Wes Logan Wins 2021 Bassmaster Elite Whataburger on Neely Henry with 57-09lbs!

Local Pro Wes Logan Gets First Bassmaster Elite Series Victory At Neely Henry Lake

BASS PRESS RELEASE

(Photo: BASS)

GADSDEN, Ala. — Wes Logan said memories came flooding back to him throughout the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Neely Henry Lake.

That’s bound to happen when you’ve fished a place since you were 5 years old.

Logan now has countless new reasons to think fondly of his home water after claiming the tournament title here on Championship Monday. The 26-year-old from Springville, only a 30-mile drive from the Gadsden City Boat Docks, caught a four-day total of 20 bass weighing 57 pounds, 9 ounces. He capped the competition with a 14-1 limit Monday, the third-heaviest of the day.

Logan earned $100,000 for the win, his first in 26 B.A.S.S. events.

The second-year Elite Series angler charged into the lead on Day 3 with a 16-15 bag that tied for the heaviest of the tournament. That made him the last man to weigh in Monday and the only one with a chance to knock Connecticut pro Paul Mueller from the hot seat.

Logan peeked silently at the scale while his bass were weighed. When his winning total flashed on screen, he let out a victorious yell and pumped his right fist over his head. Then he hugged Mueller and hoisted his first blue trophy for his home-based fans to see.

“I started tournament fishing with my dad when I was 5,” Logan said. “We’d come here, Logan Martin and Weiss … I went into practice trying to not put pressure on myself. I wanted to fish like I’d never seen the place before. I wanted to figure out a pattern.”

Having an open mind, even on water he knows so well, was critical this week. Neely Henry was a difficult read for most of the 98 anglers who started the tournament on Friday, postponed by a day because of heavy rains earlier in the week. The storms sent the water table rising and shot sediment throughout the lake. The Elites scrambled to find stable water, many relying on junk fishing to see which lures and techniques produced the best bites.

A trio of lures worked best for Logan — a 5/8-ounce Dirty Jigs Matt Herren flipping jig (black/blue skirt) with a Zoom Big Salty sapphire blue Chunk; a Dirty Jigs No Jack swim jig with a Zoom Super Speed Craw trailer; and a frog, which he used to fill his Day 3 limit.

Logan started the tournament strongly, putting 14-1 on the board Friday, good enough for ninth place. He caught 12-8 on Day 2, climbing to eighth and surviving the cut to 48. He made his move on Day 3 with the 16-5 haul, pointing to a pair of unusual catches as the turning point.

Wesley Strader Wins 2018 Bassmaster Elite Kentucky Lake with 80-04lbs!

Versatility key to win.
David A. Brown

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Flipping, cranking and buzzbaits key to win.
(Photo: BASS)

The final day of the Berkley Bassmaster Elite at Kentucky Lake presented by Abu Garcia threw Wesley Strader the right pitch, and he knocked it out of the park.

Strader, a first-year Elite Series pro from Spring City, Tenn., caught a final-day limit of five bass that weighed 20 pounds, 11 ounces and earned his first Elite Series victory with a four-day total of 80-4.

After sitting in 16th place on Day 1 with 19-6, Strader added 17-13 Saturday and improved to 11th, before taking over the Day 3 lead with 22-6 — the biggest catch of Sunday’s semifinal round.

His final-day catch cemented a $100,000 payday.

“Yesterday, I figured out that the fish were positioning under the walkways on the docks,” he said. “Today, that went away; they got out under the floats. It seemed like, as the sun got higher, the shade got tighter to the docks and you could pretty much pinpoint where they’d bite.

“I didn’t think the shad spawn was that big of a deal for me today. But I pulled up on a stretch of docks that I had not fished early in the morning and just about every cast, when I’d reel my bait out from underneath the floats, there would be two or three threadfin shad following my spinnerbait.”

Unlike the previous days, Strader was unable to leverage the early-morning shad spawn. But he put several keepers in the boat by alternating between a 5/8-ounce Stan Sloan Bango Blade spinnerbait with a white swimbait trailer, a buzzbait, a popping frog and a white Zoom Z-Craw that he swam through shallow bushes.

He still found some early productivity. But it was a magical, one-hour midday flurry that vaulted Strader into the unofficial BASSTrakk lead.

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.”
 

