Drew Gill Wins 2024 Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE on San Rayburn!

 Young gun Gill takes down Rayburn

Drew Gill's Day 3 total of 26 pounds, 3 ounces, earned him the win with a three-day total of 69-6. Photo by Rob Matsuura. 

By Jody White

Invitations Press Release

BROOKELAND, Texas – Drew Gill has been on a heater for a while, and it was only a matter of time before the LiveScope whizz closed out a high-level win. Today, after sacking up 26 pounds, 3 ounces on Championship Sunday, Gill took home the title at Stop 1 Presented by Power-Pole MOVE on Sam Rayburn Reservoir with a 69-6 total. 

Gill topped fellow electronics master Jake Lawrence (second, 67-15), and had enough to overcome local Marshall Hughes’ (third, 67-4) megabag on Day 2, which put him more than 6 pounds ahead of the pack initially. For the win, Gill pocketed $80,000, and locked up his 2025 REDCREST qualification early. 

Though still a fledgling circuit, Gill is now the youngest to win an Invitationals event, setting the mark to beat at 21 years, 8 months. Historically speaking, when you factor in FLW Tour stats, Gill slots in between Stetson Blaylock’s win at Lake Norman in 2009 (21 years, 7 months) and Jacob Wheeler’s 2012 Forrest Wood Cup title (21 years, 10 months).

The consensus favorite for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year in the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Gill has started the season about as good as you can. Just last week, he finished third in the Bass Pro Tour season opener on Toledo Bend, and, for good measure, the 21-year-old also finished 19th in the Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship with partner Evan Fields back in January.

Nothing is a really a long time coming when you’re 21, but getting over the hump for the W was a big deal for Gill.  

“Any year you can do consistently well and have a lot of Top 10s is a win in itself,” Gill said. “Goal No. 1 every year is always Angler of the Year. Goal No. 1 is not to win an event. However, that is a very close goal No. 2, and to be able to accomplish that in the first event of the Invitationals season after having a third at Toledo last week, I could not be more stoked for how fishing is going right now.”

TOP 10 BELOW

Nick LeBrun Wins 2022 MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me event on Lake Guntersville!

By Joe Sills

Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – On Championship Sunday, Nick LeBrun stepped to the deck of his boat surveying an expanse of eelgrass on the Tennessee River. He told his cameraman, E.K., that a 5-pounder would change everything for him today as he let a cast fly 120 feet over the bow. Seconds later, a 7-pound Guntersville largemouth smashed his line and really did change everything for the newest Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me champion.

LeBrun went on to boat a 22-pound, 15-ounce total that gave him his first MLF win since a Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American title in 2018. It’s at that BFL event where this week’s story begins.

On an early summer day four years ago, LeBrun stood onstage holding a $100,000 check, his wife of six years, Jolene, invisible in his mind.

Two weeks later, LeBrun said he was on the side of the road in Louisiana preparing to commit suicide.

2022 MLF Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me event on Lake Guntersville Day 2: Shuffield Continues to Lead!

By Joe Sills

Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Guntersville is back. That’s the common refrain from competitors across the 156-angler field of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by Fuel Me event on Lake Guntersville. The world’s most storied bass fishery has regularly topped the list of the planet’s best bass lakes since the sport rose to prominence in the 1960s; however, recent years have been less productive. If this week’s showing is any indication, the anglers are right.

In two days, 23 five-bass bags with weights of more than 20 pounds have been brought to the podium. From top to bottom, competitors seemed to be boating numbers over the past two days, but only the 50 most fortunate advanced to Day 3 as the cut came for anglers unable to find a big bite in the crowd.

Day 1 leader Spencer Shuffield continues to lead the pack after adding 18-11 to his 25-6 weight from Thursday, good for a 44-1 total. Meanwhile, Oregon angler Lane Olson rode a 26-14 bag all the way from 70th to second place. Defending Pro Circuit Angler of the Year Michael Neal rounds out the top three after tossing 19-7 onto 22-2 from the first day of competition.

