IBASSIN

B.A.S.S. announces 2027 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule

2026-09-09T01:30:00.000-04:00

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series will take anglers from some of the most storied largemouth fisheries in the South to premier smallmouth destinations in the North as B.A.S.S. unveils a nine-event regular-season schedule built to test versatility from start to finish.

The season will open Feb. 11-14 on Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee, Fla., before moving one week later to the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Kissimmee. From there, the Elite field will head west and work through a mix of tidal rivers, legendary reservoirs and complex river systems before closing the season with northern stops on Lake St. Clair and the Mississippi River.

Z‑Man ChatterBait PZ2: Premium Performance, Unbeatable Value

2026-09-07T01:30:00.000-04:00

The ChatterBait® PZ2™ delivers proven ChatterBait® vibration and durability at an unbeatable value. Featuring a streamlined head, custom 5/0 heavy-duty hook, secure trailer keeper, and stainless hex-shaped ChatterBlade®, it produces hard-thumping action cast after cast. Premium skirts, hand-painted heads, and 3D eyes complete a big-fish package built to perform without breaking the bank.

Berkley Introduces the SlapGill, a New Topwater Bait That Mimics Distressed Panfish

2026-09-04T01:30:00.000-04:00

Panfish profile, action, and color to entice even the most pressured bass

Berkley is once again focusing on ultra-realism with the all-new SlapGill, a topwater bait designed to combine biological accuracy with an action that replicates a panfish's natural distress signals. Precisely placed weights allow the SlapGill to produce a side-to-side flop while walking before naturally rocking back to rest, creating the signature surface "slap" that inspired its name. Designed to be worked slowly around shallow cover, the SlapGill delivers an enticing presentation built to trigger aggressive strikes from bass.

Available in two sizes and seven high-detail, panfish-inspired colorways, the SlapGill gives anglers options to match a variety of forage with precision. Each bait is equipped with ultra-sharp Fusion19 treble hooks for reliable hookups when fish commit.

“The SlapGill brings realism and action together to perfectly mimic a distressed panfish,” said Nathan Ragsdale, Senior Product Manager, Freshwater Baits at Berkley. “From the lifelike profile and detailed finishes to the unique surface action, every part of this bait was designed to imitate a struggling panfish. It can be especially effective during the spawning season, whether drawing a reaction from bass guarding a bed or targeting fish positioned around concentrations of spawning panfish. That signature ‘slap’ gives anglers a presentation bass don’t see every day and another topwater option when targeting fish around shallow cover.”

Key Features:

• High-detail panfish finishes and lifelike design accurately replicate natural forage

• Distressed panfish imitating side-to-side flop while walking before naturally rocking back to rest

• Designed to trigger big bass while fished slowly around shallow cover

• Ultra-sharp Fusion19 treble hooks for reliable hooksets when fish commit

Sizes: 80 • 95

Colors: Phantom Gill • White Gill • Crappie • Female Gill • Top Gill • Chrome Shad • Midnight Hammer

MSRP: $19.99

Available: September 2026

New Minn Kota & Humminbird Collaboration

2026-09-02T01:30:00.000-04:00

Minn Kota and Humminbird have spent decades fishing together. On 10/6/26, that relationship enters a whole new chapter.

We can’t share the full story just yet, but we wanted to make sure you were among the first to see what’s coming.

Canadian Evan Kung Wins 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River!

2026-08-31T07:54:02.084-04:00

Cory Johnston finishes 4th

Canadian pro Evan Kung has won the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a four-day total of 109 pounds, 9 ounces and officially qualified for the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS)

BASS Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. — Evan Kung entered this week's Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River in danger of losing his spot on the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series for 2027. Not only did he save his spot on tour, the Canadian went ahead and won his first B.A.S.S. trophy, breaking records as he did it.

Kung blasted a four-day total of 109 pounds, 9 ounces to claim his first blue trophy, the heaviest winning weight consisting of all smallmouth in Bassmaster history, overtaking Patrick Walters 105-pound winning total at the St. Lawrence River in 2023. He also became a member of the Bassmaster Century Club for the first time.

The victory also qualifies Kung for the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Bass Pro Shops next March.

“This is by far my biggest win,” Kung said. “It was a tough year for me, so it was great to end it like this. I couldn’t think of a better ending.”

The second-year pro was in contention all week, opening the tournament in fourth place with a limit weighing 26-9 before jumping to second place on Day 2 with 28-9. He maintained second by landing 26-11 on Semifinal Saturday before taking the top spot with a sack weighing 27-12, a limit anchored by a 6-13 smallie that earned Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day honors.

Trey McKinney, who led the first three days, finished second with 107-9 while Tucker Smith finished third with 107-1. Nine of the 10 anglers who fished on Championship Sunday earned Century Belts while all 10 anglers caught more than 21 pounds.

Entering the final event of the season in 72nd place, Kung knew he needed to have a good finish to maintain his Elite Series standing. So, each day of the tournament, he focused on catching what he felt was enough to stay above 70th in points before going to his big bass areas.

“Every day I went out knowing I needed a certain amount to stay in the Elites,” Kung said. “So, I did that and then looked for big ones. I worked out. I knew I could have swung for the fences the whole time, but I might not have caught them.”

That strategy paid off but unfolded in different ways each day. On Day 1, when the wind and waves were at their roughest, Kung stayed in the river to land his limit. The next two days, Lake Ontario proved to be the more productive region while the St. Lawrence River produced his limit on the final day.

Whether he was in the river or out on the lake, Kung targeted smallmouth in 20 to 40 feet of water around rock structure and cover. In the SLR, current breaks and big boulders held quality bass as well as flats with grass flats where smallies would roam. In Ontario, big boulders and humps were the targets.

“There were some fish roaming between the boulders,” Kung said. “A lot of people like to go boulder to boulder, but I like to fish in between. When they get pressured, they will pull off and roam. I caught a bunch of those fish.”

A Great Lakes Finesse Vibra Bug, a prototype lure, rigged on a 1/2- or 3/4-ounce drop shot with a BKK No. 2 drop-shot hook designed by Cory Johnston caught 90 percent of his smallmouth this week. He tossed the drop shot on a 724 Douglas X Matrix Series spinning rod paired with a 3000 Daiwa Exist reel spooled with 10-pound XBraid mainline and an 8-pound XBraid fluorocarbon leader.

On Sunday, wind and rain greeted anglers, which made the bite tougher than Kung expected. He started in the St. Lawrence River on a spot he felt could produce 18 pounds, enough to break the 100-pound mark. He ended up catching 22 pounds before moving to other areas in the river.

After a lull, Kung stopped at a spot he hadn’t fished yet this week and landed a 5-pounder and a 5 3/4-pounder to increase his limit to 25 pounds. He then spent three hours in Lake Ontario without an upgrade before returning to that same spot and landing the 6-13.

“That was the difference in this one,” Kung said. “I thought I would have a chance then. If (Trey) had beat me, I wouldn’t have been upset.”

McKinney may have fallen short of his third Elite Series win, but had an epic week nonetheless. The Carbondale, Ill., pro put the finishing touches on his first Angler of the Year title, becoming the youngest to ever hoist the trophy at 21 years old.

On Day 2 of the tournament, he also set the mark for the heaviest single-day limit in B.A.S.S. history, a mega-bag weighing 30-11.

“It was an unbelievable week,” McKinney said. “I broke the record for heaviest bag, which I never would have thought would happen.”

While he had other spots to check, one big point at the mouth of Lake Ontario served as McKinney’s home base this week. Most of the bottom was sand, but McKinney located subtle rock veins in 20 to 50 feet of water where smallmouth could hide and feed throughout the day.

A drop shot rigged with a bug-style soft plastic was his best producing bait most of the week. He switched between a 1/2-ounce or a 3/4-ounce 6th Sense tungsten drop shot weight depending on depth and wave height. On Day 2, a 5-inch minnow bait caught four of his 6-pounders.

With bags of 27-5, 24-12, 25-14 and 29-2, Alabama’s Tucker Smith finished third with 107-1. The 2025 reigning Rookie of the Year ventured out to Lake Ontario every day and targeted humps, points and boulders located near major spawning areas.

“They were actually schooling up in those places,” Smith said. “They were very tough to catch, but if you worked your bait perfectly you could get a couple of them to bite.”

A Yamamoto Dagger Minnow rigged on a either a 3/8-ounce or 1/4-ounce jighead produced many of his bites.

Cole Sands earned $3,000 for catching the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament, a 7-6 he landed on Day 3. Steve Kennedy and Kyle Welcher earned $500 each for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1 while Bryant Smith and Kung earned $1,000 each for Big Bass of Days 2 and 4.

McKinney earned $2,000 for catching the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament.

Easton Fothergill won the $4,000 Toyota Bonus Bucks award for the highest-placing eligible angler. Stetson Blaylock won the $3,000 second-place bonus.

Sands won the $2,500 Yamaha Power-Pay contingency award for being the highest-placing eligible angler. Brandon Cobb took home $1,500 for being the second-highest eligible anlger.

McKinney won Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year with 735 points. Cory Johnston wrapped up the year with 731 points followed by Georgia's Drew Cook in third with 674 points. Tennessee’s Cole Sands was fourth place with 657 points; South Carolina’s Brandon Cobb finished fifth (656); Tennessee's John Garrett finishes sixth (629); Georgia’s Caleb Hudson finished seventh (621); Alabama’s Fisher Anaya finished eighth (619); Georgia’s Paul Marks finished ninth (618) and Alabama’s Andrew Loberg finished 10th (617).

Georgia’s Caleb Hudson won the Pro-Guide Batteries Elite Series Rookie of the Year with 621 points. Alabama’s Fisher Anaya finished second with 619 followed by Texas pro Pake South in third with 569 points, Tennessee’s Sam Hanggi in fourth 448 points and Tristan McCormick in fifth with 447 points.

The 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River was hosted by the 1000 Islands Clayton Chamber of Commerce.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Progressive, Toyota
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Humminbird, Mercury, Mountain Dew, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Lew's, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, VMC, Yokohama

Trey McKinney Wins 2026 Bassmaster Elite AOY, Cory Johnston 2nd!

2026-08-31T01:30:00.000-04:00

BASS Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. — Trey McKinney has finally defeated the Johnstons.

Thanks to a second-place finish in a heavy-weight battle at the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River, the third-year pro from Carbondale, Ill., claimed his first Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title, earning 735 points over the nine-event season to outlast Canadian Cory Johnston and become the youngest angler ever to win the prestigious trophy.

The previous owner of that title: Kevin VanDam, who was 24 when he won his first AOY in 1992.

“This feels unbelievable,” McKinney said. “When I caught the 6-pounder later in the day, I knew that bass had won me $100,000 and Angler of the Year, something I have dreamed of all of my life. I choked trying to win it for the last two years and have been so close. Then I immediately thought about trying to win the tournament.

“It was a grinder year for sure. I was up, down, sideways, behind, ahead. I respect Cory so much. He caught them so many times when I didn’t.”

With the $100,000 check, McKinney now has over $900 thousand in career earnings. He is on pace to become one of the greatest tournament anglers ever, but for McKinney, his next bite is still the most important.

“I know one thing, I’m never going to stop working hard at it,” he said. “When they quit biting is when I quit catching. So, if they are biting, I’m going to catch as many as I can and win as much as I can.”

Each of his first two seasons as a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro, McKinney finished second to Chris Johnston, Cory’s younger brother, and for a moment in time it seemed like the older brother might take another title away from the 21-year-old phenom. But on Johnston’s home waters, and only two points separating the two entering the event, McKinney rose to the occasion.

Breaking records in the process, McKinney earned his second Century Belt and overcame a slow final morning to land a 6-pounder late in the day and put the finishing touches on the season.

After suffering another disappointing defeat in 2025, and a switch in format to a split forward facing and non-FFS schedule, McKinney opened the season by clinching a ninth-place finish at Lake Guntersville, a non-FFS event. From there, he notched a 20th at Lake Martin, 15th at the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, 10th at the Arkansas River and then 5th at Lake Murray.

“You never really know the Lord’s plan, but I think it was a blessing to win it in the new format,” McKinney said. “There’s really not much anyone can say ever again.”

He had built a substantial lead over the field in the AOY race, and it looked like it would be smooth sailing to the title. Then he arrived at Santee Cooper. Hampered by a bad practice and boat problems, McKinney finished 90th in the South Carolina Lowcountry, allowing Cory to take the AOY lead.

The Pasquotank River looked equally as dim midway through Day 1, but McKinney managed to wrangle 14-2 to finish the day in 34th, sparking a rally that helped him reclaim the AOY lead with an 11th place finish.

