2024 Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Powered by OPTIMA Lithium on Lay Lake Day 3: Cornell Leaps into Lead!

Dustin Connell won the Knockout Round with 18 bass weighing 52 pounds, 14 ounces. Photo by Garrick Dixon.

Mitchell Forde

BASS PRO TOUR Press Release

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Knockout Round at Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Powered by OPTIMA Lithium turned into a no-holds-barred melee. It didn’t matter whether anglers were chasing spotted bass with forward-facing sonar, beating the bank or dissecting current, the bite caught fire across Lay Lake, with the top spot on SCORETRACKER® and the weight needed to qualify for Sunday’s Championship Round fluctuating all day as a result.

Ultimately, Dustin Connell wound up atop the leaderboard with 18 scorable bass for 52 pounds, 15 ounces. Connell, who lives in nearby Clanton, Alabama, bailed on the main-lake area where he caught most of his fish during the Qualifying Round, instead opting to run up the river and fish beneath the Logan Martin dam. He started slow, spending the first two periods below the cut line, before making an adjustment and boating 10 spotted bass for 29 pounds even in the final period. He finished just 1 ounce ahead of Gerald Spohrer

Meanwhile, after 39-1 across two days proved enough to qualify for the Knockout Round, it took nearly as much Saturday alone to earn a spot in the Top 10 and a shot at the $300,000 first-place paycheck. Nick Hatfield claimed the 10th and final spot with 38-14, 1-8 ahead of BFL All-American champion Emil Wagner. University of Montevallo angler Dalton Head narrowly missed extending his dream event another day as well, finishing 12th.

With weights once again zeroing overnight, all 10 qualifiers in the stacked Championship Round field will have a chance to win the single-day sprint for the trophy. MLFNOW! will provide live coverage of all the action starting at 7:15 a.m. CT. 

Full results can be found here.

Connell committed to old-school current fishing

Connell has emerged as a vocal proponent of forward-facing sonar, and for good reason. The technology played a role in each of his five previous Bass Pro Tour wins, including Stage One on Toledo Bend.

2023 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Clark Hill Lake Day 2: Ebare Continues to Lead!

Sean Ostruszka

MLF Press Release

APPLING, Ga. – Fifty boats will be taking off for Day 3 of Toyota Stop 2 Presented by Lowrance on Clarks Hill. In reality, most eyes will be on just one of them.

Dakota Ebare has absolutely dominated the second event of the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals through two days. After weighing in the biggest bag of the event yesterday – 23 pounds, 13 ounces – he brought in another 18-6 today to be the only angler to cross the 40-pound threshold (42-3 to be exact).

In a tournament where weights are stacked together, his 5-5 lead going into the final day is quite the cushion. Yet, as positive as today looked, he may need all of that cushion come tomorrow if things continue as they do.

You see, a day ago Ebare was beyond excited about a deep and shallow one-two punch he’d executed to near perfection on Day 1. Day 2 was an entirely different story.

“It was a struggle,” Ebare said. “I know I could’ve went and caught some spotted bass, but I wasn’t really fishing for that. And I knew the largemouth weren’t really biting good, but I said if I’m going to grind out a couple bites I’m going to try for a big bite. Well, that didn’t work out either.”

A big reason, Ebare thinks, is the weather and pressure had the fish completely turned off. He said his areas were just “dead,” as he could watch fish on his forward-facing electronics not budge or even acknowledge his offerings. He compared it to hunting in the woods and not hearing a single sound or seeing anything moving.

Combs Lands Bassmaster Opens Win, Classic Berth On Home Fishery At Sam Rayburn

Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas, has won the 2022 St. Croix Bassmaster Central Open at Sam Rayburn presented by Mossy Oak Fishing with a three-day total of 46 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: Andy Crawford/BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

JASPER, Texas — There was nothing fancy about the way Keith Combs won the St. Croix Bassmaster Central Open at Sam Rayburn presented by Mossy Oak Fishing.

As the saying goes, “slow and steady wins the race.”

Combs, an Elite Series pro from Huntington, Texas, only a half-hour away from Saturday’s weigh-in at Umphrey Family Pavilion, weighed 16 pounds, 11 ounces on the final day to score a come-from-behind victory with a three-day total of 46-5.

Combs was a model of consistency in this derby, catching 14-4 on Day 1 to settle into 14th place, then adding 15-6 a day later to jump to seventh. When none of the six anglers ahead of him at Saturday’s start could muster a bag better than his 16-11 limit, the local favorite seized the championship.

