 

While the area Gustafson is fishing is still producing quality smallmouth, the bites didn’t come quite as fast Friday as they did on Day 1. The Keewatin, Ontario, native said he had more bass bump his bait instead of eating it.

After catching four fish in the first two hours, it took Gustafson until just before 1 p.m. to secure his final keeper.

“There are still some fish there, but they were harder to catch today and they are getting harder to catch,” he said. “I wasn’t really able to expand a whole lot, and part of that was it took me so long to catch my fifth fish. 

Skeet Reese Wins 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Lake Okeechobee with 82-14lbs.

Canadians Luzak 46th & Sim 147th 

By Tyler Brink

Major League Press Release

Skeet adjusts to bladed jigs as wind and clouds make for 
for gigantic last day limit. (Photo: MLF) 

Smashing 27 pounds, 9 ounces on the final day of the 13 Fishing Stop 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Bad Boy Mowers, Skeet Reese tore past the other leaders for his first major win since 2015. Totaling up 82-14, Reese takes home $100,000 for his second career win in Florida to push his career earnings to over $3.5 million.  

After beginning the tournament in 16th place, Reese got right in the hunt on day two and stayed there throughout the week. He brought in a 21 pound, nine-ounce stringer on the second day to vault into second place. On the third day, he dropped off one spot with a 16-pound limit but did enough to keep him within striking distance.

Today, he simply took over and came home with the win and trophy that comes with it. When the last fish was weighed and Reese was crowned the champion, he was visibly emotional after securing the victory.

As is often the case in Florida, several huge fish were key to Reese’s win.

“This feels really good,” says Reese. “I’ve had some tough fishing the last few years and to be able to come back and win; it is the recognition that my new mindset and hard work paid off. Everybody who fishes tournaments does it to win and to be able to do it against this level of competition, with this big of a field, it’s priceless.”

Reese milked one primary area in South Bay for the entire event. He mixed up his approach each day and alternated between two key lures for the win – a 6″ Berkley PowerBait The General and a green pumpkin vibrating jig with a Berkley PowerBait The Deal in the Skeet’s green money serving as the trailer.

“The first day, I was focusing on the isolated clumps of reeds that were a little deeper,” says Reese. “I started targeting water that was 4-feet deep because all of the shallower stuff was getting so much pressure. I stayed out a little further from the bank on the isolated pencil reeds and caught a few good ones the second day by pitching The General on a 5/0 hook with a ¼-ounce weight on 25-pound-test Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon.”

2019 BPT Lake Conroe Pool 1 Day 2: Wesley Strader Seal the Deal with 56lbs!

Strader rallies in skinny water

By Joel Shangle

Wesley Strader put enough fish on SCORETRACKER to finish on top of Group A.
(Photo: BPT)

With the first Elimination Round of the MLF Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two presented by Favorite Fishing officially in the books, Wesley Strader can take a quick breath of relief and rest up for Saturday’s Knockout Round.

Even more importantly, he can let his best water rest, too.

After adding 23 pounds to to his Shotgun Round total of 33-0 – bringing his two-day total to 56-0 – Strader heads into the semi-final round on top of the 40-man Group A, exactly 1 pound ahead of Bobby Lane (55-0). But Strader is quick to acknowledge that the competition has now become as much a game of strategy as of picking apart the water at Lake Conroe.

The East Tennessee pro summed it up best right after he put his last fish of Period 2 – a 4-4 – on SCORETRACKER: “I don’t care who passes me, I’m out of here,” Strader said as he Power-Poled up and backed his way out of the narrow creek he had been fishing to go scout new water. 

Strader would eventually add another three fish to his total in Period 3 to claim the top spot in the group, but used the entire period as a scouting exercise, hoping to find “the juice” for Saturday, when the weights zero.

