Bob Downey Wins Central BASS Opens and Grabs Classic Spot!

Another Classic spot filled

By Kelly Bostian

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Saturday's conditions killed fragile bite.
(Photo: BASS)

Bob Downey, in his first season fishing the B.A.S.S. Opens, rode a consistent but demanding pattern to his first career victory in the Basspro.com Bassmaster Central Open on Grand Lake.

With a final-day catch of 16 pounds, 3 ounces and a three-day total of 48-9, the Wisconsin angler earned $29,200 and a berth in the 2020 Bassmaster Classic scheduled for March 6-8 on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville.

By finishing fifth in the season points standings for the Central Open, Downey also earned an invitation to fish the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series.

“Holy smokes, I got it done,” said Downey, who was fishing Grand for the first time. “I can’t believe it.”

Downey climbed steadily through the standings the first two days and was in second place going in Saturday’s finale.

With this catch of 16-3 Saturday, he finished just 8 ounces in front of another Wisconsin angler, Caleb Kuphall of Mukwonago, with 48-1. Kuphall’s finish also put him in the Top 5 of the season points race and earned him an invitation to the Elite Series.

Kyle Dorsett of Odenville, Ala., grabbed third place at Grand with 45-12.

Another chance for a first career win slipped away from the leader of the first two days, Kenta Kimura of Osaka, Japan.

A year ago the seven-season veteran led the pack on the Red River, fell off on the last day and placed fourth. History repeated for him Saturday as he boated three bass in the morning and could not find another keeper. With 43-4, he finished fourth.

Persistence, faith in his pattern, and some last-minute fortune got it done for Downey.

“When I got on that pattern early this week (in practice) and got that 6-pounder, I knew it was potentially a special deal,” he said. “But I didn’t know if it would hold up.”

Edwin Evers Runs Away with REDCREST Championship.

Record year for Evers. 

Before the start of the REDCREST Presented by Venmo, there may have been a debate about who is currently the most feared angler on tour. But now there's no doubt.

It's been a good year for Edwin Evers: Stage Two Champion, Bass Pro Tour Points Champion, and now REDCREST Champion. He took home $300,000 for his win today and can add that to the $193,600 he won during the season; no matter how you look at it, it's been an excellent year.

Today, it was Evers, and then everybody else. His weight total of 85-06 was 15-pounds more than the combined totals of the second and third place anglers.
Edwin Evers was the big story today, and rightfully so.

Evers Dominates
Evers started the Championship Round with a bang and was out in front for nearly every minute today. Greg Hackney made a push towards him during Period 2, but Evers was just getting started and turned it into a runaway victory.

2018 FLW Tour Lake Okeechobee Day 2: Bryan Schmitt Leads with 48-03lbs!

Chris  Johnston 3rd, Cory Johnston 6^th, Gustafson 87^th & Richardson 119th.

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Schmitt leads -Chris Johnston land 28 pound bag.
(Photo: FLW)

Lake Okeechobee is 730 square miles in size; half the size of Rhode Island. But for this tournament, one stretch of water a few hundred yards long and wide has out-produced all the rest.

After two days of the FLW Tour presented by Evinrude on Lake Okeechobee, Harney Pond has been THE place to be, as all of the top six anglers in the standings are fishing that area. With the warming conditions, a wave of giant females seems to be pouring in ready to spawn, and thus far, Bryan Schmitt has been the best at making them bite.

After leading day one with 24-11, the Deale, Md. pro followed it up with 23-8 to hold off Mark Rose for the lead with 48-3 for the tournament.

“There’s no doubt the winning fish are in [Harney Pond],” says Schmitt. “It’s the perfect storm [with the fish moving in there]. I think there is a 30-pound bag in there now that there will be less boats.”

2016 Walmart FLW Kentucky Lake Day 2: Terry Bolton Leads with 44-13lbs.

Bolton takes over Kentucky

by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE

The name Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., has been synonymous with the name Kentucky Lake for the better part of 30 years. Today, the well-known local pro showed why, bringing in another 22-pound plus bag of bass for the second day in a row to take the lead in the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Mercury and hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau with a two-day total of 44 pounds, 13 ounces.

Local pro shows consistency is key. (Photo: FLW)

Two major obstacles have been an issue for FLW Tour pros this week: fishing pressure and lack of current. Bolton has found a way to clear both hurdles over the last two days by searching out smaller “clusters” of suspended bass in waters that are deeper than where most of the fishermen are wearing ruts into the ledges.

“When they get up high off the bottom here, I like it,” Bolton says. “When they’re on the bottom, a lot more people can catch them. But when they suspend up high due to lack of current and fishing pressure, they get a little trickier to fool.”

“The big schools are broken up now and they are moving around a lot,” he continues. “So I’m looking for smaller clusters of fish. Some pods might have 5 or 6 fish in them; others might have 15 to 25. And I only catch a few fish out of these smaller groups – this is not a case where I’m sitting in one place wearing them out.”

Bolton adds that looking out deeper has been a key for him.