Combs collected $43,867, but his sweetest prize was the berth he secured in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic. The veteran has fished in eight previous Classics, and his ninth will come March 24-26 on the Tennessee River in Knoxville.

“I’m just happy I don’t have to work the (Classic) Expo,” Combs said, laughing. “But I am relieved. I’ve had some high points this season. I thought I could win (the Elite) on the Mississippi River and I didn’t get it done there (finishing third). I’ve had some seconds the last few years, and that just stings.

“I’m glad the season’s over,” he added. “And it’s good to win at home.”

Combs said he was relieved, as much as elated, he’ll return to the Classic for the first time since 2020. He finished 64th in the Progressive Insurance Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, which wasn’t high enough to get a spot in the 2023 Classic.

Ryan Salzman Wins 2022 Bass Pro Tour on Watt Bar!

By Mason Prince 

Bass Pro Tour PRESS RELEASE

SPRING CITY, Tenn. – For the fourth time in five events in the 2022 Bass Pro Tour season, there’s a first-time champion. Ryan Salzman is the General Tire Stage Five Presented by Covercraft champion on Watts Bar Lake after catching 13 bass for 24 pounds, 3 ounces and beating second-place Jacob Wheeler by just 11 ounces. The is Salzman’s first professional-level win since becoming a full-time pro in 2019.

Salzman Generates Bites from TVA Generating Power

The key for Salzman on Thursday, and really his final two days of competition, was camping out near the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Watts Bar Dam. The Alabama pro was there all day during the Championship Round and for the majority of the Knockout Round. Even though the dam was productive for him over his final two days, the spot had been on his radar since his first Qualifying Round.

“I found this spot on the first day and I noticed that there was enough fish to win here on my electronics,” Salzman said. “The first two days I fished here, the fish didn’t school up though. During the Knockout Round, the TVA decided to start generating 35,000-40,000 watts by running water through the dam and it really lit this spot up.”

2022 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork Day 2: Livesay Lead Texas Slugfest!

Canadians Chris Johnston 10th, Gustafson 40th & Cory Johnston 50th

Lee Livesay of Longview, Texas, is leading after Day 2 of the 2022 Simms Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a two-day total of 60 pounds, 10 ounces. (Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

QUITMAN, Texas — Lee Livesay couldn’t find what he was looking for, but the pro from Longview, Texas, found what he needed to lead Day 2 of the Simms Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a total weight of 60 pounds, 10 ounces.

 

Livesay, who won last year’s Lake Fork event, started the day trailing opening-round leader Cliff Prince of Palatka, Fla., by 5 ounces. But after adding 28-10 to his first-round weight of 32 pounds, Livesay heads into Semifinal Saturday leading Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, by 4 pounds.

 

An active morning saw Livesay catch all of his weight by 10 a.m. Anchoring his bag with a 7-10, he spent the rest of the day searching for one of the mega-schools that he knows hold the caliber of bass that could’ve pushed his total past his Day 1 effort.

 

“I had a 4-11 and I jumped one good one off that would have helped me a little bit,” Livesay said. “I thought for sure I was going to run into a school that was right to catch a 7-plus-pounder this afternoon, but it just didn’t happen.

 

“Obviously, I’m happy with leading the tournament. I can’t complain; I’m just a little frustrated not finding a new group yet.”

 

Livesay said he’s hopeful that a smaller Day 3 field — only the Top 47 competitors — will afford him greater opportunities. With Lake Fork’s water level down about 5 feet for dam repairs, plus big winds rendering a lot of areas unfishable, Livesay struggled to find anything that would cull.

2022 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Lake Pickwick Day 2: Italian Gallelli Retains Lead!

SEAN OSTRUSZKA • TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT

COUNCE, Tenn. – When you’re in a good groove, you can seemingly do nothing wrong. Well, Jacopo Gallelli is definitely in a groove at Lithium Pros Stop 3 on Pickwick Lake Presented by Covercraft.

The Day 1 leader of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me event admitted today that he felt he had burned up his best spots and had almost resigned himself to just trying to coast to a check.

Turns out, he was wrong on both fronts.

While a number of top pros from Day 1 struggled mightily on Day 2, the Italian pro continued to follow his gut and brought in the sixth-largest bag of the day, 16 pounds, 15 ounces, to extend his lead with 39-15 total for two days.

“Honestly, I was hoping to stay top 20 today,” Gallelli said. “So, to still be leading is as awesome as can be. And I feel I deserve to be because I had very sharp intuition today. Three of my fish were just intuition. Things that make you feel like you know what you’re doing.”

