2023 AFTCO Bassmater Elite at Lake St. Clair Day 3: Luke Palmer Slips into Lead!

Canadians Gallant 5th, Cory Johnston 25th & Chris Johnston 26th. 

Luke Palmer of Coalgate, Okla., is leading after Day 3 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair with a three-day total of 68 pounds, 7 ounces.   (Photo: Seigo Saito /BASS

BASS PRESS RELEASE

MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. — Boat problems are a regular annoyance for Elite Series anglers but had Luke Palmer not suffered mechanical issues during practice for the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair, he might have driven past the spot that has yielded over 22 pounds each of the past three days.   The Coalgate, Okla., pro landed 22 pounds, 11 ounces on Semifinal Saturday to take the lead with a three-day total weighing 68-7. He leads Arkansas rookie Joey Cifuentes III by 12 ounces and Japan’s Taku Ito by 13 ounces.   “It is weird for me to be leading a smallmouth deal,” Palmer said. “I’ve done well at Champlain. This place, we came here for the 2019 AOY Championship and I sucked. We came here in 2020 and I ended up 60th. I didn’t understand it. I was just doing stupid stuff.”

Brandon Lester Wins 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series Win At Pickwick Lake!

Canadians Gustafson 14th, Chris Johnston 19th & Cory Johnston 54th

Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tenn., has won the 2022 Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake with a four-day total of 86 pounds, 1 ounce ( Photo: BASS)

BASS Press Release

COUNCE, Tenn. — At long last, Brandon Lester has his trophy.

A veteran pro at only 34 years old, the Tennessee angler slammed the door Sunday in the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake, winning his first Elite Series tournament in nine seasons on tour.

Entering Championship Sunday with a 3 1/2-pound lead, Lester didn’t let up, catching 22 pounds, 14 ounces, which was the VMC Monster Bag of the tournament. That gave him a four-day total of 20 bass for 86-1, almost 6 pounds more than any of the nine other pros who made the final-day cut.

Lester competed in more than 110 Bassmaster tournaments before he won his first one in February — the St. Croix Bassmaster Southern Open on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain of Lakes presented by Mossy Oak Fishing. But as sweet as that win was, it wasn’t a notch in his Elite Series belt like this week’s big victory on Pickwick, only two hours from his home in Fayetteville, Tenn.

“This is unreal,” he said. “That Open win, I was super proud of it. It’s a stacked field in the Opens. But an Elite Series win is next level. I guess it’s between an Opens win and a Classic win. That’s the only thing that can top it. These are the greatest bass fishermen in the world. I believe that. If they’re not, they won’t last long.”

The $100,000 first-place prize pushed Lester’s career Bassmaster earnings past $1 million — a sign of not only his longevity in the sport but his undeniable success.

He was head and shoulders above the 91-boat field this week, competing on a lake he’s fished regularly the past few years, but never in an Elite event on Pickwick when ledges were dominant. He said being on familiar water narrowed his focus and raised his confidence.

“I would never tell anybody ‘Hey, I’m on the fish to win,’” Lester said. “I’ve been in that position before and it didn’t work out. But I knew if I made the right decisions and did my job this week that I could win this tournament.”

Lester found a special spot during practice that replenished daily and provided the bulk of his catch.

Jason Christie Wins 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic Presented by Huk Day!

Canadian Chris Johnston 5th!

Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., has won the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk with a three-day total of 54 pounds. 

(Photo: BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

GREENVILLE, S.C. — For years, Jason Christie has had to live with the crushing weight of leading pro fishing’s biggest event twice on the final day, only to fall short.

 

But no more.

 

The 48-year-old pro from Park Hill, Okla., led once again going into Championship Sunday and this time sealed the deal in dramatic fashion with a final-day limit of 17 pounds, 9 ounces that made him the champion of the 52nd Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk at Lake Hartwell. His three-day total of 54-0 was only 5 ounces better than that of second-place finisher Kyle Welcher, who shared the lead with Christie going into the final day.

 

The event drew a Classic-record 154,932 fans.

 

“Honestly, when I was sitting at the door waiting to come in and weigh my fish, I thought I had given it away again,” said Christie, who pushed his career earnings with B.A.S.S. to $1,668,011 with the $300,000 victory. “Stetson Blaylock had just weighed in a big bag, and Kyle Welcher used to be a professional poker player, so I knew he had more than what he was saying.

