Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is not the epicenter of the Snakehead introduction in Maryland or the USA. However, it is now the home to the biggest population of Northern Snakehead in the United States. The Potomac River was known for the largest population, however, the clear water of the shallows and the access for bow fishing has kept that population relatively in check. Blackwater was once a quiet and hidden gem of great fishing on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The locations of Snakehead were highly guarded and information was hard to come by. In late 2019, a study was published that brought light to the surge of the Northern Snakehead. Locals took that information with the loss of local populations of largemouth bass, white & yellow perch, and crappie. Now to help control the Northern Snakehead locals are giving up spots to catch quality and quantity of Northern Snakehead.
!!!PARKING UPDATE June 26th 2020!!!
Dorchester County has recently placed “NO PARKING” signs at all the popular shore locations. I have not confirmed the exact locations yet and will keep this updated. Just be careful before you drive to the county to fish for snakeheads.
WARNING – FISH AT YOUR OWN RISK INSIDE THE REFUGE AND MAKE
SURE YOU UNDERSTAND THE RULES AND REGULATIONS.
You technically can only fish from a few locations from shore as it’s prohibited for 99% of the refuge. This is because the shoreline is marsh and unsafe for walking. It is also to help preserve the natural shoreline as well. This means the best way to fish the refuge is from a proper boat or kayak. There are several kayak launching locations and one distant boat ramp to get into the refuge.
Get the HOTTESTSnakehead Lures!!!
R2S Whopper Plopper
Booyah Poppin Pad Crasher
Zoom Super Fluke
Z-Man Chatter Bait
Double Bladed Spinnerbait
Snakehead Fishing Blackwater Locations: S=Shore, K=Kayak, and B=Boat
335 Bridge (S & K): This is a long stretch
of bank and a bridge that will offer limited shore fishing for Northern
Snakehead. This location is the best soft launch available to get after
Northern Snakeheads. The parking can be problematic on the weekends so have
patients. Also, don’t be that person who parks like an a$$ and just leaves
stuff in the way.
Key Wallace Bridge (S & K): This area has a
small bridge and somewhat decent parking along the shoulder of the road. The
area is probably one of the deeper areas and seems to be the favorite winter
fishing location for locals. This area also has a lot of debris in the water
and will snag a lot of your lures and live bait rigs, so be prepared.
Little Blackwater River (K). There is a small
soft launch just off of Egypt Rd
Shorter’s Warf Boat Ramp (K & B): Maple Damn
Road and as of January 2020, one side of the bridge is being worked on so
accessing this ramp may be difficult or take a little longer than usual.
This is just the beginning of places to explore Snakehead Fishing Blackwater NWR. One last reminder, know where you are fishing and don’t just assume you have permission. Honestly, most of the areas outside of the ones listed above are off-limits or private property. If you look at Good Maps and you are inside the green area fishing from shore and not in the above-mentioned location, you are in the wrong area.
Third-Largest Limit Ever and Largest Margin of Victory in Bass Fishing League History, Largest Limit Ever at Sam Rayburn in FLW Competition
BROOKELAND, Texas (Feb. 17, 2020) – Boater Anthony Sharp of Village Mills, Texas, had a day Saturday that most bass fishing tournament anglers only dream about. Sharp brought a five-bass limit to the scale weighing 40 pounds, 6 ounces to win the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Brookeland, Texas. For his victory, Sharp earned a total of $7,000.
The tournament was the second of five events in the Cowboy Division presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps.
Sharp’s massive five-bass limit broke multiple Phoenix Bass Fishing League records. His 21-pound, 5-ounce margin of victory was the largest in Bass Fishing League history. His limit was the third-largest limit ever weighed in Bass Fishing League competition – topped only by Rogne Brown in 2011 (Lake Chickamauga, 40 pounds, 14 ounces) and Casey Martin in 2015 (Lake Guntersville, 40 pounds, 11 ounces). His five bass were also the heaviest limit ever weighed in FLW history – across all circuits – at Sam Rayburn.
“I’ll be honest, when he [the tournament director] sat the sack up there I was praying that I had maybe mid-30s,” said Sharp. “I’ve caught a couple 30-pound limits up here, but never in a tournament. When he said 40 pounds, I couldn’t hardly answer his questions. I kind of got flushed.”
The spot Sharp found was a pretty classic offshore area – a flat section topping out in about 20 feet, with a drop that went down to about 40 feet. It turned out that was all he’d need to find to have the tournament day of a lifetime.
“Friday, when we started practice, I ran right there and idled over the spot, and there was a lot of fish,” said Sharp. “I idled over them four or five different times, just to make sure I was seeing fish, because they were stuck to the bottom. So, I backed off them and started easing up to them on the trolling motor, and I was still 100 yards from my waypoint and on my very first cast I caught an 8-pounder.”
On tournament morning, Sharp ran right to his honey hole.
“We blasted off at about 7:15, and I made a 15-minute run up the lake,” said Sharp. “At 8:35, I called Mr. Callahan [the tournament director] and asked if I could use my co-angler’s livewell because I couldn’t fit all my fish in one livewell. So, in about an hour I was done.”
Deciding not to idle over his fish to check on them, Sharp simply eased up to where he thought they would be and tossed a Carolina rig with a 1-ounce weight and a Zoom Baby Brush Hog in green pumpkin magic with the tails dyed chartreuse.
Zoom Baby Brush Hog Click the image to learn more!
JJ’s Magic Click the image to learn more!
