2024 Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at Lake Murray Day 3: Patrick Walters Takes 9lb Lead into Final Day!

Canadians Chris Johnston 23rd, Cory Johnston 24th & Gustafson 44th. 

By David A. Brown

BASS Press Release

PROSPERITY, S.C. — The thrill of a blistering start more than offset any frustrations of a long dry spell, as Patrick Walters held on to his lead for a third day in the Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at Lake Murray.

Day 1 saw the two-time Elite Series champion from Eutawville, S.C., launch what has thus far been a dominant performance with the tournament’s heaviest bag — 25-8. That opening pace-setter gave Walters a 3-3 lead.

Adding a second-round limit of 19-13 kept him in the top spot and expanded his margin to 4-15. Then with 21-14 on Semifinal Sunday, Walters pushed his three-day total to 67-3 and now heads into Championship Monday with a margin of 8-4 over rookie JT Thompkins. (Severe weather postponed the event’s scheduled start by one day).

“I had most of my weight by 8:30,” Walters said. “It doesn’t matter when you get ’em or how you get ’em, as long as you get ’em in the boat.”

Since Day 1, Walters has done the majority of his damage by targeting the early-morning blueback herring spawn. Bass feed aggressively when these large baitfish become distracted with reproduction, so he has been mimicking the profile and motion of this food source with topwater baits and soft-plastic jerkbaits.

2022 Bassmaster Elite on Harris Chain of Lakes Day 3: Hanselman Snags Lead!

Canadians: Cory Johnston 39th & Jeff Gustafson 47th.

Ray Hanselman Jr., of Del Rio, Texas, is leading after Day 3 of the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce. (Photo: BASS)

BASS PRESS RELEASE

LEESBURG, Fla. — His target zone shrunk, but Texas pro Ray Hanselman Jr., made the right adjustments and moved into the lead on Day 3 of the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a three-day total of 58 pounds, 1 ounce.

 

A steady performer with an upward trajectory, Hanselman caught a 22-pound limit on Day 1 and placed fourth. He weighed 17-4 on Day 2 and added a Semifinal Saturday limit of 18-13 to edge second-place angler Kenta Kimura by 7 ounces.

 

Hanselman repeated the game plan he’s followed since Day 1 — diligently prospecting the 3- to 7-foot grass flats of Banana Cove on the east side of Lake Harris. He caught a 6-pounder around 10:45 a.m., but with several boats sharing the area, he saw his overall opportunity level decline.

 

“There were like three schools where you could get bit in a football field-size area, but now it’s down to about 1 1/2 (schools),” Hanselman said. “The others are depleted and we’re starting to crowd one another.

 

“You never know what can show up. Those fish know that the grass is there — it’s the only grass in the lake. The baitfish are there and they’ve been trying to have a shad spawn. It could recharge or it could be that’s what’s there.”

 

Hanselman described his area as a staging spot for fish that were coming and going from the spawn.

2021 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River Day 1: Clouse Leads with 25-12lbs.

Canadians: Cory Johnston 4th, Chris Johnston 21st. &  Gustafson 41st. 

BASS Press Release

Afternoon bite key for Clouse.
(Photo: Seigo Seito)

Gary Clouse knew what he had to do, and he was determined that not even a three-hour fog delay was going to stop him.

It was a good call for the Tennessee pro who caught a five-bass limit that weighed 25 pounds, 12 ounces Thursday to lead Day 1 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at the St. Johns River.

After dense fog created hazardous navigational conditions, B.A.S.S. delayed Thursday’s scheduled 7 a.m. takeoff until 10:15.

Taking off in the 69th position in a field of 99 boats, Clouse had plenty of time to contemplate his game plan, which involved making what he called a long run.

“I was fishing bedding areas and bed fish too; it was a little of both,” Clouse said. “I feel like the fish are coming to me because I went into this area in practice and I had a couple of bites, but I had no idea it was going to be loaded like that.”

