Author: jcarrigan

ANDERSON, S.C. (Nov. 13, 2020) – Boater Chris Macy of Diamond, Missouri, won the 37^th annual Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American on Lake Hartwell presented by TINCUP Friday, bringing a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce. Macy’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 34-10 was enough to overtake second-place angler Todd Goade of White Pine, Tennessee – who led the event after the second day of competition – by a 2-pound, 4-ounce margin. For the win, Macy earned the top payout of $100,000.

“This is unbelievable – going in to today, I really didn’t think I had a shot at it,” said Macy, who qualified for this tournament through the Bass Fishing League Ozark Division. “I went out this morning and thought that if I could catch 10 pounds, I’d be happy. When you make it to the last day, you kind of look at the payscale and you know that every spot you can hold or move up is another thousand bucks in your pocket. My goal was just to hang in there.

“I stumbled on to something around 1 o’clock this afternoon, and it absolutely went crazy from there,” Macy continued. “On the LiveScope, I would watch my swimbait come across the brush piles and if I could get the fish to follow it, I would kill it and let that swimbait go straight to the bottom. Every one of those fish would nose down on it, and as soon as I popped that swimbait up off the bottom, they would eat it every time.”

Macy said that of the 15 keepers he brought to the weigh-in stage this week, 14 of them came on a Keitech 2.8-inch swimbait in Tennessee Shad and Sexy Shad colors. He credited his electronics as being crucial to his win.

“Every fish that I caught came off of a brush pile,” Macy said. “My Garmin LiveScope was crucial. Every fish that I caught this week, I watched it bite. Most of the water I fished was 20- to 30-feet-deep, and if I could get the fish sitting up on top of the brush piles, it was game on.

“Overall, it has just been a super three days,” Macy went on to say. “I was just so happy to be fishing on the third day of the All-American, and I knew that if I could put a big one in the bag today that anything could happen. When it’s your time, it’s your time and today was just my day.”

The top 10 boaters on Lake Hartwell finished:

            1^st:       Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo., 15 bass, 34-10, $100,000
            2^nd:      Todd Goade, White Pine, Tenn., 15 bass, 32-6, $20,000
            3^rd:       Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 31-11, $15,000
            4^th:       Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 15 bass, 31-7, $21,000
            5^th:       Bryan Dowdy, Florence, Ala., 15 bass, 30-7, $18,000
            6^th:       Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 28-1, $12,000
            7^th:       Randall Allen, Owens Cross Roads, Ala., 15 bass, 27-11, $12,000
            8^th:       Kip Carter, Mansfield, Ga., 15 bass, 27-11, $10,000
            9^th:       Dustin Lippe, Lampe, Mo., 12 bass, 25-11, $9,000
            10^th:     Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 13 bass, 23-11, $8,000

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Overall, there were 45 bass weighing 77 pounds, 5 ounces, caught by the final 10 boaters Friday. The catch included eight five-bass limits.

Justin Kimmel of Athens, Georgia, won the co-angler division and $50,000 Friday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 26 pounds, 9 ounces, followed by Larry Rothweil of Saint Charles, Missouri, in second place with 12 bass weighing 22-2, good for $10,000.

The top 10 co-anglers finished:

            1^st:       Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., 14 bass, 26-9, $50,000
            2^nd:      Larry Rothweil, St. Charles, Mo., 12 bass, 22-2, $10,000
            3^rd:       Kibbee McCoy, Knoxville, Tenn., 12 bass, 19-14, $6,000
            4^th:       David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla., 13 bass, 19-6, $5,000
            5^th:       Dalton Steele, Cherokee, Ala., 10 bass, 18-5, $4,500
            6^th:       Cole Sands, Calhoun, Tenn., 12 bass, 17-11, $4,000
            7^th:       Andrew Wiley, Joppa, Md., 13 bass, 17-7, $3,500
            8^th:       Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill., 13 bass, 16-13, $3,000
            9^th:       Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C., 11 bass, 16-2, $3,000
            10^th:     Kerry Harris, Bethel Island, Calif., 11 bass, 16-1, $2,000

Overall, there were 30 bass weighing 40 pounds, 6 ounces, caught by the final 10 co-anglers Friday. The catch included two five-bass limits.