“On my second cast I caught one that I told my co-angler was about 6 pounds,” said Sharp. “Then I fished a little while, and my next fish was about 5 pounds. I got a bite about every 10 or 12 minutes for the first three fish, and I was fan-casting around the bow of my boat, kind of in the middle of the flat spot.”
After catching a short and then another 6-pounder, Sharp picked up a Strike King 8XD in chartreuse and blue.
Strike King 8XD Chartreuse and Blue Click the image to learn more!
“I probably threw it 15 or 20 minutes, and I caught one that was probably 8 pounds, and I caught one over 9. I put my rod down and told my co-angler, ‘That’s it. I think I’ve got high 20s right there.’
“I don’t know what I was even thinking,” continued Sharp. “After I sat about 10 minutes in the boat, letting him fish the area, I thought it would really be cool if I could cull that 5-pounder. I made three more casts with that crankbait and caught my biggest fish, and that was all before 8:45.”
And that was it. Though Sharp hung around the spot to try to give his co-angler a shot at some, neither caught anything else. Throughout the rest of the day, when Sharp ran around for his co-angler, he said he only made about 50 casts. He knew he’d done something special already, even if it’d take the scale to tell him exactly how special it was.
“It’s incredibly special. I can’t even describe it,” Sharp went on to say. “I was just praying I could catch one or two fish like that. I really had no idea that was going to happen.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:
1st: Anthony Sharp of Village Mills, Texas, five bass, 40-6, $7,000
2nd: Randy Deaver of Blanchard, La., five bass, 19-1, $3,200
3rd: Kyle Dragulski of Lufkin, Texas, five bass, 17-8, $2,000
4th: Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La., five bass, 17-4, $1,400
5th: Shaine Campbell of Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 16-9, $1,200
6th: Mathew Dorcz of Huffman, Texas, five bass, 16-1, $1,100
7th: Cole Moore of Anacoco, La., five bass, 15-15, $1,500
8th: Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, La., five bass, 15-11, $900
9th: Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, five bass, 15-5, $800
10th: Bart Doty of Kilgore, Texas, five bass, 15-4, $700
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Sharp also earned the day’s $1,000 Boater Big Bass award with his largest fish, a 9-pound, 14-ounce kicker bass.
Moore took home an extra $500 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. 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.
Wyatt Stout of Altura, Minnesota, and Doug Rush of Midlothian, Texas, tied for the win in the Co-angler Division Saturday after both catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces. Each angler brought home $2,250 for their wins.
The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:
1st: Wyatt Stout of Altura, Minn., five bass, 15-7, $2,250
1st: Doug Rush of Midlothian, Texas, five bass, 15-7, $2,250
3rd: Sieg Kilby of Kilgore, Texas, five bass, 14-15, $1,150
4th: Michael McCollum of Wimberley, Texas, four bass, 14-4, $700
5th: Logan Slaughter of Dallas, Texas, five bass, 13-4, $600
6th: Mitchel Martin of Washington, La., four bass, 13-2, $1,050
7th: Cade Nelson of Long Branch, Texas, five bass, 12-9, $500
8th: Cody Brown of Saratoga, Texas, five bass, 12-6, $450
9th: Nick Morris of Princeton, Mo., five bass, 12-5, $400
10th: Justin Shelton of Kemp, Texas, five bass, 12-4, $350
Martin caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $500.
The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine on Sam Rayburn Reservoir was hosted by the Jasper County Development District.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Cowboy Division presented by A.R.E. 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, hosted by Explore Branson. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: PALATKA, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2020) – Pro Trevor Fitzgerald of Belleview, Florida, brought a 19-pound, 8-ounce limit to the weigh-in scale Saturday to reclaim the top spot on the leaderboard and win the three-day Toyota Series at the St. Johns River. Fitzgerald’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 57-12 gave him the win by a 6-pound margin and earned him a payout of $38,048 in the Toyota Series Southern Division 2020 opener.
“I’ve been wanting this one for a while,” said Fitzgerald, who earned his first career Toyota Series victory after five previous top-10 finishes. “I seem to do okay in one-day tournaments, but I excel in these multi-day tournaments because I don’t typically go out and catch a giant bag. I usually find stuff that is more consistent.”
“On day two I didn’t have any spawners left, so I went to running the bank and found a little depression that I’d known about, but I came to realize there was a lot more fish sitting in it than I realized.”
What Fitzgerald was fishing was basically a long sand bar at the far south end of Lake George, which served as a staging area for fish coming to the bank to spawn. No one else seemed to find it, potentially due to how shallow it was.
“It’s just a depression surrounded by super-shallow water. I used to put in at that boat ramp right there when I was a kid, so I was kind of familiar with the way the bottom lays out.”
“I grew up about 20 minutes from the south end of Lake George, and I’ve been fishing here my whole life,” Fitzgerald went on to say. “I love fishing the St. Johns River and it is awesome to win here.”
The top 10 pros on the St. Johns River finished:
1st: Trevor Fitzgerald of Belleview, Fla., 15 bass, 57-12, $38,048
2nd: Jason Blair of West Palm Beach, Fla., 15 bass, 51-12, $14,550
3rd: Steven Hatala of Harrison Township, Mich., 13 bass, 50-6, $11,265
4th: Rodney Marks of Apopka, Fla., 15 bass, 45-0, $9,387
5th: Keith Carson of DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 43-6, $8,833
7th: Jonathan Kelley of Old Forge, Pa., 12 bass, 37-12, $6,571
8th: Frank Kitchens III of Oxford, Ga., 11 bass, 37-8, $5,632
9th: Jason Meninger of St. Augustine, Fla., 12 bass, 36-3, $4,694
10th: Chris Hensley of Marbury, Ala., 10 bass, 33-11, $3,755
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Carson brought a 9-pound largemouth bass to the scale Friday – the largest fish weighed by a boater in the event – to earn the day’s Big Bass award of $135.
