Month: April 2019

April 7, 2019 ANDERSON, S.C. — Photo courtesy of BASS

Many anglers have led the first three rounds of a Bassmaster Elite Series event, only to have the title slip through their hands on the final day.

More times than not, pressure was the culprit.

But if South Carolina pro Brandon Cobb felt pressure a single time during this week’s Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell, he certainly hid it well.

Cobb, who lives in nearby Greenwood, S.C., took the lead on Day 1 of the event and never relinquished it, slamming the door on his first Elite Series victory with a final-day catch of 16 pounds, 14 ounces on Championship Sunday. His four-day winning weight of 72-4 earned him a $100,000 paycheck and the iconic blue trophy that goes to every Elite Series winner.

“Staying calm definitely made the difference for me,” said Cobb, who stayed at his own house and made the 50-minute drive to Lake Hartwell each day. “I don’t do well if I get flustered. I start running around a lot, and it just doesn’t go well for me.

“Being on my home lake helped, too. I literally never ran out of places where I felt like I was going to catch one.”

Cobb caught 19-9, 17-8, 18-5 and 16-14 in four days — and he did most of his damage with two baits. He used a green pumpkin Zoom Fluke Stick when he was moving through shallow areas where he thought spawning beds were present and a 1/8-ounce Greenfish Tackle shaky head with a green pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm when he was stopped, fishing for bass he could actually see on bed.

“I was going down spawning areas throwing that Fluke Stick at anything that even looked like a bed, hoping to catch them before I got there,” Cobb said. “If the fish didn’t bite before I got up there, I’d Power-Pole down, pick up a shaky head with a Trick Worm and fish for him until I caught him.”

Unlike many anglers who were forced to devote large chunks of time to a single bedding fish throughout the week, Cobb caught his bedding bass quickly — and that helped him make the most of his time on the water.

“Probably 10 minutes was about the longest I spent on one fish this week,” said Cobb, who was fishing just his 14th major event with B.A.S.S. “Today, I caught three fish off one bed, and that probably took me about 15 minutes.

“I think I only saw two fish this week that I didn’t catch, and that’s because they were spawning, rolling together — and you can’t do anything with them when they’re doing that.”

Though it’s Cobb’s first season on the Elite Series, the 29-year-old pro is not considered a rookie because he won more than $400,000 in 105 events with FLW Fishing. He won two BFL events with FLW, but never managed to claim a Tour-level championship.

“Basically, everything went exactly the way I wanted it to go this week,” Cobb said. “I don’t think I lost a single fish all week — and if I did lose one, I caught it again in just a few minutes.

“I’ve been so close so many times to winning tournaments like this and just never quite been able to put it together. But it all came together this week.”

Though Cobb struggled early Sunday morning while trying to exploit a blueback herring spawn that has just begun on Lake Hartwell, he said he always knew he could go and catch a good limit of bass doing the same things he’d been doing all week.

Once he finally started putting bass in the boat, his victory seemed like a foregone conclusion. His closest competition came from Arkansas pro Stetson Blaylock who finished second with 68-11. Georgia pro Micah Frazier finished third with 63-6 and Florida angler Drew Cook took fourth with 63-4.

Cook’s performance was enough to put him in first place in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings and the race for DICK’S Sporting Goods Rookie of the Year.

Blaylock took home the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award worth $1,500 with a 5-15 largemouth he caught during Saturday’s semifinal round.

Florida rookie Drew Cook claimed the lead in both the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year and the DICK`S Sporting Goods Rookie of Year race, after three events, earning $1,000 for AOY and $500 for ROY. Cook’s impressive rookie campaign includes three Top 20 finishes, including a fourth place finish at Lake Hartwell. The highest-scoring rookie at the end of the 10-event Elite season will collect the $10,000 ROY prize.

The two highest finishing anglers eligible for Toyota Bonus Bucks were Jamie Hartman and Chad Pipkens. Hartman finished 8th and added $3,000 to his purse, while Pipkens finished 9th earning a $2,000 bonus.