Shuffield returned to the hot spot that produced a monster sack yesterday to quickly catch four fish weighing more than 15 pounds. After a brisk early bite, he says the spot shut down, possibly due to wind conditions.

“I fished out around them more than anything,” said Shuffield, who added that he switched to a flutter spoon and a hair jig to target the bass after the crankbait bite he rode on Day 1 shut down.

With one more day of competition before weights are zeroed for Sunday’s championship day, Shuffield sits in the best position in the pack to sail through toward a 10-man, one-day derby for $100,000 (or more).

“I can go catch 13 or 14 pounds a hundred times over in the shallows,” he said. “As far as catching a big bag, I am going to have to do that on ledges. I have four places where I feel like I have the potential to catch over 20 pounds off. I want to make it to Sunday because I feel like I will have those places to myself, pretty much.”

Buddy Gross Wins the 2020 Bassmaster Lake Eufaula with

From 10th to 1st, Buddy Gross whacks them with a jig!
By Bryan Brasher

BASS Press Release

Adjusting to changing conditions, Gross moved shallow and onto a jig that
scores the week's most impressive limit.
(Photo: BASS)

After a week of constant adjustments, everything came together perfectly for Buddy Gross on Championship Saturday.

The Bassmaster Elite Series rookie, fishing only his second event on the trail, caught a tournament-best five-bass limit that weighed 27 pounds, 11 ounces and sprang from 10th place to a victory in the DEWALT Bassmaster Elite at Lake Eufaula with a four-day total of 84-8. He earned $100,000 and one of the coveted blue trophies that comes with every Elite Series win.

Instead of the usual routine of being handed the trophy by Elite Series Tournament Director Trip Weldon, Gross received the prize onstage from his family due to strict social distancing measures in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Gross said. “This is something you dream of as a kid because B.A.S.S. is the epitome of fishing — just the staple of the fishing world. To dream about something like this, and then for it to happen so early in my career, is amazing.”

Gross, who lives in Chickamauga, Ga., made two scouting trips to Lake Eufaula before the event. Each trip, the weather was so rough that he spent all of his time just idling around and marking brushpiles.

Jamie Hartman Win 2019 BASS Elite Lake Guntersville with 79-10lbs!

Arey and Zaldain tie for 2nd! 

By Bryan Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

One hour of topwater magic seals the deal for Hartman.
(Photo: BASS)

When Jamie Hartman burst onto the scene with the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2017, he seemed like a virtual lock to eventually hoist one of the trail’s coveted blue winner’s trophies.

He had five Top 10s that first season — including a second- and a third-place showing — prompting many to believe he could be a true superstar in professional bass fishing.

A back ailment cut Hartman’s season short in 2018 and delayed his quest for an Elite Series win.

But it couldn’t derail it.

The New York native, who now lives in Arkansas, caught five bass Monday that weighed 23 pounds, 15 ounces and claimed his first Elite Series victory with a four-day total of 79-10 atthe Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville.

“It’s just a godsend to be back here on the Bassmaster Elite Series,” Hartman said. “I’m just so happy to be able to do this for a living and to finally get over the hump with a win.

“I never say this — and I really don’t even know how to describe it. But I had a creepy, creepy feeling coming into this week that I was going to win.”

Having never seen Lake Guntersville before the official practice period began Tuesday, Hartman did what most anglers would likely do — he headed straight for the lake’s famous ledges and tried to find big schools of bass deep. But he struggled deep on Day 1, bringing in only 14-13 and landing in 46th place.

Justin Lucas Wins 2018 BASS Elite Angler of the Year!

James Elam Wins Event
BASS PRESS RELEASE

A dream come true for the whole Lucas clan.
(Photo: BASS)

By the time Justin Lucas made it to the stage during Sunday’s final weigh-in for the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship at Lake Chatuge, Georgia, the drama was all but gone.
 