Gallelli 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.
Edwin Bartlett of Casco, Maine, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 29 pounds, 12 ounces. For his win, Bartlett took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor, worth $33,500.
The top 10 co-anglers on the St. Johns River finished:
1st: Edwin Bartlett of Casco, Maine, 12 bass, 29-12, $33,500
2nd: Cole Hewett of Orlando, Fla., 14 bass, 28-8, $4,929
3rd: Blaine Bucy of Weirton, W. Va., eight bass, 25-13, $3,783
4th: Roger Hughes of Bartlesville, Okla., eight bass, 25-12, $3,400
5th: David Wareham of Port St. Lucie, Fla., 12 bass, 25-11, $2,837
6th: Chris Holland of Vero Beach, Fla., 11 bass, 22-1, $2,364
7th: Andy Niles of Ocean Springs, Miss., 11 bass, 20-9, $1,891
8th: Kevin Thomas of Miramar, Fla., eight bass, 19-11, $1,655
9th: Early Whitaker of Iron City, Ga., 11 bass, 18-13, $1,419
10th: Michael Harrelson of Conway, S.C., nine bass, 18-5, $1,182
Alan Carver of East Point, Georgia caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a fish weighing 9 pounds, 8 ounces. He earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $90.
The Toyota Series at the St. Johns River was hosted by the Putnam County Tourist Development Council. It was the first of three regular-season tournaments in 2020 for Southern Division anglers. The next tournament for Toyota Series anglers will be the Central Division opener – the Toyota Series at Lake Chickamauga, held Feb. 27-29 in Dayton, Tennessee. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The 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 $200,000 cash, plus lucrative contingency bonuses. 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 is being held Nov. 5-7 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.
February 12, 2020 (Eufaula, Ala.) Team Toyota pro Jacob Wheeler won the Bass Pro Tour B&W Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole with 24 bass weighing in at 68 pounds, the highest one-day total for the week. MLF Rookie Bryan Thrift led the field handsomely early in Period 1 with five catches in the first 30 minutes of competition. Ott DeFoe landed scorable bass on a steady pace all day long, including holding the lead at the of Periods 1 and 2. Ultimately Wheeler secured a solid lead with an 11-fish run as the clock wound down.
With cameras rolling on MLFNOW! at the end of Period 3, Jacob Wheeler paused to take in the reality that he had won.
“Unbelievable,” he exclaimed. “To start off this 2020 Bass Pro Tour season with a win here on Lake Eufaula; it’s unbelievable. I owe it to everyone who supports me, especially my wife, Alicia.”
Wheeler, winner of Qualifying Round Group B and Thrift, winner of Qualifying Round Group A, each earned a Championship Round berth skipping the Knockout Round on Tuesday. A new Bass Pro Tour rule for 2020, there was some uncertainty on how a day off would fair for the advanced anglers. Thrift and Wheeler coming in first and second on Championship Round suggests that a day off is nothing to worry about.
“Second place feels like a win to me,” Thrift said. “My hat’s off to Jacob, and I have no complaints about my week. It’s a great feeling to finish well in my first Major League Fishing event.”
Ott DeFoe rode a strong morning bite to a commanding lead in the second period. He caught the Berkley Big Bass of the Day, weighing in at six pounds 15 ounces, within 90 minutes of Period 1. As the sun passed overhead, Thrift assumed a seemingly comfortable lead before Wheeler took control for good with an impressive flurry of fish catches:11 in one hour, 24 for the day.
“I caught two right away and then the first spot dried up,” DeFoe said. “They weren’t set up the same as they were yesterday, and I couldn’t get them fired up.”
The Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award went to Jacob Wheeler with 68 pounds.
The B&W Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole Championship Round finished as follows:
ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. (Feb. 10, 2020) – Boater Dusty Robinson of Eclectic, Alabama, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 13 pounds, 4 ounces to win the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine event at Lake Martin in Alexander City, Alabama. For his victory, Robinson earned a total of $5,686, including a $1,000 Mercury contingency award.
“I started my day out with a spinnerbait in my hand, and I didn’t put it down throughout the entire day,” said Robinson, who earned his first career Phoenix Bass Fishing League victory. “I caught around 20 keepers all day long, fishing in the Hog Pen Slough area – around the D.A.R.E. Power Park.”
“I caught them anywhere from 6 inches to 8 feet deep,” Robinson said. “The Hog Pen Slough is a main feeder creek, about mid-river. I was targeting the blowdowns and rocky secondary points. If I didn’t get bit on the bank, I’d slow roll it all the way back to the boat.
“The bite was really hot from 9:30 to 10:30 (a.m.), then there was a lull until about 1:15 (p.m.). Then it really picked up again,” Robinson continued. “The key was definitely slowing down and being patient.