April 6, 2019 – Photo courtesy of BASS

ANDERSON, S.C. —

For three days, the field has been waiting for Brandon Cobb to stumble.

It hasn’t happened yet — and now, they’re almost out of time.

Cobb caught five bass today that weighed 18 pounds, 5 ounces and held on to the lead for the third straight day in the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell. His three-day total of 55-6 gives him more than a 5-pound cushion over his closest competitors going into Championship Sunday and a chance at a rare wire-to-wire victory in an Elite Series event.

“I don’t know how many fish I went through today that weighed from about 2-4 to 2-11,” said Cobb, whose thumbs were red and raw from handling bass today. “I caught so many fish, but I just couldn’t find any big ones in the area I had been fishing.

“That’s why I finally decided to change areas.”

Cobb went to an area that he said was “new for this tournament, but certainly not new” to him as a bass angler on Lake Hartwell. He grew up fishing the lake and was actually a member of the bass fishing team for Clemson University, which is positioned on the banks of Hartwell.

Once he changed locations, he quickly caught his biggest fish of the day — a largemouth in the 5-pound range.

“I actually caught two pretty good ones out of that area,” Cobb said. “So, I might just change things up and spend all day in there tomorrow or at least go there a little earlier.”

Coming into the week, Cobb was afraid his history on the lake would serve as a detriment because a string of unusually cold nights and a steadily falling lake level has had the fish behaving strangely.

But he survived Thursday’s first round with a catch of 19-9 and maintained the lead with 17-8 Friday. Now, he believes the conditions are normalizing on Hartwell — and he thinks that could play into his hands as he tries to become the first wire-to-wire winner on the Elite Series since 2016.

“In practice, the fish weren’t doing anything like they would normally do this time of year,” Cobb said. “So, I was really worried that my history here would hurt me — or at least not help me very much.

“But as the week has gone on, the fish have started acting exactly like they’re supposed to. Since they didn’t do it all week in practice, a lot of people aren’t ready for it — but I feel like I am.”

If Cobb is to complete the start-to-finish win, he’ll have to hold off a logjam of anglers with weights in the 49-pound range. Micah Frazier (49-12), Stetson Blaylock (49-10), Drew Cook (49-7) and Bill Lowen (49-1) are all within relatively easy striking distance of Cobb if he finally stumbles.

Blaylock, a third-year Elite Series pro from Benton, Ark., was the biggest mover Saturday, bringing in five bass that weighed 19-3 to rise from 10th place into third. His catch was anchored by a 5-15 largemouth that gave him the lead in the race for the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award.

“I thought that biggest fish would weigh better than 6 pounds when I was fishing for it,” Blaylock said. “But that’s been the story all week — they all look bigger in the water than they do when you catch them.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on fish this week that I thought were 3-pounders and they didn’t even help me. I can’t understand how they can be so long, but then be so skinny.”

Since warm conditions have settled into the region, Blaylock said big things are possible Sunday.

“I feel like the areas that I’m fishing should be running out and I should be disappointed,” he said. “But in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that they’re showing up.

“So I’m just gonna let it unfold, and hopefully they’ll keep showing up some more.”

The Top 10 remaining pros will fish on Championship Sunday with takeoff scheduled for 7 a.m. ET from Green Pond Landing and Event Center. The weigh-in will be held back at the same site at 3:15 p.m., with the winning pro earning a $100,000 first-place prize.

A special expo will also be held Sunday at Green Pond Landing with demo rides of a Nitro, Skeeter and Triton boats, prizes from Toyota and Academy Sports + Outdoors, fun activities at the Berkley/Abu Garcia Experience trailer and more.

Sunday is also B.A.S.S. Member Appreciation Day. Fans who show their B.A.S.S. member cards at the B.A.S.S. Merchandise booth will receive a free Bassmaster hat.

Sunday will also feature the Elite LIVE Watch Party from noon-2 p.m. Fans can watch Bassmaster LIVE and hang out with special guests and possibly have a chance to be on the show.