In addition to the cash payouts, the highest-finishing boater and co-angler from each of six Regional Championships, the Wild Card Championship and The Bass Federation (TBF) National Championship at the All-American now advance to the 2020 Toyota Series Championship next month on Lake Cumberland for a shot at winning $235,000 and $33,500, respectively.

The eight boaters and co-anglers that now advance to the 2020 Toyota Series Championship are:

Region 1 (Lake Hartwell) Boater Champion: Todd Goade, White Pine, Tenn.
Region 2 (Lake Seminole) Boater Champion: Randall Allen, Owens Cross Roads, Ala.
Region 3 (Kentucky-Barkley lakes) Boater Champion: Kerry Frey, Middlebury, Ind.
Region 4 (Potomac River) Boater Champion: Bradford Beavers, Summerville, S.C.
Region 5 (Lake Guntersville) Boater Champion: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio
Region 6 (Grand Lake) Boater Champion: Chris Macy, Diamond, Mo.
WildCard (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Bryan Dowdy, Florence, Ala.
TBF (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Blake Wilson, Benton, Ark.

Region 1 (Lake Hartwell) Boater Champion: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga.
Region 2 (Lake Seminole) Boater Champion: Jeff Rikard, Leesville, S.C.
Region 3 (Kentucky-Barkley lakes) Boater Champion: David Blankinship, Cushing, Okla.
Region 4 (Potomac River) Boater Champion: Mark Blankenship, Christiansburg, Va.
Region 5 (Lake Guntersville) Boater Champion: Dalton Steele, Cherokee, Ala.
Region 6 (Grand Lake) Boater Champion: Larry Rothweil, Saint Charles, Mo.
WildCard (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill.
TBF (Kentucky Lake) Boater Champion: Andrew Wiley, Joppa, Md.

Hosted by Visit Anderson, the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American on Lake Hartwell presented by TINCUP featured a field of the top 55 boaters and 55 co-anglers from across the 24-division Bass Fishing League, TBF, Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI and High School Fishing presented by Favorite Fishing.

Television coverage of the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American presented by TINCUP will premiere Jan. 2, 2021, on the Outdoor Channel, Jan. 4, 2021, on the World Fishing Network and be featured in the FLW television series on YouTube.com/FLWFishing. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe.

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. (Nov. 8, 2020) – Major League Fishing (MLF) pro Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 6 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series at Lake Seminole tournament in Bainbridge, Georgia. Poche’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46-6 earned him the win by a 9-ounce margin over second-place angler Mikey Keyso, Jr. of North Port, Florida, and earned Poche the top payout of $31,960 in the third and final regular-season tournament of the 2020 Toyota Series Southern Division.

“I love fishing Lake Seminole and I especially like running up the Flint River in those shoals and catching shoal bass,” Poche said. “I’ve got a 17-foot, 6-inch flat-bottom aluminum boat I use just for fishing such rivers in the southeast, but I only looked into fishing this tournament earlier this week, so I’m shocked at pulling the win.”

As a fulltime professional angler on the MLF Bass Pro Tour, Poche is no stranger to big time bass fishing events. Poche said what stunned him, however, was he had no intention of even fishing the Toyota Series on Seminole until Tuesday of last week. In fact, other than a few Phoenix Bass Fishing League events early in his career, and the recent Tackle Warehouse  Pro Circuit Super Tournaments, Poche had never fished either a Pro Circuit or a Toyota Series event.

Poche said he ran as far as nearly Newton, Georgia, on the first day of the event, but found the Flint to be higher and dirtier than he would like for shoal bass.

 “I realized pretty quickly that because of the fast current, it was a total reaction bite,” Poche said. “I opted to drift down the river with the current, pitching a Berkley PowerBait Pit Boss in green pumpkin, teamed with a 3/8-ounce weight, tied to Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon to any current breaks caused by bank cuts, cypress trees, logs or rocks. The fish were holed up in the current breaks and they would bite as soon as it hit the water and started to fall.”

On day one, Poche weighed in all largemouths for 17 pounds, 14 ounces and settled in third place, behind Jared McMillan and Jason Smith. 

On day two, Poche ran some 35 to 40 miles up the river again, but said his quick pitch program died.

