Mitchell Robinson Wins 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 2 Presented by Suzuki Marine on Lake Hartwell

The entire Robinson family got paid this week, but Mitchell came out on top. Photo by Rob Matsuura. Angler: Mitchell Robinson.

By Jody White MLF Invitationals Press Release

ANDERSON, S.C. – The final day of Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 2 Presented by Suzuki Marine on Lake Hartwell turned out to be a classic. Big spotted bass and largemouth hit the scales left and right, and the event went down the wire, as all the leaders struggled to put it away. 

Going out with the lead, Dustin Smith weighed an even 13 pounds on the final day for a 53-11 total, which was not quite enough to hold off young Mitchell Robinson. Starting the day in second, Robinson never caught more than 20 pounds any day of the week, but he managed to scrape up 17-5 on Day 3 for a 53-13 total to earn his first win above the high school level. For the win, Robinson takes home the trophy plus $115,000, which is a lot of money to win at 19 years old. 

Through two events, Drew Gill has the lead for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year, with rookies Banks Shaw and Dustin Smith in second and third. The next event of the Invitationals season is Stop 3 Presented by Phoenix Boats at Smith Lake. 

Honed LiveScope approach helps Robinson prevail 

In July 2023, Robinson and partner Cody Abbott won the Bassmaster High School National Championship at Lake Hartwell – at the time, it was the culmination of years fishing Hartwell and Keowee, the home lakes for the Robinson family. Robinson and Abbott split $5,000 in scholarship money in that one – not insignificant, but maybe not a huge factor for someone diving headlong into the family plumbing and fishing businesses. 

Top 10 Below

2024 MLF B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole Bass Pro Tour on Toledo Bend: Wheeler Rockets to Lead of Group A

Mitchell Forde 

BASS PRO TOUR Press Release 

MANY, La. — The past three years on the Bass Pro Tour have been defined by Jacob Wheeler’s dominance. During that span, Wheeler has racked up 20 Championship Round appearances (in 27 total events) and four wins. He took home the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in 2021 and 2022 before finishing second to Matt Becker a season ago.

When the 2024 season kicked off Tuesday, he wasted no time showing that his game remains as sharp as ever.

Less than 10 minutes into the first day of the Qualifying Round for Group A at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole, Wheeler boated a Toledo Bend giant. The 8-pound, 3-ounce largemouth ignited a run that saw him put 28 bass for 91 pounds even on SCORETRACKER®. He leads Spencer Shuffield by 2-15 entering the group’s second day of qualifying.

Click here for FULL OFFICIAL RESULTS.

Wheeler’s pattern produces early and often

By the time Wheeler trailered his boat, other anglers had already peppered him with questions about the 8-pounder, asking whether he’d marked the fish during practice and run to his starting spot to find it. He insisted the giant caught him by surprise.

“I just happened to pull into a little area that I caught some fish (during practice), and my first bite just happened to be an 8-pounder,” Wheeler said. “So if that’s any telltale sign for how the year is going to go, I’m all about 8-pounders.”

2023 Acedemy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic Day 2: Jeff Gustafson Continues to Lead with 35-11lbs!

Canadians Cory Johnston 7th, Chris Johnston 31st & Cooper Gallant 52th.

Five more to go! Is what Canadian Jeff Gustafson needs to close 
out the 2023 Classic. (Photo: James Overstreet/BASS)

By Brain Brasher 
BASSMASTER PRESS RELEASE

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Since the opening moments of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota, Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson has been counting down.

Not to a five-bass daily limit, but to the three-day limit of 15 he needs to be crowned a Classic champion. 

After Saturday, he can say, “Ten down, five to go.” 

Using the same moping technique he used to win a regular-season Bassmaster Elite Series event here on the Tennessee River in 2021 — and to take the lead in this Classic on Friday with 18 pounds, 8 ounces — Gustafson added five more smallmouth Saturday that weighed 17-3 and now holds a commanding lead with a two-day total of 35-11. 

His closest competition going into Championship Sunday will be Florida largemouth specialist John Cox, who sits almost 6 pounds back in second with 29-15. 

“I’ve just got to go out and get it done tomorrow,” said Gustafson, who has now led all six days of the two tournaments he’s fished here on Fort Loudoun and Tellico lakes. “I don’t have any good backup plans. I just need to keep doing what I’ve been doing.” 

Ott DeFoe Wins Bass Pro Tour Event on San Rayburn!

3rd Texas Win for DeFoe

By Manson Prince

BASS PRO TOUR

It came down to the final 30 minutes on a stingy Sam Rayburn Reservoir, but for the second time in as many years in the state of Texas, Ott DeFoe is a Bass Pro Tour Stage champion. DeFoe won the Toro Stage One Presented by Power-Pole by narrowly edging out Luke Clausen by 2 pounds, 13 ounces with a total weight of 13 bass for 30-2. The win is DeFoe’s third MLF win in the state of Texas after he won Stage Three of the Bass Pro Tour in 2020 at Lake Fork and the 2021 Heritage Cup in Waco, Texas.

DeFoe’s Drama-Filled Victory

DeFoe started out his morning like he had every day of competition thus far—on fire. The Tennessee pro landed 10 bass for 22-8 in Period 1, but his pace slowed dramatically in the afternoon. DeFoe went more than five hours without a scorable bass and fell into second place behind Luke Clausen because of it.