Part of the reason for that feeling is that he feels he finally is doing something he does best – finesse.

In all his events he’s fished since coming to the United States, including the Pro Circuit event he won last year on the Potomac River, Gallelli says he’s never been able to find a way to fish like he does back in Italy. Yet, this event, he finally found a pattern that’s just like what he does back home.

Now it’s just a matter of if that pattern will hold up, or even if he wants it to for Saturday, at least.

Thus far, he’s done the bulk of his damage from a key starting spot that produced a kicker smallmouth and even a large spotted bass today. From there, he’s been running a second pattern to get some kicker largemouth. That pattern produced a 5-pounder today, but he says he committed 3 hours of his day to catch that one fish, and he doesn’t feel he would have the luxury to do that on Sunday.

Fortunately, with him holding an 8-pound-plus lead over 10th place and the weights zeroing on the final day, Gallelli says he will actually try and lose the lead tomorrow in order to spend more time practicing for another solid pattern.

2021 Academy Sports +Outdoor Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk on Ray Roberts Day 2: Hank Cherry Leads with 37-14 lbs!

Cherry vaults into lead as most fall due to missing key  morning bite.
(Photo: BASS)

Canadians Chris Johnston 6th, Gustafson 19th &  Cory Johnston 22nd

BASS PRESS RELEASE  

FORT WORTH, Texas — The 54 anglers competing in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk had planned to start fast and take advantage of an early-morning shad spawn bite that has been extremely reliable this week on Lake Ray Roberts.

 

But Mother Nature threw up an electric stop sign.

 

Freak thunderstorms with dangerous lightning delayed the tournament by more than two hours and negated much of the morning bite. While many of the Day 1 leaders struggled, North Carolina pro Hank Cherry landed 17 pounds, 10 ounces to move from third place into the lead with a two-day total of 37-14.

 

The winner of last year’s Classic on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, Cherry will now begin Championship Sunday with nearly a 5-pound lead and a chance to become only the fourth angler in the 51-year history of the event to claim back-to-back titles.

 

“There was definitely more pressure to win the first one last year,” Cherry said. “Winning is one thing, but to win it twice, it’s got to all go right.

 

“What’s eerie about this is that it’s the same feeling as last year. I’m out there on the dam today and people are stopped all the way down the dam getting out watching me fish — it just feels the same.”

 

Despite the late takeoff, Cherry got off to a fast start, catching two bass in the 4-pound range flipping a jig into wooden structure. The fish came only four or five casts apart and gave Cherry the shot in the arm he needed to fish confidently all day.

 

That was especially important when he lost a big bass later in the day on a jerkbait.

 

Jacob Wheeler Wins Bass Pro Tour on Lake Travis!

MLF Press Release

AUSTIN, Texas – It was a record-breaking Championship Round in more ways than one, but one thing remained the same—another Jacob Wheeler Bass Pro Tour championship. Wheeler was able to hold off a surging Bobby Lane in the final period on Lake Travis by only 2 ounces—the closest finish in Bass Pro Tour history—to win the Berkley Stage Two Presented by Mercury, his third stage championship since the league was created in 2019.

Wheeler Wins Again, This Time in Heart-Racing Fashion

Wheeler is now the only angler in MLF history to win three Bass Pro Tour events after catching 13 bass for 28 pounds, 13 ounces. His win on Lake Travis was also his sixth MLF victory including Cup competition. While it wasn’t his largest margin of victory, that doesn’t make this win any less sweet. The Googan Baits pro says that he had to work for every fish he caught this week, especially on Wednesday.

“My heart is still pounding because it was a battle all day long,” Wheeler said shortly after his win. “I knew I was going to have to get some bites in the morning if I wanted to win, and luckily I did that. It was the afternoon that made it interesting and I was really fortunate to catch enough early to hold on and get the win.”

Wheeler was the only angler in the Championship Round field to head up the Colorado River while the remaining nine anglers took their chances with the main parts of Lake Travis. The Duckett Rods pro spent the majority of his time rotating between a swim jig, vibrating jig and a topwater bait. Wheeler knew if he could utilize those baits around the right targets up the river—mainly boat docks—then he would find the success he needed to win.

Bryan Thrift Wins 2019 FLW Cup on Lake Hamilton with 38-07lbs!

Schooling bass and determination gave Thrift  the win!
(Photo: FLW)

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Everyone knew it was only a matter of time, and that time is finally now. Bryan Thrift is an FLW Cup champion.

