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MLF BIG-5

Smith Wins Toyota Series Event on Lake Dardanelle Presented by Fenwick

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (May 10, 2021) – Toyota Series angler Kirk Smith of Edmond, Oklahoma, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. at Lake Dardanelle Presented by Fenwick in Russellville, Arkansas. Mundy’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51-3 earned him the win by a 6-pound margin over second-place angler Zach King of Clarksville, Arkansas, and earned Smith the top payout of $36,104 in the third and final tournament of the 2021 Toyota Series Plains Division.

Smith said he considers himself an offshore and electronics geek, a combo that helped him blow it out on Lake Dardanelle. While the majority of the field’s success seemed to go up and down throughout the event, Smith had a pattern like no one else that allowed him to lay off early the first two days and still be leading by an ounce.

Saturday, he finally got to show off what that pattern could do, bringing in 19 pounds, 15 ounces – the second-largest bag of the event – to blow away the field by 6 pounds with a 51-3 total.

“I never knew what I had (with my pattern), because I was letting up on on Days 1 and 2,” said Smith. “That final day, I absolutely unleashed the fury on them and just mashed them as hard as I could. Even I’m impressed with what I had.”

In practice, Smith said he was trying to find secret backwaters like many other pros, but it just wasn’t happening. Yet, while idling out of a pocket he inadvertently found something most people came across but simply overlooked.

“I was watching my side-imaging and noticed this little underwater point of grass and that’s when it all started,” said Smith. “I threw a waypoint on it and said, ‘huh, that looks good,’ but I didn’t know exactly where it was. So, I got up on the trolling motor and realized it was 15-20 feet off the bank. That’s when a lightbulb went off. The guys were either on the bank or the guys offshore were way offshore, out too deep. I knew no one else would be fishing that.”

Fishing mainly in the Shoal Bay and Thompson Creek area, Smith found grass points, isolated stumps and isolated stumps with grass that were far off the bank but not deep, and were not getting hit by anyone else. Best of all, Smith said he realized on Day 3 those spots were reloading thanks to the falling water, so it was just a matter of precisely hitting them.

Much like pros do over open water, Smith said he’d get in an area and troll around while watching his electronics for stumps and isolated grass patches. When he saw one, and if he saw a fish on it, he could nearly call his shot tossing a prototype ½-ounce BOOYAH swim jig with a Zoom Super Chunk trailer (both black-and-blue).

“I’m not much of a swim jig guy,” says Smith. “I’m a ¾-ounce, 25-feet of water guy. But getting that bait down there and swimming it, getting kind of aggressive with it was a big, big thing.”
The results spoke for themselves, with Smith catching a limit before 9 a.m. all three days of the tournament.

“It’s been a magical week,” said Smith. “I was talking to a buddy from the Muddy Water Mob before the week. I told him I’m feeling warm and fuzzy about this tournament. I can’t explain it, because when I saw this tournament on the schedule this year … Lake of the Ozarks, I can compete. Grand Lake, I can compete. Dardanelle, I thought I could just survive. So, winning this is just amazing.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Dardanelle finished:
            1st:       Kirk Smith of Edmond, Okla., 15 bass, 51-3, $36,104
            2nd:      Zach King of Clarksville, Ark., 15 bass, 45-3, $13,409
            3rd:       Theron Caldwell of Decatur, Texas, 15 bass, 44-6, $10,381
            4th:       Bruce Parsons of Arbela, Mo., 15 bass, 38-7, $10,151
            5th:       Wayne Dixon of Morrilton, Ark., 15 bass, 37-12, $7,786
            6th:       Jeff Kriet of Ardmore, Okla., 15 bass, 37-0, $6,921
            7th:       Fred Roumbanis of Russellville, Ark., 15 bass, 35-13, $6,056
            8th:       Andy Newcomb of Camdenton, Mo., 14 bass, 35-5, $5,191
            9th:       Chip Hawkins of Little Rock, Ark., 12 bass, 34-9, $4,445
            10th:     BJ Miller of Adams, Neb., 10 bass, 28-12, $3,579

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.          

Chip Hawkins of Little Rock, Arkansas, took home an additional $119 for the Day One Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division, with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces. BJ Miller of Adams, Nebraska, won the Day Two Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division, bringing a 6-pound, 2-ounce bass to the scale.