With this week’s new moon plus a warming trend that started Wednesday, the stage was set for a textbook spawning movement. Clouse said he believed his distant spot offered him the best opportunity, but he admits he had to ignore his mental question marks.

“I had all kinds of doubts while I was running,” he said. “I thought maybe I should just pull over here and try to catch one. That crossed my mind — like I shouldn’t make this run. 

“It was a huge gamble. The smarter money would have been to stay close and get a couple fish and hopefully get a long day tomorrow. But I just decided to go for it and I’m glad I did.”

2019 Bassmaster College Series at St. Lawrence River Day 2: Auburn Takes Over Lead!

Massive smallmouth limits!

By Andrew Canulette

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Big limits for team who are bed fishing.
(Photo: BASS)

Steady rains soaked competitors today in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series at St. Lawrence River presented by Bass Pro Shops, but the foul weather hardly affected what has become a record-setting event.

Logan Parks and Lucas Lindsay of Auburn (Ala.) University lead the slugfest with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 2 ounces. The Tigers caught a five-bass limit Thursday that weighed 23-13, which was an outstanding compliment to the 25-5 limit they boated Wednesday.

The ability to catch big bass has been key to the leaders’ success so far. Parks boated a 6-5 smallmouth today, after landing the tournament’s biggest bass so far — a 6-7 smallie he caught Wednesday.

“Lucas is usually the ‘Big Fish Guy,’” Parks said with a laugh. “So the roles have switched a little bit. They like me more this week.”

Parks and Lindsay knew they were in good shape when they had a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds in the livewell less than an hour after take-off today. Parks caught the giant smallmouth at about 9:30 a.m., and that fish vaulted them from fifth place into the lead.

Lindsay said he’s not worried about finding a few more big bass. After all, the St. Lawrence has been extremely generous to anglers this week. Bass have been so plentiful that the Auburn team was able to find their entire catch in areas they had not scouted prior to today.

Many other teams are also catching heavy limits of bass, which is keeping the pressure on the leaders as they enter the final round Friday. The field was cut to 12 teams after the Day 2 weigh-in, and the remaining dozen teams should encounter much more agreeable weather than the wind, rain and chill they experienced today.

Brian Linder and Nathan Thompson of Minnesota’s Bemidji State University are in second place with a two-day total of 48-13. Thursday’s weather seemingly scuttled their spot of choice, so Linder and Thompson covered a lot of water, and expect to do so again Friday.

2019 Bassmaster College Series at St. Lawrence River Day 1: West Virginia Leads!

St. Lawrence Smashfest!
By Andrew Canulette
BASS PRESS RELEASE

West Virginia University’s Nolan Minor and Casey Lanier grab lead with 26lbs!
(Photo: ;BASS)

West Virginia University’s Nolan Minor and Casey Lanier outfished nearly 300 other college anglers today in what was a slugfest day of fishing at the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series at St. Lawrence River presented by Bass Pro Shops.

The 149-boat field produced a total weight of 3,031 pounds, 3 ounces to begin this tournament in upstate New York. All but three of the teams caught limits of five bass and of that number, 85 teams weighed more than 20 pounds on Day 1.

The tremendous catches came courtesy of ideal conditions on the St. Lawrence River, including water temperatures right at 60 degrees, a fishing season that began only five days ago and local bass in the throes of a full spawn.

Minor and Lanier took advantage of the bounty. The West Virginia duo caught five smallmouth bass on Wednesday that weighed 26-6 — a one-day total that normally would blow most competitors out of the water, but was good for only a 9-ounce cushion on the bountiful St. Lawrence River.

The Mountaineer duo had a limit within an hour of launching from Whittaker Park on Wednesday and culled four or five times later in the morning. Among their early catches was a 6-2 smallmouth Minor got off a bed. It was a personal best for him and the highlight of a day that saw the leaders scouting new water by 10 a.m.

Minor and Lanier are no strangers to success. They finished fourth in last year’s Bassmaster College Series Team of the Year standings and they were in third place in the race entering this event — the fourth and final regular-season stop for college anglers of 2019.

