Missouri’s Casey Scanlon wins the weather-shortened St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN with a weight of 18 pounds, 5 ounces.
Photo by Andy Crawford/B.A.S.S.
April 5, 2025
Scanlon wins weather-shortened Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — The water was murky, but Casey Scanlon’s clear understanding of bass behavior led him to victory in the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN.
Due to forecasts for severe weather including heavy thunderstorms, hail and possible tornadoes, B.A.S.S. officials cancelled the event’s scheduled second and third days. Scanlon, an Ozarks veteran from Eldon, Mo., who led Day 1 with 18 pounds, 5 ounces was declared the winner.
Finishing with a margin of 1-8 over Doug Chapin, Scanlon took home the top prize of $52,086 and earned a berth in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, March 13-15 at the Tennessee River.
“It feels great to win,” Scanlon said. “Obviously, I would have loved to go three days, but I’ve been doing this a long time and you take these wins anyway you can get them.
“The Bassmaster Opens have become more competitive than ever before, so any time you can beat this caliber of competition, it’s an accomplishment.”
Heavy rains prior to the tournament sent muddy plumes into Norfork. Scanlon said he saw the lake rise only a foot and a half to 2 feet from the level he fished during practice, but turbidity levels were drastically different.
“The water level didn’t rise too badly, but it brought some current into the lake,” Scanlon said. “I think it helped me; it really positioned the fish a little better for me.”
Fishing the mid-lake region, Scanlon focused on the backs of major creeks where he knew the bigger fish would follow the rising water. With lots of floating debris he called “sawdust,” Scanlon located a key spot where current dynamics kept a prime habitat feature clear of the clutter.
“I ended up catching all but one of the fish I weighed on a 50-yard stretch,” Scanlon said. “During practice, on one of the last channel banks in the back of a major creek, I noticed some boulders under the water, just slightly off the bank. I figured during the tournament, when the current was flowing, this would be a good spot for the fish to sit and ambush (prey).
“Around 10:30 on Day 1, I decided to slow down and focus on those boulders. There was lots of sawdust in the area, but where the boulders were, a turn created an unseen eddy and kept the sawdust and debris away.”
Scanlon caught one of his limit fish on a 1/2-ounce Trophy Bass Company spinnerbait in the Ozark Flash color. He caught most of his fish on those boulders with a 4-inch Bass Pro Shops flipping tube rigged on a 4/0 Hyabusa heavy-duty hook with an unpegged 5/16-ounce Bass Pro Shops weight.
Scanlon believes that coating his tube with Capt. Dave’s Hawg Jam fish attractant helped, but his longtime belief in that bait cemented his commitment.
“I hadn’t thrown that tube very much in practice,” he said. “I had thrown the spinnerbait enough to know if it would work. I tied on that tube because it’s my confidence bait. I know I can go behind people and catch fish.”
Scanlon gave his stretch of boulders periodic breaks and returned multiple times throughout the day. One of those breaks took him to a set of current-washed logs he had been considering for much of the day.
Scanlon lost a big fish that jumped off boatside but caught one of his better fish there on the spinnerbait.
“The key moment was going back to the well one more time in the last hour of the day,” he said. “I returned to those boulders and caught my second biggest fish and another good one. Without those two, I wouldn’t have won it.”
Chapin, who hails from Tigerton, Wis., finished in second place with 16-13. Ultimately basing his day on how he expected the fish to respond to the rising water, Chapin got his momentum going with an early shot of spontaneity.
“My plan was to start on fish I’d found under bait in a pocket, but that didn’t pan out,” Chapin said. “I was running down the lake and something told me to pull into this transition area with a flat near a bluff bank.
“I cast at a blob on my forward facing sonar and it was a 4.75-pound largemouth. It was a God thing.”
From there, Chapin turned his attention to creek bends and shallow bluff walls in the backs of pockets.
Knowing that the turbidity would prompt the fish to pull tighter to the bank where they could leverage a smaller strike zone, Chapin did most of his work with a 1/2-ounce 6th Sense Divine spinnerbait in the Lavender Shad color with tandem willow-leaf blades.
He also caught a nice smallmouth on a 6th Sense Strobe Minnow on a 1/8-ounce 6th Sense Finesse Swimbait jig head.
Bailey Gay of Union, Ky., finished third with 16-11. Fishing around bait schools in 15 to 45 feet of water, he looked for concentrations of fish and then focused on those populated zones.
“It was a lot of picking up the trolling motor, running and gunning around the lake and finding hot stretches where the fish were biting,” Gay said. “As soon as you’d hit a stretch, you’d put the trolling motor down and if it’s not happening right away, pick the trolling motor back up and keep going.”
Looking for what he called staging spots, Gay fished about 35 different locations. He caught his fish on a crankbait, a spinnerbait and a jig.
Jace Lindsay of Beckville, Texas, won the $750 Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors for his 6-3.
The City of Mountain Home, Arkansas hosted the event.
2025 Div 2 Open 3 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN 4/3-4/5
Lake Norfork, Mountain Home AR.
Standings Day 3
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$
- Casey Scanlon Eldon, MO 5 18-05 200 $52,086.00
Day 1: 5 18-05 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Doug Chapin Tigerton, WI 5 16-13 199 $20,834.00
Day 1: 5 16-13 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Bailey Gay Union, KY 5 16-11 198 $15,626.00
Day 1: 5 16-11 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Trey Schroeder Theodosia, MO 5 16-07 197 $14,584.00
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Stephen Browning Hot Springs, AR 5 15-12 196 $13,542.00
Day 1: 5 15-12 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Keith Tuma Brainerd, MN 5 15-09 195 $12,501.00
Day 1: 5 15-09 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Riley Nielsen Salt Lake City, UT 5 15-04 194 $11,459.00
Day 1: 5 15-04 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Jace Lindsay Beckville, TX 5 15-00 193 $11,167.00
Day 1: 5 15-00 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Michael Corbishley Raleigh, NC 5 14-15 192 $10,417.00
Day 1: 5 14-15 Day 2: 0 00-00 - Chase Carey Hoschton, GA 5 14-14 191 $10,417.00