 

“I knew it was gonna be close. I honestly thought there could be a tie, and that was scary for me because I didn’t have any fish left.”

 

Christie certainly found plenty of fish throughout the week as he alternated between deep- and shallow-water patterns that were about as different as two techniques can be.

 

He caught half of his weight targeting bass on Garmin LiveScope in a 15- to 30-foot drain that he said held “hundreds of fish” the first two days. He used a spinning rod with a 3/16-ounce jighead and a prototype lure from Yum that only this week earned an official name, the FF Sonar Minnow, which stands for “Forward Facing Sonar Minnow.”

 

“It’s a bait that I can cast to the fish and work the rod and keep it on him; the bait does not move forward,” Christie said. “It’s a technique that I’ve been working on for about five years now.

 

“A lot of times you throw a swimbait over the top of them and they’ll just trail it. But you can drop this bait right to the fish and keep it on top of him.”

 

The drain was good to Christie the first two days. But when he arrived there early on Sunday, he found what he described as a “ghost town.” A spot that had produced half of his weigh-in fish during the week produced only one on the final day — and even though it was his biggest bass of the day, a 4-11 largemouth, he admittedly started thinking, “Here we go again.”

Taku Ito Wins 2021 Bassmaster Elite St. Lawrence River!

Cory Johnston 4th  & Chris Johnston 5th

Ito captures 26lbs final limit and first Elite!
(Photo: BASS) 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

WADDINGTON, N.Y. — Saving the best for last may not have been his intention, but Taku Ito’s eye-popping 26-pound limit propelled the Japanese sensation to a convincing victory at the Farmers Insurance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a four-day total of 90 pounds.

 

Hailing from Chiba, Japan, the second-year Elite placed 38th on Day 1 with 17-15, then improved to 11th with a second-round limit of 22-14. Day 3 saw Ito secure his Championship Sunday berth by adding 23-3 and improving to seventh.

 

Earning $100,000 for his Elite win, Ito anchored his third and fourth days’ limits with 6-pound smallmouth, both of which earned $1,000 daily awards for Phoenix Boats Big Bass.

 

“I love Waddington — I’m very, very happy,” Ito said with the engaging sincerity Elite audiences have come to love. “When I was 8 years old, I won the (Bassin’s Black Bass with Hank Parker) video game and now, on the St. Lawrence River, I won the Bassmaster Elite Series.

 

“Big Bass. Big Stage. Big Dreams. Bassmaster!”

 

Ito, who placed sixth at last year’s St. Lawrence River event, devoted all four days to Lake Ontario. The first two days, he fished rock structures in approximately 20 feet. On Saturday those areas failed to produce, so he relocated to a spot in 26 to 27 feet near Chaumont Bay.

 

Calling this spot “Taku Disneyland” for its abundance of fish, Ito caught his Day 3 limit there and started on the spot Sunday.

 

“I was driving about two hours (each way) and I had about two hours and 30 minutes of fishing time,” Ito said.

 

Arriving at his spot this morning, Ito thought his graph was malfunctioning when he saw what appeared to be a false bottom at 13 to 14 feet. To his delight, it was a massive school of Lake Ontario giants.

 

“Usually, smallmouth are on the bottom, but today there was a school of big smallmouth suspended,” Ito said.

Bryan Schmitt Wins 2021 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain!

Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Md., has won the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: BASS) 

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Bryan Schmitt talked all week about “special little things” that were happening to help him maintain the lead at the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

BASS PRESS RELEASE

 But the most special one happened just 15 minutes before Sunday’s final weigh-in, as Schmitt landed a 3 1/2-pound smallmouth that gave him a 12-ounce upgrade and allowed him to secure his first Elite Series win with a four-day total of 78 pounds, 5 ounces.

 

Call it luck. Call it fate. But the win seemed meant to be for the second-year Elite Series pro from Deale, Md.

 

“I pulled up to a buoy cable this afternoon right before time to come in and saw two fish on my (Garmin) LiveScope,” Schmitt said. “I threw that drop shot in there, felt the bite and didn’t really think it was a bass. But it turns out it was a bass — and without that fish I don’t win.

 

“When things like that are happening, man, it’s a special week.”