“Once I put myself back in it at Pasquotank, I knew I would be okay,” McKinney said. “For once in my life, I played it safe and it worked out. Usually when I play it safe, I will just catch an average bag. I decided to stay in the Pasquotank, and I made do with what I had.”

A 21st place finish at Lake Champlain made the race tighter than he had hoped, but he entered the St. Lawrence River with the mindset that he needed to win and nearly pulled that off too.

As perfect as the first three days were, the final day did not go how he planned, but one catch turned the day around.

“I could have eaten a bullet today. I was so nervous,” McKinney said. I was shaking all day. I wasn’t catching the right bass to start the day. I was breaking fish off. Then I started getting some bites and had all 4 1/2’s. Then I caught a 6, and that was the bass that made the difference. I was about to leave, then something told me to go a little further. So I did, and I saw the rock structure she was behind.

“If I wouldn’t have made a few right moves, this could have gone a whole lot differently.”

Johnston wrapped up the year with 731 points and a $50,000 bonus followed by Georgia's Drew Cook in third with 674 points, who earned a $25,000 check. Tennessee’s Cole Sands was fourth place with 657 points; South Carolina’s Brandon Cobb finished fifth (656); Tennessee's John Garrett finishes sixth (629); Georgia’s Caleb Hudson finished seventh (621); Alabama’s Fisher Anaya finished eighth (619); Georgia’s Paul Marks finished ninth (618) and Alabama’s Andrew Loberg finished 10th (617).

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Day 3: Trey McKinney Leads (Trey extends AOY spread over Cory Johnston)

2026-08-30T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Kung 2nd, Cory Johnston 9th, Chris Johnston 9th & Gustafson 39th

Illinois pro Trey McKinney maintains the lead on Day 3 of the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a three-day total of 83 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. — Trey McKinney was so nervous ahead of Day 3 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, he nearly threw up on the side of the road driving to takeoff. It didn’t get much better until he landed his first quality smallmouth of the day, a 5-10 that calmed his nerves and carried him to another excellent day on Lake Ontario.
The three-year pro from Carbondale, Ill., leads the tournament with a three-day total weighing 83 pounds, 5 ounces, adding 26-2 on Day 3 after landing 26-8 on Day 1 and a record-breaking limit weighing 30-11 on the second day.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was shooting for 27 pounds, but I worked my butt off today,” McKinney said. “I felt like I was going to throw up a couple times in the morning, but once I caught my first big one I told myself to chill out. I caught a second one, and I really calmed down and just fished.”
He not only maintained his lead over Evan Kung in the tournament but strengthened his grip on the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year lead, opening up a 10-point lead over Cory Johnston, who will enter Day 4 nearly 6 1/2 pounds behind in ninth place.
As it stands, the entire Top 10 is on pace to crack the 100-pound mark on Championship Sunday while McKinney is on pace for a 109-pound four-day total. Only three anglers on Semifinal Saturday did not reach a limit.
One large area of Lake Ontario has served as home base for McKinney this week as he targets smallies on a deep sand flat with subtle rock veins, boulders and drops. On Days 1 and 3, a 2 1/2-inch bug imitator rigged on either a 1/2-ounce or 3/4-ounce drop shot was the best producing presentation. On Friday, however, a 5-inch minnow played a key role.
The mornings have generally been the better bite window for the 21-year-old, except for the 30-minute early afternoon flurry that lifted him to his historic Day 2 bag.
While he landed over 26 pounds for the third day in a row, McKinney noticed less bass in his area, and the bass he did see were unwilling to bite for the most part.
“It was tough for sure. I culled a few times, but I didn't see a lot of fish in the area,” he said. “There’s less and they are hard to get to bite. But it comes in waves. Depending on the day, I’ve seen less and then I’ve seen more. It is a roaming area, so if the right batch of fish pull up, I’ve got to catch them.”
After landing his 5-10 and throwing back a 4-pounder he was afraid wouldn’t make it back to weigh-in alive, McKinney proceeded to fill out his limit around mid-morning before adding another 5-pounder late in the afternoon. As the wind began to blow around 1 p.m., McKinney noticed more bass funneling in, bass he felt he could have caught on a minnow, but it was too choppy to present the bait correctly.
“In the key moment when I felt I could have caught my 6-pounder, the wind started rolling,” he said. “They were sitting high and looking hungry.”
The wind did not blow as hard as forecasted on Day 3, at least not until closer to check-in time. Tomorrow’s forecast calls for WSW winds at 5-10 mph, a straight shot at McKinney’s flat, as was the case on Day 1 when he landed 26-8. Bigger waves would be more beneficial so he can keep his trolling motor in the water, he said.
“Fishing in 40 to 50 feet of water, everything is harder in the wind,” McKinney said. “If I can get three or four anchors (smallies), I’ll feel comfortable. Hopefully we can pull up and there will be some there ready to eat.
“This is (my one area). I have a few other points that had fish that don’t have them now. Where I’m fishing, it’s either gangster or nothing.”
Kung stayed steady on Day 3, lifting his three-day total to 81-13 with a limit weighing 26-11 on Semifinal Saturday. By notching his first Top 10 of the season, the Ontario pro officially claimed a spot on the 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series roster, lifting a huge weight off his shoulders.
“It was a big relief,” Kung said. “It didn’t start off good this morning. Then I caught a couple big ones and knew that I made it. I tried to catch a few more big ones and it didn’t work out, but I still had a good day.”
The morning hours were the most productive for Kung, and saw plenty of bass, but many of those bass would not bite. In the morning hours, he targets deeper breaks and rocks in 20 to 40 feet of water in Lake Ontario. When the sun comes up, he moves up shallow and targets smallmouth in 10 feet of water with his eyes.
Two Great Lakes Finesse prototype baits have been his primary choices this week.
“I could see them, but it was too calm (today),” Kung said. “Then when the wind picked up it seemed like they moved and I couldn’t relocate them. I could have had a really big day if I got a few more to bite.”
With the wind forecast, he isn’t sure if he will stay in the St. Lawrence River or go out to Lake Ontario.
Tennessee pro Cole Sands jumped up to third on Day 3 with a three-day total of 78-14. The 2020 College Series champion opened the tournament with 24-14 before catching limits of 26-6 and 27-10 the next two days. He anchored his Day 3 limit with a 7-6 smallmouth that claimed Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors.
“I came up here to prefish and learned how these bass set up in the current. It is just like how they set up on the Tennessee River and South Holston combined,” he said. “I love it.”
Sands has been staying in the St. Lawrence River close to takeoff targeting specific current seams in deeper water using a drop shot and a minnow. Most of what he saw up shallow before today are walleye and drum, but when he panned up to a grassline around mid-morning and saw a blob hanging over a patch of grass, he decided to pitch to it with a drop shot.
“It was a pretty tough morning up to that point,” Sands said. “I saw my drop shot go to the bottom and thought I saw the fish follow it down. I picked up my bait and didn’t feel anything. I looked down at my LiveScope and noticed the drop-shot weight was hanging out of its mouth.”
Sands set the hook, not knowing the bass he hooked was the second largest smallmouth in Elite Series history.
“I thought it had the bait swallowed. Thank God it was so round that it couldn’t hardly fight because it was just barely skin hooked,” Sands explained. “But my AmBASSador and I had a celebration after that. You catch a bass like that and it completely changes your day.”
Sands earned the $1,000 bonus for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day. California’s Bryant Smith earned $1,000 for his Day 2 6-15 Big Bass while Alabama pros Kyle Welcher and Steve Kennedy each caught a 6-15 on Day 1 and split the $1,000 prize.
McKinney leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 736 points followed by Johnston in second with 726 points. Georgia’s Drew Cook is third with 674 points, Sands is fourth with 658 points and South Carolina’s Brandon Cobb is fifth with 656 points. Both McKinney and Johnston will compete on Championship Sunday.
Georgia’s Caleb Hudson reclaimed the lead in Pro-Guide Batteries Elite Series Rookie of the Year with 621 points, only one point ahead of Alabama’s Fisher Anaya. Anaya enters Championship Sunday in eighth while Hudson will watch the final day from dry land in 19th place.
The Top 10 anglers will launch from Clayton Harbor Municipal Marina beginning at 7 a.m. ET and return at 3 p.m. for weigh-in. The winner will earn the $100,000 first-place prize, a blue trophy and an automatic bid to the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
FS1 will carry Bassmaster LIVE on Sunday from 8-11 a.m. ET before coverage moves to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon. Live coverage of the weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. ET on Bassmaster.com. Both Pro-Guide Batteries Elite Series Rookie of the Year and Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year champions will be determined at weigh-in.
This tournament is being hosted by the 1000 Islands Clayton Chamber of Commerce.
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Progressive, Toyota
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Humminbird, Mercury, Mountain Dew, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Lew's, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, VMC, Yokohama

2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Day 2: Trey McKinney Grabs Lead with Record Breaking Smallmouth Limit!

2026-08-29T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Kung 2nd, Cory Johnston 4th, Gustafson 7th, Chris Johnston 48th & Gallant 64th

Illinois pro Trey McKinney has taken the lead on Day 2 of the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a two-day total of 57 pounds, 3 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

A 16-minute flurry, plus another 6-pounder not long after, lifted Trey McKinney to Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series history on Day 2 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River. His limit of smallmouth weighing 30 pounds, 11 ounces is the heaviest sack of all brown fish in B.A.S.S. history.

Not only that, but it also vaulted the pro from Carbondale, Ill., into the lead with a two-day total weighing 57-3 with two days left in the Elite Series season. His lead over second-place Evan Kung is just over 2 pounds while his lead over Cory Johnston in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year is five points.

“I was so excited, I didn’t even know what to do,” McKinney said. “The whole way back, I was staring at the sky because I knew the Good Lord was watching over me today.”

At the current pace, the record for a four-day winning weight in smallmouth country could very well be shattered. It was again a day full of 25-, 26- and 27-pound bags of strictly smallies and anglers needed more than 23 1/2 pounds per day just to make the Top 50 cut. A mere 20 pounds a day resulted in an 87th place finish.

McKinney’s mighty Friday performance wouldn’t have been possible had he not returned to his starting area, and the location that yielded his 26-8 Day 1 total. With camera boats and other anglers around, he managed to land 23 pounds, but all the pressure from the crowd had the smallmouth spooked.

He culled up to 25 pounds in another area, but ultimately, he knew that wouldn’t be enough to keep pace.

“I had to catch more,” McKinney said. “I was throwing back 3-pounders. I got stubborn today and went and went. The fish were all broke up, and I was getting nervous early on.”

Knowing his starting area still had the capability to produce big ones, he returned to find far less pressure and smallies that were willing to bite. Switching to a different presentation took the afternoon from great to fantastic.

“I casted to one with a drop shot and it kind of nipped it. I could tell it was a big one, and it looked like a minnow fish,” McKinney explained. “I threw my minnow out there, it came up and thumped it. That was a 6-2.

“It was game on from there.”

Once he put that in the box, McKinney saw another smallie on his forward-facing sonar. That turned out to be a 6-13, his biggest of the tournament so far. A couple minutes later, another 6-pounder at his minnow, lifting his daily total over 29 pounds.

Finally, after a short lull, he wrapped up his limit with a 6-3.

“I looked in my livewell and there was one 5-pounder, and I said, ‘What are the odds I can catch another one,’” McKinney recalled. “I casted out and caught a 6-3. I didn’t even know what to do. I was so pumped up.”

In his best area, McKinney is targeting a 500-yard stretch of a deep sand flat with subtle rock veins where the smallmouth can hide and feed. During the first day, a drop shot rigged with a small bug-style soft plastic bait generated all his strikes in 7- to 8-foot waves. In the afternoon hours on Day 2, switching to the 5-inch minnow was an important adjustment.

For the drop shot, he uses 10-pound Seaguar Gold Label fluorocarbon leader while he bumps it up to a 12-pound test for his minnow.

“You can tell with smallmouth. When they hunt, they change in the water column,” he explained. “They go up and down and sideways. You have your crawfish eaters, and you have your minnow eaters. There’s a big difference between what they do and where they sit.”

Kung jumped up to second-place with a two-day total of 55-2 by catching limits weighing 26-9 and 28-9. The Pickering, Ontario native entered this event fighting for his Elite Series life, but now has his eyes set on a blue trophy. He’s landed one 30-pound bag out of Ontario, and he knows the potential is there to make it happen in this tournament too.

“I’m around them, but the big ones are really hard to get to bite unless you have an area to yourself,” Kung said. “I’m fishing around a lot of people, I just know some little sneaky spots in the area. Tomorrow I’m going to try and fish around a lot of those big fish areas and put five in the boat.”

