Day: January 6, 2020, The National Angler

BROOKELAND, TEXAS – The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine opened competition Saturday at the historic Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Brookeland, Texas, and featured a record-setting field size – 230 boaters and 230 co-anglers. The season opener, the largest field in more than 20 years, left with multiple anglers left on the waiting list.

Boater Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, Louisiana, caught the largest five-bass limit of the day (weighing 20 pounds 8 ounces) to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Cowboy division presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps opener. Lasyone earned $6,000 for his efforts.

“It feels great to get the win against a field like this in the first event of the year,” said Lasyone, who earned his third career victory on Sam Rayburn in FLW competition. “I was basically fishing grass in three to five feet of water early, then I went shallow and finished out my day.”

Lasyone said he caught most of his fish on a Rat-L-Trap and a V&M Lures swimbait with a Lazyman weighted swimbait hook. He also added a few keepers with a Yamamoto Senko.

Here are Kevin's winning lures

“I think the key to my victory was all of the time that I have spent on Rayburn over the years,” Lasyone went on to say. “The big ones really seemed to pull up when the sun came out, and they were up pretty shallow. I was fishing water that was only about knee deep, but it had to have grass.”

The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:

1st: Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La., five bass, 20-8, $6,000

2nd: Derek Mundy of Broaddus, Texas, five bass, 18-12, $3,000

3rd: Andre Martin of Lena, La., five bass, 17-15, $2,000

4th: Phil Marks of Dallas, Texas, five bass, 17-14, $1,400

5th: River Lee of Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 16-15, $1,200

6th: Randy Quin of Huffman, Texas, five bass, 16-12, $1,100

7th: Rylon Ganey of Pineville, La., five bass, 16-10, $1,000

8th: Skeeter Fowler of Grand Saline, Texas, five bass, 16-6, $900

9th: James Allen Pruitt of Houston, Texas, five bass, 15-13, $800

10th: Judah Morris of Forest Hill, La., five bass, 15-9, $665

10th: Ryan Pinkston of Center, Texas, five bass, 15-9, $665

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Mason Kellett of Kingston, Oklahoma, won the Boater Big Bass award of $1,000 after bringing a largemouth bass weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces to the scale.

Jaden Parrish of Liberty, Texas, won the Co-angler Division and $3,000 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds even.

The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:

1st: Jaden Parrish of Liberty, Texas, five bass, 15-0, $3,000

2nd: Larry Lovell of Emory, Texas, five bass, 14-12, $1,500

3rd: Todd Fontenot of Lake Charles, La., five bass, 13-12, $1,000

4th: Cannon Rush of Midlothian, Texas, five bass, 13-11, $700

5th: Chase Crawford of Kingwood, Texas, five bass, 12-13, $600

6th: Lindy Hadley of Sam Rayburn, Texas, five bass, 12-5, $550

7th: Antwon Harris of DeRidder, La., five bass, 12-3, $500

8th: Lat Nichols of Deport, Texas, four bass, 12-2, $425

8th: Brandon Ackerson of Afton, Okla., five bass, 12-2, $425

10th: Juan Barrientos of Clarksville, Ark., five bass, 12-1, $350

Clark Moore of Nacogdoches, Texas, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 5 pounds, 15 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $500.

Phoenix Boats, title sponsor of the Bass Fishing League, announced a lucrative new FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program designed to reward Phoenix Boats owners for their performance in FLW events. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $7,000 per event in each Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Cowboy Division based on point standings, along with the five winners of each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 22-24 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new 18-foot Phoenix bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new 18-foot Phoenix bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard.

The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 128 tournaments throughout the season, five qualifying events in each division. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers from each division, along with the five winners of the qualifying events, will advance to one of six regional tournaments where they are competing to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American.

The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American will be held April 30 through May 2 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina. The top 45 boaters and co-anglers plus tournament winners from each Phoenix Bass Fishing League division earn priority entry into the FLW Series, the pathway to the FLW Pro Circuit and ultimately the MLF Bass Pro Tour, where top pros compete with no entry fees.