2017 BASS Elite Toledo Bend Day 2: Hartman Takes Lead with 39-01lbs!

Hartman hooks Toledo Bend
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE

Hartman one of few to sack good limit. (Photo: BASS)

Where Jamie Hartman comes from, the largemouth bass spawn only lasts about two weeks.
So, when the New York resident pre-fished Toledo Bend Reservoir back in February and saw lots of bass already on the beds, he just assumed the spawn would be long done by the time he returned for this week's Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend presented by Econo Lodge.
He was wrong, but he wasn't too stubborn to admit it.
After starting the week in deeper water, Hartman adjusted and has put together a two-day total of 39 pounds, 1 ounce to lead the event. While much of the 110-angler field struggled during post-front conditions Friday, Hartman caught a five-bass limit that weighed 15-12.
"I had a terrible, terrible practice this week," Hartman said. "I'm not familiar with these southern waters, where the spawn just lasts for months, obviously.
"I pre-fished here for 2 1/2 weeks in February and saw two big waves of fish go in and out. I spent all of that time graphing deeper spots where I thought postspawn fish would be, and it just hasn't happened yet."

Jordan Lee Wins the 2017 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Conroe with 56-10lbs!

Lee conqures Classic!
By Bryan Brasher
BASS PRESS RELEASE

In 2013, Jordan Lee was a member of the Auburn University fishing team.

Today, he's on top of the professional bass fishing world.

The 25-year-old pro from Guntersville, Ala., stayed within striking distance all week at the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods. Then during Sunday's final round at Minute Maid Park, he caught five bass from Lake Conroe that weighed 27 pounds, 4 ounces, pushing his three-day total to a tournament-best 56-10.

Amazing final day makes 25 year old Lee a Classic Champ!
(Photo: BASS)

Lee earned $300,000 and the most coveted trophy in the sport, while Steve Kennedy — a resident of Auburn, Ala. — finished second with 55-1.

"To all of the guys fishing the college tournaments right now, this just says you can do it," Lee said. "It's hard work — and you're going to have a lot of days out here that aren't good.

"On this lake, I wasn't sure there was any way I could do it. But you're never out of it here."

Mark Rose Wins 2017 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Guntersville with 79-11 lbs!

Rose milks Brown's creek for win.

by Rob Newell 

FLW PRESS RELESE

Coming into the FLW Tour event presented by Lowrance at Lake Guntersville, Mark Rose had quite a laundry list of reasons why he wanted to win the tournament.

First of all, Lake Guntersville has a rich history in the sport of professional bass fishing. Fishing legends such as Zell Rowland, George Cochran, Rick Clunn and David Fritts have all won national events on the historic lake. Rose has always wanted to put his name alongside such icons as a professional tournament winner on Guntersville.

Consistency key to Rose's win.
(Photo: FLW)

Second, Rose has been so close to victory in other events on Guntersville. He has finished runner-up in a Costa FLW Series event and a Tour event at the lake.

Rose is also well known for his deep-water prowess. He has earned his moniker as a “ledgemaster” through multiple offshore wins along the Tennessee River. With that, he felt like he had become almost pigeonholed as a deep-water specialist and was ready to prove to himself that he can win events in waist-deep water as well.

Finally, Rose was ready to erase a memory from Sam Rayburn Reservoir in 2014 when he lead an FLW Tour event going into the last day and faltered, letting none other than Bryan Thrift slip past him and grab the brass ring.

Taylor Ashley Wins 2017 Costa FLW Series Southeastern Lake Okeechobee with 68-12lbs!

Swimming a jig crowns a champ!

by Rob Newell 

FLW PRESS RELESE

Lake Okeechobee has been the career launching pad for several young rookie pros through the years. Full-time pros like JT Kenney, Bryan Thrift and Drew Benton all took their first big career wins on the Big O before the fishing world had ever heard their names. Now you can add the name Taylor Ashley of Warrior, Ala., to that list.

Consistence key for Ashley's big win. (Photo: FLW)

At just 19 years old, Ashley won the Costa FLW Series Southeast Division opener presented by Power-Pole on Lake Okeechobee. It was the first FLW Series event Ashley had ever entered. It was the first time Ashley had ever been to Lake Okeechobee. And it ended with his first big career win.
“Four days ago, there was no way in the world I would have said I could have won this tournament,” Ashley says. “There is nothing that can prepare you for coming to this lake for the first time. I studied Google Earth for hours, but it does you no good because everything changes so fast here – the grass, the water levels, nothing looks like you think it's going to look.”