“I don’t normally like to fish this deep; it takes too long for my bait to get to the bottom,” Bolton adds with a laugh. “But that’s what I feel I have to do to get off the beaten path and find those more isolated, suspended pods that are not as pressured.”

 Top 10 pros below

Michael Wooley Wins 2015 FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga with 92-4lbs!

Mammoth Win for Wooley! 

by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE

One spot plus two lures plus 92 pounds, 4 ounces of Lake Chickamauga bass equals a $125,000 Walmart FLW Tour win for Michael Wooley.

Wooley, a second-year pro on the FLW Tour who hails from Collierville, Tenn., spends most of his fishing time somewhere on the Tennessee River, mostly on either Pickwick or Kentucky Lake.

Deep bite allowed Michael win as others moved shallow (Photo FLW)

Despite his deep knowledge of Tennessee River bass, Wooley’s win on Lake Chickamauga was about as straightforward as it gets. There were no big flashy spoons, secret hair jigs or new must-have crankbaits involved in his victory. There were no mega-schools or timing of tricky rotations.

Instead, Wooley dragged just two lures – a Zoom Magnum Trick Worm on a 1/2-ounce hand-poured shaky head and a 3/4-ounce Strike King football-head jig teamed with a Strike King Rage Lobster trailer – across a shell bar located in Dallas Bay for the win in the Tour event presented by Igloo Coolers on Lake Chickamauga.

Wooley found the fish on Sunday afternoon, the first official day of practice.

“I was idling along in Dallas Bay looking with the Lowrance DownScan when I found them,” Wooley says of the winning fish. “It was by no means a mega-school, but the size of the dots [sonar returns] was thick, which told me they were better quality fish.”

Another pass with regular sonar confirmed his suspicions.

2015 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga Day 3: Michael Wooley's Lead Expands!

Wooley Keeps Wow Them!
FLW PRESS RELEASE
For a third day in a row, Michael Wooley of Collierville, Tenn., hauled in more than 23 pounds of bass from a single red-hot fishing hole on Lake Chickamauga. He caught a 23-pound, 7-ounce limit today to retain his lead in the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Igloo Coolers. His three-day total now stands at 72 pounds, 14 ounces, giving him a 6-pound, 2-ounce edge over Stetson Blaylock, who brought in today’s biggest stringer with 25-12.
Wooley has reeled in all but one of his weigh-in bass from a single shell bar located inside a large bay on Chickamauga’s lower end. Wooley describes the bar as being about 13 feet deep on top with a 20-foot-deep creek channel wrapping around the end of it.
He does most of his damage in the first hour of the morning when the fish are chasing gizzard shad on the bar.

Another 23 pounds keeps Michael Wooley ahead of strong pack. (Photo:FLW)

“Yesterday we had some cloud cover, and it took a little longer to catch them,” Wooley says. “But this morning the sun was shining, and it happened pretty quick, like it did the first morning.”
Despite seeing gizzards being chased, Wooley says he hasn’t been able to catch bass with a shad-imitating bait.

Top Ten Below

2015 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell Day 2: Omori Leads Ounces Over Rojas and Ike!

By Bryan Brasher

BASS press release

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The final day of the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro on Lake Hartwell is shaping up to be a free-for-all with a handful of former Classic champions sitting atop the standings with the coveted trophy and $300,000 first-place prize well within their grasp.

Takahiro Omori, a Japanese angler who now makes his home in Emory, Texas, caught five fish that weighed 16 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday and claimed the lead going into Sunday’s final round with a two-day total of 31-11.

Takahiro Omori jumped from seventh place into the lead going into the final day of the 2015 Bassmaster Classic.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

The 2004 Classic winner holds a razor-thin lead over Arizona angler Dean Rojas (31-9), New Jersey angler and 2003 Classic winner Michael Iaconelli (31-0) and 2014 Classic winner Randy Howell of Alabama (30-11).

Omori got off to a slow start Saturday. But with years of experience and one Classic title already under his belt, he didn’t panic and managed enough weight to jump from seventh into first.

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.

Flick Shake

Japan's Little Secret
By Luigi De Rose

The under used Flick Shake.

“Man, this thing works!” I said surprisingly to my dad. We were working our favourite shoreline on our secret bit of bass haven in mid July. Giving the dock’s posts and shady floor boards most of our attention we were catching them well. Suddenly, the docks petered out but we kept on fishing.
With nothing to aim at we fired casts randomly along the sandy shore line. Switching from a craw to a wacky rigged worm on a light jighead, I started nailing them. Considering the heat and intense sun, bass were hammering the worm. After that  great day I vowed to learn more about this technique called flick shake.
Flick shake is another finesse technique with Asian roots but with an edge. The concept is simple. The tackle is simple. The results are simply amazing.
Hooking a finesse worm through the middle with a jighead is a staple in Japan. A pinnacle player in it’s design and popularity is Seiji Kato, a Japanese lure designer and founder of Jackall Lures. His reputation, he’s the creator of the TD Minnow (Diawa), Sammy and Pointer (Lucky Craft), has been a driving force. Winning the 2007 Bassmaster co-angler title on famed Lake Amistad with the jighead wacky rig, anglers took notice.