 

Schmitt talked each day about a waning bite, but he still managed to catch 21-11, 21-5 and 19-4 the first three rounds. Then on Championship Sunday, things did get tougher and he only managed to bring in 16-1.

 

That barely helped him stave off a hard charge from Texas pro Keith Combs, who finished with 77-13 — just 8 ounces behind the leader.

 

To catch his bass, Schmitt used a Spro Spin John, a Neko-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm and a Missile Baits Ned Bomb on a drop-shot rig.

 

“I caught a couple of key fish on the spinbait, but the Quiver Worm produced the bulk of my fish for sure,” he said. “I was fishing it on a Hayabusa Spin Muscle Guard Hook with a little nail weight just to get it down.

 

“These fish are smart, I guess. You could throw a jig in there and they wouldn’t bite it, but they would eat that Quiver Worm.”

Stetson Blaylock Wins 2019 Bassmaster Elite Winyah Bay with 50-15lbs!

Canterbury 2^nd & Cory Johnston 3^rd

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Big win for Blaylock a family affair!
(Photo: BASS)

Stetson Blaylock came to the Bassmaster Elite at Winyah Bay with one goal in mind: don’t finish last. He accomplished that goal — and then some.

The third-year Elite Series pro from Arkansas tallied a four-day total of 50 pounds, 15 ounces and earned a victory that was unexpected, to say the least. He capped the win with a Championship Sunday limit of five bass that weighed 9-3.

“I came here with the intentions of ‘Don’t ruin your season; don’t come here and finish dead last,’” said Blaylock, who earned $100,000 for the victory. “When I found my area, I knew it had fish, so I thought I’d get out of here with a Top 35 and roll on to the next one. I didn’t know it had winning potential at all.

“I look back at every bass I lost this week and think ‘Gosh, I should’ve caught that one.’ Today, I had one good one that jumped off that would have been another 2 pounds. When that kind of stuff happens, you’re not supposed to win, but when it’s your time, you can’t do anything wrong.”

Time management was essential throughout the week. While many of his competitors ran 100-plus miles to fish various areas of the Cooper River, Blaylock earned his first blue trophy by staying in a pond off the Waccamaw River, about 18 minutes from takeoff at Georgetown’s Carroll Ashmore Campbell Marine Complex.

Lined with overhanging trees, the area held deeper water and sprouted a few tributary canals. Here, Blaylock placed 11th on Day 1 with 11-6, rose to sixth the next day with 12-7 and surged into the Day 3 lead by sacking up a limit of 17-15, the tournament’s heaviest bag.

Today, Blaylock faced a tougher bite, but his 9-3 was enough to hold off a dramatic charge by second-place angler Scott Canterbury, who finished just 9 ounces behind Blaylock.

“I’ve never been here before, so I went to where I knew there were some fish,” Blaylock said. “That gave me the entire day to fish.”

Brandon Cobb Wins 2019 BASS Elite Lake Hartwell with 72-04lbs!

Sight fishing peaked as tournament progressed.
By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Wire to wire win for first year Elite angler.
(Photo: BASS)

Many anglers have led the first three rounds of a Bassmaster Elite Series event, only to have the title slip through their hands on the final day.

More times than not, pressure was the culprit.

But if South Carolina pro Brandon Cobb felt pressure a single time during this week’s Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell, he certainly hid it well.

Cobb, who lives in nearby Greenwood, S.C., took the lead on Day 1 of the event and never relinquished it, slamming the door on his first Elite Series victory with a final-day catch of 16 pounds, 14 ounces on Championship Sunday. His four-day winning weight of 72-4 earned him a $100,000 paycheck and the iconic blue trophy that goes to every Elite Series winner.

“Staying calm definitely made the difference for me,” said Cobb, who stayed at his own house and made the 50-minute drive to Lake Hartwell each day. “I don’t do well if I get flustered. I start running around a lot, and it just doesn’t go well for me.

“Being on my home lake helped, too. I literally never ran out of places where I felt like I was going to catch one.”

Cobb caught 19-9, 17-8, 18-5 and 16-14 in four days — and he did most of his damage with two baits. He used a green pumpkin Zoom Fluke Stick when he was moving through shallow areas where he thought spawning beds were present and a 1/8-ounce Greenfish Tackle shaky head with a green pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm when he was stopped, fishing for bass he could actually see on bed.