“I looked around more than I fished today,” Strader admitted. “I have a real specific (condition) I’m looking for – when I see it, I catch one about 75 percent of the time. But this thing I’m looking for is really hard to find, and I have to cover a lot of water on the trolling motor to find it. I feel like I can go behind guys and catch them, though, because I have a real specific bait that they really like. Hopefully I can make that work again on Saturday.” 

The majority of the Top 10 – most of whom were in good shape on SCORETRACKER when competition began, anyway – followed Strader’s lead.

ICAST 2018: Booyah Melee Bladed Jig with Zell Roland

Everyone loves a bladed jig. Legendary angler Zell Roland help inspire the new Booyah Melee bladed jig. The design has a unique head that give maximum vibration and great deflection when crashing into cover. Listen as Zell explains this new Booyah Melee bladed jig.

2016 BASS Elite Cayuga Lake Day 3: Jordan Lee Continues to Lead with 58-02lbs.

Lee living large.
By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE
As an Alabama resident and former member of the Auburn University Bass Fishing Team, Jordan Lee has spent plenty of time on Lake Guntersville.

Drop shot key for Lee during calm conditions.
(Photo: BASS)

On that famed Alabama fishery, largemouth bass wallow out holes in aquatic grass to make their spawning beds — and that’s where Lee always looks for them during the spring.

The fish are doing the same thing on Cayuga Lake this week, and Lee’s hard-earned, home-grown knowledge has put him on the verge of his first career victory on the Bassmaster Elite Series.

The 24-year-old angler caught 17 pounds, 10 ounces of largemouth during Saturday’s semifinal round and maintained the lead in the Busch Beer Bassmaster Elite at Cayuga Lake. His three-day total of 58-2 gave him a narrow lead over Arizona angler Brett Hite (57-3) and Kevin VanDam (56-6) — a Michigan superstar who fished his first event with B.A.S.S. in 1987, four years before Lee was born.

“I’m honestly just a little bit disappointed in the way things went today,” said Lee, who won the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Classic qualifying event in 2013. “I was hoping to catch a couple of more big ones. I fished clean and probably caught about 25 fish, but I just never had any big bites today.”

Rick Clunn Wins 2016 BASS Elite St. Johns River with 81-15lbs!

Clunn Gets it Done with  Bladed Jig.                           
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE

On Nov. 5, 1976, Missouri angler Rick Clunn claimed his first B.A.S.S. victory in the Bassmaster Classic on Lake Guntersville.

It was his first giant step toward becoming a true legend in the sport of professional fishing.



On Sunday, he won for the 15th time on the B.A.S.S. circuit — and in many ways, this step might have gone even further toward cementing his legacy.

Clunn, who will turn 70 in July, caught five bass that weighed 19 pounds during Sunday’s championship round and won the Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River presented by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels easily with a four-day weight of 81-15. The win was bolstered by a monumental catch of 31-7 during Saturday’s semifinal round.



Clunn used his instincts to win with bladed jig. (Photo: BASS)

“I was certainly feeling some pressure after having such a big weight yesterday,” said Clunn, who finished 4 pounds ahead of second-place finisher Greg Hackney (77-15). “Through the years, you just learn to hide it better. Having my son (River) here helped a lot.”

After catching 16-11 and 14-13 the first two days, Clunn was in 31st place and seemed a longshot to make Sunday’s Top 12 championship cut. But the incredible catch of 31-7, which ranked as the third-best five-bass limit of his career, gave him the lead going into the final round with 62-15.



Vibrating Jig Makers Beware!

If you love Chatterbaits your choices might becoming much narrower. Z-Man Fishing Products have just announced the issuance of United States Patent No. 9,253,967 (the ‘967 patent) entitled “Snag-Resistant Fishing Lure and Method for Making and Using” covering the unique, bladed swim jig design of its revolutionary ChatterBait® brand lures. 

So that cool hex shaped blade is now the property of Z-Man fishing making it even more difficult for companies to legally produce vibrating jigs. How much with Z-Man enforce their patents is yet to be seen but they are getting one step closer to dominating this growing market.