“I’ve been battling against these hammers in the Bama Division for three years now, and I’ve been one bite away from the win a couple of times. It was shocking that the weights were this low – I didn’t expect to win – but it was an awesome day and I’m glad I did.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:
1st: Dusty Robinson of Eclectic, Ala., five bass, 13-4, $5,686
2nd: Thomas Frink of Cedartown, Ga., five bass, 12-12, $2,843
3rd: Kip Balkcom of Auburn, Ala., five bass, 12-2, $1,562
4th: Brad Jones of Sylacauga, Ala., five bass, 12-0, $1,093
5th: Mason Franklin of Mulga, Ala., five bass, 11-12, $898
6th: Steven Ingram of Tallassee, Ala., five bass, 11-12, $898
7th: Anthony Goggins of Clanton, Ala., five bass, 11-6, $742
8th: Ken Morris of Childersburg, Ala., five bass, 11-6, $942
9th: Robert Werner of Spanish Fort, Ala., five bass, 11-5, $625
10th: Greg Bearden of Oxford, Ala., five bass, 11-3, $547
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Chris Rutland of Wetumpka, Alabama, brought a 4-pound, 3-ounce bass to the scale to win the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $690.
Frink took home an extra $500 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. 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.
Mark Denney of Bonaire, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $2,493 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:
1st: Mark Denney of Bonaire, Ga., five bass, 11-2, $2,493
2nd: Lew Moore of Roanoke, Ala., five bass, 11-1, $1,517
3rd: Andrew Fisher of Anniston, Ala., five bass, 10-8, $781
4th: Jacob Hays of Marbury, Ala., five bass, 10-6, $547
5th: Justin Foster of Zebulon, Ga., five bass, 10-0, $469
6th: Jim Laster of Newnan, Ga., five bass, 9-13, $410
7th: Scott Carpenter of Childersburg, Ala., five bass, 9-13, $410
8th: Bill Gaston of Sylacauga, Ala., five bass, 9-10, $351
9th: Gary Marlowe of Montgomery, Ala., five bass, 9-9, $312
10th: Chance Hebert of Woodstock, Ga., five bass, 9-5, $273
Moore caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 4 pounds even. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $345.
The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine on Lake Martin was hosted by the Alexander City Chamber of Commerce. It was the opening event of five qualifying tournaments in the Bama division.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Bama division based on point standings, along with the five winners of each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 8-10 Bass Fishing League Regional Championship on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee, hosted by the Rhea Economic and Tourism Council. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
WALHALLA, S.C. (Feb. 10, 2020) – Boater Randy Dover of Buford, Georgia, brought five to the scale Saturday totaling 15 pounds, 10 ounces to win the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine event at Lake Keowee in Seneca, South Carolina. For his victory, Dover earned a total of $5,627.
Weather was a factor for the Savannah River division anglers, as cold, snowy conditions hampered a lot of plans and strategies for competitors. Dover said that he did the majority of his damage close to Seneca, only a mile to a mile and a half from takeoff.
“The places that I caught them in practice really got stained, so I had to move out to clearer water,” said Dover, who earned his first career victory in just his third career Phoenix Bass Fishing League event. “I ended up catching them on roadbeds and ditches.”
Dover said his two key baits throughout the day were a Ned rig and a shaky-head rig.
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:
1st: Randy Dover of Buford, Ga., five bass, 15-10, $5,627
2nd: Tim Watson of Martin, Ga., five bass, 13-4, $2,345
3rd: Jimmy Gooch of Jefferson, Ga., five bass, 13-4, $2,345
4th: Jason Johnson of Dawsonville, Ga., five bass, 13-1, $1,813
5th: Jeremy Strong of Elberton, Ga., five bass, 12-11, $1,125
6th: Jayme Rampey of Liberty, S.C., five bass, 12-9, $1,942
7th: Jody Holland of Clermont, Ga., five bass, 12-0, $938
8th: Bo Price of Seneca, S.C., five bass, 11-14, $797
9th: Russell Clark of Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 11-14, $797
10th: Tyler Thompson of Easley, S.C., five bass, 11-11, $623
10th: Brad Benfield of Demorest, Ga., five bass, 11-11, $623
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Rampey brought a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass to the scale to win the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $910.
For the second week in a row, boater Jason Johnson was highest-finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member and took home an extra $500. 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.
Harold Grizzle of Gainesville, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division and $3,268 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 6 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:
1st: Harold Grizzle of Gainesville, Ga., five bass, 17-6, $3,268
2nd: Fisher Rodgers of Camden, S.C., five bass, 12-6, $1,407
3rd: Sawyer Redmond of Easley, S.C., five bass, 11-5, $938
4th: Wendell Grantham of Athens, Ga., five bass, 10-14, $656
5th: Bruce Faulkner of Seneca, S.C., five bass, 10-10, $563
6th: Will White of Wake Forest, N.C., five bass, 10-9, $516
7th: Stephen McCoy of Walhalla, S.C., five bass, 10-4, $469
8th: Chris Wilson of Easley, S.C., five bass, 10-2, $572
9th: John Wilson of Six Mile, S.C., five bass, 9-11, $351
9th: Wesley Wilson of Cornelia, Ga., three bass, 9-11, $351
Grizzle also caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $455.
The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine on Lake Keowee was hosted by Visit Oconee. It was the first of five qualifying events in the Savannah River Division.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Savannah River 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 Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia, hosted by the Gainesville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury 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 and is hosted by Visit Anderson. 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.
CLEWISTON, Fla. (Feb. 10, 2020) – Boater Thomas Littich of Cape Coral, Florida, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 23 pounds, 14 ounces to win the 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine event at Lake Okeechobee in Clewiston, Florida. For his victory, Littich earned a total of $7,220, including a $2,500 FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency award.
The tournament was the second of five events in the Gator Division presented by A.R.E. Truck Caps.
“I’ve fished these tournaments for six years, and this is the first time that I’ve gotten to hold one of these fancy winner trophies up,” said Littich, who was fishing in his 36th career Bass Fishing League event. “The feeling that I got when I knew I had the win was absolutely awesome.