Terry Bolton Wins 2019 FLW Tour on Lake San Rayburn Day with 91-03lbs!

Canadian Charles Sim finishes 10th! 

by Justin Onslow

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Bolton hangs on for win crankingup 91-03lbs with Rapala DTs.
(Photo: FLW)

Terry Bolton’s professional fishing career almost ended before he finally had his moment. The moment every tournament angler dreams of. The moment decades in the making, so close so many times, yet still so far out of reach.

Today, Bolton finally grabbed hold of that moment, and he didn’t let go.

With a 17-pound, 6-ounce bag on day four of the FLW Tour opener on Sam Rayburn, which was presented by Polaris, the 24-year Tour veteran did something he’s been within ounces of doing so many times before: He won. He won his first Tour event, and he did it despite a handful of tremendous anglers — including standout rookie Nick LeBrun and the best angler on the planet, Bryan Thrift — breathing down his neck in a furious effort to outpace the Benton, Ky., pro.

Bolton bagged 33 pounds and 9 ounces on day two of the event, which set the wheels in motion for everything that followed. He added 19-10 on day three to retain the lead, and his 17-pound bag today brought his winning total up to 91-3.

But for all the fish Bolton caught this week, there were two moments that truly stood out for the man who has earned more than $1.2 million in his FLW career.

On day two, Bolton pulled up to a spot at which he caught all 20 pounds and 10 ounces the day before. He made some casts, landed a lot of fish and got up to “27 or 28 pounds” before he decided to move. Almost.

TOP 10 BELOW

ICAST 2018: Neko Skirted Nail Weights by VMC with Mike Iaconelli

Its the fine tuning that can really make the difference. One of the hottest technique is Neko rigging and the VMC skirted nail weight is something to use. Listen as Mike Iaconelli as he explains this 2018 ICAST Award Winning accessory.

Neko Rig Hack! Never Loose Another Weight Again

Neko rigging is a super popular bass fishing technique but loosing all those nail weights is a major pain! Check out this bass fishing hack that attaches a wire keeper onto nail weights saving you money and time on the water. This approach is ideal for largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.

Brandon Palaniuk Wins 2017 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest!

Brent Ehrler 2nd and wins tundra truck for big bass
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Big worm and Neko rig grabs win for Brandon. (Photo: BASS)

It’s not like Brandon Palaniuk had never won a Bassmaster Elite Series event.

Coming into this week, the 29-year-old pro from Idaho had already claimed Elite Series trophies in 2012 and 2013 and came close to raising that win total with three other second-place finishes.

But for an intense competitor known as the “prodigy,” the four-year victory drought was an itch he desperately needed to scratch — and he did it during this week’s Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Palaniuk caught 24 pounds, 7 ounces of bass during Wednesday’s opening round and followed with 23-2 and 24-7 the next two rounds. Then he caught he caught 21-12 on Championship Sunday to push his four-day total to 93-12 and hold off a late charge by California pro Brent Ehrler.

Ehrler, who led the first two days, finished second with 91-12.

“I never found a school in practice where I could just go and pound on them and catch multiple fish in one spot,” said Palaniuk, who earned a $100,000 first-place prize and an automatic berth into the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented DICK’S Sporting Goods. “It wasn’t until the tournament started to roll around that more and more fish started to transition out and school up on spots.

“I was just far enough ahead of the fish.”

It was a sign of things to come for Palaniuk when he started Wednesday’s opening round with his biggest fish of the tournament — a largemouth that weighed 8-4. Palaniuk caught the bass in deeper water than what was being fished by most of the field.

IBASSIN Rules #5 3 Soft Stickbait Presentations You Must Know!

Starting off 2014 with a new IBASSIN Rules. This video explains 3 Soft Stickbait presentations you must know! Senkos or Stickbaits are amazing and learning how to rig a wacky, neko and texas rig with these baits will help you catch more bass.

Please subscribe to www.ibassin.com or our YouTube channel.

Fun from Saturday

By Luigi De Rose

Nothing is sweeter than opening day. It felt especially rewarding to be out a week earlier. Judging from the crowds, everyone took advantage of a day out on the lake. Here is a quick clip of my best of the day. Skipped a Yamamoto Senko right into his mouth.