Bruce Parsons of Arbela, Missouri, took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Michael Carter of Raytown, Missouri, won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 1 ounce. Carter took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Dardanelle finished:1st:       Michael Carter of Raytown, Mo., 10 bass, 26-1, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp outboard2nd:      Todd Brown of Bigelow, Ark., 11 bass, 25-7, $4,3943rd:       Derrick Damon of Clarksville, Ark., nine bass, 24-5, $3,5944th:       JP Northcutt of Grove, Okla., 10 bass, 24-5, $3,0765th:       Dewey Larson of Fayetteville, Ark., 11 bass, 22-15, $2,6366th:       Tyler Stuart of Manchester, Mo., 10 bass, 20-7, $2,1977th:       Mark Powers of Platteville, Colo., 11 bass, 19-7, $1,7578th:       Austin Ware of Willard, Mo., nine bass, 19-3, $1,538
9th:       Roscoe White, III of Rogers, Ark., six bass, 16-8, $1,318
10th:     Micheal Sharp of Calera, Okla., six bass, 14-13, $1,098
In the Strike King co-angler division, the $79 Day One Berkley Big Bass award winner was David Epema of Jefferson City, Missouri, with a 4-pound bass, 1-ounce bass, while the $79 Day Two award went to Derrick Damon of Clarksville, Arkansas, with a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass.

The Toyota Series at Lake Dardanelle was presented by Fenwick and was hosted by the Russellville Advertising and Promotion Commission. It was the third and final regular-season tournament in 2021 for Plains Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on May 13-15 – the Toyota Series at the California Delta in Oakley, California. For a complete schedule, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The 2021 Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. Anglers who fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard.

Categories
MLF BIG-5

Thliveros Wins Toyota Series Event on Lake Seminole

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. (May 10, 2021) – Toyota Series angler Nick Thliveros of St. Augustine, Florida, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 21 pounds, 13 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. at Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Georgia. Thliveros’ three-day total of 15 bass weighing 62-11 earned him the win by a 1-pound, 12-ounce margin over second-place angler Matt Baty of Bainbridge, Georgia, and earned Thliveros the top payout of $37,809 in the third and final tournament of the 2021 Toyota Series Southern Division.

Settling down in Spring Creek, Thliveros said he fished one 50-yard stretch all week.

“It’s something I’ve had some previous knowledge on but I’ve never really been here at the right time for it,” said Thliveros. “I’ve never been here far enough in the postspawn to make those fish get in the deeper water.

“It’s basically a sand spot with hydrilla on the edge. The water’s about 10-foot deep around it and the sand is in 15 feet of water. It’s a depression and today they were on the sand.”

The unique aspect of his area was that Thliveros was essentially fishing side-by-side the fourth-place finisher Braxton Clements all three days. The two fished different areas all week, though the areas were nearly a cast apart.

“I have to give a huge shoutout to Braxton,” Thliveros said. “You got to watch him because that boy can fish and he is first class. We were 40 yards apart every day. I didn’t know him, but that’s a good man right there. We worked together – he had his hole, I had mine. We’d congratulate each other on catching fish all week and in this sport you don’t see that often, so to be a part of it is amazing.”

Thliveros said dissecting the grass and sand was a repetitive and meticulous process the entire week. Getting bites early in the day helped to reinforce the fact that the tiny spot still had fish and gave him the confidence to keep grinding.

“I’ve never been in a situation where you can go to one spot and just catch ‘em all three days,” he said. “Today, I could see them on my down imaging and I backed off and it was awesome.”

Thliveros kept it simple and a bit old school with two worms of choice – a Strike King Cut-R Worm or a Strike King Anaconda worm rigged on a 3/16- or ¼-ounce  Bullet Weights Tactical Tungsten  weight. Though he tried other baits, Thliveros said the worm was his primary producer.

“My dad has, you know, 35 years in [tournament fishing on a worm], so I had a pretty good teacher,” he said. “He taught me how to drag a worm and that’s what it took this week.”

With his family cheering him on from the crowd, Thliveros was emotional on stage when his name was announced as champion.