While a win here would be a thrill, Minor and Lanier previously secured a spot in August’s Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops on Tennessee’s Chickamauga Lake.

John Cox Win 2019 Bassmaster Eastern Open on Lake Chickamauga with 66lbs!

2nd Chick Win in Weeks for Cox!
By David A. Brown
BASS PRESS RELEASE

John Cox goes wire-to-wire to win the Bassmaster Eastern Open with 66-05lbs!

Carrying a nearly 8-pound lead into the final round, no doubt, builds confidence, but John Cox readily acknowledged the good fortune that enabled him to slam the door on a wire-to-wire win in the Basspro.com Bassmaster Eastern Open on Lake Chickamauga with a three-day total weight of 66 pounds, 5 ounces.

Cox, who won an FLW Tour event on Chickamauga three weeks ago, took the early lead with a Day 1 limit of 26-11. Adding 21-12 on Day 2 gave the Debary, Fla., pro a 7-pound, 13-ounce lead going into the final round. Today, Cox sealed the deal with a five-bass limit that weighed 17-14 and gave him a winning margin of 4-11.

“It was an amazing week,” Cox said. “So many of my fish catches were so special, and it seemed like luck played into a lot of them.

“Today, I didn’t see one of my key fish — a 5-pounder — until the last second. He didn’t see me, for some reason. I flipped over to the fish and it ate my bait. When I got it into the boat, I realized I was on its blind side; it was missing his eye. If it had been any other direction, I wouldn’t have caught it.”

Cox caught all of his bass in shallow water, including bluegill beds, banks with deeper water adjacent and docks. Although he had planned to fish offshore shellbeds and bars in 8 to 14 feet of water, Cox found his areas too congested with other anglers on Day 1. Snooping around in the shallows quickly convinced him that’s where he needed to remain.

“The first day, I caught a couple good ones out there, but then it got really crowded in those areas,” Cox said. “I didn’t feel comfortable being around all those people, so I said ‘I’m just going to do what I like doing,’ so I got up shallow.

“Once I saw fish swimming around up there, I got sucked into it and I never went back out to those shellbars.”

Cox said his top baits were a 1/2-ounce Dirty Jigs swim jig in the tactical shad color with a white Berkley Max Scent Meaty Chunk trailer, a wacky-rigged 5-inch Berkley Max Scent General (stickbait) in the green pumpkin party color.

For his efforts, Cox won $43,800 and earned a berth in the 2020 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. This win, he said, elevated Chickamauga to the top of his personal list.

“I don’t know what to say; this used to be my second-favorite lake, but after this one, it’s definitely my favorite,” Cox said. “I love it when we get to come here, I love all the people and I hope we get to come back.”

Chris Peters of Birchwood, Tenn. finished in second place with 61-10. After tying for 28th place on day one with 14-9, the local fireman who left the weigh ins to start his weekend shift, rose to fourth on Day 2 after catching 20-3. Adding 26-14 today moved him up two notches.

“It took me a little while to get dialed in,” Peters said. “On Day 1, I ran a lot of spots. I had about 30 places I wanted to try. I got them dialed in yesterday and got them dialed in better today. Everywhere I stopped today, it was (catching) one after another.

“I was throwing a big jig, but the deal was the Trixter Custom Tackle Rowdy Craw trailer. It’s a hand-poured plastic so it’s a lot softer and has a lot of action. I think that played a key role today and all week.”

Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Ga. finished third with 58-10. Gross placed second on Day 1 with 23-8, slipped to third on Day 2 after the lack of current limited him to 15-12 and settled in the No. 3 spot after adding 19-6 in the final round.

Gross caught several of his bass this week on swimbaits and crankbaits, but today, he tempted his biggest fish on a 3/4-ounce green pumpkin Nichols casting jig with a green

2019 FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga Day 1: John Cox Slams 24-11lbs!

Canadians Richardson 71^st & Sim 75th

by Justin Onslow

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Shallow water expert Cox grabs lead.
(Photo: FLW)

John Cox just has a way of not taking himself too seriously. Maybe that’s why he was able to quietly haul the tournament-leading sack to weigh-in and take the lead with only one angler left to cross the stage behind him.