“I had to work for every fish I caught today,” DeFoe recapped. “I had to use a crankbait, spinnerbait, bladed jig, wacky worm, and a swim jig. It was a grind and I thought I had other places that would be productive. But there was a ton of boat traffic up by the river, so I just decided to go fishing.

But DeFoe never panicked. DeFoe went back up the river, found more laydowns, brushpiles, and current. He caught them when he needed them the most. In the final 15 minutes, as he was in an area with poor connectivity, DeFoe landed a 2-12 to tie Clausen and then a 2-13 to pass him for the top spot. The 2-13 margin of victory is the closest in Bass Pro Tour history, and DeFoe is glad he can finally catch his breath out of one of the more stressful days of his career.

“All of the stress you could ever imagine, I was feeling that last hour,” DeFoe expressed. “I knew we were going to have poor connectivity so my official was going to make me move with five minutes left. I didn’t know if Luke had caught another and I knew we were close. Just that feeling of relief when I knew that I had it was amazing.”

DeFoe is no stranger to winning in Texas and he has now won the last three MLF events held in the Lone Star State. When asked about what exactly it is about Texas that makes it like a second bass-fishing home to him, DeFoe had a simple answer.

“When you come to Texas, bass act like they’re supposed to,” DeFoe stated. “I tell everyone who asks me that same question that answer. I’ve won here on three completely different fisheries but caught them the way I knew they should be caught at that time of year in that particular environment. They eat shad, they live around cover, and they like current.”

Abram Wins 2020 FLW Pro Circuit Lake Martin with 52-09 lbs!

Docks and finesse key for top anglers
By Sean Ostruszka

FLW PRESS RELEASE

The docks in the back of coves key to first win for Abram.
(Photo: FLW)

One big bite – that’s all that separated the entire top 10 going into the final day on Lake Martin. Whoever got it was probably going to win.

Turns out, one big bite is all Jason Abram got in five hours of fishing his main pattern today, but that one big bite anchored a bag just big enough to earn his first Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event.

“This is a childhood dream,” says Abram, who weighed in 11 pounds, 3 ounces today to get to 52-9 total for the event. “I can’t even tell you … It just feels so great; so great!”

Of course, Abram wasn’t feeling so great prior to the final read out.

As mentioned, Abram had spent five hours fishing his main pattern with just one bite to show for it, and that bite came at around 10:30 a.m. From then on, it was hours of “mentally exhausting” fishing and wondering if he’d left the door open for someone to catch him.

Yet, the reason he kept fishing his pattern was the same reason he’d be fishing it all week – it didn’t get many bites, but it got the right bites. In this case, a 4-pounder that couldn’t resist his merthiolate Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm walked under docks – but not just any docks.

TOP 10 BELOW

2019 FLW Tour Lake Seminole Day 2: Bradford Beavers Bolts to Lead with 43-14lbs.

Canadians Sim 46^th & Richardson 103rd.  

by Kyle Wood

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Rookie Beavers holding his own on pre-spawn bite.
(Photo: FLW)

While the weather may have been nicer on day two of the FLW Tour event on Lake Seminole presented by Costa, the fishing fell off to a degree. Overall, the weights were lower across the board, and getting off to a good start yesterday proved to be vital today.

Tour rookie Bradford Beavers of Summerville, S.C., hauled in 18 pounds, 12 ounces to go with his 25-2 from day one to take the lead with a total weight worth 43-14. Beavers will head into the weekend with a 3-pound lead over Sheldon Collings, who is also keeping the fire stoked.

Beavers got off to a quick start yesterday, catching all of his weight before noon. Today, things looked as though they were going to go the same way.

“I went to the same spot and same casting angle I caught them yesterday and couldn’t get them to bite,” Beavers says of his morning. “I switched up my casting angle and I caught four in about 30 minutes. The feeding window wasn’t as long this morning for some reason as it was yesterday, and I don’t really know why.”

After the flurry, things came to a screeching halt. He’d spend some more time hoping to get another bite from his primary area before running to another offshore spot. With no luck there, Beavers went shallow.

“I only got seven bites all day and caught five of them,” Beavers adds. “I went ‘till two minutes before I came back in before I caught my fifth fish.”

A vibrating jig has been the major player for Beavers so far, but he has a few other presentations that he’s keeping under wraps until later.

The South Carolina pro has plenty of experience on Seminole, though he’s finally dialed in on an offshore bite this week – something that has always eluded him on the fishery. With potentially $125,000 on the line, it’s hard to pull yourself away from a spot or pattern that has treated you good, but Beavers is fully aware that warming weather isn’t doing much to help his bite and anticipates having to make adjustments along the way.

“I just don’t have any other deep spots to run,” he says. “It takes too long to find them out deep, too. I don’t know if the fish on my spot are educated or if the weather is changing them. I’m going to go back there in the morning and see what I can get and then probably just run new water from there.”

2. Sheldon Collings – Grove, Okla. – 40-14 (10)

Moving from fourth on day one, Sheldon Collings pieced together a solid limit worth 17 pounds to slide into the passenger seat atop the leaderboard.

Things were noticeably slower for Collings today as he only caught five bass all day, but that still doesn’t deter his confidence. He has one spot that has produced all of his weight, and he is committed to milking it for every bass.

“From what I’ve seen on that spot, yesterday the fish were all grouped up,” Collings says. “Today, they were more spread out. It’s like with the cooler weather the first day they were bunched up and not moving around much, but it was warmer overnight and I think that has them moving a little more.