Alex Korl Wins 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens at Lake Erie Presented by Battery Tender!

Wire to Wire win for Korl!

By Pete Robbins, BASS Press Release

BUFFALO, N.Y. — New York’s Alex Korol overcame a lingering case of bronchitis and two hard-charging Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pros to win the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender with 75 pounds, 9 ounces of smallmouth bass over three days of competition. 

In a tournament where weights were generally tightly-packed, his winning margin of 3-11 seemed immense. The difference between second and fourth was a mere 8 ounces.

Elite Series rookies Nick Trim of Wisconsin and Aaron Jagdfeld of Michigan came in second and third with 71-14 and 71-8, respectively.

“I know how special this is and how hard it is to come by,” Korol said. “It is just unbelievable.”

This event featured an absolute rarity in multi-day Great Lakes tournaments — three days with no weather warnings, delays or cancellations. The service crews remained busy, but the tournament went on as scheduled, as did the entirety of the Opens schedule this year.

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.”

What happened to Aaron Martens on Day 4?

By Luigi De Rose

Aaron Martens safe as motor rips from his boat.
(Photo: BASS)

If you look at the standings you will see that Aaron Martens finished in 12th on the final day. He scored a zero. A blank in the standings leaves a lot of us wondering. What happened to Aaron?

Aaron is fine and recent up-dated his facebook page. While journeying back to the weigh-in he clocks several nasty waves and ripped the motor from his boat. He is fine but couldn't make it back to the ramp under his own power so his final day catch was void.

Here is his statement from is page:

Aaron and the boat are out of the water and everyone is fine. He confirmed he had about 21 lbs of smallmouth. He was coming off of Lake Erie into the mouth of the Detroit River when he hit a combination of 3 or 4 giant waves (made by multiple freighter style boats) at just the wrong angle. The bolts that hold the motor on the boat snapped. He is working on securing the motor so he can trailer it back to the launch ramp. 

He is bummed, but he did say he was happy for Chris Lane Outdoors for the win. Aaron knew it was a risky run and it just didn't work out the way he hoped. 

We'll get more from Aaron soon.

EverStart Northern 1000 Islands: Lucarelli Wins, Izumi 2nd.

New Hampshire pro finds sweet redemption in EverStart Northern event

18.Aug.2012 by David A. Brown

FLW Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. – About this time last year, New Hampshire pro told the weigh-in crowd that he wanted to go home and forget about the 1000 Islands. Good thing he didn't really let the bitter pill of a 75th-place finish obscure his memory; otherwise, he wouldn't have left the 2012 EverStart Northern event with the first-place trophy.

Joe, with tournament angler dad Steve, enjoy the win.
(Photos: FLW) 

Lucarelli got off to a good start on day one by placing 13th with 19-6. He'd follow a day later with his first of two bags over 20 – this one a limit that weighed 21-15 and moved him up to third place. In the final round, Lucarelli turned in his best performance and weighed a bulging bag of smallmouth that went 22-8 (second-largest of the event) and pushed his aggregate to a tournament-winning total of 63-13.

"It feels great to win this (after my 2011 disappointment)," Lucarelli said. "This fishery keeps getting better and better. I've been coming here for about 10 years and I remember when we used to be able to come here and catch 17-18 pounds and it really meant something. You wouldn't be (in the top-10) if you caught 17 or 18 pounds."

EverStart Northern 1000 Islands Day 2: Canadian Strub Takes Lead

Stois moves atop co-angler field in EverStart Northern event

17.Aug.2012 by David A. Brown

(FLW Press Release)

CLAYTON, N.Y. – Holy mother of pearl! Actually, that's probably the mildest of exclamations uttered by EverStart Northern Division anglers who ventured to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and witnessed what an approaching cold front does to Lake Ontario. Reports from wave-weary anglers told of 7-footers at takeoff and you just know it didn't get any better all day.

Big smile from Derek Strub when he shows off
these two brutes!
(Photos: FLW) 

Now, for land bound visitors to upstate New York's 1000 Islands region, this weather change will make for a lovely weekend of cool, clear pre-fall pleasantness. But of course, bass boats do not operate well on terra firma, so the options were – the lake or the river. Everyone knows there's a whole lot more bass in the lake, but there's also a lot of wide open water that gets awfully angry when blown upon by strong winds. On the other hand, the river – while certainly not immune to windy conditions – offers more protected areas while all those islands break the blow and offer some relief.

Yesterday, more anglers fished Lake Ontario and the big water did not disappoint. Today, fewer boats ventured past the mouth of the river, so it's not surprising that the weigh-ins saw more largemouth, which also exist in the lake but are more common in the river. Overall, smallmouth again dominated the weigh-ins and that's no surprise.