Using two baits, Kung has been targeting smallmouth in 20 to 40 feet of water setting up on boulders or ledges. Most of the bass he sees on FFS are singles but will occasionally find wolf packs of two or three. As the day proceeds, Kung can move up shallower and sight fish as long as it’s calm.

He opened Day 2 by catching 25 pounds before 8:30 a.m. and made several culls throughout the day, including one with 5 minutes left in his fishing day.

The wind is expected to pick back up tomorrow, which Kung believes improves the bite even if it makes life difficult on anglers.

“They usually bite better in the waves,” Kung said. “I casted to a lot of bass that didn’t want to bite today.”

With bags weighing 27-4 and 26-13, California pro Bryant Smith is third with a total of 54-1. Smith returned to the area where he landed most of his Day 1 limit, but with the shift in wind direction from the SSW to the NW, he found the bass scattered out.

“The wind switched and I figured all the fish I found would be gone. And they were,” Smith said. “I went through it just to see, but it wasn’t good. I went to my backup area 10 to 15 miles away and started roaming around. I was able to pick them off throughout the day.”

His secondary area is a big flat with a mix of cover between 10 and 25 feet of water. That region holds the most bait he has seen all week, and the bass are hovering above the bottom, making it easier to catch them with his Lowrance ActiveTarget 2XL. Smith anchored his bag with a 6-15 smallmouth that tied Kyle Welcher and Steve Kennedy’s Day 1 6-15’s for Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament.

That smallie gave him a run for his money.

“She was in grass in 12 feet of water,” he said. “She ate it, and I made three laps around chasing it with the trolling motor. I finally go to scoop her and get it over the gunnel, turn to talk to the camera and she flops and goes back in the water. I was lucky to get her back in the boat.”

McKinney leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 736 points, five points ahead of Canadian Cory Johnston. Georgia’s Drew Cook is third with 674 points followed by South Carolina’s Brandon Cobb in fourth with 651 points and Tennessee’s Cole Sands with 633 points.

Alabama’s Fisher Anaya leads Pro-Guide Batteries Elite Series Rookie of the Year with 619 points followed by Georgia’s Caleb Hudson in second with 601 points and Pake South in third with 571 points.

The Top 50 anglers will launch from Clayton Harbor Municipal Marina beginning at 7 a.m. and return at 3 p.m. for weigh-in. The Top 10 will advance to Championship Sunday and the winner will earn a $100,000 first-place prize, a blue trophy and an automatic bid to the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.

FS1 will carry Bassmaster LIVE on Saturday and Sunday from 8-11 a.m. before coverage moves to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon. Live coverage of the weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. ET on Bassmaster.com.

This tournament is being hosted by the 1000 Islands Clayton Chamber of Commerce.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River Day 1: Tucker Smith Leads 27-05lbs!

2026-08-28T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Kung 4th, Cory Johnston 14th, Gustafson 25th, Gallant 26th & Chris Johnston 30th

Alabama pro Tucker Smith has taken the lead on Day 1 of the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River with a total of 27 pounds, 5 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

CLAYTON, N.Y. — The waves out on Lake Ontario were taller than Tucker Smith at times on Day 1 of the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, but the second-year pro from Alabama was up for the challenge.

The defending Rookie of the Year caught a five-bass limit of smallmouth weighing 27 pounds, 5 ounces to claim the lead, just an ounce ahead of California’s Bryant Smith. All that damage was done within a two-hour span early in the morning.

“Whenever the wind blows, it pushes bait through my area. I think the weather and wind really helped the bite,” Tucker said. “I’ve had a few rough tournaments this year, but I think God was trying to humble me. It seemed like last year I couldn’t do anything wrong. This year, it’s been good and then really bad. It would be nice to end the season on a good note.”

Despite the giant waves and gusty winds that made navigation difficult and fishing almost impossible in some areas, it was a monumental day across Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River. To crack the Top 25, Jeff Gustafson needed 25 pounds while 90 of the 98 anglers brought back limits weighing 20 pounds or better.

If 50 cut was today, an angler would need 23-7 to move on to the next day.

While he calls Alabama home, Tucker has always been good in smallmouth country, claiming a College Series victory at Saginaw Bay before moving to the pro circuits. This is Tucker’s first event at the St. Lawrence River, however, but so far, he has found the right ingredients.

“I just really love smallmouth. They act like spotted bass like back at home, except they are a lot bigger,” he said. “They roam, they are nomadic, they eat bait. So, I feel right at home.”

Tucker was one of many anglers who braved the conditions and headed to Lake Ontario in search of big smallmouth bass. When he arrived at his starting area, 6- and 7-foot swells were hammering the spot.

“Those are the biggest waves I’ve fished in for sure,” Tucker said.

Targeting rock elements in 20 to 40 feet of water in Ontario, and 40 to 60 feet when he moved to the St. Lawrence River, Tucker threw a Yamamoto Dagger Minnow with varying jighead sizes depending on the situation.

Finding his productive cover elements involved a lot of time using SideScan.

“They were big enough to where I could keep my trolling motor in the water, though. The first place I pulled up to I caught a 5-pounder,” he said. “The next place I pulled up I caught a 6, a 5 and a 3 1/4. I caught another couple of 5s. It was a good day.”

The wind is expected to shift to the north and calm down. Although it may hurt the bite in his primary area, Smith has 25 to 30 places marked where he saw 4- to 5-pounders.

Bryant also ventured out to Lake Ontario Day 1 and landed a limit weighing 27-4, much of it coming from the same area he caught 29-5 during the 2023 Elite event. A strong southwest wind is what Bryant needs for the smallmouth to set up correctly on this spot, and he got plenty of that on Day 1.

“Half of it came from that same spot. Something about the wind direction there gets them set up (on top),” he explained. “I didn’t lean on them in practice this time, so maybe there will be a few left.”

The bass are more spread out than they were in 2023, Bryant said. Today, he landed a bass as shallow as 12 feet and as deep as 25. By noon, the two-time Classic qualifier filled out his limit, right before the wind became too strong to stay out on the spot. Before he left, the wind drifted him over a boulder holding a 6 1/2-pounder, which provided a major upgrade before he left.

“I’m just trying to stay on the front deck. If I hook a bass, that is a bonus,” Bryant said. “It was just one of those days where everything goes right.”

The expected wind shift on Day 2 has Smith worried the smallmouth will scatter, just like they did in 2023, but he feels better prepared for that situation if it unfolds.

“I definitely have an area that I couldn’t have fished today,” he said. “I would have gone there if conditions were different, but if they are right tomorrow, I will go there.”

Tennessee’s David Mullins is currently third with a bag of smallmouth weighing 26-14. The four-time Classic qualifier stayed in the St. Lawrence River and struggled to generate bites in the early morning hours. He caught his first keeper around 9 but filled out a quality limit around noon. One bait produced all his bites in 20 to 40 feet of water.

“I caught seven all day long. You couldn’t really ’Scope them that well,” Mullins said. “You had to picture where they were sitting and hope they were there. It was a good day. I can’t complain about 26 pounds.”

Mullins has been to the St. Lawrence River eight times now, but each time is different than the next. Today he fished water that he had never fished in previous seasons.

“I’ve never caught them off the same place twice,” Mullins said. “As much as I’ve been here, I feel like I don’t know it at all because it is so vast. I fish new places each time.”

Alabama’s Kyle Welcher caught the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day, a 6-15 smallmouth.

Carbondale, Ill.’s Trey McKinney leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 731 points, 10 points ahead of Canadian Cory Johnston. Georgia’s Drew Cook is third with 666 points followed by Andrew Loberg in fourth with 641 points and Tennessee’s Cole Sands with 633 points.

Alabama’s Fisher Anaya leads Pro-Guide Batteries Elite Series Rookie of the Year with 619 points followed by Georgia’s Caleb Hudson in second with 569 points and Pake South in third with 543 points.

Bassmaster LIVE coverage of the 2026 Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River will be available at 8 a.m. ET on Bassmaster.com and continues until 3 p.m. on Day 2. FS1 will carry LIVE on Saturday and Sunday from 8-11 a.m. before coverage moves to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon.

This tournament is being hosted by the 1000 Islands Clayton Chamber of Commerce.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2027 PHOENIX BASS FISHING LEAGUE PRESENTED BY T-H MARINE OVERVIEW

2026-08-27T01:30:00.000-04:00

NEW TEAM/SOLO FORMAT | UNRESTRICTED FORWARD FACING/360-DEGREE SONAR
$15,000+ 1st PLACE IN EVERY TOURNAMENT @ 150+ BOATS
1st PLACE GUARANTEED AT $10,000+ REGARDLESS OF FIELD SIZE
5 ALL-AMERICAN REGIONS | 4 DIVISIONS PER REGION | 5 TOURNAMENTS PER DIVISION
NOW OFFERING 5 ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS EACH WITH $120,000 WINNERS
REDCREST & TOYOTA SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP ADVANCEMENT FROM EACH OF 5 ALL-AMERICANS
91%+ TOTAL SEASON PAYOUT @ 150 BOATS | 101% INCLUDING PHOENIX MLF BONUSES

5 All-American Regions: NEW Team/Solo Format

4 divisions per region
- 5 one-day qualifying tournaments per division
- Unrestricted FFS/360
Tournament winners and the Top 30 teams from each division qualify for an All-American Championship

100 1-Day Qualifying Tournaments: 5 per Division | 20 Divisions

$22,000 top award, including $7,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus, based on a 150-boat field, scaling up to $29,000 at a maximum field of 225 boats
- $10,000+ guaranteed 1st-place award regardless of field size or bonuses
- Fish with a buddy or by yourself
- Current BPT, Pro Circuit, NPFL and Elite Series pros are not eligible.
20 percent of the field wins at least $700, guaranteed
Winning team from each tournament advances to a NO-ENTRY-FEE All-American
Saturday tournaments (unless otherwise noted)
Winners determined by heaviest one-day catch – 5 bass limit
Every team receives points
Live weigh-in coverage
Entry fee: $500

5 3-Day, NO-ENTRY-FEE All-American Championships – 1 Per Region:

$120,000 All-American limited-edition Phoenix powered by a 250 HP outboard top award plus $7,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus for qualified teams
- Team captain advances to REDCREST to compete for $300,000
- Teammate (if not fishing solo) advances to the Toyota Series Championship to compete for more than $280,000, including $200,000 cash plus a $46,295 Phoenix 818 Pro powered by a 150 HP outboard and a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus
$20,000 second-place award
$15,000 third-place award
20 percent of field wins at least $1,000
Each All-American Championship features teams from four divisions – 140-boat max field
- Tournament winners and Top 30 teams from each division qualify
Thursday/Friday/Saturday tournament: full field all three days
Winners determined by heaviest three-day catch – 5 bass per day limit
Live weigh-in coverage
No entry fee

Team of the Year Awards:

$2,500 Team of the Year in each of 20 divisions based on total points
- Must fish all five tournaments to be eligible

Your Pathway to the Toyota Series, Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and Bass Pro Tour:

Anglers from Top 30 teams, based on total points, from each of 20 divisions earn priority entry into the Toyota Series

Lucrative contingency bonuses, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com for details

Qualifying Events – 150 Boat Field:

Place	Team/Solo
1	$22,000 (includes $7,000 MLF Phoenix Bonus)
2	7,500
3	5,000
4	4,000
5	3,000
6	2,000
7	1,500
8	1,400
9	1,300
10	1,200
11-20	800
21-30	700
Berkley Big Bass	500
Total	$64,400
Entry Fee	$500

Payback scales, based on the number of anglers fishing, to maintain awards to 20% of the field.
$10,000+ 1st-place guaranteed regardless of field size

All-American Championships – 140 Boat Max Field:

Place	Team / Solo
1	$127,000 * + REDCREST Qualification for team captain and Toyota Series Championship qualification for teammate (includes $7,000 MLF Phoenix Bonus)
2	20,000
3	15,000
4	7,500
5	5,000
6	4,000
7	3,500
8	3,000
9	2,500
10	2,000
11-28	1,000
Berkley Big Bass	750
Total	$208,250
Entry Fee	None

* 1st place receives a $120,000 All-American limited-edition Phoenix powered by a 250 HP outboard. Team captain advances to REDCREST to compete for $300,000. Teammate (if not fishing solo) advances to the Toyota Series Cha

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

2026-08-24T01:30:00.000-04:00

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.

The result was record-breaking, with more 20-pound or higher limits than at any other tournament in Bassmaster history, dating back to the 1960s. There were 114 of them on Day 1 alone and Korol’s 27-1 was the biggest of the tournament. The 10 anglers who qualified to fish on Championship Saturday added eight more to make the tally even more insurmountable.