The Shelby, N.C., pro won the 2019 FLW Cup at Lake Hamilton with a three-day total weight of 38 pounds, 7 ounces. 

Winning the Cup is not something Thrift needed to do to prove his greatness. That he’s one of the best ever was already an agreed-upon fact by just about everyone. Winning the Cup just added more separation between him and so many others. At 40 years old, in addition to being a world champion, Thrift is a two-time FLW Tour Angler of the Year, a seven-time Tour-level winner, holds a slew of FLW records and has now earned more than $3 million in his FLW career.

Coming into this week, Thrift was the favorite to win. It just felt like a Bryan Thrift kind of tournament, and it turns out it was. 

August in the South is an incredibly difficult time to fish a multiple-day bass tournament. Bass are stingy, and bites are tough to get. It’s rare to find a school of bass that can hold up for more than a day. Thrift’s style is the perfect tool to attack that type of scenario. He’s mastered the craft of “precision junk-fishing,” whereby he fishes specific targets (usually dozens of them) but chooses from 10 to 15 baits to make the perfect presentation for each target. 

For the most part, that’s how Thrift fished at Hamilton. However, each day, he eventually settled down in Hot Springs Creek and grinded out key bites that pushed his weight ahead of everyone else. Slowing down at the end of the day was a veteran move that Thrift might not have made early on in his career, when he never fished a spot long enough for a cameraman to focus his lens. 

And it obviously worked to perfection. Thrift led from wire to wire, starting with 15-3 on day one and 12-7 on day two. He led Kyle Walters, who roomed with Thrift this week, by 1 pound, 8 ounces coming into the final day, when Thrift wound up as the only angler to catch a double-digit limit. Weighing in 10-13 gave Thrift a 5-pound, 1-ounce winning margin over Walters.

As easy as Thrift can make it look sometimes, this was a grueling tournament. 

“I’m wore slam out,” says Thrift. “I really am. I fished as hard as I ever have in my life today. I’m tired, but I’m feeling good.”

The only time that Thrift really stuck a lot of fish in a hurry was the final morning when he pulled up to his first spot and fish were busting the surface over a 200-yard span.

“Today started out actually pretty good,” he says. “I ran to a place that I knew [Bryan] Schmitt was catching them schooling, and I knew he didn’t make the cut. So I went in there, and sure enough they were schooling like crazy. I caught a limit fairly quickly at probably about 8 or 8:30. It didn’t weigh much; maybe 7 or 7 1/2 pounds. And I’m thinking, ‘Shoot, I’ve got all day to upgrade. This is good. We’re good to go.

Steve Kennedy Wins 2017 BASS Elite Lake Dardanelle Tournament Win 63-12lbs!

Secret quarry provides winning bass for Kennedy
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., wasn't dominating the event until he weighed 16 pounds, 9 ounces of bass during the final weigh-in to take home $100,000 and the third championship of his career at the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Lake Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge.

Steve is all smiles as last minute 5 pounder seals win! (Photo: BASS)

A big bass late in the day on Monday that weighed 5-10 anchored his five-bass limit and pushed his four-day winning weight to 63-12. The last time Kennedy topped a Bassmaster Elite Series field was in 2011 at Georgia's West Point Lake.

"I've been so close so many times before, and I've usually lost tournaments because of a missed bite, or losing a fish before I could get it inside the boat," Kennedy said. "It sure feels good to win one, especially after nearly winning this year's Classic on Conroe."

2017 BASS Elite Lake Dardanelle Day 3: Mark Davis Leads by Ounces with 48-08lbs!

Davis found a honey hole way, way up the river.  
By Thomas Allen

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Mark has tiny side channel to himself up the river.
(Photo: BASS)

Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., caught a five-bass limit that weighed 14 pounds, 15 ounces during today’s semi-final round to maintain his lead at the GoPro Bassmaster Elite at Lake Dardanelle presented by Econo Lodge.
 
With $100,000 on the line for Monday's champion, Davis still thinks 16 to 17 pounds will be required to win. He’s averaging just over 16 pounds with a three-day total of 48-8.
 
“I’ve really beat up on the fish I’ve been depending on this week,” Davis said. “I believe the right fish are still there, and that I can catch a decent limit tomorrow. But I didn’t get as many big bites today as I had hoped.”
 
Davis’ spot did receive some additional local pressure before he could get there, and that certainly could be contributing to the reduced action during Sunday’s competition.
 