Cox doesn’t get hung up on figuring out how much weight he has. He’s not always crunching the numbers and stressing out about the weight he needs. And on day one of the FLW Tour event on Lake Chickamauga, which is presented by Evinrude, his 24-pound, 11-ounce stringer was more than enough to position the nine-year Tour pro atop the leaderboard heading into day two.

For Cox, it’s a pretty simple formula.

“I’m going to go out there [tomorrow] and try to catch five more decent males, and I’m hoping I can get lucky and catch a 9- or 10-pounder,” he says. “The thing is, this place is awesome. Someone’s going to pull up on a drop or hit a stretch of shoreline and smoke them. Hopefully I can be consistent and get that 22 or 23 pounds every day and I’ll be all right.”

Consistency isn’t always Cox’s calling card, but that isn’t a knock on his immense talent. He just loves to fish shallow – especially sight-fishing, which he did plenty of Thursday – and that recipe often leads to trouble when things don’t line up just right. Today, they did.

The DeBary, Fla., pro marked about 10 fish in practice that he thought might help him during the tournament. Many of those fish had already been caught or moved off their beds by the time Thursday rolled around, but he was able to make the most of what he had. He also might have something left in his bag of tricks tomorrow.

“I started on a real big fish and got frustrated with it,” he explains. “I couldn’t catch her, and I just bailed on her.”

Cox returned to that fish several times throughout the day, each time finding a new male on the bed with her. After trying a few times to catch the “probably at least 10-pound” female, he determined he might have better luck on Friday.

Top 10 BELOW

Jacob Wheeler Dominates Group A in Shotgun Round 1 at Smith Lake

Wheeler Maintains Momentum with Dominant Performance

MLF PRESS RELEASE

Blistering speed of Wheeler gives him big jump ahead of the pool.
(Photo: MLF)

If you ever wondered if momentum is a thing in professional bass fishing, look no further than the five names at the top of SCORETRACKER™ after the first Shotgun Round of the Bass Pro Tour Phoenix Boats Stage Five Presented by Mercury: Jacob Wheeler, Andy Morgan, Wesley Strader, Ott DeFoe and Edwin Evers.

 

Led by Wheeler's record-breaking 38-fish, 61-pound, 15-ounce performance, that quintet of Major League Fishing® (MLF) pros racked up 138 scorable bass for just over 236 pounds to leave Smith Lake with comfortable cushions to carry into their Elimination Round competition on Thursday.

 

It was a continuation of recent success for all five anglers: Evers has four top-10 finishes in four events this season and leads the Bass Pro Tour points race; DeFoe is just a month removed from a Bassmaster Classic win; Strader has seven Top 20s in his last season-and-a-half; Morgan is shooting for back-to-back wins; and Wheeler has two Top 5s in his last four events.

 

"Momentum makes you a little fearless, for lack of a better term," said Morgan, who entered the week fresh off a win two weeks ago at Stage Four on Lake Chickamauga. "You're just kinda 'with it' from the get-go, whether you're getting bites from the get-go or not. Everybody is at their best when they're relaxed, and that's what everybody is after in this sport: to be relaxed, and to just keep it rolling."

 

Wheeler Was Dominant on Day 1 

 

No matter how you measure Wheeler's performance, "rolling" is an accurate description. On a fishery that showed signs of being in a slight post-spawn lull before the event started, Wheeler figured out the right patterns and the right locations early in the day, piling up 36 of his 38 fish in the first two periods and overtaking Morgan, who had rang up 18 fish and a big lead in Period 1.