Lucas came into the event with an eight-point lead in the AOY season standings — and after solid catches on Thursday and Friday, he had stretched that lead to an almost-insurmountable 47 points. Plus, his closest competition in the race, Arizona angler Josh Bertrand, decided not to fish Sunday because his wife is expected to deliver their second child any time now back home.
 
It eliminated all the suspense, but that suited Lucas just fine.
 
The California native turned Alabama resident caught five bass that weighed only 11 pounds, 14 ounces Sunday. But his three-day weight of 39-0 was more than enough to give him the AOY title and the biggest accomplishment of his young, flourishing career.
 
“I wanted this so badly,” Lucas said. “The build-up to this tournament affected every part of my life. I haven’t been sleeping because I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about my game plan for this week. I’ve told my family and friends just to bear with me for a few more days, and everything would be okay — and now it’s all good.”
 
The gravity of the award hit Lucas and moved him to tears on stage.
 
“You think about the guys who’ve won this title — Gerald Swindle, Kevin VanDam — it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’m the 23rd guy who’s ever won this in the 50-year history of B.A.S.S., and that’s humbling.”
 

ICAST 2018: Lunkerhunt's New Assist Jigs

Lunkerhunt Assist Jigs are designed for offshore, near shore, and inshore fishing. They are effective when fished from boat, kayak, reefs, piers, and wharfs. Lunkerhunt Assist Jigs come in three body styles: The Flutter Jig, The Needle Jig and the Cut Bait Jig. All Lunkerhunt Assist Jigs have a UV coating and either a single dressed or double dressed assist hook.

All Lunkerhunt Assist Jigs work well with speed retrieves, lift and fall retrieves and traditional jigging techniques. They have been designed for saltwater fishing but also catch a wide range of freshwater species as well.

Jason Lambert Wins 2016 Walmart FLW Tour with 97-2!

Lambert conquers Kentucky!

by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Jason Lambert had a small chip on his shoulder. That chip was named Kentucky Lake.

The grudge match with Kentucky Lake started back in 2012 when Lambert finished third in a Costa FLW Series. At the time, he brushed it off. After all, a third place finish was a solid finish for a guy who was just starting to break into the big leagues of bass fishing.

Focusing on small schools pays of big time for Jason. (Photo: FLW)

However, things got a bit more personal with Lambert and Kentucky Lake in 2014 when he finished second in the Costa FLW Series held there.

And the chip really grew in size at the FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake in 2014 where, in his rookie FLW Tour season, he finished runner-up again, missing his first Tour win by 1 pound, 2 ounces.

What bothered Lambert most about his two previous runner-up finishes was that he brought in his biggest limits of those tournaments on the final day and still didn’t win on Kentucky Lake.

Curtis Richardson Wins 2015 Walmart FLW ALL-AMERICAN on Kentucky Lake!

Curtis become first Canadian to fish FLW CUP!

 

by Colin Moore

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Curtis Richardson has a way of surprising people – even himself. The Ontario angler had all but written himself off in the championship round of the Walmart Bass Fishing League All-American, thinking his limit of five bass wouldn’t hold up for long with the likes of Jeremy Lawyer and Bill Schroeder breathing down his neck.

Spoon and jigs worked for Ontario's Richardson. (Photo: FLW)

When weighmaster Chris Jones announced his final weight, however, Richardson’s doubt turned to elation as he won the three-day event ahead of 48 other boaters with a cumulative weight of 66 pounds, 5 ounces. Lawyer was runner-up with 62-15 and Schroeder had 62-06. Richardson collected $120,000 in prize money and a berth as a pro in the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita in August.
Truth be told, many in the weigh-in audience in Paris, Tenn., figured it would be a shootout between Lawyer and Schroeder, the local favorite from Paducah, Ky. Dock talk had it that Richardson had a rough day of fishing in the New Johnsonville area, where a 150-boat tournament took place Saturday. The 31-year-old Canadian figured his spots would be covered with boats and he would have to scrounge up a limit fishing new water.