While the 33-year-old Korol is from Fairport, N.Y., he calls Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes his home waters and said that this week marked the longest stretch of consecutive days he’s ever spent on Erie.

The key to his victory was an area that lacked obvious structure but contained multitudes of bait balls. It was close to some obvious and well-known contours, so the surprise wasn’t that it held bait, but that they remained there all three days.

“Eighty percent of the time my boat was in 50 feet of water,” he said. “But it was rare to see them actively feeding on the bait. I was catching most of them off the bottom. The key was staying free with how I moved through the area. I never stayed glued to one particular area.”

Korol tempted the vast majority of his fish with a drop-shot rig tipped with a diminutive Megabass Hazedong Shad in colors including green pumpkin, green pumpkin shad and black.

One key to his success was the use of light line to cut through the water column. He employed a main line of 5-pound test Cortland Master Braid with a leader of 8-pound test Seaguar Tatsu.

Despite the win, Korol did not fish a full division of Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender and therefore is not qualified to compete in the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour or this fall’s Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops. The now-vacant Classic spot will instead be filled by a grateful Elite Series angler. Korol said that he has no regrets about that decision but he intends to fish a full division of Opens next year.

“My dream is to fish the Elite Series,” he said.

For now he’ll have to be content with beating some of the Elite roster. Three of them made the Top 10 and many more past and present Elites populated the tournament’s initial field.

One of those was Nick Trim, last year’s Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance champion. The Wisconsin pro caught a day’s best 24-13 to jump from 6th place up to the runner-up position. He’d caught his fish on a jighead minnow the first day but transitioned to a 3/8 ounce Cast Again Ringer football jig on Days 2 and 3 to make a charge at the title.

Trim ran 40 miles each way to his prime spot.

“My main goal was to get away from everybody,” he said. With today’s stiffer winds, he had less than 3 hours to fish there and made the most of it. The ride back left him with time to fish one additional spot and that’s where he caught his biggest smallmouth of the day — enough to outlast fellow Elite Aaron Jagdfeld.

“This is just what I needed going into the Elite Series tournament on the St. Lawrence,” Trim stated. “Chasing smallmouth is something I love to do and it feels good to crack ’em.”

Jagdfeld will likewise carry the momentum of success in an absolute slugfest into the season-ending Elite event. This is his best finish in an Open or an Elite since he came in 2nd at an Open on Lake St. Clair — another smallmouth factory — in 2024.

“This should bring some confidence back after a down season,” he said. “I hope that Ontario sets up the same way as this place.”

Like much of the field he utilized a jighead minnow and an urchin-style bait to mine an average of nearly 24 pounds of smallmouth a day, and he said that one key to his success was his choice of a Lew’s Hypermag 3000-sized spinning reel. The shallow spool and 6.2:1 gear ratio allowed him to make more presentations to the fish he’d located and resulted in fewer wind knots.

Dillon Falardeau of Tennessee, who’d won an Open on the Upper Chesapeake Bay last season to qualify for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic, fell to fourth, just 2 ounces behind Jagdfeld. The Top eight finishers all caught at least 21 pounds per day. Everyone in the Top 10 had at least one bag over 23 pounds and six of them did it twice. Korol was the only one to top 23 each day.

2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens at Lake Erie Presented by Battery Tender Day 2: Alex Korol Continues to Lead!

2026-08-22T01:30:00.000-04:00

With a two-day total of 52 pounds, 2 ounces, New York's Alex Korol holds the lead at the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender.

By Pete Robbins, BASS Press Release

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Alex Korol said that he “just wanted to see how he could compete against this caliber of fisherman,” but through two days of the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender he’s left no doubt about his abilities on the eastern basin of this Great Lake. The 33-year-old from Fairport, N.Y., has totaled 52 pounds, 2 ounces of Lake Erie bronze and holds a lead of nearly 2 pounds over Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Aaron Jagdfeld in 2nd.

Dillon Falardeau is 3rd with 50-5, just an ounce behind Jagdfeld.

“I really didn’t know what I was on after practice,” Korol said. “But I think the area is so strong because the bass are staying with the bait and the bait is still there. It blows my mind. With the calm conditions there were tighter groups today.”

But that doesn’t mean that amassing 27-1 and 25-1 bags has been easy. He said that the bass are extremely wary, and once he catches one or two out of a group it pays to leave and find some unmolested fish. Furthermore, he’s been sick for over a week and couldn’t celebrate his Day 1 lead because he was at urgent care.

Korol says that he’s fishing a drop shot, a common offering this week, “but the way I’m working it is extremely unique. It makes it into more of a reaction bite.”

His plans for Championship Saturday?

“I cannot wait to burn it down tomorrow.”

He’ll lead a group of 10 anglers into Championship Saturday who caught a minimum of 46-10 over two days. That computes to an average of 23-5. Ninety anglers who averaged 20 or more pounds per day failed to make the cut, with 55 of them failing to get paid. The 45th place position, the lowest that will earn a check, was 43-6.

On another atypically calm August Erie day, the overall catches weren’t quite as impressive as they were yesterday. Thursday there were 114 bags of 20 pounds or more and today there were over two dozen fewer than that. Still, it was a monumentally impressive day by any measure.

Everyone in the Top 10 has weighed in at least 22 pounds each day. Fishing fans will have to scroll down to 24th place to find an angler who didn’t hit or top 20 each day.

“It’s safe to say that Erie is on fire right now,” said Tournament Director Hank Weldon.

Jagdfeld has suffered through an inconsistent first year on the Elites, with only two money finishes heading into the season’s last event. He’d love to play the spoiler in Korol’s debut, simply to get some momentum going.

“I pride myself on being a Great Lakes smallmouth angler,” he said. “So anything I can learn this week going into the St. Lawerence River would be great.”

Like Korol, he said that the presence of bait was key to his success today. Both anglers saw their weights decrease day over day, but not significantly.

“I think that the wind pushed bait into my area,” he explained. “The fish were floating higher in the water column today.”

Falardeau would love to earn his second Open victory — he won on the Chesapeake Bay in 2025 to qualify for the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour — but he’s mostly focused on making the Bassmaster Elite Series.

“You have one chance,” Falardeau explained. “If they didn’t eat it on the first drop I moved on to the next one. I had to throw at 300 fish to get seven or eight bites.”

Garrett Smith of North Carolina caught the Phoenix Boats Big Bass, a 6-13 smallmouth that ate a micro football jig and surprised him with its girth.

2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens at Lake Erie Presented by Battery Tender Day 1: Alex Korol Takes Commanding Lead with 27lbs!

2026-08-21T01:30:00.000-04:00

By Pete Robbins, BASS Press Release

BUFFALO, N.Y. — With a limit of 27 pounds 1 ounce of Lake Erie smallmouth, Alex Korolof Fairport, N.Y., is one of three western New York anglers at the top of the leaderboard on Day 1 of the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender. But closing out the victory in his first Bassmaster Open is far from a done deal.

A remarkable 114 anglers topped 20 pounds today, and they’re tightly-packed down the leaderboard.

Forty-five of them will get paid tomorrow, and right now the 45th place angler has 22-5. A pound more than that was good for 22nd place while a pound less is enough for 73rd place.

B.A.S.S. hasn’t visited this part of Lake Erie since a 2008 Elite Series tournament won by Kotaro Kiriyama. In that event, eight anglers had 20 pounds or more on Day 1, led by Matt Reed’s 23-3. As noted above, that amount would have barely been inside the money cut today.

“I feel like they’re bigger now,” said former Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series champion Mike McClelland, one of the handful of anglers who fished that 2008 tournament and who is also competing this week. “Maybe we just have the technology to catch them better now.”

Forward-facing sonar is allowed in this tournament, the last of the four Division 1 Opens. Korol said that the technology is part of his game plan, but the key is the presence of baitfish in his best area, a half-mile stretch of water where he spent the day.

“There’s not much there otherwise,” he said. “It’s the bait that’s keeping them there.”

While he doesn’t reside far away, Korol has fished far more on Lake Ontario than on this portion of Erie, and on the limited occasions that he has been here it’s generally been in other months.

Lake Erie remained relatively flat by local standards, a seeming rarity when major tournaments come to town. The day started off cloudy, then got sunny.

“I feel like that helped,” Korol said. “Sun and smallmouth go hand-in-hand. I caught a 5-15 around 10 o’clock and then I left them biting at around 11. The wind made a 180-degree change and they still bit, so the weather doesn’t seem to matter. Bring it on. Those fish have been there for three days so I don’t see why they’d leave now.”

Joseph Ferraro III, a Buffalo resident, is in 2nd with 26-7. Like Korol, this is his first Bassmaster Open and he’s making the most of it, utilizing 20 years of tournament knowledge to differentiate himself from the 20-pound bags down the line.

“The difference is capitalizing on the right bites and making sure that your presentation is perfect,” he said. “A lot of the fish here will follow but not bite and you have to know where the best rocks are and how to make those bass bite.”

He made a long run to his primary area and did his damage early.

“An east wind usually makes it tough but I got it done in the first hour and a half of fishing. That’s good, because it just died at 9 o’clock.”

Ferraro also holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 6 pound 8 ounce smallmouth.

Billy Gilbert of Hamburg, N.Y., completes the trio of New York residents atop the leaderboard with 26-6, just an ounce behind Ferraro and 10 ounces ahead of Elite Series rookie Aaron Jagdfeld – the top-ranked non-New Yorker so far. Gilbert caught 5-pounders on his first two casts to get started and dropshotted his way to the big bag.

“If I can get eight or nine of the right bites tomorrow I think I can do it again,” he said. “That’s the size of the fish that are there. If I can get the bites I think it will happen.”

It’s been over three months since the 2026 Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender Division 1 anglers took to the water — plenty of time to study and consider what this tournament means. While neither of the current top two are qualified to make the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour or Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops if they win, for others this is a chance to further their dreams to the next level.

This tournament is the final chance for anglers to move their way into the EQs for the opportunity to claim one of 10 invites to the 2027 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. This season, 50 anglers took on both divisions, and 35 of them will advance to the Elite Qualifier round.

At the end of today, Tennessee’s Dillon Falardeau – who qualified for the 2026 Classic by winning an Open on the Chesapeake Bay – sits in first place in the combined Open standings, trailed by Brock Bila. Trey Schroeder, another past Classic qualifier, is in 3rd, and former Elite Series pro Darold Gleason is in 4th.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. ET at Buffalo Harbor State Park. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 2:30 p.m.

Follow along with all of the action from the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Lake Erie presented by Battery Tender on Bassmaster.com.

Major League Fishing announces historic changes to Phoenix Bass Fishing League for 2027

2026-08-19T01:30:00.000-04:00

New team/solo format, five All-American Championships and exclusive $120,000 Phoenix Ultimate Tournament Rigs headline major transformation

BENTON, Ky. – Major League Fishing announced today a historic series of changes to the 2027 Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine, introducing a new team/solo format, five regional All-American Championships and significantly increased awards and advancement opportunities, including direct advancement to REDCREST for five anglers.

The changes represent the most substantial evolution of the BFL since the introduction of the boater/co-angler format in 2000.

Beginning in 2027, anglers may compete alone or with a teammate, allowing partners to share expenses and compete together throughout the season. The circuit will feature 20 divisions organized into five regions, with five one-day qualifying tournaments per division.

“This is one of the biggest changes in the history of the Bass Fishing League,” said Major League Fishing co-founder and CEO Boyd Duckett. “For more than 44 years, the BFLs have provided everyday anglers with the opportunity to compete close to home and work their way onto the sport’s biggest stages. The BFL format has, however, evolved over the years, from boat-on-boat draw, to boaters and co-angler and now team/solo. This latest evolution makes it easier to compete with a friend to share expenses, or fish solo to protect your hotspots, while offering more money, more championship opportunities and more reasons than ever to fish.”

Tournament winners and the Top 30 teams in each division will advance to one of five no-entry-fee All-American Championships that push life-changing rewards closer to home than ever before. Each winning team will receive an All-American limited-edition Phoenix powered by a 250-horsepower outboard valued at $120,000. The top-of-the-line 21-foot boats will feature custom All-American branding and will be built specifically for the five championship-winning teams as the ultimate fishing machine.

Each All-American-winning team will also earn advancement to two of MLF’s premier championships. The team captain will qualify for REDCREST and compete for a top prize of $300,000, while his or her teammate will advance to the Toyota Series Championship to compete for as much as $235,000, including a $35,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus.

