Trey McKinney Wins 2025 Yokohama Tire Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair!

Canadians: Evan Kung 6th

BASS Press Release

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — The Yokohama Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair certainly hasn’t been difficult for Trey McKinney, but after three days of competition the second-year pro didn’t know how many big smallmouth were left in his best area.

His questions were quickly answered on Championship Sunday as McKinney caught a 6 pound, 2-ounce smallmouth within the first several minutes of fishing, putting the exclamation point on a dominating performance.

The 20-year-old from Carbondale, Ill., claimed his second Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series trophy in wire-to-wire fashion, catching 96 pounds, 1 ounce over four days at Lake St. Clair. It is the heaviest winning weight in Bassmaster competition at Lake St. Clair and the fifth heaviest winning weight in a smallmouth event in B.A.S.S. history. 

“It was an incredible week,” McKinney said. “Once I caught those fish this morning, I was so excited. It was a pretty awesome day. When I got to my spot, I made three casts and that 6-2 came up and smoked it.” 

The victory just adds to an already stunning resume. In just two years at the highest level, McKinney has two titles (2024 Lake Fork, 2025 St. Clair), nine Top 10s in 17 events and a runner-up finish at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. That doesn’t include the four Top 10s he racked up in the 2023 Bassmaster Opens. 

Opening the tournament third in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year, McKinney is now in a tie with Canadian pro Chris Johnston with 690 points heading into the final event at the Upper Mississippi River.  

McKinney was in control from the jump at St. Clair, landing 24-11 on Day 1 before adding limits weighing 23-10, 23-15 and 23-13 to his tally the next three days to beat second-place Logan Parks by over 5 1/2 pounds.  

“The cool thing about it was, I didn’t really have them found. And we fished around everybody. The thing I’m proud of this week is putting my head down and being able to out-fish everyone. It was a really good area if no one else was fishing it, but with everyone out there, you saw a quarter of the fish and they were hard to get to bite. So it was a pretty big achievement to (do that).”

2025 Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork Day 2: Fujita Commands Lead!

Canadians Chris Johnston 15th, Gallant 31st, Cory Johnston 42nd, Kung 64th & Gustafson 95th 

Japan's Kyoya Fujita has taken the lead on Day 2 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a total of 65 pounds.  (Photo Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

YANTIS, Texas — Kyoya Fujita was happy with his day, but he was far from satisfied. That’s a hard statement to process, considering the Japanese superstar notched a 34-pound limit en route to leading Day 2 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork.

Hailing from Yamanashi, Japan, Fujita placed fourth on Day 1 with 31-0. Heading into Semifinal Saturday, his 65-pound 2-day total gives him a lead of 2 1/4 pounds over 2024 Lake Fork Champion Trey McKinney.

“I had a great day,” Fujita said. “I hope I catch (at least) 34 pounds again tomorrow, but, in practice, I caught 40 pounds on my spot.

“Thirty-four pounds was not what I was expecting. I was expecting a bigger bag, but with all the fishing pressure, it just didn’t happen. I think it’s going to be tougher tomorrow.”

Fujita spent his day in Caney Creek, not far from takeoff, where he fished five main spots. This area, he said, held the most promise, both in quality and quantity.

“I practiced all over the lake, but this area had the biggest fish,” Fujita said.

Like much of the lake, Fujita’s area bristled with flooded timber. This habitat is not easily navigated and the snagging risks loom ever present, however, Fujita hunted his targets on forward facing sonar and enticed his fish with precise casts.

Easton Fothergill Wins St. Croix Open at Leech Lake Presented by Seviin; Carl Jocumsen Advances to Classic!

By Andrew Canulette 

BASS Press Release

WALKER, Minn. — The major storyline heading into the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Leech Lake presented by SEVIIN was that the global bass-fishing community would get its first look at what’s heralded as one of the sport’s best, yet relatively unknown, fisheries.

Everyone watching, meanwhile, already knew that Easton Fothergill is one of the best young anglers on the water today.

The two forces collided during a spectacular two-day derby in northern Minnesota this week, and both shined under pressure — Leech as host of its first B.A.S.S. tournament and Fothergill as the young prodigy looking to make hay on home water.

The 22-year-old Fothergill, a Grand Rapids, Minn., native who grew up 30 minutes from Leech Lake, bagged a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 13 ounces and clinched the tournament championship Saturday at Walker Public Dock. He collected $45,936 cash with the win, part of a $300,034 purse split among the Top 45 of 203 pros competing at Leech this week.

The victory at Leech continued a hot streak not often seen at any level of professional fishing. In the past 10 months and change, Fothergill won the 2023 Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’son Kansas’ Milford Lake last October, finished 16th of 56 anglers in the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Jockey Outdoors on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in March, and followed with his first St. Croix Bassmaster Opens win of the year in June on Lake Eufaula, also in the Sooner State.

Takumi Ito Wins 2024 TNT Firework Bassmaster Elite at Smith Lake with 58lbs!

Canadians Cory Johnston 4th & Cooper Gallant 6th!

By Andrew Calulette

BASS Press Release

CULLMAN, Ala. — The Bassmaster Elite Series Media Guide notes that Smith Lake is Taku Ito’s favorite U.S. fishery.

On Sunday, at the TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Elite Series stop at Smith Lake, he showed the world why.

Ito, a 38-year-old pro from Chiba, Japan, led a field of 98 Elites with a four-day total of 20 bass totaling 58 pounds. That was 4-1 more than Robert Gee, who finished second with 53-15, and 4-2 more than Jay Przekurat, who placed third with 53-14. 

Ito claimed $100,000 for finishing first, his second Elite title. In a virtual tie with Gee and Przekurat late in the day, Ito landed a 5-12 spotted bass with just over an hour left of fishing time. That fish earned Ito bonuses as the daily ($1,000) and overall Phoenix Boats Big Bass ($2,000) and helped him weigh the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag of 16-9 worth $2,000.

It was a wild finish to what had been a difficult tournament for many of the Elites. The Alabama heat made Smith’s fabled spotted bass bite go slack at times, and most bass caught ranged from 1 to 2 pounds. The heat index, which climbed into triple digits during the final three days of the tournament, made the sluggish bite that much more grueling.