2025 Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork Day 1: Buddy Gross Sacks 33lbs!

Canadians Gallant 39th, Cory Johnston 45th, Chris Johnston 63rd, Kung 67th & Gustafson 90th

Tennessee's Buddy Gross has taken the lead on Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a total of 33 pounds, 9 ounces. (Seigo Saito/BASS)

BASS Press Release

YANTIS, Texas — Buddy Gross knew he had enough for at least one day of competition and his determination to maximize that potential rewarded the Chattanooga, Tenn., pro with a whopping limit of 33 pounds, 9 ounces which leads Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork.

On a day that saw the Top 6 anglers reach the “Dirty 30,” Gross notched a lead of 1-4 over Trey McKinney.

“God is good; he always shows up for me when I need it,” Gross said. “We weren’t catching quantity, we were catching quality. We’re just going to have to do it again and try to back it up.

“I did this on the first day of practice and I zeroed the second day, so we’re going to have to work hard and make sure we get a lot of fish in the boat.”

Anchoring his day with a 9-11, Gross got the action going early with a couple of quality fish and ended with a 6-11 at 1:14 p.m. Leaving nothing to chance, he squeezed all he could out of his areas.

“In practice, I caught some quality and today, I went to those areas and really soaked them up,” Gross said. “I fished hard in those areas. I don’t know what to expect the rest of the week, but I knew I needed a good bag today to stay in contention, so I just bore down and fished those areas.”

Gross held his cards low, but he described his areas as postspawn staging spots. He clearly found the right size fish, but he’s aware that his opportunities are limited.

“I just don’t have a lot of it,” Gross said. “I thought I could run some history here and still catch them, but I didn’t. I did find a little offshore stuff but it just wasn’t helping, so I quit that. I hope I have enough left to do well tomorrow.”

Gross said Fork’s water level — currently full pool — has the fish widely dispersed. While low water periods gather fish in tighter areas, a full lake makes it harder to dial in consistency.

“The water being high has them moved around a little bit,” Gross said. “I think timing is not the problem, I think it’s the high water. I think it has spread them out. I just got blessed and found one place that’s kinda loading up.”

Gross said he had to fish a broad spectrum of baits today.

Alton Jones Jr. Wins 1st National Event!

MLF PRESS RELEASE

QUITMAN, Texas – After making the Bass Pro Tour Championship Round six previous times, for the first time in his career Alton Jones, Jr. has earned his own big red trophy. The 29-year-old Waco, Texas, pro caught 13 bass weighing 46 pounds, 2 ounces Friday to win the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas, and earn the top prize of $100,000.

Going into the third and final period of competition Friday, Jones held a 9-pound, 7-ounce lead over fellow Texan Dakota Ebare. However, 10 minutes into the period, Ebare had boated a 4-13 and a 6-8 to seize the lead from Jones with just 50 minutes left in the competition. Five minutes later, Jones managed to catch a 2½-pounder and took the lead back from Ebare by a scant 10 ounces. Neither was able to catch a fish in the final 45 minutes, and although Academy Sports + Outdoors pro Jacob Wheeler made it interesting at the end to get within six pounds, Jones’ 13 bass for 46-2 earned him the win by a narrow 10-ounce margin.

“I’m so excited – I really didn’t see this coming,” an emotional Jones said at his Bass Pro Tour Trophy Presentation. “If you’d asked me halfway through our first day if I’d have a shot to win this thing, I would have said absolutely not. Somehow, someway, by the grace of God, it just kind of came together this week. They say when it’s your time, it’s your time and I guess it’s just my time.

“There are so many great anglers here,” Jones said. “We’ve got a lot of really great anglers that have fished for a very long time and never won one. You see it all the time. I don’t even feel like I’m that good of an angler. I don’t know why it was me, but I just feel so blessed, so fortunate, so lucky and just thankful.”

Patrick Walters Wins 2020 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Lake Fork with 104-12lbs!