April 5, 2019 – Photo courtesy of BASS

South Carolina Pro Brandon Cobb Stays Out Front At Bassmaster Elite At Lake HartwellANDERSON, S.C. —

Brandon Cobb has been driving about an hour every morning this week to the takeoff site for the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell.

It’s a little farther than he’d normally want to drive for an Elite Series event, but he says it’s been worth it to get the full benefit of his home-field advantage.

The Greenwood, S.C., pro, who has been sleeping in his own bed and eating home-cooked meals with his wife, Amy, while other anglers in the field stay at hotels and campgrounds, caught five bass today that weighed 17 pounds, 8 ounces and maintained the lead for the second straight day.

Cobb’s two-day total of 37-1 puts him just ahead of second-place Georgia pro Micah Frazier (35-12) and Florida angler Drew Cook, who caught a tournament-best limit of 20-6 in today’s second round and rose from 25th place to third with a two-day mark of 34-10.

“Yesterday, I ran around a little bit more and fished some different areas, and I didn’t catch as many as I expected,” said Cobb, who took the opening-round lead Thursday with 19-9. “So, I (mostly) stayed in one area today.”

Heavy rains fell on Lake Hartwell during the first few hours of fishing today, and it seemed to change the way the bass bit for the former Clemson University bass angler. Cobb relied heavily on boat docks for his first-round catch, but only caught small fish off of docks today.

Fortunately for him, one of the final bass he caught today was a 5-7 spawning largemouth that made the difference between maintaining the lead and starting Saturday’s semifinal round playing catchup.

“I caught that fish off of the bed,” Cobb said. “It only took about four casts, so I was pretty fortunate. That was the last fish I culled with.”

As for sleeping in his own bed — and fishing a lake he grew up on while others in the 74-angler field have traveled from far-away locales like Oregon, Texas, and Australia — Cobb said it’s a rare treat.

“It’s so nice,” he said. “I go home, and my wife will either have dinner ready or we grill something. It’s been nice staying at home. You sleep better, too.

“Now, I just need to keep finding that big bite every day.”

Frazier has stayed on Cobb’s heels by using bits and pieces of several patterns each day. Today, he benefited heavily from a pocket he discovered while competing in the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods on Lake Hartwell.

“I didn’t practice there, and I didn’t fish it yesterday either,” said Frazier, a three-time Classic qualifier. “Today, I ran back in there and caught a big one on a boat dock. Then on the other side of the pocket, I caught one that was about 3 1/2 pounds.

“I’ll definitely make a pass through there tomorrow.”

Beyond that, with greatly increased boat traffic expected Saturday, Frazier said he isn’t certain what he’ll do.

“I’ve caught them doing a few different things this week,” he said. “But there’s just not enough of that stuff left, and I’m going to have to go somewhere else.

“That’s a risk, but I really have to do it because I’ve caught all there is around where I’ve been fishing.”

Cook turned in the only 20-pound limit of the event so far by targeting shallow-spawning bass. He caught every fish he weighed in by sight fishing.

“In practice, I thought I could have 17 to 19 pounds one day of this tournament,” Cook said. “I thought it would happen yesterday and then things would fall off today.

“But today, with the rain and the clouds and everything, a lot of people stayed off the banks and weren’t trolling over the tops of the fish — and that helped tremendously.”

A warm evening and a more favorable forecast for Saturday and Sunday has Cook feeling optimistic for the rest of the event.

“I was able to find about 10 more fish this afternoon that I left for tomorrow,” Cook said. “I know there will be a lot more boat traffic, but hopefully everything will pan out.”

Illinois pro Chris Groh took the lead for the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award with a largemouth that weighed 5-13.

The Top 35 pros will resume fishing Saturday with takeoff scheduled for 7 a.m. ET from Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson and weigh-in back at the same site at 3:15 p.m. After Saturday’s round, only the Top 10 will advance to Championship Sunday with a shot at the $100,000 first-place prize.