 

2019 Bassmaster Elite Lake Hartwell Day 1: Brandon Cobb Score Lead with 19-02lbs

Canadians Gustafson 15th, Cory Johnston 17th & Chris Johnston 27th
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Local Cobb able to capitalize on spawning and post-spawn bite.
(Photo: BASS)

When Brandon Cobb realized the bass might be spawning for this week’s Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell, he grimaced just a little bit.
 
Cobb is a South Carolina native who grew up fishing Hartwell, and he knows things about the lake that others don’t. He was afraid the spring spawn would bring the bass into clear view for the entire field, neutralizing his home-field advantage.
 
Turns out, they are spawning.
 
But so far, his advantage seems to be intact.
 
Cobb brought five bass to the scales today that weighed 19 pounds, 9 ounces and took the Day 1 lead at the third Elite Series event of the season. He has a 2-pound advantage over North Carolina pro Hank Cherry and Georgia pro Micah Frazier, who each caught 17-9.
 
“There are a lot of fish on bed out here right now,” Cobb said. “But I know what this lake looks like when there’s an all-out spawn going on, and it’s just not happening.
 
“There have been some fish caught on beds, and there will be some more caught off the beds. But judging from today and from what I saw in practice, the spawn is not in full swing.”
 
Cobb said he caught a couple of bass on spawning nests himself today, but he also caught prespawn and postspawn fish.
 
His experience on the lake played a big role in his first-round success — just as he’d hoped it would.
 
“I didn’t really have a specific pattern today,” said Cobb, a former member of the Clemson University bass fishing team who holds a degree in wildlife and fisheries biology. “I basically just ran a lot of stuff where I’ve caught them in the past. Since practice was so bad, I just fished a lot of stuff I was familiar with.”
 
Just as Cobb wouldn’t offer specific details about how he caught his bass, Cherry was vague about how he ended up in second place. The seventh-year Elite Series pro weighed in four solid largemouth and one impressive shoal bass that weighed just over 3 pounds.
 

2019 FLW Tour Lake Seminole Day 1: Braxton Setzer Leads with 25-15lbs.

Canadians Sim 80^th & Richardson 121^st.  

by Kyle Wood

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Setzer big spawners grabs early lead.
(Photo: FLW)

After a cold front passed through the region during practice, day one of the FLW Tour event on Lake Seminole, which is presented by Costa, was better than most expected. A chilly start to the day gave way to sunny, mild conditions, and the bass responded. Braxton Setzer got off on the right foot with a 25-pound, 15-ounce limit to hold just a 6-ounce lead over Joseph Webster.

Setzer is fresh off a top-30 finish at the previous Tour stop on Toho, where he worked offshore hydrilla for some stout bags of fish. He kept that same mentality this week, and so far, it’s paying off.

“I committed myself to the offshore before practice even started,” says Setzer. “I just know [on Seminole] that when you find them offshore you can find where they are coming to and going back to, and you can get right in a hurry in one spot. It was fun today.”

Though he only caught eight or nine fish all day, the quality is there for the Montgomery, Ala., pro. And believe it or not, he didn’t even get to fish the main spot he wanted to.

“Things kind of started slow this morning,” he continues. “I started short of where I wanted to this morning since nobody was around and figured I’d work my way up to my waypoint. Well, I look up, and Webster pulled in right on the spot and started beating on them. I thought, ‘You dummy, you should have started on the waypoint.’

“I struggled a little after that, but started to pick apart the area I was in because it is a bigger area than where I wanted to go, so I had more water to cover. The spot I wound up catching them on is basically a ditch that leads to a flat with a clean spot on it. That clean spot is where I caught the majority of my fish.”

With a limit around 9:30 this morning, he kept picking apart water around the area until the bite dried up at 11 o’clock. From there, Setzer ran to another likely spot he had eyes on to see what it could offer.

Top 10 pros below

2019 Bassmaster Elite St. Johns River Day 1: Robbie Lastuso Leads with 25-02lbs!

Chris Johnston 7th, Cory Johnston 8th  & Gustafson 69th
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Spawn is on in Florida!
(Photo: BASS)

After a tough practice, Robbie Latuso said he only had one area that he felt confident about heading into Thursday’s opening round of the Power-Pole Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River.