“I started my day up north, near the Monkey Box area, then I ended up around Observation Shoal,” Littich continued. “Those were the two main areas that I fished. I bounced to one spot about halfway down the shoal, then came back in at the end of the day.”
Littich said that he caught his fish on a variety of baits. His first bass – a 7-pounder – came on a Z-Man ChatterBait. An hour and a half later, Littich boated a 6-pounder on a black and blue-colored Yamamoto Senko. Another key bite came late in the day flipping a Gambler Burner Craw with a 3/8-ounce weight.
Gambler Burner Craw
Yamamoto Senko
Z-man Chatterbait
“The key was not getting out of my own head,” Littich went on to say. “It was a very slow bite this morning, so I had to take my time and not get worried.”
The top 10 boaters finished the tournament as follows:
1st: Thomas Littich of Cape Coral, Fla., five bass, 23-14, $7,220
2nd: Jerry Stalvey Jr. of Palatka, Fla., five bass, 22-15, $3,055
3rd: Jared McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., five bass, 19-7, $1,574
4th: Mike Vititoe of Lakeworth, Fla., five bass, 17-3, $1,101
5th: Mike Davis of Alachua, Fla., five bass, 17-0, $944
6th: Alex Terescenko of West Palm Beach, Fla., five bass, 15-14, $865
7th: Christopher Hunter of Hilliard, Fla., five bass, 15-11, $787
8th: Garrett Thomas of Mulberry, Fla., five bass, 15-0, $708
9th: Jared Howell of Hilliard, Fla., five bass, 14-13, $629
10th: Cedric Perry of Cross City, Fla., five bass, 14-12, $551
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Stalvey Jr. brought an 8-pound, 13-ounce bass to the scale to win the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $695.
Littich took home an extra $2,500 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. 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.
Timothy Hibbs of Bradenton, Florida, won the Co-angler Division and $2,510 Saturday after catching a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers finished as follows:
1st: Timothy Hibbs of Bradenton, Fla., five bass, 15-7, $2,510
2nd: Moses Wilson of Clewiston, Fla., five bass, 13-13, $1,180
3rd: Brandon Prophitt of Orlando, Fla., five bass, 12-13, $787
4th: Bryan Ray of Lake Leelanau, Mich., five bass, 12-12, $551
5th: Scott Farnham of Port St. Lucie, Fla., five bass, 10-5, $472
6th: Jay McNamara of Issaquah, Wash., five bass, 9-14, $433
7th: David Wickham of Fruitland Park, Fla., five bass, 9-13, $373
7th: Jason Gonzalez of Loxahatchee, Fla., five bass, 9-13, $473
9th: Joshua Tackett of Orange City, Fla., five bass, 9-9, $295
9th: Sean Wiggins of Pinellas Park, Fla., five bass, 9-9, $295
Vidal Melendrez of Miami, Florida caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division, a fish weighing in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $347.
The 2020 Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine on Lake Okeechobee was hosted by the Hendry County Tourism Development Council.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the Gator Division presented by A.R.E. 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 Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia, hosted by the Gainesville Convention & Visitors Bureau. Boaters will compete for a $60,000 prize package, including a new Phoenix 819 Pro bass boat with a 200-horsepower Mercury outboard and $10,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new 18-foot Phoenix bass boat with a 200-horsepower outboard.
PALATKA, Fla. — Paul Mueller’s crucial decision delivered a key fish on Championship Monday that propelled the Connecticut angler to a three-day total of 47 pounds, 6 ounces and what he described as a most unlikely victory at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Florida’s St. Johns River.
After grinding most of the day in Trout Creek, about 25 miles downriver from Palatka, Mueller called an audible and relocated to nearby 6-Mile Creek where he had found a key stretch of pads with 25 feet of water.
Punching this thick vegetation with a craw bait rigged on a 4/0 Strike King Hack Attack hook with a 1-ounce weight yielded a 6-11 bass — the day’s largest — that dramatically changed his outcome.
“That was the horse that brought me here, no doubt about it,” said Mueller, who earned $101,000 for his second career Elite Series victory. “A big bite is the best thing you can have on the final day. I knew I was leading, but I got off to such a bad start, throughout the entire day, I didn’t think I had enough.
“All day long, I never felt like I had a shot. It wasn’t easy today, but when it’s God’s will, everything works out.”
Mueller kept himself in contention throughout the event by remaining consistent. He placed second on Day 1 with 20-8 and took over the lead a day later by adding 16-2.
During Monday’s final round, Mueller fell short of a limit by one fish, but four bass that weighed 10-12 were enough to deliver the win by a 3-2 margin.
All three days, Mueller punched pads when he found sufficient water for prespawn staging fish to move into the cover. His punching bite consistently improved later in the day, as the week’s tide schedule brought higher water to the relatively shallow pads in the afternoon.
With wind advisories from the National Weather Service postponing the tournament’s official start by two days, B.A.S.S. officials shortened the event to three days total instead of four. The final day’s shorter schedule afforded Mueller a smaller window of the rising tide, so moving to the deep spot in 6-Mile Creek allowed him his shot at a big bass suspending beneath the cover.
Mueller, who finished 62nd at last year’s St. Johns Elite tournament, said he was pleased to fare better this time — particularly considering the significant difference between the mostly shallow Florida fishery and the deep, clear waters he considers his specialty.
“I don’t feel like this is a place that sets up to fish my strength,” Mueller said. “When I looked at this year’s schedule, there were tournaments where I said ‘I may have a chance to win that,’ and then there were tournaments where I thought: ‘Man, I just hope I have a good finish.’ This was one of them.