“I went like 3 hours without catching one,” he said. “So I changed up a little bit and started throwing a 3/8-ounce Humdinger Spinnerbait to main river rocks breaking current. That produced a couple of keeper shoal bass.”

Poche said he only had three bass in his livewell when he got back down towards Bainbridge. Needing to make something happen, he bumped over a shallow sandbar to access a backwater slough. Once in the slough, he caught a 4-pound largemouth and a couple more keepers on the spinnerbait.

“Looking back on the tournament, that 4-pounder on Friday is probably what won the tournament for me,” he recalled. “I had struggled all day and that one saved me.”

Poche started the final day some 6 pounds behind the leader and headed far north on the Flint again.

“It was sort of like day one again,” he said. “They were biting the Pit Boss as soon as it hit the water. I started to catch some better ones as the day went on and even added a nice shoal bass to top off my limit. By the end of the day, I was knocking on the door of the 15-pound range.”

Poche said it wasn’t until the final fish was weighed that he learned most of the top-10 had struggled and his consistent limits each day put him on top.

“I was happy to have made the top 10 and fish up there another day,” Poche said. “I figured I might stay in the top five with my catch and get a decent check for the week. But to win this thing? Man, I’m still a little shocked. It’s crazy how it all worked out.”

The top 10 pros on Lake Seminole finished:

            1^st:       Keith Poche of Pike Road, Ala., 15 bass, 46-6, $31,960

            2^nd:      Mikey Keyso, Jr. of North Port, Fla., 15 bass, 45-9, $12,191

            3^rd:       Bryan New of Belmont, N.C., 15 bass, 44-11, $9,438

            4^th:       Jared McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 44-7, $7,865

            5^th:       Dillon McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 43-0, $7,179

            6^th:       Jim Murray, Jr., Leesburg, Ga., 15 bass, 42-9, $6,292

            7^th:       Jason S. Smith of Dawson, Ga., 13 bass, 35-14, $5,505

            8^th:       Santos Solis of Vero Beach, Fla., 13 bass, 34-3, $5,719

            9^th:       Gary Milicevic of Labelle, Fla., 11 bass, 32-14, $3,932

            10^th:     Corey Smith of Clermont, Fla., 10 bass, 29-2, $3,247

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

Solis took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX 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 FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Ricky Grant of Inverness, Florida, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 33 pounds even. Grant took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers on Lake Seminole finished:

            1^st:       Ricky Grant of Inverness, Fla., 14 bass, 33-0, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp outboard

            2^nd:      Spencer Howerton of Melbourne Beach, Fla., 11 bass, 27-9, $3,983

            3^rd:       J.P. Sims of Port St. Lucie, Fla., 12 bass, 24-2, $3,186

            4^th:       Wyatt Frankens of Corrigan, Texas, nine bass, 23-0, $2,788

            5^th:       John Riddling of Melrose, Fla., 13 bass, 22-13, $2,390

            6^th:       Todd Beaver of Richland, Ga., nine bass, 21-14, $1,991

            7^th:       James Brooks of Inverness, Fla., 10 bass, 21-1, $1,593

            8^th:       Aaron Gengler of Lakeland, Fla., 13 bass, 20-10, $1,394

            9^th:       Dan Ehmen of Rockford, Ill., 10 bass, 19-14, $1,195

            10^th:     Blaine Partee of Oviedo, Fla., eight bass, 16-14, $996

The Toyota Series at Lake Seminole was hosted by the Bainbridge Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the third and final tournament in 2020 for Southern Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on Dec. 3-5 – the 2020 Toyota Series Championship at Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The 2020 Toyota Series consists of eight divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern, Plains, Southeastern, 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 Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 FLW PHOENIX Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2020 Toyota Series Championship will be held Dec. 3-5 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.

BROOKELAND, Texas (Oct. 19, 2020) – Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, Louisiana, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir tournament in Brookeland, Texas. Johnson’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 54-14 earned him the win by an 11-ounce margin over second-place angler Blake Schroeder of Whitehouse, Texas, and earned Johnson the top payout of $31,751 in the third and final tournament of the 2020 Toyota Series Southwestern Division.

Johnson said he won the tournament fishing entirely around shallow hydrilla with a modified square-bill crankbait. Hanging in the mid-lake for the most part, in 3 to 6 feet, he targeted clumpier sections of the grass.

