Scott Martin Wins 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee!

Martin Break Open Records!

David A. Brown

BASS Press Release

CLEWISTON, Fla. — Bassmaster Elite Series pro Scott Martin’s no weatherman, but his spot-on prediction described a scenario that enabled him to sack up a 31-pound, 7-ounce limit Saturday and lock up a record-setting wire-to-wire victory at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake Okeechobee presented by SEVIIN.

“Whoo! I’ve had to hold it in all week,” said a clearly emotional Martin, who notched his first B.A.S.S. victory. “To win here in front of my mom, in this parking lot where my dad (nine-time Bassmaster Angler of the Year, Roland Martin) won (the 1991 Bassmaster Florida Invitational) it’s just a blessing.

“To have that come full circle and to stand on this stage in front of my family and friends is just so amazing. I’m beyond appreciative of the sport, beyond appreciative of B.A.S.S. This is just special.”

Taking the early lead with a Day 1 limit of 33-2 — the event’s largest — Martin added a second-round bag that went 25-13 and held on to the top spot. After the Day 2 weigh-in, the hometown favorite said he believed the week’s increasingly stable, warming trend could deliver the opportunity he needed to seal the deal.

With Championship Saturday bringing more calm, sunny conditions and slightly warmer water, Martin slammed the door shut with a Day 3 catch that included a pair of 9-pounders he caught about an hour apart.

2020 NOCO Bassmaster Elite on Lakes Guntersville Day 3: Wes Logan Commands Leads with 49Lbs!

Cory Johnston 13th, Gustafson 28th & Chris Johnston 34th 

By Bryan Brasher 

BASS PRESS RELEASE 

Logan scratched his way to the top
hitting grass mats.
(Photo: BASS) 

The good news for Wes Logan is that he’s leading the NOCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville heading into Championship Saturday.

The bad news is he says he’s fresh out of ideas.

The rookie from Springville, Ala., caught five bass that weighed 16 pounds, 2 ounces during Friday’s semifinal round, pushing his three-day total to 49-0 and giving him little more than a 1-pound lead.

As for what Saturday holds? He couldn’t say. 

“I think my area is shot,” Logan said after making his first career Elite Series Top 10. “I think the pressure finally got to it. There were a bunch of local boats on it today, and I think they beat it up pretty good.

“If I’m gonna win, I’m gonna have to find something else.”

As tough as Friday may have been for Logan, his catch of 16-2 was the second-largest of the day behind Texas pro Randy Sullivan, who caught 17-15 to move into second place. 

Logan has spent most of the tournament flipping grass mats with a 1 1/2-ounce Ark Tungsten weight, a 4/0 straight-shank hook and a rotation of soft plastics that includes a Zoom Z Craw, a Zoom Z Craw Jr. and a beaver-style bait — all in black and blue.

After exhausting the stretch of water that has been so good to him this week, he ran a new 300-yard stretch Thursday, landing a 4-pounder and losing a bass he estimated to be more than 5 pounds.

That will likely be his starting point Saturday.

2020 Bassmaster Eastern Open Kissimmee Chain Day 1: Patrick Walters Leads with 21-08lbs!

Alexandre Jelev of Ontario leads co-angler
By David A. Brown
BASS Press Release

Big fish key during tough first day.
(Photo: BASS)

Fla. — Patrick Walters, a Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Summerville, S.C., had approximately eight hours on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, but he needed less than 20% of that to catch a five-bass limit of 21 pounds, 4 ounces that gave him the Day 1 lead at the Basspro.com Bassmaster Eastern Open.

Around 10:30 a.m., Walters found himself without a keeper. But once the show started, it happened quickly.

“I caught all my fish in an hour and a half, because after 12 o’clock, I didn’t catch another fish,” he said. “I started deep, bouncing around a lot. I found a bunch of fish offshore in practice because the shallow bite wasn’t really any good. They were dropping the water, it was a full moon — there was something holding those fish back a little bit.

“Yesterday afternoon, right before we came to the meeting, I found a couple more areas where it looked like the fish had pulled up on the bed. Today, when nothing was happening out deep, I ran shallow and it happened quick.”

With a 7-13 largemouth anchoring his limit, Walters said he was targeting spawning fish, but he was not sight fishing. Rather, he was making 15-yard fan casts to promising areas.

“It was on the outside a little bit, they weren’t way in there where you’d want them to be spawning,” he said. “They were a little further out on the first actual spawning cover. The water has been warming up 2 degrees every day; it was 77 today. They’re definitely making a push. I think they’ll make an even bigger push tomorrow.”

Walters took a unique approach, targeting his fish with a Tokyo rig — a setup that has a weight suspended from the eye of a hook. This allowed him to present a traditional soft plastic in a horizontal fashion and, most importantly, with strategic precision.

“I was dragging a Zoom Zlinky (stickworm) on the Tokyo rig with an 1/8-ounce weight,” he said. “I’d throw it in there and let it sit for 30 seconds.

“The Tokyo rig keeps the bait of the bottom about 2 1/2 inches. The best thing is that it will fall vertically, whereas, if you have the worm on a Texas rig, it glides. You’re casting at a hole that’s the size of a basketball. So if the bait glides, you’re already out of the spot. When the Tokyo rig lands, it goes straight down."

Bryan New of Belmont, N.C., is in second place with 21-0. Despite breaking the 20-pound mark, New described an exasperating day devoid of consistency.

