GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (April 10, 2025) – Going into the final day of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Kentucky Lake, Camden, Tennessee, pro Sam Lashlee held a pretty solid lead over Fisher Anaya of Eva, Alabama, and the rest of the field. And, running far south yet again, Lashlee didn’t give it way – he rustled up 20 pounds, 3 ounces, more than enough to protect his lead from most charges.
But Anaya’s surge wasn’t typical. Blasting 24 pounds, 8 ounces – the biggest bag of the tournament – the 19-year-old pro slid up one place to earn the trophy. With a 62-14 total, Anaya expertly rolled with a dynamic fishery to pocket $39,545 for his efforts.
After a few close calls, the win is Anaya’s first with MLF. Back-to-back Toyota Series events have now been won by teenagers, as Dylan Quilatan prevailed recently at the Harris Chain. Finishing second, Lashlee totaled an even 62 pounds. Between them, