Shaw pulls off epic comeback to claim first Bass Pro Tour win at Grand Lake

Banks Shaw surged up from behind to win his first Bass Pro Tour trophy with 82 pounds, 15 ounces on 28 scorable bass. Photo by Phoenix Moore. 

By Mitchel Forde, Bass Pro Tour

Press Release

GROVE, Okla. — Virtually the entire Championship Round at Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Toyota looked like a duel between Zack Birge and Dustin Connell, with Banks Shaw among the also-rans. Birge and Connell distanced themselves from the rest of the pack early and built an advantage of more than 20 pounds over the rest of their competition entering the third period. The two multi-time Bass Pro Tour winners swapped the top spot on SCORETRACKER® as they traded blows, with one of the two leading from the second minute after lines in until 16 minutes before lines out.

Then Shaw swooped in and stole the show, the Stage 6 trophy and the $125,000 paycheck that comes with it.

Putting together perhaps the best final period in Bass Pro Tour history, the 22-year-old phenom roared back from a nearly 30-pound deficit to claim his first BPT win going away. Shaw totaled 82 pounds, 15 ounces on 28 scorable bass to top Connell by 8-13. That earned the Tennessee pro his fourth MLF win of 2026 and the biggest triumph of his young career.

Here’s how the Top 10 pros finished the Championship Round:

1. Banks Shaw – 82-15 (28)

2. Dustin Connell – 74-2 (28)

3. Zack Birge – 64-5 (21)

4. Alton Jones Jr. – 55-5 (20)

5. Bobby Lane – 46-2 (18)

6. Jake Lawrence – 31-4 (11)

7. Spencer Shuffield – 28-1 (10)

8. Ron Nelson – 27-8 (10)

9. Keith Carson – 24-7 (8)

10. Brent Ehrler – 20-11 (8)

Full results

All-in approach pays off

Change was the theme throughout this rare summertime visit to Grand. Anglers

2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour Day 2: Easton Fothergill Take Big Lead!

Canadians Cory Johnston 2nd, Chris Johnston 9th,  Jeff Gustafson 29th & Cooper Gallant 41st

Easton Fothergill takes over the lead at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour with a two-day total weight of 54 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: Grant Moxley/BASS)

By Andrew Canulette

BASS Press Release 

FORT WORTH, Texas — All it took was 53 magical minutes on Lake Ray Roberts for Easton Fothergill to take complete control of the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.

The 22-year-old native of Grand Rapids, Minn., entered Day 2 of the Classic in third place, less than two pounds out of the lead. He had high hopes for Saturday morning, but it didn’t start out exactly as he planned, with only one bass in his livewell at 10 a.m.

Then, what he called “the 180” started — and what a turnaround it was. 

Between 10:28 a.m. and 11:31 a.m., Fothergill caught three hogs that added a whopping 19-10 to his total. He finished the day with a limit of five bass weighing 29-6, giving him a two-day total of 54-5, exactly 8 1/2 pounds more than his nearest competitor.

No lead is too big, but the Classic compass clearly points to the young ace from the North Star State. And barring a complete collapse on Championship Sunday, coupled with one of his closest competitors yanking a huge sack of bass, Fothergill is a day away from winning the Ray Scott Bassmaster Classic Trophy and the $300,000 prize that goes with it.

Chris Miller Wins 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by SEVIIN

Canadian Joey T. grabs 11th! 

By Andrew Canulette 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

JASPER, Texas — Foul weather trimmed the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by SEVIIN from a three-day tournament to a one-day derby. So, before competition even began, the 233 competing anglers knew they’d have to go big if they wanted to go home a winner.

Chris Miller of Spirit Lake, Iowa, found the right bites Friday, weighing a limit of five bass totaling 28 pounds, 10 ounces. That clinched the win for the 37-year-old homebuilder who’d fished in only eight B.A.S.S. events prior to his victory at Rayburn.

Miller collected a hefty $52,086 cash prize with the win, part of a $345,850 cash purse split among the top 45 anglers competing on the 114,500-acre reservoir in east Texas. 

Cliff Prince Wins Whataburger Elite on Wheeler Lake!

With a four-day total of 80 pounds, 15 ounces, Cliff Prince takes the title at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Wheeler Lake.

By Christopher Decker 

BASS Press Release

DECATUR, Ala. — Cliff Prince has suffered several difficult defeats in his 12-year career on the Bassmaster Elite Series, but this week he made sure he wasn’t going to beat himself. 

By catching 15 pounds, 2 ounces on Championship Sunday, Prince collected his first Elite Series victory at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Wheeler Lake with a four-day total of 80-15. He survived a hard charge from Ray Hanselman Jr. on the final day to hoist the blue trophy and earn a $100,000 payday.

“I’ve been close several times and I let it slip through my fingers,” Prince said. “I told myself, ‘I’m not going to beat myself this week. If I’m going to get beat, it is going to be by somebody else, not me.’ I think I did that. I accomplished what I set out to do once I saw that I had a chance to win.”

2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite on Chickamauga Lake Day 1: Jocumsen Score Lead!

Canadians Gustafson 17th, Chris Johnston 32nd  & Cory Johnston 82th

Carl Jocumsen of Toowoomba, Australia, is leading after Day 1 of the 2022 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with 24 pounds, 12 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

DAYTON, Tenn. — Despite living just 15 minutes from Chickamauga Lake, Carl Jocumsen insists he doesn’t have a true home-field advantage on the fishery because he spends so much time traveling the country with the Bassmaster Tournament Trail.

 

But he sure seemed to feel at home Thursday.

 

Jocumsen, an Australian pro who relocated to Tennessee a few years back, caught five bass that weighed 24 pounds, 12 ounces to take the opening-round lead in the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake. He holds a narrow advantage over Japanese pro Daisuke Aoki (23-12) and Kentucky pro Matt Robertson (21-13) in an event where the conditions seem destined to change by the day.

 

“I might not get a bite tomorrow,” Jocumsen said. “A few of those bites I got today, I sort of knew I was going to get. Now, they’re not there anymore, and I’m gonna have to continually adjust.

 

“With the way the weather is shaping up, the fishing is not going to get better as the week goes on. It’s going to get harder.”

 

The 94-boat field was treated to a typical spring day on Thursday with sunny skies and an afternoon high of 65 degrees. As a result, there were 30 bags of 15 pounds or more brought to the scales and 14 bass over 5 pounds, including the 10-5 that helped Wisconsin pro Pat Schlapper win Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day.

2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic Presented by Huk Day 2: Jason Christie and Kyle Welcher Tie for Lead!

Canadians Chris Johnston 14th, Cory Johnston 27th & Gustafson 41th

Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., and Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., are tied with 36 pounds, 7 ounces after Day 2 of the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. 
(Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

GREENVILLE, S.C. — With one day remaining, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk could not be much tighter, especially at the top of the standings.

 

Veteran Oklahoma pro Jason Christie and third-year Alabama pro Kyle Welcher moved into a tie for the lead during Saturday’s second round on Lake Hartwell, and only 7 pounds separate first place and 25th place as the anglers prepare for Championship Sunday.

 

Christie pushed his total to 36-7 by adding 19-6 on Saturday to the 17-1 he caught Friday. Welcher reached the mark by adding 17-10 to his Day 1 catch of 18-13.

 

After leading two previous Classics on the final day — only to fall just short of a victory — Christie joked that he was almost happy not having the lead to himself.

 

“That’s the best you can have if you feel like leading is bad luck,” he said, laughing. “All week, I’ve just felt like it’s my time. If it’s not, I don’t know when it is. I’m getting older and the fish are getting harder and these young guys are getting better.

 

“So, if this is not my time, I don’t know if it ever will be.”

 

The fishing, Christie said, was not as good as his 19-plus bag suggested. While he said he believes he’s on the right fish to win, the bites came few and far between.

 

“Right now, you feel like you could go out and get two bites more or two bites less and change your whole day,” he said. “Today, for me, if it had been two bites less, I would have weighed in somewhere between 13 or 14 pounds instead of 19.”

 

Utilizing Garmin LiveScope for offshore fishing, coupled with his vast knowledge of shallow-water tactics, Christie used two unnamed lures to catch bass from depths ranging from 6 inches to 30 feet. Unlike many of the anglers fishing this week’s event, he said he hasn’t been able to dial in a pattern around the lake’s massive number of boat docks.

Ott DeFoe Wins the Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats on the Harris Chain with 73-14lbs!

Shad spawn and cranking key to win. 

Ott celebrates his 2nd win of the Bass Pro Tour season.
(Photo: MLF) 

MASON PRINCE • BASS PRO TOUR

BASS PRESS RELEASE

LEESBURG, Fla. – A couple of months ago, Ott DeFoe won the first event of the 2021 Bass Pro Tour season on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. On Wednesday, DeFoe won his second event of the season and his third overall with a dominating performance in the Championship Round of the Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats on the Harris Chain. The Tennessee pro used a barrage of scorable bass in Period 3 to pull away from the rest of the field, securing yet another Bass Pro Tour trophy and $100,000.

DeFoe’s Dominant Third Period

DeFoe began the third period on Lake Harris in a battle with Brent Chapman, Andy Montgomery and Bobby Lane for the top spot on SCORETRACKER®. He mentioned to his camera before the final period started that whoever caught the most fish in Period 3 would walk out the champion. Well, it turns out it was DeFoe after he caught more than 28 pounds in the final frame, extending his lead to 27-1 over Bobby Lane (which is an MLF record for largest margin of victory in a Bass Pro Tour event).

“I’m really just speechless right now and I give all the glory to God,” DeFoe said moments after lines out. “I really struggled my first day of this tournament on Lake Griffin and struggled so much that it made me go to Lake Harris the rest of the tournament. That decision paid off big time, obviously.”

2021 MLF BASS Pro Tour Lake Travis: Birge Breezes Past Wheeler for Group B Win

Birge Skips Knockout Round, Qualifies for the Stage Two Championship Round

MLF Press Release

Zack Birge secured his spot in the Championship Round while Dave Lefebre brought in a 7-pound monster to make a giant move up SCORETRACKER® late in the day. It was quite the entertaining day of fishing on Lake Travis for Group B’s final qualifying round of the Berkley Stage Two Presented by Mercury.

The Oklahoma pro caught 15 bass for 25 pounds, 2 ounces on Monday, bringing his two-day total weight to 67-4 and giving him a 9-1 advantage over second-place Jacob Wheeler. While Birge admits that it was tough to get anything going during the morning hours, when the temperatures started heating up on Lake Travis, so did his afternoon bite.

“Everything went right today and I’m feeling pretty good,” Birge said. “I decided to come back down the lake for the third period and that’s the decision that got me to the Championship Round. I caught six fish in the final period fishing in an area I was comfortable. It worked out just like you want it to.”

Wheeler only managed two scorable bass for the day and was unable to catch back up to Birge once he took the lead. The Favorite Fishing pro has five Top-10 finishes since joining the Bass Pro Tour, but has yet to come away with his first MLF win. With the day off on Tuesday and time for his fish to replenish, Birge is teeming with confidence as he prepares for Wednesday’s Championship Round.

“I think I have a legitimate shot at a win this time around,” Birge said with confidence. “I don’t feel like someone is going to catch 100 pounds in the Championship Round and no one else has a shot. I think it’s going to be a shootout and I like my chances.”

Lefebre’s Lunker Sends Him to the Knockout Round

Lefebre shows off his 7-4 he caught with 15 minutes left in the round.

Dave Lefebre isn’t just going home with a Berkley Big Bass check, he also has a chance to earn some more money thanks to his 7-4 largemouth that helped him make the cut. The Pennsylvania pro was down near the bottom of SCORETRACKER® with time winding down in the day. It was a day full of missed opportunities according to Lefebre, but he made sure to capitalize on the best one he had.

2021 Bass Pro Tour Lake San Rayburn: Lucas Wins Knockout Round, Seven Others Advance to Join DeFoe & Spohrer

San Rayburn moody for Top 10.

By Mason Prince

Bass Pro Tour

It was another tough day of fishing for the majority of the 38-man field in the Toro Stage One Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, but eight anglers stood out above the rest. Those eight —Justin Lucas, Cliff Pace, Jeff Sprague, Luke Clausen, Tommy Biffle, Cliff Crochet, Bobby Lane, and Mark Davis — will be moving on to the Championship Round, joining Gerald Spohrer and Ott DeFoe to complete the 10-angler field.

Lucas Locks Up Top Spot

Justin Lucas made a strong case on Thursday for why he should be considered a favorite to win his second Bass Pro Tour event in as many years. The Alabama pro not only had the best day in the Knockout Round, but the best day of the event so far with nine bass for 36 pounds, 13 ounces. Lucas took a finesse approach with a drop-shot, a strategy he adopted after a solid round on Wednesday.

“I was trying to force myself to catch fish on the bank and they just weren’t there,” Lucas said. “There’s millions of fish in this lake and they all aren’t on the bank. I’m finding them on big grass flats in 3 or 4 feet of water. They’re prespawn and spawning out there.”

Lucas caught the majority of his fish on a drop-shot, but it was a big swimbait fish he caught during his second Qualifying Round that really brought the finesse mindset to the forefront.

“When I caught that 7-14 on a swimbait on Wednesday, I knew that I needed to switch things up,” Lucas said. “I told myself to back off these fish, get away from the bank and look for areas in these flats where they can be spawning or staging. It worked out and I think I know how I’m going to attack tomorrow.”

2020 Bassmaster Eastern Open Kissimmee Chain Day 2: John Hunter Take Lead with 37-03lbs!

Pre-spawn bite the best 
By David A. Brown
BASS Press Release

Hunter on key spot that is refilling with pre-spawn bass.
(Photo: BASS)

Consistency was in John Hunter’s favor, as the Simpsonville, Ky., pro added 18 pounds, 13 ounces to the 18-6 he weighed on Wednesday to total 37-3 and take the Day 2 lead at the Basspro.com Bassmaster Eastern Open on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain.

Hunter attributed his success to one special spot he described as a thinner area within a large, dense grassbed in 6 to 7 feet. The spot produced his weight both days, but Hunter said the Day 2 mood was significantly different from that of Day 1.

“Yesterday, it was just average; I only caught a couple of good ones there in the morning and I went back later and caught a couple of good ones,” he said. “This morning, it was absolute chaos.

“My first two fish were 4 1/2-pounders and then I lost two 5-pounders right after that, which was heartbreaking. But they stayed fired up and I was able to catch the rest of my weight in the next 20 minutes.”

A mix of reaction baits and dragging-style baits produced Hunter’s catch, but the former carried most of the weight.

Noting that most of the fish he was catching in practice were prespawner bass, Hunter said Day 1 delivered a mix of prespawn fish and some that were thin for their size — likely postspawners. His Day 2 catch was mostly postspawners.

“That’s what I like about this spot — I have a chance of catching a fat prespawner coming in, and it’s a good stopping place for a postspawner to gang up,” he said. “This is a good place for them to set up, feel safe and feed before they go in and out (of the spawning flat)."

Hunter said he’s cautiously optimistic about returning to the magical spot on Day 3. He said he leaned on the spot hard today, but seeing it reload significantly from Day 1 was encouraging.

2019 Bass Pro League Lake Chickamuga Pool B: Martens Pours it On; Lucas, Wiggins, Elam Escape Elimination.

Aaron Martens almost reaches 100lbs!

MAJOR LEAGUE FISHING PRESS RELEASE

Aaron Martens and Jordon Lee catch'em like crazy.
(Photo: MLF)

As has become the standard for the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Elimination Rounds, you didn't have to look far to find a multitude of storylines on Day 3 of the Econo Lodge Stage Four Presented by Evinrude.