“I have no problem sharing water with local anglers, heck they’ve got just as much right to fish there as I do — if not more so,” he said. “When I arrived he moved off and let me have it, which was appreciated.
 

2014 Walmart FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 2: Redington Rocks 24-09

Huge weights mix leader board.  

FLW Press Release

When the bass go into attack mode, so does Tom Redington. The Royse City, Texas, pro hammered a 24-pound, 9-ounce limit today at the Walmart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude and hosted by Henry County Alliance.

                                                          Texas pro Tom Redington sacked up 24-9 on day two and 

rose from fourth place into the lead. (Photo: Colin Moore FLW)

According to Redington, a midday front that swept across the area with high winds, rain and rumblings of thunder motivated bass to line up just how he likes them on the Tennessee River’s famous ledges. The result is Redington taking the tournament lead into the weekend with a two-day total of 46 pounds, 15 ounces.

“This ledge fishing is awesome,” Redington says. “There are fish all over the place. I ran a lot of new water today. Yesterday I had to work for them. I went to my best schools and caught one or two. When the storms rolled in, it was hammer-down time. The schools were in attack position, and they bit like they were supposed to.”

So what does “attack position” look like? For starters, it’s something that pros see on their depth finders. And it’s difficult for most of them to explain, but the best in the business – like Redington, Randy Haynes and Scott Martin – can recognize it when they see it. If they don’t see it, they don’t take time to fish.

2014 Walmart FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 1: Brett Hite Leads

Countless Limits are Caught on Day 1 

by Curtis Niedermier
FLW Press Release

What goes around comes around. And for Brett Hite, an all-star Walmart FLW Tour season that began with a statement win in the season-opener on Lake Okeechobee has wound its way throughout the country to Kentucky Lake for the season-finale, where he once again jumped out in front today.

Hite holds up one of his bass as the crowd
is awash in big bass. Kentucky Lake looks
like a slug fest. (Photo: FLW)

Hite’s 24-pound, 14-ounce limit leads a star-studded top 20 that includes ledge-fishing experts, three former Forrest Wood Cup champions, three past AOY winners and a pack of FLW millionaires, all of them hoping to end Hite’s chances of bookend 2014 Tour victories.

This tournament, which is presented by Evinrude and hosted Henry County Alliance, is a ledge-fishing shootout. Everyone knows it. But for Hite, the keys to besting everyone else today were timing and precision.

“Luckily I had an early boat draw,” he says. “I ran to a spot I found late in the day on the third day of practice. One other guy came in there right after me, but I got lined up in the right position. It was literally cast after cast, and it was all big ones. First thing this morning, it was obvious the fish were active. As the day progressed, it was one or two here and there.

“It [the school] is spread out a little,” adds Hite, whose limit today included the Bridgford Big Bass, a 7-pound, 5-ouncer. “It’s a pretty good stretch, but there are a couple of key spots where the shells are, and there are some stumps and gizzard shad.”

The front deck of Hite’s Ranger is littered with rods, and he rolled through his options each time he needed to re-trigger the school.

Matt Arey Wins the 2014 Walmart FLW Beaver Lake Tournament

Arey Arrives!
by Curtis Niedermier
FLW Press Release

ROGERS, Ark. - Prior to this week, if you tried to define the current status of Beaver Lake’s largemouth bass spawn and the career of Shelby, N.C., pro Matt Arey, you needed only one phrase: close, but not quite there.

Sticking to his strengthen allowed Arey to take win!
(Photo: FLW)

After today’s weigh-in at the John Q. Hammons center in Rogers, Ark., Arey proved that both he and the bass have arrived in a big way.

In four days, Arey hauled in a total of 59 pounds, 3 ounces of Beaver Lake bass to win the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Rayovac and hosted by Visit Rogers.

While other pros went looking for bass stuck in those in-between transitional areas, Arey refined a perfect shallow, stained-water pattern that allowed Beaver’s prespawn and early spawning bass to come to him. Then he made the gutsy call to commit to that pattern all week despite four consecutive days of shifting weather patterns. His steadfastness earned him his first Walmart FLW Tour title as a professional and one more piece of hardware to display next to his 2006 Forrest Wood Cup co-angler trophy.

“This is what I’ve dreamed of since I was a kid,” Arey said as he choked back tears on the weigh-in stage. “I really didn’t think I had near as much as I had. I thought I might have 13 pounds, and that’s what the on-the-water crew thought. I thought I might have 14 at most. But it all came together. When it’s your time, it’s your time.”