But it turned out to be a good area — and it just kept getting better as the day went along.

The third-year Elite Series pro from Gonzales, La., caught a solid limit early and then steadily culled up until he had a five-bass limit that weighed 25 pounds, 2 ounces. The big bag, which was anchored by an 8-6 largemouth, was good enough for the Day 1 lead.

“I got to that spot and caught a bunch of fish that were all about 3 pounds,” Latuso said. “Then I finally caught a 3-10. Then I caught a 5-pounder. Then I caught the biggest one and another big fish — about a 5-pounder — toward the end of the day.

“So I really caught most of my big fish later.” 

With three days left to fish, anglers are always stingy with details. But Latuso said he’s using a technique he’s very comfortable with — and he believes his one magic spot could actually be better for Friday’s second round. 

 “I think more fish are coming to that area,” he said. “So I’m just gonna go out there tomorrow and have fun again and try to get five more bites.”

Latuso’s 8-plus was impressive, but it wasn’t nearly the biggest bass caught on a day when the Florida fishery really showed its muscle. The Top 10 anglers in the standings all had more than 20 pounds, and the biggest bass of the day was an 11-2 behemoth caught by Virginia angler John Crews.

The giant fish — which Crews said broke his personal-best mark of 11-1 by an ounce — anchored a five-bass limit that weighed 24-13 and moved Crews into second place. 

In a scene that would make even the most experienced anglers queasy, Crews landed the bass on a spinning rod with only 12-pound-test line. 

“I had caught four, and I knew I had a pretty decent bag,” Crews said. “I knew if I could just catch one more keeper, I would be in good shape. So I actually just started fishing around and picked up that spinning rod.”

He knew the bass was big when he set the hook, but it was while before he knew exactly how big.

“It went all over the place, got hung up in a tree and came out,” Crews said. “But I didn’t get in a big hurry.

“When it jumped, I thought it was a 6- or 7-pounder. When it got close to the boat and jumped again, I thought it was an 8 or 9. Then when I lipped it, it just kept coming out of the water and I knew it was at least a 10.”

Crews referred to his day as a “typical Florida day” because along with the big fish, he also had one that weighed only about 14 ounces. He said he has no idea what Friday will hold, but he’s seen proof positive once again that a big bass can bite at any moment in this state.

Having just turned 40 last year, Crews has been with the Elite Series since its inception in 2006. Another Elite Series veteran, 54-year-old Mark Menendez from Paducah, Ky., fished his way into third place Thursday — and like the two anglers ahead of him, his bag was anchored by a giant. 

Menendez weighed in five bass that tipped the scales at 24-8 with a 9-13 anchoring the bag.

“My day was real slow,” said Menendez, who has three career B.A.S.S. victories. “I lost my first two bites, and they were little peanuts.”

He was about to leave and make a long run, but instincts told him to explore the stretch he was on just a little further. 

2018 Bassmaster Elite Kentucky Lake Day 3: Wesley Strader Jumps into Lead with lbs!

Shad spawn key to leaders
David A. Brown

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Wesley Strader caught a five-bass limit during Sunday’s semifinal round of the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Kentucky Lake presented by Abu Garcia that weighed 22 pounds, 6 ounces.
 
It was the biggest limit of the day — and it put the Spring City, Tenn., pro in position for his first-ever Elite Series victory with a three-day total of 59-9.
 
Despite his strong effort on Day 3, Strader said the fishing has been anything but easy.
 
“It’s a struggle to get bit,” Strader said. “But if you hang around, you can catch a few. I’m making it look a lot easier than it is. I only got eight keeper bites today.
 
“It’s really weird. One day you’ll get a lot of bites, and then one day you won’t get many. Every time I caught one today, it’d be on the very back hook, which tells me they’re not eating. They’re just slapping at it, but luckily my Trokar hooks kept them buttoned up.”
 