A Blue Trophy and Century Club makes for a perfect Sunday!

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Walters's 29 pound lead over 2nd place simply astonishing.
(Photo: BASS) 

A late-day decision turned victory into a double-dip of tournament stardom, as Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., notched a dominant win at the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks & Wildlife Department with a four-day total weight of 104 pounds, 12 ounces.

Walters placed second on Day 1 with 25-14 and took over the Day 2 lead by adding 26-14. On Semifinal Saturday, his limit of 29-6 — the event’s biggest catch — sent him into Championship Sunday with a 25-pound lead.

Today’s limit of 22-10 allowed him to surge across the finish line and secure his spot in the Century Club, which recognizes an angler for catching 100 pounds of fish in a four-day event. Walters won with an all-time Bassmaster Elite record margin of 29-10.

“What a week; it doesn’t seem real,” Walters said. “Everyone wants to catch 100 pounds, and it feels good.”

While his victory was never in serious jeopardy today, Walters found himself a couple pounds shy of his second objective with time running out. A 15-minute flurry in his last hour of fishing delivered three fish that elevated him well past the century mark.

Walters attributes his closing success to a gutsy relocation. All week, he had been targeting suspended bass amid main-lake standing timber in 10 to 20 feet. When he realized his spots weren’t firing, he moved to a small pocket and caught his final three fish around stumps in less than 5 feet of water.

2020 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Lake Fork Day 1: Clunn become King with 29-04lbs!

Canadians Chris Johnston 40th, Cory Johnston 52th & Gustafson 81st. 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Clunn king of autumn.
(Photo: BASS) 

A highly specific presentation plus one key bite gave Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., the Day 1 lead at the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Lake Fork with 29 pounds, 4 ounces.

Spending his day in the mid- to lower-lake region, Clunn targeted docks with an Ichikawa Rick Clunn RC King Kong Shad 10 squarebill. He found one particular structure most productive and relied on a specific undisclosed presentation.

“I fished several docks, but I caught all but one of my (limit fish) off of one dock,” Clunn said. “I found this dock in practice and it had a lot of fish holding in front of it. Today, I pulled up there and I did not see those fish, but I guess they were there.

“You can throw at that dock all day and if you’re not doing it exactly right, you’re not going to catch them,” he said. “I can fish behind three other boats and if they’re not doing (what I’m doing), I’m going to catch fish.” 

Midday delivered an unexpected opportunity that propelled Clunn into the lead. Moving to another spot, he passed a round, sandy point that looked appealing enough to merit a few casts with a different reaction bait. One of them tempted an 8-9 largemouth, which stands as the day’s second-largest fish. 

“I caught that big one trying to find other places,” Clunn said. “That was just one of those gift fish. I don’t even know where he came from and I couldn’t duplicate the cast.

“In practice, I was catching a few fish late in the day off of stuff like that. Most of the fish I caught, I caught them where I was expecting to catch them. But I didn’t expect to catch that one.”

Noting that Fork’s tremendous number of quality fish justifies its trophy lake reputation, Clunn said he caught about 15 keepers today, but his three big bites (8-9, 6-6 and a 5-9) were the difference-makers.

“This lake is so full of fish, you’re fishing over a thousand to catch one,” he said. “The key here is you have to get those two key bites to get you up over that 20-pound mark.”

2019 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest Day 2: Chap Pipkens Lengths Lead with 62-12lbs!

Canadians Gustafason 7th, Cory Johnston 13th & Chris Johnston 40^th

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Pipkens has a massive 12lb lead!
(Photo: BASS)

After two days of competition at the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the anglers will take a break from fishing Saturday.

Chad Pipkens said he will welcome the break — and with the cushion he has in the standings, he should rest easy.

Pipkens’ five biggest bass during today’s second round weighed 30 pounds, 15 ounces — his second straight day with more than 30 pounds — and he maintained his overall lead in the event with a massive, two-day total of 62-14.