“This is not my style of fishing, so it’s amazing that I caught enough weight to win here.”
John Crews of Salem, Va., rose four spots to finish second with 44-4. Crews caught 16-13 on Day 1, 15-5 on Day 2 and finished with 12-2 on Monday. He earned $25,000.
“Today, I could hardly get bit on anything slow; everything was on the reaction bait,” Crews said. “I used a bluegill-colored ChatterBait when it was cloudy, and then I switched over to a black and blue. I used a shrapnel-colored trailer — it’s kind of a bluegill color — with both.”
Missile Baits Shockwave
Z-Man Jackhammer
Day 1 leader Kelley Jaye of Dadeville, Ala., slipped a couple of spots to finish third with 41-10. With daily weights of 21-7, 14-3 and 6-0, Jaye earned $21,000.
“Where I was fishing was like 6 to 7 feet when the water was up during practice, but it dropped down to 4 feet during the tournament,” Jaye said. “That Skinny Cutter doesn’t go very deep so it allowed me to keep off the bottom.”
Kyle Welcher of Opelika, Ala., earned $1,000 for Phoenix Big Bass of the week with his 10-1 largemouth.
Mueller also took home $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, and John Crews took home $2.000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.
2020 AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River 2/8-2/11 St. Johns River, Palatka FL. (PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 3
1. Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 14 47-06 100 $101,000.00 Day 1: 5 20-08 Day 2: 5 16-02 Day 3: 4 10-12 2. John Crews Jr Salem, VA 15 44-04 99 $25,000.00 Day 1: 5 16-13 Day 2: 5 15-05 Day 3: 5 12-02 3. Kelley Jaye Dadeville, AL 15 41-10 98 $21,000.00 Day 1: 5 21-07 Day 2: 5 14-03 Day 3: 5 06-00 4. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 15 41-06 97 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 10-10 Day 2: 5 14-12 Day 3: 5 16-00 5. Jake Whitaker Fairview, NC 14 41-01 96 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 16-12 Day 2: 5 16-03 Day 3: 4 08-02 6. Scott Canterbury Odenville, AL 15 40-09 95 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 17-14 Day 2: 5 12-06 Day 3: 5 10-05 7. Matt Arey Shelby, NC 15 40-01 94 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 16-02 Day 2: 5 10-12 Day 3: 5 13-03 8. Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 14 39-11 93 $17,000.00 Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 20-12 Day 3: 4 07-02 9. Stetson Blaylock Benton, AR 15 39-09 92 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 11-01 Day 2: 5 16-11 Day 3: 5 11-13 10. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 15 38-13 91 $15,000.00 Day 1: 5 09-09 Day 2: 5 22-15 Day 3: 5 06-05
11. Buddy Gross Chickamauga, GA 12 36-10 90 $12,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 5 15-14 Day 3: 2 05-07
12. Harvey Horne Bella Vista, AR 14 36-00 89 $12,000.00
Day 1: 4 08-07 Day 2: 5 17-08 Day 3: 5 10-01
13. Robbie Latuso Gonzales, LA 15 35-11 88 $12,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-05 Day 2: 5 08-08 Day 3: 5 09-14
14. Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 15 34-14 87 $12,000.00
Day 1: 5 07-14 Day 2: 5 18-05 Day 3: 5 08-11
15. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 15 34-13 86 $12,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-05 Day 2: 5 15-06 Day 3: 5 09-02
16. Clark Wendlandt Leander, TX 11 33-10 85 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-00 Day 2: 4 08-03 Day 3: 2 05-07
17. Todd Auten Lake Wylie, SC 13 32-12 84 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-11 Day 2: 5 09-09 Day 3: 3 05-08
18. Drew Cook Midway, FL 13 32-06 83 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 09-10 Day 2: 5 17-14 Day 3: 3 04-14
19. Jay Yelas Lincoln City, OR 13 32-02 82 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-15 Day 2: 5 14-01 Day 3: 3 04-02
20. Steve Kennedy Auburn, AL 8 27-14 81 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-00 Day 2: 3 08-14 Day 3: 0 00-00
———————————————————————-
PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS Day 1 Kelley Jaye Dadeville, AL 09-02 $0.00 2 Kyle Welcher Opelika, AL 10-01 $0.00 3 Paul Mueller Naugatuck, CT 06-11 $1,000.00
February
10, 2020 – Catfish anglers from nine states traveled to Santee
Cooper for a King Kat Tournament Trail event presented by Bass Pro Shops
Cabela’s. Forty-eight teams gathered at Cross, SC to test their catfishing
skills against other anglers and Mother Nature.
Anglers fishing the February 7, 2020 event were vying for $11,750 in
cash and prizes, and an opportunity to qualify for the $120,000 Classic
Championship to be held October 30 – 31, 2020 on Milford Lake in Milford, KS.
Tournament day followed a late winter storm that
produced torrential rainfall and winds greater than 40 miles per hour. Still,
most anglers who were there ventured out the day before for some prefishing
before the Captains Meeting on Friday night. Though none admitted to good
catches, there was a feeling of optimism in the air. Almost everyone reported
good quantiles of bait and the stage was set for tournament day.
When the time came for lines-in at 6:30 the winds
had fallen to 2 miles per hour blowing from the NNW. Santee Cooper was flat.
Too flat in fact, for most catfish tournament anglers. Winds increased as the
day went on and clouds rolled in to make for a cool weigh-in in the 40’s.
Santee Cooper produced another outstanding weigh-in at Black’s Camp and
Restaurant.