Aaron Martens gave notice that he's onto a strong pattern on Lake Chickamauga, and is going to be a handful for the rest of the competition as he finished atop the 40 Group A anglers who competed in today's Elimination Round. And joining him in the 20 moving on to Saturday's Knockout Round are three anglers - Justin Lucas, Jesse Wiggins and James Elam - who had not previously advanced past an Elimination Round.

The way Chickamauga is producing scorable bass this week, all Group A and Group B Elimination Rounds' survivors are likely to find squeezing into the Top 20 at the end of Knockout may be harder than it ever has been.

Martens Makes the Most of His Day

Martens picked up where he left off in the Shotgun Round, weighing in 13-5 in the first hour of competition, and connecting with a 7-pound, 6-ouncer. That fish was the anchor of his 36-13 weight for the day, and helped Martens to 94-0 overall in the Shotgun and Elimination Rounds.

That weight surpassed the previous Elimination weight record of 93-4 set by Kelly Jordon at the Stage Three event in Raleigh, North Carolina, and gave the Alabama pro enough of a security blanket that he could mix up his patterns, and survey some of his best spots ahead of the Knockout Round.

2019 Bassmaster Classic Tennessee River Day 1: Ott DeFoe Sack 20lbs and Lead!

Local hero DeFoe a crowd favourite

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Ott DeFoe grabs lead with help from daily big bass, a 6lber.
(Photo: BASS)

Ott DeFoe came into Friday’s opening round of the GECIO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods with two patterns in mind that he thought would work on the Tennessee River.

Only one of them did — and even then, just barely.

But it worked well enough to give him the lead at the Super Bowl of Professional Bass Fishing.

DeFoe caught only eight keeper bass on the day, but his best five weighed 20 pounds and gave him an early cushion over Arizona pros Roy Hawk, who was second with 17-11, and Clifford Pirch, who was third with 16-11.

“I got five good bites all day, and I landed them,” said DeFoe, a Knoxville resident who was considered by many to be the odds-on favorite coming into the event. “Honestly, it felt like a very tough day.”

DeFoe’s two-pattern strategy included one tactic he believed would produce heavier bass and another he thought would be a good “limit filler.” The limit-filling pattern didn’t work at all.

Fortunately for the Tennessee pro, the big-fish strategy produced a 6-pound largemouth that anchored his catch.

“A 6-pounder here is a really big one,” said DeFoe, who also took the Day 1 lead in the Berkley Big Bass competition. “So to get that one and four other pretty good ones, I felt really blessed.”

This marks the first time that Fort Loudon and Tellico Lakes have hosted a major Bassmaster event — and since DeFoe lives in the area, he probably knows as much about the fisheries as anyone. But even he couldn’t say exactly what changed the fishing so dramatically from what he had come to expect in practice.

“Coming in, I felt like both of my patterns would hold up all week,” DeFoe said. “I don’t know if the fishing pressure got to the one that didn’t work for me today or if it was the fact that the water level came up some.

“If I had to guess, I would say the water level coming up probably caused the fish to scatter out in some places.” As the first-round leader, DeFoe receives the GEICO Everyday Leader Award of $2,500.

2017 BASS Elite Lake Dardanelle Day 2: Mark Davis Grabs Leads with 33-09lbs!

Davis a local but success here has been a challenge

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., is no stranger to tough tournaments, and during Saturday's second round of competition, he caught 19 pounds, 4 ounces of bass to take the lead at the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Lake Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge. His two-day total is 33-9.

Davis adjusting to changing river.
(Photo: BASS)

Davis has accomplished nearly everything during his distinguished career on the Bassmaster tour, including three Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles and one Bassmaster Classic world championship in 1995.

One thing has escaped him, however — a good finish on Lake Dardanelle.

"Dardanelle has been my career nemesis," Davis said. "I live only an hour and a half from here, and I've always struggled. I'd have a good practice and be excited about getting the tournament started, then have a hard time even catching a limit."

For someone who has done so much in this sport, a win here would mean a lot to the 54-year-old angler.

"It would be huge to win this tournament," he said. "This place has whipped me down so many times, it feels good to just do well. I would love to finally conquer these bass, and I think I am on the right fish to make it happen."