Regular-season tournaments will feature a $500 entry fee and a $22,000 first-place award, including a $7,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus, at 150 boats. Twenty percent of the field will earn a paycheck, and the minimum first-place award is guaranteed at $10,000 regardless of field size. At the max field size of 225 boats, the winner will earn as much as $29,000, including a $7,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus.

All told, the 2027 BFL season will return more than 91% of entry fees to anglers based on an average field of 150 boats. When Phoenix MLF Bonus awards are included, the total season payout rises to 101%.

Teams must compete together in at least three of the five divisional tournaments to be eligible for an All-American Championship. The Team of the Year in each of the 20 divisions will receive $2,500, and anglers from the Top 30 teams in each division will receive priority entry into the Toyota Series.

Current year Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, NPFL and Elite Series pros will not be eligible to compete. The 2027 season will also feature unrestricted use of forward-facing and 360-degree sonar.

“These changes honor what has made the BFL successful for decades while creating an even stronger future for the circuit,” Duckett said. “We want anglers to grab a partner, fish the lakes they love and compete for prizes and advancement opportunities that can truly change their lives.”

Registration information, schedules and full program details for the 2027 MLF Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine will be announced later this year.

For complete details and updated information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Bass Fishing League updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Angler of the Year Standing!

2026-08-18T01:30:00.000-04:00

Who's going to win it?

Bryan Schmitt Wins the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain!

2026-08-17T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Chris Johnston 2nd & Cory Johnston 7th,

Maryland pro Bryan Schmitt has won the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a four-day total of 81 pounds, 7 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — He called it love at first sight and that instant attraction, deepened by its subsequent bond-building, delivered Bryan Schmitt’s third blue trophy with his four-day winning total of 81 pounds, 7 ounces in the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

The seasoned pro from Deale, Md., first fished this picturesque natural lake straddling the border of New York and Vermont about a decade ago and immediately felt the connection.

“I got blessed the first time I went here and luckily caught some big fish and that just made me fall in love with it,” Schmitt said. “I stumbled into two special spots and I learned right away what to look for, the combination. The success happened quick and it made me fall in love.”

Schmitt’s Champlain love affair delivered a solid week that started with a Day 1 limit of 19-11 that landed him in 10th place. Schmitt added 19-7 in the second round and slipped to 13th, but he recovered with a Semifinal Saturday bag of 23-8 that pushed him up to second.

Championship Sunday saw Schmitt close the deal with a final limit of 18-13. Edging Chris Johnston by a pound, Schmitt collected the $100,000 top prize.

“I’m speechless right now,” Schmitt said after taking the top spot. “I’ve got nothing but respect for everybody in this Top 10.”

Schmitt had previously won twice at Lake Champlain, with victories in the 2016 Northern Open and the 2021 Bassmaster Elite. He also won the 2022 Bassmaster Elite at Mississippi River. This week, he fished north of Plattsburgh, on the New York and Vermont sides.

Describing what felt like a random final-round search, Schmitt said: “I just kept going and going and going and every now and then, I’d get lucky.”

After weighing mixed bags of largemouth and smallmouth the first two days, Schmitt filled his Day 3 limit with largemouth. In the final round, he focused on natural and manmade structure for a bag with four largemouth and one big smallie. He caught his fish from 2 to 25 feet with most of them caught in the deeper zone.

“Today, I had to go back to where I caught the majority of my big bag of largemouth yesterday, but I knew something was wrong right away,” Schmitt said. “I fished it for 30 minutes and only caught one 12-incher. The wind switched from a north wind on Day 3, to a south wind and changed the current.”

From that point on, Schmitt hopped between various hard spots — isolated small rubble, a rock vein, isolated boulders, and rock/grass blends. He ended up catching his fish on a SPRO Rock Crawler Crankbait, a Neko-rigged Missile Baits Quiver Worm and a drop shot with a Missile Baits Magic Worm.

“All week, it was different spots every day. Nothing worked the same from day to day. I think these are isolated fish and the spots are not replenishing.”

Schmitt said he broke off two big fish late in the day. Thoughts of what could have been haunted him during the ride to check-in, because the math in his head was light.

“I really didn’t know what I had because I only weighed a couple,” Schmitt said. “I thought I had over 16, maybe 17. I had no idea it would be this close.

“I’m very thankful.”

Hailing from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada Johnston took second with 80-7. Staying near the top all week, he placed eighth on Day 1 with 19-14, rose to third with a second-round limit of 21-7 and took over the Day 3 lead by adding 21-8. Johnston closed out his campaign with a final-round limit of 17-10.

Following the basic game plan he’d executed most of the week, Johnston split his day between catching limit-filling smallmouth and looking for a couple kicker largemouth.

Focusing on hard spots where big fish often position, Johnston was able to boat one big largemouth late in the day, but the bite was slower than previous days.

“I caught a couple key fish on a Hideup Coike Fullcast rigged on a 4/0 Gamakatsu frog hook with a 1/8-ounce weight, and one big one on a power finesse drop shot,” Johnston said. “I knew I was running low on fish. They don’t reload a lot and I didn’t have enough new stuff to fish.”

Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., finished third with 79-12. His daily weights were 19-8, 22-5, 18-9 and 19-6.

After three days of balancing a smallmouth/largemouth program, Feider committed his final day solely to the latter.

“I left the smallies alone today, because it was a waste of time,” Feider said. “I spent two hours on them every morning and, at the end of the day, I wasn’t really weighing in many of them.”

Feider caught his final-round largemouth by flipping deep grass with a Z-Man Big TRD on a drop shot and a Texas-rigged craw.

Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, La., won the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for his 6-10.

Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., won the $1,000 award for leading the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 635 points. Drew Cook of Cairo, Ga., — the 2019 Rookie of the Year — is in second place with 634, followed by Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada with 633, Bob Downey of Detroit Lakes, Minn., with 570, and Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C. with 561.

Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 538 points.

Sumrall won the $2,000 Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag with his Day 2 limit of 24-4.

Cook won the $4,000 Toyota Bonus Bucks contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler. Carl Jocumsen of Toowoomba, Australia won the $3,000 second-place award.

Sumrall won the $4,000 Yamaha Power Pay contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler. Cook won the $1,500 second-place award.

Beau Browning of Hot Springs, Ark., won the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency prize for the angler whose BassTrakk estimates are closest to their official weight.

Discover Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast are hosting this event.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 3: Chris Johnston Secures Lead!

2026-08-16T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Cory Johnston 4th,Gustafson 30th & Cooper Gallant 33rd.

Canadian pro Chris Johnston has taken the lead on Day 3 of the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a three-day total of 62 pounds, 13 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/BASS)

BASS Press Release

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — He was dealing with a cold front, but Chris Johnston had the hot hand. That productivity gave the accomplished pro from Peterborough, Ontario, Canada the Day 3 lead in the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

Keeping himself in the conversation from the start, Johnston placed eighth on Day 1 with 19 pounds, 14 ounces and rose to third a day later on the strength of his 21-7 limit. Adding a Semifinal Saturday bag that weighed 21-8, Johnston tallied a three-day total of 62-13.

Heading into Championship Sunday, Johnston leads Bryan Schmitt by 3 ounces.

Despite turning in his best bag of the week, Johnston said the weather system moving through the area interrupted the game plan he’d been following.

“The wind is what really hurt me and maybe the cold,” Johnston said. “A lot of my smallmouth have been coming shallow. I’ve been trying to get a couple kicker largemouth, but I’ve been filling my limit with 3 1/2- to 4-pound smallmouth.

“I’ve been sight-fishing those big smallmouth. The only way I can catch those big ones, for the most part, is to visually see them. Today, I got lucky and got one to eat by just blind fishing, but if it slicks off and gets sunny, that’s my best chance to catch those big ones.”

Many of Champlain’s bigger smallmouth roam deep open water, but it’s nearly impossible to consistently target those fish without forward facing sonar. Shortly after B.A.S.S. announced the 2026 schedule, a coin flip selection identified five events that would allow forward facing sonar and four that would not. The Champlain event does not allow this live sonar technology.

After two mostly calm days offered favorable sight-fishing conditions, Johnston was able to cover broad areas of grass and rock, pick out his targets and then make precise casts with a finesse bait.

“If it’s ripply, I can’t see the smallmouth,” Johnston said. “I have to cover a mile to maybe see three or four fish (in calm conditions). There are not many, but there are some decent ones, if I can find them.”

Today, Johnston caught a 4-pound smallmouth and one about 3 in his shallow zone by blind casting a 3/8-ounce green pumpkin SPRO Cover Jumper bladed jig. During a sunny period with a little less wind, he was able to sight fish another 4-pound-class smallie with a wacky rig.

Johnston bolstered his bag with a couple of big largemouth he caught on a large soft bait. He kept his details guarded, but noted that the front made the fish less aggressive, so taunting them with a sizable offering was necessary.

“Each day, I need to catch a couple big largemouth, but I don’t know where they’re gonna come from,” Johnston said. “I’m just hitting spots I’ve learned over the years. Most of them are hard cover, something different in the water.

“I’ll hit 10 to 15 largemouth spots and if there’s one there, it’s usually a big one. But if you don’t get those bites, it makes for a tough day.”

Johnston, the defending Progressive Bassmaster Elite Angler of the Year for 2024 and 2025, became the first Canadian to win a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series trophy with his 2020 win at the St. Lawrence River. He collected his second blue trophy three months ago in the Elite at Santee Cooper Lakes.

Johnston said he’s confident he can catch smallmouth in the final round, but he knows that earning another Elite title depends on catching big green ones.

“I need to catch three big largemouth to have a chance at winning,” he said. “There’s not a lot of fish in these areas, so I’m hoping a couple of my spots reload a little bit and I can catch two or three largemouth off them tomorrow.”

Bryan Schmitt of Deale, Md., is in second place with 62-10. His first two days yielded bags of 19-11 and 19-7. Schmitt earned his final-round berth by turning in his best effort of the week, a limit of 23-8.

Schmitt has won twice at Lake Champlain, with victories in the 2016 Northern Open and the 2021 Bassmaster Elite. His history on this fishery served him well this week when he realized his vision was not coming to fruition.

“I don’t know how to explain this week; the big Plan A didn’t work,” he said. “This one big largemouth spot I was banking on did not work. When that big of a plan that you have that much history on doesn’t work, it hurts a little bit.

“I got some very lucky stops when I would pull up on some old-school stuff. On Day 2, I stopped right out in front of (the tournament site), with a minute until I had to check in, threw out here aimlessly and caught a big smallmouth.”

Describing his third day as “magical,” Schmitt said he fished a spot that he visited toward the end of Day 2 and enjoyed an unexpected largemouth abundance.

“I only caught seven bass today, but my first five were big,” Schmitt said. “I’m super crazy nervous and excited for tomorrow.”

Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, La., is in third place with 61-8. His daily weights were 15-6, 24-4 and 21-14.

Sumrall has spent his tournament glued to the ruins of the old railroad that once connected Rouse’s Point, N.Y. to Alburgh, Vt. Working the west end of the skeletal remains, Sumrall said this scenario has allowed him to play a familiar game.

“I’m doing what I love to do, I’m flipping wood, cracking ’em on big line and boat flipping every one,” Sumrall said. “It’ll be a hard feat tomorrow, but the opportunity is there for big ones.

“It’s current related. It has everything the fish need. The edges have grass and rocks. It just has all the ingredients. Tomorrow I won’t leave it all day long and I’ll try to catch a giant bag.”

Fishing in 6 to 12 feet, Sumrall has caught his fish on a Missile Baits jig with a Missile Baits Mini D-Bomb trailer.

Sumrall holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 6-10.

Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 636 points. Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., is in second place with 635, followed by 2019 Rookie of the Year Drew Cook of Cairo, Ga., with 629, Bob Downey of Detroit Lakes, Minn., with 570, and Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., with 561.

Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 538 points.

Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.

Live coverage of the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain can be found on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and conclude on Bassmaster.com.

Discover Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast are hosting this event.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 2: Carl Jocumsen Continues to Lead!

2026-08-15T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Chris Johnston 3rd, Cory Johnston 4th, Gustafson 24th, Cooper Gallant 48th & Evan King 67th!

Australian pro Carl Jocumsen maintains the lead on Day 2 of the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a two-day total of 43 pounds, 1 ounce. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)

BASS Press Release

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Better-than-expected weather conditions allowed Carl Jocumsen to pad his lead and test a theory that’ll no-doubt benefit his effort to win his second blue trophy in the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain.

After taking the Day 1 lead with 23 pounds, 2 ounces, the pro from Toowoomba, Australia added a second-round limit that weighed 19-15. With a two-day total of 43-1, Jocumsen heads into Semifinal Saturday with a 1 1/4-pound lead over Seth Feider.

“Today almost went to exact plan,” Jocumsen said. “I feel like potentially, there’s more fish (in my main area) than I thought there was, which is a good thing.”

Jocumsen, who became the first Australian to win a Bassmaster Elite tournament by topping the 2019 Lake Tenkiller event, followed his Day 1 game plan and returned to the Ticonderoga area. Colloquially called “Ti,” this area named for the historic fort on Champlain’s west side, holds abundant shallow grass that’s known for good numbers of big largemouth.

With Ti sitting approximately 70 miles south of Plattsburgh, Jocumsen committed 90 minutes of running time both ways. His results justified the time gamble, as he caught all of his Day 1 weight and four of his Day 2 fish in Ti’s fertile waters.

“It was the same drill; the fish were all in the same areas where I left them yesterday,” Jocumsen said. “There’s just something about these certain sections that have some fish.

“I caught my fish on the new Rapala Crush City Knuckle Bug. I fished this on straight braid with a VMC Heavy Duty Wide Gap Worm Hook and a 3/4-ounce weight. I was flipping it as many times as I could and they were biting it on the fall.”

Jocumsen said he came into the tournament knowing that Ti had the potential to play a major role. One factor in the equation is this week’s competitive format.

Shortly after B.A.S.S. announced the 2026 schedule, a coin flip selection identified five events that would allow forward facing sonar and four that would not. The Champlain event does not allow this live sonar technology, so Jocumsen knew the smallmouth that typically dominate this lake’s tournaments would be more difficult to consistently catch.

Taking this into consideration, Jocumsen determined that banking on a largemouth-centric plan would make Ti a sound option.

“It’s risky no matter what you do here, but when you make a long run like that, if that wind picks up, it can shut you down really quick,” Jocumsen said. “I left a little early this afternoon because the Windy app said it was gonna pick up to 15 mph, but it was a smooth ride all the way back.”

Jocumsen took advantage of his early arrival in the Plattsburgh area, pulled up to a spot that looked good and caught nearly a 4-pound smallmouth that culled up his total by a few ounces. That final fish of his day ate a hair jig in 2 feet of water.

“I just went fishing and caught a big one on my first cast,” Jocumsen said. “I raced around and didn’t find anymore, but it worked out.

“I always knew I needed a smallmouth element. It just helps you to not run out of areas. If you have smallmouth up your sleeve, you can just go fishing and catch a 4-plus pounder sort of anywhere you go. Having that, I think, is gonna be important in this.”

If Day 3 brings the expected wind increase, Jocumsen will need to adjust for longer running times, but at this point, he’s committed to at least one more day of running to Ti.

“I’m really hoping that place down there holds out for two more days, but it is nice to know I can run back and catch big smallmouth,” Jocumsen said. “This is how you have to fish Champlain. You have to fish for largemouth and smallmouth.

“It feels right; after today, I feel pretty good about what I’m seeing. It’s a long ways away, but I’m gonna give it everything I’ve got.”

Hailing from New Market, Minn., Feider is in second place with 41-13. After placing 12th on Day 1 with 19-8, Feider added 22-5 and gained 10 spots.

Feider attempted to replicate his Day 1 game plan of rounding up a decent limit of smallmouth and then hunting big largemouth, but a leaner early bite yielded only 8 pounds of smallmouth. Transitioning to his largemouth bite, Feider faced more disappointment, until a big bite around noon got the ball rolling.

“I went to another area and caught a couple decent filler fish and one big one,” Feider said. “I had about 20 pounds then and I knew I was sitting pretty good.

“There was some grass I’d marked in practice, but I didn’t really fish it. I went there at the end of the day and caught two great big ones in 15 minutes.”

Feider caught his fish on a drop shot with a Z-Man Big TRD and a Texas-rigged creature bait.

Chris Johnston of Peterborough, Canada is in third place with 41-5. He weighed a Day 1 limit of 19-14 and followed with 21-7.

Getting his work done early, Johnston had most of his weight by 11 a.m. and then went scouting the rest of the day.

“I started in an area that has a couple big fish around and I was fortunate enough to get two nice largemouth that set things in the right direction,” Johnston said. “After that, I went smallmouth fishing. I hit six or seven spots and caught probably 10 smallmouth. I caught three or four over 4 pounds.”

Johnston kept his bait details guarded, but he said a slow presentation is essential for his technique.

Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, La., holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 6-10.

Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 640 points. Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada is in second place with 636, followed by 2019 Rookie of the Year Drew Cook of Cairo, Ga., with 630, Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., with 561 and Cole Sands of Johnson City, Tenn., with 559.

Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 550 points.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.

Live coverage of the 2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain will be available on FS1 August 15 from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. before heading to Bassmaster.com. Championship Sunday coverage can be found on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and conclude on Bassmaster.com.

Discover Plattsburgh and the Adirondack Coast are hosting this event.

2026 Bassmaster Elite Series Title Sponsor: Progressive

2026 SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain Day 1: Carl Jocumsen Scores Lead!

2026-08-14T01:30:00.000-04:00

Canadians: Cory Johnston 6th, Chris Johnston 8th, Cooper Gallant 13th, Jeff Gustafson 21st & Evan King 87th!

David A. Brown

BASS Press Release

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — The question was asked repeatedly and Carl Jocumsen answered conclusively. Will largemouth bass play a significant role in the SPRO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain?

That would be a “yes,” perhaps followed by the traditional “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi!”

Sacking up a limit of big Champlain green ones that weighed 23 pounds, 2 ounces, the pro from Toowoomba, Australia leads Day 1 by a margin of 1-6 over Drew Cook.

“That was pretty fun, but it didn’t come easy” Jocumsen said. “I didn’t make some good decisions at the start; I ran all over the place trying to get a big bite and ended up making a big long run (to the south end).

“They don’t start biting until later in the morning anyway and I was boat 97, so I had a long day. It all lined up for me to test my stuff here and then go. I left the upper end at 9:30, got down there and started getting bites right away.”

This picturesque natural lake straddling the New York/Vermont border has long enjoyed a reputation for diversity, with lots of big largemouth and a much larger population of big smallmouth (the brown ones). Over the past decade or so, the latter have dominated most Champlain tournaments.

Smallmouth like to roam and chase baitfish schools, often over deep water, so the lake offers much more area for these fish to do what they do. Largemouth, on the other hand, tend to be homebodies that rarely move far from whatever grassbed, rock point, laydown or dock they favor.

By their behavior, largemouth are more easily targeted, but most anglers expected heavy fishing pressure in the prime areas due to the tournament’s format. Shortly after the 2026 schedule was announced, a coin flip selection identified five events that would allow forward facing sonar — a game-changing tool for targeting open water smallmouth — and four that would not.

With Champlain in the latter group, Jocumsen knew the field would lack a major tool that’s typically used to track down and engage roaming smallmouth. Plenty of old-school smallmouth techniques remain relevant, and Jocumsen actually started his day trying a few. However, when his opening plan did not pan out, he shifted gears and went all-in for the largemouth game.

“I didn’t come into this event expecting this, but I knew it could be in the plan, for sure,” Jocumsen said. “I just knew that with the pressure that the north has received, the south end of the lake could be a sneaky area.”

Champlain offers varying levels of largemouth habitat end to end, but Jocumsen made an hour-and-a-half run south to Ticonderoga. Named for the historic fort on the New York side, “Ti,” as it’s called holds the lake’s most concentrated largemouth habitat, mostly comprising submersed aquatic vegetation.

The first Australian to win a Bassmaster Elite event (Lake Tenkiller, 2019), Jocumsen saw about six other tournament boats in the Ti area. Anchoring his bag with a 5-4, his strategy included particular elements that allowed him to excel.

“I’m using slow presentations, but I’m doing something a little different — I’m fishing on the outside of where (most others are fishing) and I think it just pushed the fish to me,” Jocumsen said. “I’m fishing about 7-8 feet, so pretty deep (for largemouth).”

Jocumsen said he concentrated on a half-mile stretch that included several sweet spots of habitat variances.

“There are little nuances, little spots, little areas that just switch on,” Jocumsen said. “There are bite periods too, so tomorrow, I have to just put my head down and fish really methodically and just hope it happens again.”

Cook, who makes his home in Cairo, Ga., is in second place with 21-12. Taking advantage of the calm, bright conditions, Cook spent most of his day targeting smallmouth and then went shallow to hunt largemouth. He weighed a mixed bag with four smallmouth and one big largemouth.

“I was never going fish for largemouth until I had my baseline for smallmouth (weight),” Cook said. “I needed 17 pounds of smallmouth before I’d go largemouth fishing because I fished for largemouth in practice and never found that motherlode.

“I found a couple places that had one to three fish, but not those places that have 50 fish in one little area. I was a little hesitant to spend a whole lot of time doing it.”

Cook caught his smallmouth on crankbaits and bladed jigs. He caught his big largemouth on a wacky-rigged SPRO Wacky Snack in a milfoil bed.

Chris Zaldain of Fort Worth, Texas is in third place with 21-10. Spending his day in the lake’s upper end, Zaldain said he fished near other anglers, but he was fishing a unique habitat feature with a presentation no one else around him was using.

“The lake’s natural wind current positions the fish I’m fishing for and it sets them up ready to bite,” Zaldain said. “I’m doing something somewhat off-the-wall and I think this pattern could hold up for four days.”

Like Jocumsen, Zaldain weighed a limit of largemouth. He found plenty of smallmouth, but given their nomadic nature on Champlain, he felt the largemouth offered greater consistency.

Cook holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 5-13.

Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 640 points. Cook — the 2019 Rookie of the Year — is in second place with 637, followed by Cory Johnston of Otonabee, Canada with 634, 2022 Bassmaster Classic champion Jason Christie of Dry Creek, Okla., with 566, and Brandon Cobb of Greenwood, S.C., with 566.

Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 559 points.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 7 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.

Zark Birge is the 2026 Bass Pro Tour Fishing Clash Angler of the Year!

2026-08-11T01:30:00.000-04:00

A fourth-place finish in the Knockout Round sealed the deal on Birge claiming his first Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title. Photo by Phoenix Moore.

Mitchell Forde, Bass Pro Tour Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio — Zack Birge will be the first to admit that everything has seemed to break his way in 2026.

“Every turn I made, it seemed like I ended up in a good place,” the Oklahoma pro said.

But when he faced the opportunity to cap his dream season by clinching the Bass Pro Tour Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title during Saturday’s Knockout Round at Suzuki Marine Stage 7 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, it sure didn’t come easy.

The wind whipped up big waves on Lake Erie, and Birge spent all day bobbing up and down on the deck of his Bass Cat. His closest pursuer in the points race, Jacob Wheeler, rocketed out of the starting blocks with 57 pounds in the opening period, virtually assuring himself a spot in Sunday’s Championship Round. Thus, Birge knew he had to finish 11th or better Saturday to avoid giving Wheeler – the AOY winner four of the past five years – an opening.

Around the midpoint of Period 3, Birge slipped as far back as ninth. Between the relentless waves and the pressure to clinch his first AOY crown, Birge threatened multiple times Saturday afternoon to throw up on MLFNOW!. But, as he’s done each day on Erie and just about every day all year, he came through in the clutch. He boated five scorable bass for 13-9 in the last 80 minutes to climb to fourth place and seal the Angler of the Year victory, which will earn him $100,000.

“I never thought I’d be in a position to say I had an opportunity for Angler of the Year against all these guys that are so good,” Birge said shortly after lines out. “It’s freakin’ awesome, I know that. I’ve had so many good things happen this year, so many good events. … I’ll probably never have a year like this again, but it sure does feel good to get one.”

Birge has been consistently solid across his eight-year Bass Pro Tour career, including finishing sixth in the AOY race in each of 2024 and 2025. But entering 2026, he admitted winning the title wasn’t on his radar.

“Just making REDCREST and Heavy Hitters and that kind of stuff – cashing checks, Top 10s – that was kind of my goals coming into the year,” he said. “And it’s just kind of been one of those years where we made a Top 10, we made another Top 10, we won one, we made another Top 10. And then about halfway through the season, it starts becoming a reality, like, hey, there’s a shot at AOY.”

Birge started the year strong with a fourth-place finish at Guntersville. That gave him a shot of positive momentum that he never relinquished. He followed it up with a 15th-place showing on Lake Hartwell (incredibly, his lowest finish of the season). Then, he claimed his second career Bass Pro Tour victory with a runaway final at Stage 3 on Lake Waco.

While that gave Birge even more confidence (not to mention the Angler of the Year lead), he said AOY still wasn’t on his radar at that point. But he just kept stacking on good finishes: eighth place at Stage 4 on O.H. Ivie and Lake Brownwood, third at REDCREST (which didn’t impact the points race but kept his mojo rolling), fourth at Stage 5 on Beaver Lake, third at Stage 6 on Grand Lake.

The through lines in all those strong showings were Birge “making great decisions” and fishing his strengths – two things that went hand in hand. In recent years, he’s made it a point of emphasis to stick to the techniques he’s best at rather than trying to change his game to fit every fishery. For Birge, that means power fishing around shallow cover, typically with a bladed jig or a swim jig. He said he weighed “99%” of his bass this year on those two baits.

“Earlier in my career, when I started, I got wrapped up in a lot of ‘this is the thing you’re supposed to do at this lake; this is what you’re supposed to do at that lake,” Birge said. “And the more I’ve fished, the more I’ve traveled around and seen different places, the more I’ve realized that you’re better off just sticking with your strengths regardless of where you’re at and making it work.”

That made Birge more confident in his decision-making. If what he was doing wasn’t working, he knew it wasn’t a case of being around bass that didn’t want to bite; it was time to either relocate or change tactics.

Rick Pierce, the longtime president of Bass Cat Boats, who has known Birge his entire life, believes simplifying his approach was the single biggest key to Birge’s spectacular season.

“I think he’s just starting to dial in on his style,” Pierce said. “I think prior times, going into the years, he was trying to be a lot more versatile instead of trying to focus on his strengths.”

A key adjustment on Erie

No decisions have loomed larger than the ones Birge has faced at Erie. First and perhaps most important was the call to visit the massive fishery before it went off-limits. Birge thanked two-time FLW Tour Angler of the Year Bryan Thrift for nudging him to do that.

“I’m not someone to go pre-practice anywhere,” Birge said. “It’s not something I’ve ever really done, and I’m usually too busy to go do it anyways. And when I got done at Grand, Thrift walked by, and he said, ‘Are you going to Erie?’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t plan on it.’ And he said, ‘You better take your butt to Erie.’ And I thought about it for a second. I was like, ‘You know what? He’s right.’ I drove straight up here from there and got about four days of pre-practice in before it went off-limits. And the stuff that I found then is what I fished this week, and it’s the place I sat on all day today.”

During his scouting mission, Birge found both shallow largemouth and offshore smallmouth areas. Staying true to the strategy that had carried him all year, he started each of the first two days winding a bladed jig around the bank. That worked well on Day 1; he topped 50 pounds on the day and sat eighth. But on Day 2, his largemouth didn’t cooperate. He mustered only three scorable bass during the first half of the day and slipped perilously close to the Lucas Oil Cut Line.

Birge recognized that it was time to stop fishing his way. He ran to his offshore area and stacked up nearly 40 pounds during the latter half of the day to climb all the way to fifth. Despite the wind and waves, he committed to spending all of Day 3 in that zone. Showcasing the versatility required of any modern Angler of the Year champion, Birge broke out the spinning rods and spent all day shaking a minnow and dragging a tube, both with and without forward-facing sonar.

“It’s not something I typically do, but it’s something I feel like I’m decent at,” Birge said of the finesse approach. “I may not be the best with forward-facing sonar, but I feel like I can at least compete with it. And to be able to compete against these guys, you have to have some knowledge of how to use it and be confident with it.

“It’s scary catching big smallmouth on spinning rods and light line. You’re always going to lose some; you’re going to break some off. But it was the best opportunity I had to have a decent finish and do well, so I had to stick with it.”

Birge’s trademark horseshoe mustache and yellow sunglasses (he bought them off TikTok for $17, then made them a permanent fixture after wearing them during the win on Lake Waco) might give him a jovial air. But to anyone watching live during Period 3, the pressure he felt to close out the AOY win was obvious.

“It stressed me out all week,” he said. “I didn’t sleep the night before the tournament. I didn’t sleep the second day. I didn’t sleep last night. I’ll bet you I sleep really good tonight.”

An all-time strong season

Birge’s season isn’t over yet, but no matter what happens from here, it’ll go down as one of the most impressive single seasons in professional fishing history. He finished in the Top 10 in seven of eight Bass Pro Tour events. He has an outside shot at setting the record for best average finish for a BPT season – he’ll break Wheeler’s 2022 mark if he finishes first or second during Sunday’s Championship Round.

The fact that he one-upped Wheeler – who put together another characteristic season, making five of seven Top 10s and never finishing worse than 14th – only adds to Birge’s sense of accomplishment.

“Jacob’s always a contender for Top 10s; he’s always a contender to win an event, every single one we fish,” Birge said. “AOY, he’s always in the running for it. He’s one of the absolute best. And I can’t say that I’ve beat him many times, but I can at least say that I got him once.”

On top of his BPT dominance, Birge has also won a pair of events on the NPFL. He sits second in the AOY race there with one event left. Between the two tours, he’s cashed a check at every event and already pocketed more than $600,000 (including his $100,000 AOY payday) before collecting his Stage 7 paycheck.

“This year for him is a Kevin VanDam year,” Pierce said. “He’s having a year that really would be as good as Kevin’s best years in his prime. Now, that doesn’t say that he’s Kevin VanDam; but this year is a Kevin VanDam year.”

Further setting Birge’s season apart is the fact that, at a time when 20-somethings have taken bass fishing by storm, he’s done it as a 35-year-old father of two. But while having fewer familial obligations and thus more time to spend on the water might benefit some younger anglers, both Birge and Pierce said his support system – especially his wife, Kristina – is one of his biggest advantages.

“I think Kristina is so involved in his career and so involved in taking care of details that, for Zack, it relieves some pressure,” Pierce said. “For some people, having a family on the road with you becomes a deterrent, because they’ve got to do this, they’ve got to do that. You’re always worried about the children eating or sleeping on time. But in Zack’s case, I think that support factor is a big thing.”

Birge didn’t just show up at the top level and start winning, either. He’s worked his way up the tournament ladder. After fishing collegiately for Oklahoma State, he spent a few years competing in Phoenix Bass Fishing League and Toyota Series events in Oklahoma. A win at the Toyota Series Championship in 2014 served as a springboard to the FLW Tour, where he got progressively better and earned an invitation to the Bass Pro Tour.

That journey has given him an appreciation of just how difficult it is to emerge as the best of the best across an entire season.

“It’s an accomplishment we all want,” he said of winning AOY. “Just like a win, just like a championship, it’s a title that I’ll get to have forever. A lot of people don’t have them, so I’m very thankful to get one.”

Justin Lucas Wins 2026 Bass Pro Tour Suzuki Marine Stage 7 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches

2026-08-10T01:30:00.000-04:00

Mitchell Forde, Bass Pro Tour Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio –– After six years and so many high finishes without a tour-level victory, Justin Lucas started to doubt whether he would ever hoist another trophy. Turns out, all he needed to do was return to the site of his last national win.

Prior to Suzuki Marine Stage 7 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, the last time a national MLF trail visited Lake Erie was the 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament. That also marked Lucas’ last victory – he edged Jacob Wheeler by 1 ounce.

This week, the final standings once again read Lucas first, Wheeler second. But Lucas didn’t allow for near as much suspense.

Putting together one of the most impressive days of smallmouth fishing you’ll ever see in terms of both quantity and quality, Lucas racked up 98 pounds, 11 ounces on 25 scorable bass during Sunday’s Championship Round. He boated six smallmouth over 5 pounds, including the Berkley Big Bass of the day and the event – a 6-11. He topped SCORETRACKER® for nearly every minute, ultimately besting Wheeler by 19-6.

In the moments after lines out, he struggled to wrap his mind around what had just transpired.

“I feel like I’ve been in a dream for the last hour and a half,” Lucas said. “Just big ones, just biting.”

Lucas’ second career Bass Pro Tour victory earned him $125,000 and moved him up to third in the final Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings. Here’s how the Top 10 pros finished the Championship Round:

Justin Lucas – 98-11 (25)
Jacob Wheeler – 79-7 (27)
Michael Neal – 68-7 (24)
Cole Floyd – 64-9 (25)
Brent Ehrler – 53-14 (17)
Jeff Sprague – 34-0 (11)
Marshall Hughes – 33-2 (10)
Ott DeFoe – 30-0 (9)
Jesse Wiggins – 22-3 (7)
Zack Birge – 20-12 (6)

Complete results

Prior to this week, Lucas hadn’t launched a boat on Erie since the final day of the 2020 Super Tournament. While some thought the Bass Pro Tour’s every-fish-counts format could favor largemouth, Lucas was all-in on smallmouth from the start of practice, and he liked his chances for a high finish.

“I think the main thing is that I love throwing a drop-shot and they love eating it,” he said of his kinship with Erie. “When I put my boat in the water, I am very confident that if I pick up a drop-shot, I should be able to find some smallmouth bass.”

Indeed, Lucas caught nearly all his weight on drop-shot with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm – the exact setup that carried him to victory six years ago. He also mixed in a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Tube. He threw both baits on 7-foot, medium Abu Garcia Fantasista X spinning rods with 3000-sized Abu Garcia Zenon X reels spooled with 8-pound Berkley X5 braid and a 10-pound Berkley GinClear fluorocarbon leader.

When it comes to Great Lakes smallmouth, the challenge isn’t so much knowing what to throw as it is finding the sweet spots in a massive playing field. None of his spots from six years ago produced this time, so Lucas used strategy to his advantage to cover as much water as possible.

During the two-day Qualifying Round, he topped the 80-pound mark (which he figured would get him into the Knockout Round) with a period left on Day 2, and he used that time to explore new territory. That’s when he found the shipping channel marker that would carry him to victory.

“I saw it in the distance, and I was like, ‘All right, we’re going,’ because I had gotten bit off the other one,” Lucas explained. “And I rolled up with maybe 45 or 30 minutes left in the day, and I made three drops and caught three over 4 pounds. And my 2-D sonar was lit up, like an unbelievable amount of fish. So, I knew it was a pretty special spot.”

Lucas got to see just how special the following morning. Despite battling rough waves, he stacked up 47-5 on 12 scorable bass during the first hour and 15 minutes of the Knockout Round, securing a spot on Championship Sunday.

He thinks the channel markers were so productive because they offered the only structure and shade in miles of open water.

“I think it’s like an oil rig in the ocean,” he said. “When it’s the only piece of cover out there for miles, the bait gravitates toward it, and in turn, the smallmouth gravitate toward it, because the bait goes there. It’s the only place that offers shade for miles. They definitely were keyed on the shade of that thing. They would move around it as the shade moved.”

Quality carries Lucas

As he took the water for the Championship Round, Lucas wasn’t sure how many bass he’d left on his best spot or whether new fish would move in. He didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Lucas caught three scorable bass, including a 4-6, on his first four casts. He then added his first 5-pounder of the day. About 30 minutes later, he landed the 6-11 tank. All told, he totaled more than 40 pounds in the opening hour. He ran to his other channel marker and added four more scorable bass in the first period, bringing his total to 54-6 and taking a lead of more than 18 pounds over Wheeler.

Then, his bite simply died. Lucas turned on his forward-facing sonar during Period 2, but he caught only two scorable bass during the period. While just about everyone felt the midday lull to some extent, both Wheeler and Floyd pulled within 15 pounds of the lead – and Wheeler conserved his forward-facing sonar for the final frame. He would get as close as 8 pounds early in Period 3.

Lucas admitted he was “a little bit stressed” during the second period. But all day, he’d maintained that he needed his channel marker bite to fire again in the afternoon, and he remained optimistic it would happen.

“The first day, one of them saved me in the afternoon, and then the second day, I found the other one in the afternoon,” he said. “So, I knew that there was an afternoon bite on them.”

At the start of Period 3, Lucas returned to the less productive of the two channel markers – the one he’d fished since Day 1. He found some momentum with a 2-11, then caught a 3-5 and a 5-13 in quick succession. Then, he ventured back to the channel marker where he’d started each of the past two mornings, hoping it would deliver one more time. Deliver, it did.

Lucas landed six more scorable bass, the final three of which were all over 5 pounds. In all, he tacked on 38-4 on nine smallmouth during Period 3.

That caliber of fish is what separated him from the competition – and why Lucas never wasted time looking for largemouth. Floyd boated the same number of scorable bass as Lucas on the day, and Wheeler caught two more. But Lucas caught all six of the 5-plus-pound bass landed by the field. He caught nine bass over 4 pounds, six over 5 and one over 6. His best five weighed an eye-popping 28-7 – and he caught them all without forward-facing sonar.