Results for the Top Catfish
Teams
The top spot at Santee Cooper went to Jim Page, Rick
Page, and Alex Summer from Newberry and Clinton SC. Their limit of 5 fish
weighed 157.2 pounds and included big fish of the tournament at 60 pounds. They
earned a check for $4,400 and added $960 for Big Kat.
The team fished the King Kat on Santee last year and
finished 3rd with 111 pounds just out of first by 8 pounds. They had
trouble finding their unders last year and it cost them the tournament. So,
they come in this year knowing that they would have to find some good unders to
have a shot.
“I came down to Santee and prefished the weekend before
the tournament,” reported Jim. “We found some good overs with 5 or 6 fish in
the 40- and 50-pound range. The big fish were holding tight to structure in
around 20 feet of water with small schools of baitfish.”
He also found some good unders in the 17- to 20-pound
range hanging out under big schools of bait in about 25-30 feet of water. They
found that if they went any deeper the fish seemed to get smaller so they had
the info they needed to make a strategy.
“I left last weekend with a good game plan,”
continued Jim. “The plan was to come back the following Friday to prefish one
more day before the tournament. The weather had different plans as 30 mph winds
and torrential rains kept us off the water. We came back on Friday evening for
the captains meeting and decided to stick with the game plan I had established
from the weekend before.”
Jim felt like the fish were not pressured too much
from the weather conditions and should still be in about the same pattern if
the bait hadn’t moved. So, they fished the lower end of Lake Moultrie targeting
ditches and humps. They used gizzard shad from Midlands Outdoors, LLC as bait.
“Tournament morning held to our expectations,”
recalled Jim. “We marked some good fish staged up around structure and baitfish
in 20 feet of water. We anchored up on them and the first rod down was the big
fish of the tournament. He hit hard pulling drag around 6:45 am. When we landed
the fish, we knew he would at least be in the 50- pound class.”
Their heavy scales were not working so they put the
big fish on a backup set that only went to 50 pounds. It would go up to 50 and
then say fail. So, they didn’t know exactly how much the big fish weighed until
they got to the scales. They caught several more fish in the high 20’s and low
30-pound class.
“We culled close to 120 pounds for being over the 36-inch
rule,” reported Jim. “We culled a 26, 28, 29, and a 32. We kept a 35 for our
second over. We bounced around the same area targeting fish holding tight to
structure until around lunchtime. We only had 3
keepers in the boat, the 60, a 35, and a 21-pound under.
Knowing there was a good bite with all the water
flowing through the lake from the heavy rains and wind the team needed two more
good unders to have a chance at the win. They made the hard decision to leave
biting fish to go find the unders they needed.
“We made a run across the lake close to Pinopolis,”
explained Jim. “I had caught decent unders there before by drifting in deeper
water under the big bait schools. We marked some fish holding all along a ledge
in about 30 feet under huge bait schools. We made about a two-hour drift but
only picked up one fish. It was a perfect size under at 35 1/2 inches and weighing
24 pounds.”
With only 4 weighable fish at 2 pm, they had to make
another move. They decided to go back across the lake and see if they could
target smaller fish that may have moved into the area they fished in the
morning.
“I marked a good group of smaller cats,” reported
Jim. “They were holding in a small ditch between Bonneau and Russellville in
about 25 feet of water. We anchored up on them around 2:30 and downsized all
our baits. We caught our last under of 18 pounds at 2:55 pm. Talk about coming
down to the wire!”
“The good Lord looked out for us today, putting us
on a solid bite,” concluded Jim. “We caught around 280 pounds of fish with 120
pounds going back over the side as culls. We had a blast fishing with some of
the top teams in the country and look forward to the next one.
I would like to think Cabela’s King Kat and Kevin
Davis from Blacks Camp for putting on an awesome tournament. Santee is a great
fishery for any size catfish from eaters to trophy-class fish up in the triple-digit
range. I encourage anyone wanting the chance to hook into a fish of a lifetime
to give it a try or book a trip with many of the great guides this lake has to
offer.”
The runner up spot went to James Wesney from
Somerset, OH and Craig Shirey from Baltimore, OH. They teamed up to put 142.2
pounds of Santee Cooper cats in the boat and earned a check for $2,200.
Wesney and Shirey didn’t get to the lake until
Friday. All their prefishing was done on a map and the rest of the time was
used to get bait.
“We had one spot that we fished last year which was
our first time on the lake,” recalled Shirey. “We also picked out two other
spots we wanted to fish. We started on a shallow spot which did not pay off
after two hours. So, we moved to the area we fished the previous year and had
no bites after thirty minutes. So, off we go again to spot number three.”
It was third time charms for the OH team. The spot they
picked from the map started producing fish right away. They caught about 15
fish on the day.
“We started catching fish,” concluded Shirey. “At one time we had a 43, 47 and a 20-pound fish
on at the same time. It was about forty feet of water using fresh cut shad. I
really thought we had the win because we crushed last year’s weight. But with
just a couple of boats left to weigh we got bumped by a huge weight. We are still
happy with the results, especially for only being the second time fishing on
the lake.”
Finishing in third place was David Kingsmore from
Prosperity, SC and Mark Coburn from Conway, SC. Kingsmore and Coburn brought in
a weight of 132.7 pounds to earn a check for $1,600.
This is the first year that Coburn has fished a Cabela’s
King Kat USA event. He teamed up with David Kingsmore, a former Crappie USA
National. It was the first time for the pair to fish together. They prefished separately
in order to cover more water and make a plan of attack for the tournament.