Carl Jocumsen Wins 2019 BASS Elite on Lake Tenkiller with 54-15lbs!

Canadian Cory Johnston 3rd and 3rd for BASS AYO! 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Molix football jig key to Carl's first BASS win!
(Photo: BASS)

Relentless determination and commitment to his game plan paid off big for Carl Jocumsen, who turned in a catch of 19 pounds, 12 ounces on Championship Sunday and scored a career-defining victory at the Cherokee Casino Tahlequah Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller.

His four-day total weight of 54-15 was worth $100,000 and made a nice birthday gift for the Queensland, Australia angler, who turned 35 Sunday.

Jocumsen said his first Elite win — which is also the first by an Aussie — has been a lifelong dream.

“Since I was four years old, I’ve loved fishing and I’ve dreamed of the day I would do this,” Jocumsen said. “Today is that day. This is a lifetime of work; a lifetime of passion and loving this sport with every ounce of my body.”

Yesterday, after placing third and trailing leader Kyle Monti by 4-8, Jocumsen boldly stated that he believed he was on the fish to win. He predicted he needed five keepers to have a legitimate shot, and he blew away that expectation with a limit of 19-12 that ranked as the tournament’s heaviest single-day catch.

Jocumsen’s winning program stood out from much of the field, in that he committed his tournament to fishing offshore. Relying heavily on his electronics to break down the lake and identify the most promising spots, he targeted six different offshore drop-offs with brush and other cover.

New Jackall Gantarel Jr!

Gantarel Jr.  Slow-Sinking Swimbaits –

Packing the same lifelike action as its larger original, Jackall Lures now offers its new Gantarel Jr. swimbait. With a 5-inch double-jointed body, a steady retrieve creates a natural ‘S’ swimming pattern, plus the lure will make a 180-degree turns when twitched to further entice a big bass to bite. To add even more realism to the Gantarel Jr. swimbaits, they are equipped with feathered treble hooks. 

     Offered in eight life-like colors – RT Bluegill, Scale Bass, Sale Sparkle Gill, Black Impact Gill, Gizzard Shad, Scale Gill, RT Ghost Gill and RT Spawn Gill, the pectoral fins on the Gantarel Jr. enhance stability, and are angled slightly to t allow the swimbait to dive down to 2-feet.

The 1.5-ounce Gantarel Jr. swimbaits feature a bearing swivel eye to eliminate any line twist. The lures offer a bottom eye so anglers can add weight to make the lures slowly sink even more, plus there’s a tail tip eye to add a stinger hook.

How Tim Fernandes and Mike Quesnelle Won the 2015 Top Bass Classic!

Winning Ways from Classic Champs!
By Luigi De Rose

With the kids back at school, Top Bass anglers had one thing on their mind, the Classic on Balsam Lake. Under high heat and humidity,  practice for most was decent. The black cloud that was hanging over everyone’s head was the horrible weather that was forecasted for the tournament. Rain, strong winds and bitter cold would shock the bass and anglers from their summer bliss. 

Jerkbaits and smallmouth a winning combo for Tim and Mike.
(Photo: Jeff English)

Balsam Lake has the highest elevation of all the Kawartha Lakes and it’s water flow both east and west to feed the Trent-Severn System. It has a rich wealth of smallmouth and largemouth but it can be difficult to fish. Most anglers target bass away from the shoreline that is dotted with expensive homes and cottages. The lake’s famous grass beds and rocky flats are where fame and fortune can be found.

Having only fished occasionally as a team, Tim Fernandes and Mike Quesnelle work exceptionally well together. Tim and Mike worked so well together they captured the 2015 Top Bass Classic in dramatic style. Both bringing qualities to the partnership that benefitted each other this weekend. Specifically, Tim enjoys offshore fishing for smallmouth and prefers to target bass he can see on the electronics. Mike, with over two decades of tournaments under his belt, is solid as a rock and provided tremendous strength and a voice of experience throughout the tournament.

Practice

“I only got to fish the weekend before but I found a great pattern.” Declares Fernandes. He discovered a specific weed bed on a mid-lake flat that held three-pound smallmouths. Setting the hook on the first bass, revealed smallmouth buried in the grass and not the typical largemouth. The jig and Lake Fork trailer produced many more bites but Tim didn’t wish to string bass so he left the area once he determined the specific area the bass where hold in.

Practicing several days without much fanfare, it wasn’t until Thursday that Mike discovered the winning pattern. “On Thursday, I started using a jerkbait on rock piles. Then I started creaming them and I when I hooked one, five others would come with it. Shallow rock seems to work best.” Reflects Quesnelle.

Casting gear was key for slow retrieve and power.

On Friday, the team paired up and tried to establish a largemouth bite. With the pending poor weather and the notorious disappearing smallmouth, they wanted a largemouth pattern as backup if the smallmouth bite died. Unfortunately, after an entire day on the water, they only latched into two bucketmouths and decided the jerkbait bite was their best bet.

Day 1

After the first day they sat in 2^nd place with 16.45lbs. The day unfolded slower than they expected but were pleased with hooking a good smallmouth right off the bat. The morning bite was best. They netted

11 keepers on Saturday but were disappointed compare to the practice where 40 bass could have come easily if they worked their best areas.  Tim says, “We expected everyone was going to do well and it would be a slugfest. Even with the windy weather we expected the fishing to be better.”