“When you’re going up against Wheeler, you need everything going in your favor,” he said. “And the fact that I was on better quality – he is incredible at fishing, but he is even more incredible at our format and just catching fish. So, I knew in my mind, today, I was going to have to catch 20 to 30 fish to have a chance. I kind of bet on a 4-pound average on that offshore stuff.”

Lucas said he’s boated heavier bags of brown bass before on smallmouth meccas like Lake Ontario and Mille Lacs, but certainly never with so much on the line. Based on what he saw this week, he believes Erie once again deserves inclusion alongside those fisheries on the short list of the top Northern smallmouth destinations.

“It’s not known to be the best Great Lake for smallmouth fishing,” he said. “It’s gone in cycles. From what I saw this week, I was more than impressed. I feel like Lake Erie is back.”

Wait made the win even sweeter

Both having arrived on the national scene around the same time, Lucas and Wheeler have developed a friendly rivalry through the years. This is far from the first time they’ve locked horns with a trophy on the line. Earlier in 2026, at Stage 4 on O.H. Ivie and Lake Brownwood, Lucas took an early lead during the Championship Round, but Wheeler came back to win.

Avenging that loss and getting the better of the No. 1-ranked angler in the world only added to Lucas’ sense of accomplishment.

“He’s taken my money so many other times, and earlier this year, he got me at Brownwood,” Lucas said. “I felt like I let that one slip through my fingers. So, this one definitely means a lot.”

Even more important, Lucas proved to himself that he’s still capable of getting over the hump and winning at the highest level.

It had been almost exactly six years since his Super Tournament victory. During that time, he’s been in the Top 10 of 18 national events, including four runner-up finishes. After all those near misses, Lucas has a different appreciation for this victory than his first four national wins.

“It’s the longest I’ve gone without a win in my professional career,” Lucas said. “And you start wondering, like, ‘Man, could that have been my last one six years ago?’ You never know. So, it definitely means a ton. And to do it on Erie two different times, that’s pretty special.”

2026 Bass Pro Tour Suzuki Marine Stage 7 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches: Day 1 Jeff Sprague Score Top Spot!

2026-08-07T01:30:00.000-04:00

Mitchell Forde Bass Pro Tour Press Release

SANDUSKY, Ohio — For the first couple hours of Suzuki Marine Stage 7 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, it looked like the lone Ohio resident in the Bass Pro Tour field, Cole Floyd, might turn the Qualifying Round into a rout. Floyd blasted 87 pounds even on 31 scorable largemouth in the first period Thursday – the most prolific single period in Bass Pro Tour history.

At that point, Jeff Sprague, Floyd’s nearest pursuer, trailed him by more than 40 pounds. But while Floyd stalled as he started scouting for new schools, Sprague used a steady barrage of smallmouth to erase the deficit and then some.

Sprague stacked up 97-1 on 29 scorable smallmouth to take the top spot on SCORETRACKER®, 7-5 ahead of Floyd. Jake Lawrence sits third with 72-5. Complete results can be found here.

Sprague surprises himself with smallmouth

A Texas native best known for his shallow, power fishing prowess, Sprague has joked this season about how he usually doesn’t jive with deep, clear water. Thus, he initially planned to fish for largemouth on Erie. But after he spent a few days targeting green fish before the fishery went off-limits last month, he figured that wouldn’t be the way to win, and he switched gears.

“I came here and pre-practiced for largemouth and decided I was not going to attempt those,” Sprague said. “So, I went looking for smallmouth, and to be honest with you, I got lucky, for lack of better words. I can’t say that, but I did. I literally put my trolling motor down and started figuring out what depths that they wanted to be in.”

Figuring out the right depth range during practice allowed Sprague to zero in on which rockpiles and boulders to target. Still, entering Thursday, he didn’t have any inkling he might scare 100 pounds.

The biggest surprise was his productivity without forward-facing sonar. While several anglers remarked on MLFNOW! how difficult they found it to catch smallmouth without the technology, Sprague caught more than 75% of his weight with his transducers turned off.

“Everyone is really relying heavily on forward-facing sonar, and I just found some fish that are scattered out across rock piles, and these fish can be caught without it,” he said.

Entering the day, Sprague harbored no visions of topping SCORETRACKER®. That was especially true once Floyd took a huge early lead. But he wanted to catch all he could to at least secure a spot in the Knockout Round.

“They’re smallmouth – they can leave on a dime – so I just decided I was going to catch what I could catch today and give myself an opportunity to at least make the Knockout Round,” Sprague said. “And then we could see what the weather held and things like that.”

Now that he does have a chance to win the Qualifying Round, which comes with an automatic trip to the Championship Round, Sprague is committed to pursuing it. He’d love to give his fish a day to rest on Saturday. Plus, he takes pride in the fact that he’s finished in the Top 10 of the Angler of the Year standings in six of his seven previous Bass Pro Tour seasons. A high finish on Erie would give him a good chance to make it seven-for-eight.

“If it presents itself and Cole Floyd doesn’t step up tomorrow and start busting their heads, I’m absolutely going to try to win the round,” Sprague said. “There’s no reason to try to pull on them fish for more days than you have to.”

Fast start has Floyd eyeing another win

Although Floyd grew up not too far from Erie, he didn’t discover his honey hole until earlier this summer, when he was scouting the lake before it went off-limits. When he returned for official practice this week, he was pleasantly surprised to find the school still in the same spot.

He was even more surprised Thursday morning when he found out just how many bass were there. For about an hour and 15 minutes, he got bit nearly every cast.

“Before the off-limits, when I came up here, we caught a bunch,” Floyd said. “We caught 15 or 20 fish in a row. So, I knew it had potential. When I went over there in practice, though, I caught a couple, and then I just left. So, I really didn’t know. It kind of surprised me with the size and how many there was there.”

Floyd didn’t just find a school with numbers of bass but impressive quality. While some other anglers who targeted largemouth struggled to consistently catch bass bigger than the 2-pound minimum weight, Floyd landed three of 4 pounds plus. That included the biggest largemouth of the day, a 4-15, which will go a long way toward securing him a spot in Heavy Hitters 2027 on Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Floyd has a stellar track record on the fisheries dating back to his days at nearby Bethel University.

“That was super key coming into this deal,” he said. “I wanted to make Kentucky Lake next year. I lived there for five or six years, and I know a lot about it. And I’d say we did that with a 5-pounder.”

As eye-popping as Floyd’s first period was, the fact that he did it with largemouth – not the species Erie is best known for – made his spree even more impressive. In Floyd’s own words: “I kind of felt like I was on the Tennessee River.” In fact, he was the only angler in the Top 10 to catch a scorable largemouth Thursday.

Plus, he didn’t even use the whole period. With about 45 minutes left in the frame, he left his juice and started searching for other groups of fish. He only added two more scorable bass the rest of the day.

Floyd believes that spot has the potential to produce his second win in the past three Bass Pro Tour events, so he wants to conserve as many fish as possible for the Championship Round.

“I don’t think I caught them all,” he said. “I probably only caught a quarter of what was there. I feel like I can definitely catch some more fish off of it. And I have two other places that have ‘em really good. I really don’t know how many; there might be just as many there as there was that place. I haven’t really leaned on them. So, I guess time will tell.”

Now, Floyd has a decision to make – whether to pursue the Qualifying Round win or use Friday as an extra day of practice. He said he’ll look at the weather forecast and mull the pros and cons of each approach tonight, but he’s leaning toward conceding the automatic Championship Round berth.

Either way, Floyd figures he’ll have to revisit his best spot prior to the Championship Round, and he thinks he’ll have to catch less weight to finish in the top nine during the Knockout Round than he would to beat Sprague. While that strategy carries the risk that he might not even make the Top 10, Floyd has already qualified for World Bass Enterprises’ The Champions, and he’s sitting pretty to make REDCREST 2027. So, he’s uniquely positioned to chase the win.

“I’m going to have to catch them off those places again before the final day no matter what,” he explained. “So, I hate to catch 50, 60 pounds off of it tomorrow and burn it up and have to fish the Knockout Round and catch them again. I’m honestly going to play it by ear in the morning and see what kind of pace Sprague is setting, and some of them other guys, and just kind of go from there.

“I really don’t have nothing on the line points wise. I should be sitting really good. So, I kind of want to go for the throat. You don’t get many times to do that.”

Berkley's New Swamp Lord Jr.

2026-08-05T01:30:00.000-04:00

Compact frog delivers the same legendary hookup ratio in a bite-size profile

COLUMBIA, S.C. (August 4, 2026) – Anglers asked for a smaller frog that doesn’t sacrifice performance, and Berkley listened. Enter the new Berkley Swamp Lord Jr. A compact 2.25-inch version of the award-winning Swamp Lord built for when bass are keyed on smaller forage, under heavy pressure, or require a more subtle presentation. Available exclusively in the standard model, the Swamp Lord Jr. is designed to dominate where other frogs fall short.

The original Swamp Lord earned its reputation by solving one of frog fishing's biggest frustrations: missed strikes. The Swamp Lord Jr. carries that same DNA into a compact package, delivering the elite hookup performance anglers expect while providing a scaled down profile that's equally as effective walking across the surface or skipping around cover. Featuring the same ultra-soft, collapsible body, sealed construction, paired perfectly with optimized and angled Fusion19 hooks, the Swamp Lord Jr. turns explosive blowups into more fish in the boat.

"One of the biggest requests we heard from anglers and our pro staff was for a more compact Swamp Lord option," said Nathan Ragsdale, Senior Product Manager – Freshwater Bait at Berkley. "The Swamp Lord Jr. gives anglers the smaller profile they've been asking for without giving up the performance that made the original such a success. It's the same confidence-inspiring hookup ratio, just in a package that's better suited for smaller forage and tougher conditions."

Key Features:

• Optimized Fusion19 hooks and ultra-soft body system designed to increase hookup ratio

• Sealed hook shank and watertight body chamber reduce water intrusion

• Compact 2.25-inch profile ideal for smaller forage and pressured fish

• Available in 12 color options

• Built on the same proven platform as the original Swamp Lord

Colors: Burnt Bone • Bully • Honey Shad • Bone • Green Pumpkin • Potomac • Spring Frog • Voodoo Black • Maverick • Chartreuse Perch • Copperhead • MF Bluegill.

MSRP: $10.99
Available: August 2026

Ryan Clark and Christian Clancy Win the 2026 American Baitworks Thousand Islands Open & Bass Cat Boat!

2026-08-03T01:30:00.000-04:00

By Luigi De Rose

Kingston ON- The 2026 American Baitworks Thousand Islands Open, the premier open bass tournament event in Canada, didn't disappoint this past weekend. This three day event on the legendary waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River is an open field of the country's top teams. The winner's purse of $20,000 CDN with an the extra bonus of a grand prize draw for a fully-rigged Bass Cat & Mercury boat package with at value of $83,000 CDN!

Each of the 97 2-person teams fought to catch their largest 4-bass limit each day. None could best the young gun team of Ryan Clark and Christian Clancy who topped the field with 67.27 lbs. for 12 bass besting 2nd place team of Loudon and Fox who netted 65.01lbs. Loudon and Fox also won big fish with a 7.01lb behemoth smallmouth. The team of Vandermeer and Lacey secured 3rd with a total of 64.89lbs.

Ryan Clark and Christian Clancy were blessed twice as they held the lucky number in the Bass Cat Bass Boat draw prize which vaulted them to a truly winning weekend.

Full Results

ICAST 2026: Great Lakes Finesse Perfects Skirted Ned Head

2026-07-31T01:30:00.000-04:00

Ned rigging demands slow presentations, at times with the bait left in place in a key location, so any offering’s stationary behavior becomes critical. Most finesse jigs fall onto a side when stopped, and this creates a major problem for natural appeal. Great Lakes Finesse excels at solving problems that hinder the performance of other finesse offerings, and they have done so again with the GLF Skirted Ned Head.

The innovative, easy-lift head design prevents the Skirted Ned Head from rolling on its side, with it instead standing upright with the trailer and fine-cut skirt wavering enticingly. Matched with a Snack Craw, Juicy Hellgrammite or other premium finesse plastic, the Skirted Ned Head is ideal for casting to boulders or other specific fish-holding targets and working the bottom slowly or even dead-sticking the bait to entice strikes from the finickiest of fish.

Wire-tied for durability, the fine-stand skirt is precisely trimmed to a dual-length finesse profile but left slightly long to allow for customization. Premium features of the Skirted Ned Head include powder-coat painting to prevent chipping, matte finishes to minimize glare, a wire keeper and a Gamakatsu 604 1/O hook.

The GLF Skirted Ned Head comes in 1/8- 3/16- and 1/4-ounce sizes and 10 carefully selected colors.

MSRP: $6.99