“Through our prefishing we were able to quickly determine
that the 23- to 28-foot depth seemed to be key in finding the best numbers of
fish,” reported Coburn. “We decided to go ‘all in’ at that depth. With the wind
blowing directly into the Bonneau area of Lake
Moultrie, we decided to head that way where we made
a long drift from north to south with ‘lines-in’ beginning at 6:30.”
The team focused their drift in a heavily contoured
area with the water depth that they determined in prefishing. That first drift
produced nothing.
“Once the winds subsided, we moved,” stated Coburn.
“We went a little further north to drift a flat area in 26 feet of water that
David had found. In a span of 90 minutes, we had boated 16 fish. Fourteen of
them were under fish. We kept our best three for about 66 pounds.”
“When the wind stopped the bite turned on,”
confirmed Kingsmore. “After that, we caught a lot of fish.”
The team had 2 small overs at 11:30 am. They decided
to use the next 4 hours to focus on nothing but overs.
“We moved to deeper water for the next several hours,”
continued Coburn. “We only managed to increase our overs to a 38- and a 28-pound
fish. In the end, it was luck and the focus on the unders that gave us a shot. David
is an extremely talented angler. His extensive tournament experience and
ability to formulate a plan was the key. It gave us an opportunity to compete
in the field of elite anglers that Cabela’s is able to produce.”
“I feel I am an extremely blessed individual,”
concluded Coburn. “I have gained acceptance and friendships from many in the
Catfish world through my years behind the
camera. Now as a weighmaster and tournament
promoter, I am able to take part in some of these wonderful events. There’s no
better place to do it than Santee Cooper, SC.
Larry Mazalatis from Summerville, SC and Chuckie
Ouvry from Goose Creek, SC, drifted the Rocks Pond area using perch and shad to
catch 5 fish that weighed 132.2 pounds. Their efforts earned them fourth place
and a check for $950.
Rounding out the top five was Wayne Estes and Alan
Kerley from Statesville, NC. They drifted in the middle of lake Moultrie at
various depths using cut baits to bring in a weight of 128.4 pounds and earn $600.
The Remaining Top Ten
6th
Place – Danny Chappell and Bobby Chappell—126.5 pounds
7th
Place – Jeff Outz and Kenneth Sudderth —122.9 pounds
8th
Place – Clay Henderson and Gary Morton—118.80
9th
Place – Mark Stanley and Bill Bristow—117.60
10
Place – Paul Blackwell and Tyler Lodridge—116.60
Tournament
director, Darrell Van Vactor thanked Kevin Davis and the staff at Black’s Camp for
making the Santee Cooper event possible and for the hospitality shown to the
anglers.
“As
always, we enjoy coming to Santee Cooper,” stated Van Vactor. “I think this
weekend just goes to show what kind of fishery lakes Moultrie and Marion really
are.”
The
2020 Championship
This
year’s Cabela’s King Kat Classic Championship will be held October 30 – 31,
2020 on Milford Lake in Milford, KS. The Classic features a guaranteed payout
of $120,000 in cash and prizes. The points race is set to pay $30,000 to the
top 20 places based on the competitor’s top five finishes.
February 7, 2020 (Tulsa, Okla.) Alabama resident Chris Lane finished day one of the 2020 Bass Pro Tour B&W Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole at the top of the SCORETRACKER® with 35-pounds, 12-ounces representing nine bass. Weather over recent days on Lake Eufuala played a factor in today’s competition as the excessive rain, wind, and lightning led to rising lake levels and muddy water conditions. Josh Bertrand finished in second with seven total bass weighing in at 26-pounds, six ounces. Brandon Coulter caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day, which weighed in at seven pounds, 14 ounces.
Chris Lane took an early lead in Period 1 by catching the first bass of the 2020 Bass Pro Tour at 8:09 a.m. local time. The Power-Pole pro had eight fish for 33 pounds, nine ounces – a more than four-pound average – at the conclusion of that first period. Despite a drought in Period 2 and only one fish in Period 3, Lane held his lead throughout the day. Included in his total were fish that weighed five pounds, 11 ounces and five pounds, 7 ounces, respectively.
“That was a great first period,” exclaimed Lane. “(In Period 3), I found an area late in the day with some clear water, and I made the mistake of not going there soon enough in the day. I look forward to getting back there (Sunday).”
32-year-old Josh Bertrand of moved from fifth place to end the day at second despite a slower start in Period 1 than others. His largest bass of the day weighed in at six pounds, 10 ounces and landed two others over four pounds. The Berkley pro who lives in Arizona didn’t know what to expect today and indicated that he hopes better weather in coming days may help hasten the pace of the game.
“We have some better weather coming so it might bust wide open,” said Bertrand, when asked about returning on Sunday to Lake Eufaula for his second Qualifying Day.
The Top Ten of Day One, Qualifying Group A finished as follows:
The Qualifying Round continues Saturday with Group B, which includes Edwin Evers, 2019 Points Champion and REDCREST presented by Venmo Champion, fishing greats Kevin VanDam and Mike Iaconelli, as well as 2019 Major League Fishing (MLF) World Champion Jacob Wheeler and MLF Rookie David Dudley. The weather forecast calls for a slightly warmer day calling for a high of 57-degrees-Farenheit and scattered showers midday.
The day begins with launch 6-6:30 a.m. before lines-in at 7:00 a.m. Period 1 ends at 10:30 a.m. Period 2 spans 10:45 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. Period 3 begins at 1:30 p.m. and lasts until day’s end at 4:00 p.m. The General Tire Takeout show airs approximately 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. as anglers return to the ramp.