“It’s been two years since my last win,” he said. “I won Okeechobee [2019] and I hadn’t cashed a check since the end of that year, but I came back on this one. I’ve got to thank my family and sponsors, because without y’all I wouldn’t be here. I’m speechless.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Seminole finished:
            1st:       Nick Thliveros of St. Augustine, Fla., 15 bass, 62-11, $37,809
            2nd:      Matt Baty of Bainbridge, Ga., 15 bass, 60-15, $15,651
            3rd:       Clint Brown of Bainbridge, Ga., 15 bass, 59-14, $11,343
            4th:       Braxton Clements of Donalson, Ga., 15 bass, 51-3, $9,452
            5th:       Joey Cifuentes of Clinton, Ark., 15 bass, 50-04, $8,507
            6th:       Brandon Classon, Sr. of Leesburg, Ga., 15 bass, 48-11, $7,562
            7th:       David Ellis of Crestview, Fla., 11 bass, 47-7, $6,617
            8th:       Anthony Ford of New Smyrna, Fla., 12 bass, 44-4, $5,671
            9th:       Nicholas Davico of Cantonment, Fla., 12 bass, 42-2, $4,726
            10th:     Terry Segraves of Kississimmee, Fla., 13 bass, 37-2, $3,781

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Cole Hewett of Orange Park, Florida, took home an additional $136 for the Day One Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division, with a bass weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces. Nolan Gaskin of Broussard, Louisiana, won the Day Two Berkley Big Bass award in the pro division, bringing an 6-pound, 12-ounce bass to the scale.

Pro Matt Baty of Bainbridge, Georgia, took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Stephen Draghi of Sparrowbush, New York won the Strike King Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 34 pounds, 6 ounces. Draghi took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard motor.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers on Lake Seminole finished:1st:       Stephen Draghi of Sparrowbush, N.Y., 13 bass, 34-6, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp outboard
2nd:      Joe Cifuentes of Clinton, Ark., 11 bass, 32-3, $4,762
3rd:       Allen Carter of Bainbridge, Ga., 13 bass, 31-5, $3,809
4th:       Brandon St. Pierre of Cape Coral, Fla., 12 bass, 28-7, $3,333
5th:       John Stahl of Land O’Lakes, Fla., 10 bass, 26-1, $2,947
6th:       Gary Haraguchi of San Jose, Calif., eight bass, 23-13, $2,381
7th:       Ronald Young of New Braunfels, Texas, eight bass, 21-9, $1,905
8th:       George Kapiton of Inverness, Fla., eight bass, 21-6, $1,667
9th:       John Ebbe of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc., seven bass, 20-7, $1,428
10th:     Mark Denney, Jr. of Perry, Ga., 10 bass, 19-0, $1,515
In the Strike King co-angler division, the $90 Day One Berkley Big Bass award winner was Charles Tucker of Eustis, Florida, with a 6-pound, 6-ounce bass, while the $90 Day Two award went to John Stahl of Land O’Lakes, Florida, with a 7-pound, 10-ounce bass.

The Toyota Series at Lake Seminole was hosted by the Bainbridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the third and final regular-season tournament in 2021 for Southern Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place May 13-15 – the Toyota Series at the California Delta in Oakley, California. For a complete schedule, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com .

The 2021 Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. consists of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. Anglers who fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 Phoenix MLF BIG5 Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning Strike King co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard.

Categories
Major League Fishing - Bass Pro Tour/Cup Events

Find Out How Takahiro Omori Won the 2021 MLF USAA Patriot Cup Presented by Berkley

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (May 10, 2021) – Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Takahiro Omori of Tokyo, Japan, caught 16 bass totaling 35 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the Championship Round of the 2021 MLF USAA Patriot Cup Presented by Berkley in Kissimmee, Florida, which premiered Saturday on the Outdoor Channel. The win was the second MLF Cup win in as many years for the Japanese pro, who also claimed the 2020 Wiley X Summit Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches Title at Lake of the Ozarks.

Omori said that he did the bulk of his damage on two baits – an unnamed 1.5 squarebill crankbait and a vibrating jig with a swimbait trailer. He fished boat docks, around the bank and in pockets in 3- to 5-feet of water.

“I love shallow-cranking, and I was thinking the conditions were perfect for me,” Omori said. “The 1.5 did it for me. It’s my most trusted bait right now.

“In the final period I come into the back of the creek where the wind was blowing, and I said if this doesn’t happen right here, I’m done. But, it did.”