On Saturday and Sunday, a special Elite Expo will be held at Green Pond Landing with demo rides of a Nitro, Skeeter and Triton boats, prizes from Toyota and Academy Sports + Outdoors, fun activities at the Berkley/Abu Garcia Experience trailer and activities offered by other Elite Series sponsors.

On Saturday from 1-3 p.m., fans can get autographs and take photos with Elite Series pros at Angler Alley. The pros will also be holding Elite Angler Clinics from 1-3 p.m., giving tips on all things bass fishing.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Photo courtesy of BASS

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail has visited Lake St. Clair six times since the early 1990s, including twice for high-stakes Elite Series events.

But the stakes have never been higher than they’ll be when the trail returns to the massive 275,000-acre fishery in late September.

B.A.S.S. officials announced today that Lake St. Clair will serve as the host venue for the 2019 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship on Sept. 26-29. The tournament, which carries a whopping $1 million total purse, will decide the 2019 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year winner, the 2019 DICK’S Sporting Goods Rookie of the Year and the bulk of the lineup for the 2020 Bassmaster Classic.

“B.A.S.S. has had some great events at Lake St. Clair, and the people there have always been enthusiastic and supportive fans,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “This has already been one of the most exciting years we’ve ever had on the Bassmaster Elite Series, and I can’t think of a better place for it to end than on a great smallmouth fishery like St. Clair.”

The hosts for the event will be the County of Macomb and the Sterling Heights Regional Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Takeoffs and weigh-ins will be held at Lake St. Clair Metropark — and they’ll once again feature the party atmosphere that fans have come to expect from the Elite Series’ season-ending celebration.

Anglers will compete Thursday and Friday, Sept. 26-27, and then have an off-day built around interaction with fishing fans on Saturday, and conclude the championship on Sunday. Saturday’s activities will include an Outdoors Expo with merchandise, food and drink vendors and sponsor activations and promotions. Elite anglers will provide seminars revealing their best bass fishing techniques, and they’ll be available to sign autographs, mingle with fans and talk fishing.

“Between now and the 2020 Bassmaster Classic, B.A.S.S. is celebrating the ‘Year of the Fan,’” Akin said. “We’ll be doing special things to show appreciation for our fans throughout that time, and we’ll certainly be doing plenty during the AOY Championship.

“Obviously, the tournament and the crowning of a new AOY champion will be the main attraction at Lake St. Clair. But there will also be a festival with music, barbecue and fun things for everyone who attends.”

Anglers will be allowed to fish Lake St. Clair and all rivers, creeks and canals connected to the lake. Anglers will not be allowed to travel south of the Ambassador Bridge Highway 3 in the Detroit River or north of the I-94 bridges in the St. Clair and Black rivers, according to B.A.S.S. Tournament Director Trip Weldon.

The AOY standings change throughout the season, with anglers earning points each time they fish a regular-season Bassmaster Elite Series event. Only the Top 50 from the 75-angler Elite Series field will qualify for the AOY Championship, where they’ll have a chance to win the 50th AOY title ever awarded by B.A.S.S. and the $100,000 paycheck that goes with it.

The history of the award dates back to 1970 when the first AOY trophy was won by bass fishing superstar Bill Dance. Since then, legends of the sport like Jimmy Houston, Hank Parker, Davy Hite, Rick Clunn and Roland Martin have all earned the title. Martin won the crown an amazing nine times.

Canadian pro Chris Johnston grabbed the early lead in this year’s AOY standings after finishing second in the Elite Series opener on the St. Johns River in Florida and 10th in the event that followed at Georgia’s Lake Lanier. With a points total of 190, Johnston is followed in the standings by Scott Canterbury of Alabama (182), Lee Livesay of Texas (181) and Patrick Walters of South Carolina (176).

Walters said the AOY title is something every bass fisherman dreams about.

“This is my first season on the Elite Series — and from the moment I knew I was going to be fishing here, my goal was to win AOY,” Walters said. “That’s it. It doesn’t get any better than that in bass fishing. If I win Angler of the Year, the Rookie of the Year title will take care of itself.”