2015 Walmart Bass Fishing League All-American Day 2: Curtis Richardson Leads with 46-12lbs!

O'CANADA! Richardson leads All-American!

by Colin Moore

FLW PRESS RELEASE

For a guy who’s put together two solid days of fishing to occupy the top spot in the Walmart Bass Fishing League All-American on Kentucky Lake hosted by the Henry County Alliance, Curtis Richardson doesn’t exude a lot of confidence.

Ontario angler Richardson feels comfortable on the ledges. Just like
smallmouth fishing back home. (Photo FLW)

It’s understandable. On day two of the championship, the 31-year-old Ontario angler had six bites all day, and managed a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 15 ounces. So Richardson isn’t exactly covered up with aggressive fish. He’s also fishing in an area near New Johnsonville, Tenn., that’s going to get covered up with boats Saturday, and he has Billy Schroeder stalking him – that in itself is enough to make a body worry.

In fact, counting his 24-13 stringer from day one, Richardson has a total of 46-12, or about a 1¼ pounds ahead of Schroeder. Both anglers moved up in the standings after first-round leader Bobby Padgett faltered with a second-round stringer of 17-2. The trio is among the top 10 finalists who will compete for the title and the $100,000 prize ($120,000 if Ranger Cup qualified) that goes with it in Saturday’s final round.

2014 ICAST Strike King Rage Blade Blaster with Mark Rose & IBASSIN

ICAST 2014 finds the IBASSIN.COM team in the mighty Strike King booth. We're lucky enough to speak to FLW Tour Pro Mark Rose. Mark Rose is a deep water expert. He'll explain the new Strike King Rage Blade Blaster spoon.

While designing the Rage Blade and the new Naked Rage Blade, the design team at Strike King realized that the unique qualities of the blade on those two baits lent itself to many possibilities. After months of research and development, and extensive field testing, the multi-species minded Rage Blade Blaster is ready for the world!

Skip Johnson wins 2014 Kentucky Lake Walmart FLW Tour Event!

by Curtis Niedermier
FLW Press Release

Sometimes simple strategies are the best strategies. And they don’t get much simpler than the game plan put together by Michigan pro Skip Johnson on Kentucky Lake for the sixth and final stop of the 2014 Walmart FLW Tour season.

His strategy: Don’t move.

Johnson spent all four days of competition on one hole on Kentucky Lake’s southern end. He landed more than 22 pounds each day Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, a string of lost fish cost Johnson, and he brought in just 19-12.

But Johnson rallied on Sunday. All day long he hammered away, catching more than 75 fish and culling up to the day’s best limit of 24 pounds.

The four-day, 88-pound, 10-ounce performance earned Johnson his first career Tour victory and a check for $100,000.

The triangle

“The key was to stay – don’t leave,” Johnson says about his performance on the final day of the event, which was presented by Evinrude and hosted by Henry County Alliance. “I parked right there and ran my little triangle again.”

The triangle describes the shape of a row of more than a dozen waypoints that Johnson dropped along a creek channel that snakes from a shallow flat out to the main shipping channel.

“It was a winding creek channel with old oxbows and humps in the oxbows,” he explains. “They were on the edge of the ledges dropping into the channel.”

The edges where he caught his fish were rocky and topped out in 10 to 12 feet of water. They dropped off into about 15.

Each day, Johnson worked in and out along the creek channel – once even following it all the way up onto the flat, just to see if any bass had moved in shallow.

Bass Tournament Winning Jig-and-Plastic Combos

By I.M. Bradley

How would you like to win more bass tournaments? If you answered “no,” then continue to fish the same lures and techniques you always do. Keep a closed mind. Never try anything new. By God, you caught a bass on a jig-and-pork in 1978, and that’s just the way it is!