NEW BASSFORCE APP INTERPRETS FISHING’S GREATEST MINDS

DALLAS (JAN. 6, 2020) – A group of tournament bass fishing’s greatest minds have collaborated to introduce a powerful new app called BassForce, a virtual command center that interprets existing conditions to provide real time solutions to on-the-spot fishing scenarios.

While BassForce’s technology is called artificial intelligence, there’s nothing artificial about the vast knowledge from which the application software pulls to benefit anglers of all skill levels.

The program’s more than a quarter million data points reflect the personal situational input strategies of nine of pro bass fishing’s finest: Jason Christie, Edwin Evers, Alton Jones, Aaron Martens, Brandon Palaniuk, Skeet Reese, Gerald Swindle, Kevin VanDam and Jacob Wheeler.

This BassForce team represents nearly 200 years of combined on-the-water experience, whose collective truckload of trophies from across the country speaks volumes about their proven abilities to quickly size-up waters to produce effective patterns for the conditions at hand.

“One constant in bass fishing is, it’s always changing,” said Alton Jones, the Texas-based longtime pro who spawned the development of the app out of his own frustrations. “For example, anyone who’s fished much has witnessed a strong bite evaporate in a blink of the eye. Was it because the bass got stubborn, simply turned off or moved altogether?

“Whatever the reason or challenge, it seems someone always makes the right adjustments to catch them and that’s what this app is all about. It’s kinda like having KVD, Christie and the other guys right there in the boat with you to coach through the big decisions,” he said.

BassForce’s technology provides a computer science approach to predicting the best solutions to the seemingly endless possible fishing combinations by matching the pros’ proven experiences for success to the specific conditions the app user is facing.

“My most common questions at seminars are the ‘what if” kind,” explained Oklahoma pro Jason Christie. “What if the water is falling fast, or what if a cold front hits on tournament day, or what if the bass are striking short? And sometimes it’s the same thing I find myself wondering … what are the other guys doing right now to catch them? BassForce pulls from a wealth of knowledge to help deliver a lot of right answers.”

And BassForce is easy to use regardless of app experience. A series of prompts guide the way through the selections – including fish stage, water, cover and weather (current or forecasted weather for the location can be imported) conditions – based on what’s being experienced at the time. A summary view allows a quick check of entered information, and it all can be saved and named for later reference anytime with a single click.

Jones said BassForce is a tool that can get anglers in to a fish-catching zone quickly with what to do, right down to specific lure brands, models and colors to use. He cited a recent Lake Falcon (Texas) outing to make his point.

“I was fishing standing timber and catching a few quality bass on YUM soft plastics when I decided to see what the other BassForce pros had to offer.

“Aaron Martens recommended a flutter spoon, which surprised me for this setting and compelled me to try it. Sure enough, the spoon delivered right away and produced one of my biggest bass of the trip,” Jones said.

BassForce is available in two subscription options, either standard or premium. Standard provides access to one pro of choice, at a cost of $9.99 per month. A premium subscription gives total access to all nine BassForce pros, and costs $19.99 per month.

With the premium subscription, the user gets the Top 5 lure recommendations for each pro and also includes the Premium Match function. Premium Match shows the consensus lure choice among all of the BassForce pros, providing yet another way to get dialed in really fast on particular situations.

“No doubt BassForce shortens the learning curve for all bass anglers, and it can also definitely get a lot more of us thinking outside of the box,” offered Kevin VanDam. “I take great pride in learning something new every time I’m on the water, and many times it comes in the form of a lesson by what another pro did to catch them when I wasn’t … there’s no shame in learning. We’re constantly evolving, tweaking and changing our game plans because that’s the nature of our sport.”

On that note, both standard and premium BassForce subscribers have access to the app’s innovative Game Plan feature, which allows users to customize their fishing plans for the day according to pro input and available lure option information.

BassForce is available now to IOS devices, but also coming soon to Android. For more information about the app’s pros, features and technology, visit BassForceFishing.com.