In addition to deciding the various season championship races and 39 berths for the Classic, the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship will award $25,000 and an Elite Series trophy to the angler who has the heaviest total weight for the three-day competition.

“The Bassmaster Elite Series is a year-long race to determine the best bass angler on tour,” Akin said. “Fans can witness the culmination of all that at the AOY Championship.”

B.A.S.S. also announced the dates of its first-ever “makeup tournament,” which will only take place if one of the nine regular-season Elite events has to be canceled this year. In the event that might happen, anglers, staff, sponsors and others have been asked to set aside the weekend prior to AOY — Sept. 19-22 — to make up any canceled tournament.

ANDERSON, S.C. — Photo courtesy of BASS

When Brandon Cobb realized the bass might be spawning for this week’s Bassmaster Elite at Lake Hartwell, he grimaced just a little bit.

Cobb is a South Carolina native who grew up fishing Hartwell, and he knows things about the lake that others don’t. He was afraid the spring spawn would bring the bass into clear view for the entire field, neutralizing his home-field advantage.

Turns out, they are spawning.

But so far, his advantage seems to be intact.

Cobb brought five bass to the scales today that weighed 19 pounds, 9 ounces and took the Day 1 lead at the third Elite Series event of the season. He has a 2-pound advantage over North Carolina pro Hank Cherry and Georgia pro Micah Frazier, who each caught 17-9.

“There are a lot of fish on bed out here right now,” Cobb said. “But I know what this lake looks like when there’s an all-out spawn going on, and it’s just not happening.

“There have been some fish caught on beds, and there will be some more caught off the beds. But judging from today and from what I saw in practice, the spawn is not in full swing.”

Cobb said he caught a couple of bass on spawning nests himself today, but he also caught prespawn and postspawn fish.

His experience on the lake played a big role in his first-round success — just as he’d hoped it would.

“I didn’t really have a specific pattern today,” said Cobb, a former member of the Clemson University bass fishing team who holds a degree in wildlife and fisheries biology. “I basically just ran a lot of stuff where I’ve caught them in the past. Since practice was so bad, I just fished a lot of stuff I was familiar with.”

Just as Cobb wouldn’t offer specific details about how he caught his bass, Cherry was vague about how he ended up in second place. The seventh-year Elite Series pro weighed in four solid largemouth and one impressive shoal bass that weighed just over 3 pounds.

“I sight fished a little bit,” Cherry said. “I threw a wacky worm around a little bit. Then I did some damage later on in the day, doing what I do best.”

He wouldn’t elaborate on his final point, but he was obviously pleased with his results.

“That shoal bass was one of the biggest ones I’ve ever caught,” Cherry said. “I caught three of those today. It was just a good day all the way around.”

After what he described as “terrible practice,” Frazier said he tried some new areas today and found what he believed to be prespawn bass. He used the popular term “junk fishing” to describe the conglomeration of tactics he used.

“I caught some sight fishing, some on topwater and one or two on a dock,” Frazier said. “It was just ‘Junk Fishing 101,’ but that’s what you do here sometimes because there are a lot of ways to catch them on this lake.”

The tournament could take an interesting turn during Friday’s second round with a strong band of storms expected to hit the Lake Hartwell area around sunrise. Winds and heavy rains could make it nearly impossible for anglers to fish for the few bass that are spawning in shallow water.

A steadily falling lake level could take the spawning element even further out of the equation.

“The weather is not going to let us do any sight fishing tomorrow, and I kind of threw that out the window today already,” said North Carolina pro Matt Arey, who placed fourth with 16-15. “We’ll just change it up tomorrow. I was slow and methodical today, and I’ll probably pick up a few more moving baits tomorrow.”

Mississippi pro Brock Mosley took the early lead for the Phoenix Boats Big Bass award with a largemouth that weighed 5-9.

The tournament will resume Friday with takeoff at 7 a.m. ET from Green Pond Landing and Event Center and weigh-in back at the same site at 3:15 p.m. Only the Top 35 anglers will advance after Friday’s round.