With two Cup wins under his belt, the veteran Japanese angler now knows that he can excel at the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format.

“I wasn’t that good in the beginning. It took me seven years to really understand this format, but now that I do, I love it,” Omori went on to say.

The final eight anglers at the 2021 USAA Patriot Cup Presented by Berkley in Kissimmee, Florida, finished:

                1st:          Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 16 bass, 35-11
                2nd:         Jared Lintner, Arroyo Grande, Calif., 15 bass, 33-8
                3rd:         Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 26-9
                4th:         Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 10 bass, 23-7
                5th:         Terry Scroggins, Palatka, Fla., 12 bass, 22-1
                6th:         John Murray, Spring City, Tenn., 11 bass, 19-8
                7th:         Mike Iaconelli, Runnemede, N.J., nine bass, 16-14
                8th:         Mark Rose, Wynne, Ala., nine bass, 15-1

Complete results along with photos from the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Wiggins caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a nice 8-pound, 9-ounce largemouth that came on a finesse worm.

Overall, there were 97 bass weighing 192 pounds, 11 ounces caught by the final eight pros during the Championship Round of competition on Lake Bellalago.

The 2021 21 USAA Patriot Cup Presented by Berkley was hosted by Experience Kissimmee and premiered on the Outdoor Channel as six, two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon debuting on April 3, 2021, and running through May 8, 2021.

All six episodes of the event are available for viewing on the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) streaming app.

The event was shot over six days in November 2020, in Kissimmee and featured 28 MLF pro anglers competing on three different fisheries across the region, including John’s Lake, Lake Toho and Lake Bellalago. The fisheries are unknown to the anglers – they do not learn where they are competing until they arrive to the launch ramp each morning of competition.

Categories
BASSMASTER Elite Series/Opens

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I caught two bass under a bridge right by the Gadsden City Boat Docks on a crankbait,” he said “I’m not a crankbait fisherman. It was about 11:30, and I only had two keepers at the time. But I caught a 2 1/2 there, and then two casts later, I caught a 5 1/4. I only got one more bite that day.

“When you get that kind of bite when you’re not supposed to, that let me know I had a chance to win. Stuff like that just doesn’t happen all the time.”

Logan didn’t divulge specifics on the crankbait, other than to say it’s specially painted, similar to a black/chartreuse combo.

“I keep that one in my hand around here,” he said. “It’s a confidence thing.”

Logan planned to fish down-lake from the start, but low water in that area made him choose otherwise. Each of the 20 bass he weighed was caught between Cove Creek and Minnesota Bend — both only a 10-minute run from the Gadsden City Boat Docks.

Mueller, meanwhile, went straight for the lower end of Neely Henry and found success. He seized the lead after Day 2 and was in second place going into Day 4, trailing Logan by just more than a pound. Mueller caught the heaviest bass of the tournament Monday, a 6-6 largemouth, but his 13-13 closing weight wasn’t enough to overtake Logan.

“My pattern went away today and I knew that would be the deal,” Mueller said. “I had to fish new water. I was able to catch some fish, and I had a good day. I’m glad at the way this turned out. As short as the morning bite was, I could have been sitting in sixth or seventh right now.”

Mueller caught his best bass, including the 6-6, on a Deps Evoke 2.0 squarebill crankbait (chartreuse/brown back). He earned an additional $2,000 for having the Phoenix Boats Big Bass on Day 4 and overall.

Alabama native Gerald Swindle caught the second-heaviest bag on Day 4 (a 15-0 limit) and finished third with 54-2 overall.

Mueller took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, and fourth-place finisher Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Logan earned $4,000 for winning while Christie claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Minnesota pro Seth Feider finished 12th in the derby and didn’t qualify for Championship Monday, but he still left Gadsden with a commanding lead in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. His season total of 525 points gives him a 41-point cushion over Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., (484) with three tournaments remaining.

Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss., is third with 464, followed by Brandon Palaniuk of Rathdrum, Idaho, with 462 and Christie with 457.

Bryan New of Belmont, N.C., is leading the Rookie of the Year standings with 372 points.

The City of Gadsden and the Greater Gadsden Area Tourism hosted the event.

HOTTEST NEW LURES FOR 2020

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Bass Pro Shops, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Marathon, Rapala

2021 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partner: AFTCO