“Typically, I would run it over the top or over the side,” said Johnson of his presentation. “The bait comes through pretty good, so I’ll run it over the top and to the side, pop it, stop it, twitch it, just the normal erratic stuff to try to get a reaction. There were times when I would twitch it over a clump, and then reel it fast when I got it over the other side of the clump. Every day I had probably 10 that would try to get it and just wouldn’t get it, but that’s just part of it.”

Fishing a discontinued bait that he modified with a custom color scheme, a red treble hook on the front and a filed-down bill, Johnson knew he had a good thing going.

“I have a lot of confidence in that bait,” said Johnson. “I won a two-day tournament a few years ago here with it and I know what it will do if you stay with it, so I never put it down. I threw a ChatterBait maybe 10 times and then I cut it off and put on a crankbait. I just had to stick with it.”

Johnson said he started mid-lake on days one and two, then ran more isolated places that brought him all the way north of the TX-147 bridge. He said the presence or lack of wind was key for him every day.

“Today it blew so hard, and they were biting really good in one of my main places, so I never left,” said Johnson. “Every other day, I would run and hit a couple of small patches here and there, and yesterday I did that and caught my biggest fish out of a little clump. Today, I never left, and at 2:10 I culled a 2-pounder with a 3½-pounder, and that’s what won the event.”

Johnson won a Bassmaster Open on Kentucky Lake in 2008, but this is his biggest win with FLW by far. Oddly enough, it comes after he literally zeroed in the recent Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFL) Super Tournament on Rayburn.

“I found these fish for the BFL, and I caught none of them,” said Johnson. “However, God has a plan, and this tournament worked out. It feels great – it’s been a little while since I’ve been in the winner’s seat – so it’s good to be back. I’m very fortunate and very grateful – these are hard to win.”

The top 10 pros on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

            1^st:       Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, La., 15 bass, 54-14, $31,751

            2^nd:      Blake Schroeder of Whitehouse, Texas, 15 bass, 54-3, $12,303

            3^rd:       Nick LeBrun of Bossier City, La., 15 bass, 45-15, $9,525

            4^th:       Chris McCall of Palmer, Texas, 15 bass, 44-13, $7,938

            5^th:       Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas, 15 bass, 42-1, $7,144

            6^th:       Tim Reneau of Richland Springs, Texas, 15 bass, 41-15, $6,350

            7^th:       Kenneth Cates of Zavalla, Texas, 15 bass, 41-12, $5,556

            8^th:       Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 41-4, $4,763

            9^th:       Cole Moore of Anacoco, La., 14 bass, 40-4, $4,969

            10^th:     Justin O’Brian Cooper of Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 39-4, $3,175

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

Moore took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX 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 FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.

Anthony Templeton of Beckville, Texas won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 28 pounds, 3 ounces. Templeton took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir finished:

            1^st:       Anthony Templeton of Beckville, Texas, 12 bass, 28-3, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp

outboard

            2^nd:      Micheal Sharp of Argyle, Texas, 10 bass, 24-14, $4,057

            3^rd:       Todd Childs of Waxahachie, Texas, seven bass, 23-2, $3,314

            4^th:       Grayson Honeycutt of Temple, Texas, 12 bass, 21-5, $2,840

            5^th:       Kayden Tanner of Millsap, Texas, 10 bass, 20-15, $2,434

            6^th:       David Keith of Haughton, La., 10 bass, 20-13, $2,029

            7^th:       Donny Davis of Livingston, La., 10 bass, 20-12, $1,623

            8^th:       Timothy Cooper of Pelican, La., 10 bass, 19-15, $1,420

            9^th:       Aaron Freeman of Montgomery, Texas, 10 bass, 18-2, $1,217

            10^th:     Randy Pewthers of Pearland, Texas, seven bass, 16-6, $1,014

The Toyota Series at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir was hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce. It was the third of three regular-season tournaments in 2020 for Southwestern Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will take place on Oct. 29-31 with the Toyota Series at Dale Hollow Lake in Monroe, Tennessee. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The 2020 Toyota Series consists of eight divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern, Plains, Southeastern, 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 Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 FLW PHOENIX Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2020 Toyota Series Championship will be held Dec. 3-5 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.