Pat Schlapper Wins 2025 MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River!

Canadian: Gallant 6th

Bass Press Release

ORANGE, Texas — A marathon, not a sprint. You’d be hard pressed to find a more fitting phrase to describe Pat Schlapper’s wire-to-wire win at the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River.

Schlapper set the early mark with a Day 1 limit of 12 pounds, 2 ounces. The pro from Eleva, Wis., would follow with daily weights of 8-7, 8-9 and 9-10 for a winning total of 38-12.

Edging fellow Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Patrick Walters by a margin of 2-4, Schlapper collected the top prize of $101,000.

“This means a lot to me that my friends and family surprised me and showed up,” said Schlapper, whose brother passed away last year. “This is for my family and my brother.”

A week after 62-11 earned him a 32nd-place finish in the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork, Schlapper endured the notoriously challenging Sabine River’s stingy ways.

“I caught my fish a few different ways; I had figured out different things and knowing when to do (each one) was the key,” Schlapper said. “I think one of the biggest reasons I out-fished a lot people in the area is that I was fishing a lot faster.

“A lot of people were fishing really slow, but I was just covering as much water as I could. I think that made a big difference.”

With cloudy, windy weather creating classic largemouth feeding conditions, Schlapper enjoyed his best morning of the week. Getting off to a quick start, Schlapper had a limit that went a little more than 9 pounds by 9 a.m.

As soon as he reached his first spot, he experienced an intense flurry that jump started his big morning.

“It was unbelievable the way that happened this morning,” Schlapper said. “That was actually the first spot that I found (in practice). I pulled in and the wind was just perfect to throw a Brazalo clacking buzzbait. It had a big gold blade and a black toad on the back.

“I just got to whompin’ on ’em for about 20 minutes and they were all quality fish. I missed one, but the rest of them choked it.”

Greg Hackney Wins 2018 BASS Elite Sabine River with 48-05lbs.

Hack Attack goes Wire to Wire!

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Managing bass key to Greg's wire to wire win.
(Photo: BASS)

If the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River presented by Econo Lodge had been a five-day tournament, the outcome might have been different.
 
But it was only four days — and Greg Hackney owned it from start to finish.
 
Despite exhausting his best fishing areas the first three days and bringing in only 7 pounds, 5 ounces to the weigh-in stage on Championship Sunday, Hackney claimed his sixth career B.A.S.S. victory in wire-to-wire fashion with a four-day total of 48-5.
 
Hackney’s first win since 2016 earned him $100,000 and pushed his career winnings with B.A.S.S. to $2,415,784.
 
“If we’d had to fish another day, I probably would have hunted and gone to some new water,” Hackney said. “I really don’t think all of the fish were gone. But we had all of that rain Saturday, and my best place had a couple of drains running into it.
 
“The water wasn’t dirty, but the water temperature dropped to 80 degrees after being in the 90s the first three days.”
 
Hackney fished secluded canals and backwaters all week and relied heavily on two topwater presentations around shallow cover — a 1/4-ounce black Hack Attack Select ToadBuzz rigged with a black plastic toad (no skirt) and a KVD Sexy Frog Stump Jumper.
 
That drastic drop in the water temperature brought those tactics nearly to a halt today, and he had to switch to the technique he is most known for — flipping. When he flipped heavy cover, he used a Strike King Rage Bug in the Bama Craw color.
 
BASSTrakk, the unofficial leaderboard that fans can check on Bassmaster.com throughout the day, showed Hackney with only two fish several hours into the final round. But he said he always knew he could fill out his limit flipping — even if the fish he was catching with that technique were running much smaller than his topwater fish.
 
“I really was amped up a little bit today, and that’s why I got a lot quieter, said Hackney, laughing. “I always have a lot more to say when things are going right.
 
“But in the back of my mind, I knew I could pick up a flipping stick and catch a keeper anytime.”
 
His two best fish still came on the frog. But when he switched to flipping, he caught 10 keepers in 45 minutes.
 
“I probably should have done that sooner, but I just felt like I would have been punting,” he said. “Out of those 10 keepers I caught in the last 45 minutes flipping, they were all about 12 to 12 1/2 inches long.
 

3 Scorching Hot Bass Tactics for Right Now!

Here's the video that explains in detail my article in July's issue of Ontario OUT OF DOORS magazine. If you love smallmouth and largemouth but hate the heat, if we ever get some, then this is for you. Learn how to target the shadows and use the blinding sun to heat up your trophy bass fishing.

Summer Slamming in the Thick Stuff!

As the summer heat boils the water head shallow and arm yourself with some big sticks. Sure, deep water is holding bass but nothing beats slamming big ones in the matted grass. Here's a video that will keep you straight instead of being stuck in weeds.