 If you answered “yes,” however, keep reading because the secret of catching tournament winning stringers is going to be revealed.

OK, there is no secret. No magic lure, secret technique or expensive machine that drives bass into an insane feeding machine. However, the fact is that a jig with some kind of soft plastic as a trailer has been on the business end of more tournament-winning rigs than any other.

Winning major bass tournaments requires thorough preparation before and flawless execution during the event, as well has “giving them what they want.” Bassmaster Elite Series professional anglers Alton Jones and Edwin Evers know that along with having the right lure, each angler must make adjustments during each day to catch the biggest bag. These two anglers won nearly $1 million dollars on just three tournaments using a variation of that old jig-and-pork you (or your grandpa) caught a bass on back in the 1970s. Jones won the Bassmaster Classic in 2008 on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina; Evers won the Bassmaster Elite Series Citrus Slam Tournament on the St. Johns River and the PAA Series Tournament on Lake Norman, and all three tournaments were won with a jig.  

Crawfish imitations just seem to catch better numbers of bigger, quality bass. Another way of looking at it is that they eliminate the smaller bites, thus giving the bigger bass a better chance of getting on your line.

2012 FLW Open Wheeler Lake: Mark Rose Wins

 by David A. Brown
FLW Press Release
DECATUR, Ala. – It's neither fair, nor respectful to other competitors to assume a tournament is "in the bag" just because a guy brings a huge lead into the final round. But Mark Rose, at least indirectly, justified any such murmurings with his dominant wire-to-wire win at the FLW Tour Open event on Wheeler Lake.

Mark lead all four days and took the trophy with ease.
(Photos: FLW)

Ever the humble gentleman, Rose simply won't engage in that line of thinking. He'll thank God, his family and his sponsors and he'll let others draw their own conclusions. For him, it's simply a matter of being fortunate enough to fish his style of fishing during a period when Wheeler's bass were positioned well for it. Essentially, the fish are just starting to move into their fall transition of shallow migration, but the water's still on the warm side, so plenty of quality fish remain out deep. With a solid understanding of these seasonal patterns and significant experience at picking apart the deep bottoms of TVA impoundments, Rose was in his comfort zone and simply went to work methodically locating and engaging his finned opponents.
"I just felt comfortable out there – I just get in tune with it," he said. "It's a passion I have. I really like it. I like it when I'm not catching anything because I'm trying to figure them out.

Bassmaster Elite Dixie Duel Wheeler Lake day 1 and 2 recap

What's going on!?
By Luigi De Rose

Sorry for the delay but here is a photo essay on the Wheeler Lake Tournament. Wheeler Lake is the last official stop on the 2011 Bassmaster Tour Season. Many anglers are killing themselves to finish high enough in the points to qualify for the Classic. Others have no chance and are just trying to cut a good cheque. Also, there is the very important Angler of the Year (AOY) race in full swing.

So, lets try and figure out what is going on. Wheeler is a TVA lake in Alabama and has current flow created by electrical power generation. Bass mood is effected and affected by the current. The weather is hot and bass should be in a summer time pattern but don't count on it; it has been a weak spring.

Many expect the cranking anglers to win and they might. Summer means off-shore cranking, big worms, a few jigs and even a spoon tossed in. This means KVD should be at the top of the standings but he isn't in the Top 5 but who cares when it seems that he'll win another AOY.

Thursday, which was Day 1 saw Ott DeFoe take the lead and on Friday, David Walker is sitting atop the leader board. Both are considered new to BASS but both are very seasoned anglers with a lot of talent. Each one wants to fish the Classic and it looks like they will finish well.  

This photo essay is courtesy of BASS photographers: Rob Russow, Seigo Saito, James Overstreet and Darrel Jacobson

Tim Horton and Kevn Wirth are sharing an off-shore spot. Sharing is the key work.

Horton battles a good one as Russ Lane watches.