 That means he’ll have a gigantic cushion of 11-4 over his closest competitor when fishing resumes Sunday morning.

“I had probably the best hour and a half of fishing I’ve ever had — and I got to have it on the right day,” said Pipkens, a Michigan resident who is fishing just two months after breaking his collarbone while playing ice hockey. “I’ve seen it like that before, but it happened on the wrong day when I had to let up on them.

“We have an off day tomorrow. So today, I was able to just keep hammering them.”

Unlike Thursday’s first round when Pipkens struggled early, he got off to a fast start today, exploiting an early-morning shad-spawn bite in shallow water. He caught a nice-size largemouth off his first spot and then moved to another spot where things got as good for him as they’ve ever been.

Brent Ehrler Wins the Toyota Texas Big Bass Classic!

Big Bass and Big Weather for Lake Fork Anglers

Here is the Final Day 3 results

1. Brent Ehrler – 89 lbs. 12oz.
2. Jason Christie – 87 lbs. 12oz.
3. Andy Morgan – 83 lbs. 12oz.
4. Chris Lane – 83 lbs. 8 oz.
5. Shad Schenck – 81 lbs. 4 oz.
6. Casey Ashley – 79 lbs. 4 oz.
7. John Crews – 78 lbs. 8 oz.
8. Mike Iaconelli – 72 lbs. 8 oz.
9. Keith Combs – 65 lbs. 12 oz.
10. Brandon Palaniuk – 51 lbs.

Toyota Tundra Big Bass: Brent Ehrler – 10 lbs. 11oz.

LEER Heavyweight: Jason Christie – 37 lbs. 4oz.

 

1. Brent Ehrler – 89 lbs. 12oz.
2. Jason Christie – 87 lbs. 12oz.
3. Andy Morgan – 83 lbs. 12oz.
4. Chris Lane – 83 lbs. 8 oz.
5. Shad Schenck – 81 lbs. 4 oz.
6. Casey Ashley – 79 lbs. 4 oz.
7. John Crews – 78 lbs. 8 oz.
8. Mike Iaconelli – 72 lbs. 8 oz.
9. Keith Combsm – 65 lbs. 12 oz.
10. Brandon Palaniuk – 51 lbs.

Toyota Tundra Big Bass: Brent Ehrler – 10 lbs. 11oz.

LEER Heavyweight: Jason Christie – 37 lbs. 4oz.

- See more at: http://www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com/2015/05/25/day-3-final-results/#sthash.KFJmILbP.dpuf

1. Brent Ehrler – 89 lbs. 12oz.
2. Jason Christie – 87 lbs. 12oz.
3. Andy Morgan – 83 lbs. 12oz.
4. Chris Lane – 83 lbs. 8 oz.
5. Shad Schenck – 81 lbs. 4 oz.
6. Casey Ashley – 79 lbs. 4 oz.
7. John Crews – 78 lbs. 8 oz.
8. Mike Iaconelli – 72 lbs. 8 oz.
9. Keith Combsm – 65 lbs. 12 oz.
10. Brandon Palaniuk – 51 lbs.

Toyota Tundra Big Bass: Brent Ehrler – 10 lbs. 11oz.

LEER Heavyweight: Jason Christie – 37 lbs. 4oz.

- See more at: http://www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com/2015/05/25/day-3-final-results/#sthash.KFJmILbP.dpuf

Keith Combs wins the TTBC for a Record Third Time!

Lake Fork and Keith Combs are best friends again, again and again!

Defending champion earns third TTBC title in four years at Lake Fork QUITMAN, TX. – The world championship of bass fishing, the Toyota Texas Bass Classic was decided by a world record-breaking performance from two-time winner and defending TTBC Champion Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas. Combs broke the tour-level world record today with a amassing 110 pounds following three days of competition … - See more at: http://www.toyotatexasbassclassic.com/#sthash.yIuHnnAx.dpuf