2025 Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at the Upper Mississippi River Day 1: Caleb Kuphall Scores Lead!

Wisconsin's Caleb Kuphall has taken lead on Day 1 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River with a total of 18 pounds, 15 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS) 

BASS Press Release

LA CROSSE, Wis. — Four years ago, when Caleb Kuphall claimed his first Bassmaster Elite trophy at Lake Guntersville, the Wisconsin pro leveraged his deep knowledge of northern grass fishing to pull the winning fish out of Alabama milfoil.

Today, Kuphall intentionally avoided the typically prominent local game to find the 18-pound, 15-ounce limit that leads Day 1 of the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite at Upper Mississippi River.

Topping a tight leaderboard with only a pound and 14 ounces separating first and 10th, Kuphall leads second-place KJ Queen by an ounce. Third-place Brandon Card sits 5 ounces off the lead.

“I’m actually not fishing any grass at all,” Kuphall said. “I’m just fishing the way I like to fish up here. I mostly fish grass back home (in Mukwonago, Wis.), but I kinda avoid the grass here.

“We’ve had a major influx of eelgrass in this (area of the river) in probably the last five years. There used to be more milfoil, but most of that is gone now.”

Drawing on his solid river history, Kuphall said he did all of his work around a particular type of current break. He kept his specifics thin, but he noted that the way he’s fishing is the way he’s fished for two decades.

“I think I have something better figured out,” Kuphall said. “My first tournaments were here, way back in the early 2000s and I kinda learned this style of fishing and a particular technique throughout the years.

“This is a really consistent pattern. I caught two 4 1/2-pounders — you just don’t catch those here.”

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. 

2017 BASS Elite Ross Barnett Day 1: Brandon Card Leads with 22-14lbs!

Big lake fishing very small
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Card scores big on difficult day.
(Photo: BASS)

While 33,000 acres of fishable water seems like it should easily support a 109-angler field, most Elite Series anglers would say they’re sharing water at the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Ross Barnett.
 
Ross Barnett Reservoir is the smallest venue on the schedule this year, but the quality is evident as the Top 6 anglers weighed limits of bass near or exceeding the 20-pound mark.
 
The question is can weights like Brandon Card’s impressive 22 pounds, 14 ounces be reproduced during Friday’s second round of competition.
 
“That’s a great question,” Card of Knoxville, Tenn., said following weigh-in. “I spent some time here during pre-practice, and the fishing was on fire. But that bite has changed dramatically since then, and I found an area during our official practice days, which is where I caught them today. I know the number of quality fish are available to have another 20-pound day, but I think it’ll take about a 17-pound average per day to remain in contention for the win.”
 

Greg Hackney Wins 2016 BASS Elite Lake Texoma Tournament with 66-2lbs

Giant jig key to win. 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., started the day in third place, but weighed in 17 pounds, 15 ounces on Championship Sunday to increase his four-day winning total to 66-2 at the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino and Resort at Lake Texoma.

A win plus lead of BASS Angler of the Year! (Photo: BASS)

With his win, Hackney earned the $100,000 first-place prize and a berth in the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic. Hackney’s final limit of bass helped him slip past Brandon Card of Caryville, Tenn., by a slim margin of 1-15.

Hackney, the 2014 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year, knew he needed to have a solid day to contend for the win. As a result, he fished his spots in reverse order because the larger fish were biting later in day.