Strader took advantage of the daybreak shad spawn, but that window was smaller Sunday than it had been earlier in the event. The change was due to cooler, sunnier conditions.
 
“I think the shad spawn was shorter today because it got cold last night,” Strader said. “The water cooled off. The optimum water temperature for the shad to spawn at daybreak is somewhere close to 70, and this morning it was 64 to 65. That knocked it back a little bit, plus the bright skies didn’t help. We got about 30 minutes and it quit.”
 

David Williams Wins 2018 FLW Tour Lewis Smith with 64-09lbs!

Wire to wire win for Williams

by Sean Ostruszka

FLW PRESS RELEASE

David Williams’ has dreamed of this moment all his life; but even he couldn’t have dreamed how well his first major victory would come together.

Topwater frog & jig key to win.
(Photo: FLW)

While many anglers struggled to cull, the Maiden, N.C., pro was catching more than 25 bass a day and upwards of 50 on some days. Best of all, he was doing it on one of his favorite patterns from back home – skipping a swim jig around docks to capitalize on a shad spawn.

The end result rarely seemed in question after day one, as he sacked up a tournament-leading 18-11 by 10 a.m. and never looked back. He extended his lead by roughly 2 pounds each of the next two days, and then simply shut the door with a 13-13 limit on day four to win the FLW Tour presented by T-H Marine on Smith Lake with 64-9 total. For the win, Williams takes home $102,700. 

“It’s been a long-time coming,” says Williams of his first major win. “I’m glad people didn’t give up on me.”

Williams’ dream week actually didn’t get off to the best start.

He began practice with the mindset of fishing toward his strength: targeting largemouths up shallow. The recent rains had raised the lake up to create miles of flooded cover and trash piles far up the various creek arms. Plus, with the full moon and water temps, there was still a chance to find fish on beds. That seemed to line up perfectly for what Williams wanted to do.

After looking at the map for areas he felt would offer the most flooded cover, he began looking for water with just the right amount of color. The best combination was in White Oak Creek, but while everything looked perfect, bites were hard to come by as the water may have come up too much. Still, it was his best bet going into day one. Little did he know everything would change Thursday morning.

TOP 10 BELOW

Kevin Van Dam Wins 2018 Bassmaster Elite Grand Lake with 83-04lbs

25th BASS Victory for KVD! 
By Thomas Allen
BASS PRESS RELEASE

KVD in a league of his own!
(Photo: BASS)

Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., relied upon large female prespawn bass to claim a record-breaking 25th title on the Bassmaster Elite Series, and a $100,000 payday at the 2018 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Grand Lake in Grove, Okla.
 
During Championship Sunday, VanDam put up 18 pounds, 7 ounces to push his four-day total to 83-4, which outscored Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., by more than 5 pounds.
 
The 50-year-old VanDam will place an unprecedented 25th Bassmaster trophy on his mantle — a feat many believe may never be broken.

This isn’t his first victory on the famous Oklahoma lake. He won an Elite Series event on Grand Lake back in 2007 with 78-2.
 
The bass VanDam was targeting this time were primarily in the prespawn phase and were positioned along transition zones where one type of bottom met another.  
 
“The male bass were all in shallow along the bank and pretty easy to catch,” VanDam said. “I knew that to win, I needed to catch the larger females that were staging farther offshore — around 8 to 10 feet of water.”
 
After an unproductive practice, the four-time Bassmaster Classic champion said he was forced to adapt and experiment on Thursday’s opening round of competition.
 
“I really didn’t think I could win this thing after the tough practice I had,” he said. “But I knew I had to cover water to find active fish. The female bass that were moving in to spawn were not yet on beds, but they would still hit a reaction bait like a crankbait or a spinnerbait.”
 
VanDam said he fished at least 50 spots per day early in the tournament, but dialed in to the best locations during Saturday and Sunday, which meant less traveling from one to the next.
 
“Today was a tougher bite for me. I caught fewer fish, but I was focusing on the locations that were producing the largest bass. It proved to be the right decision,” he said.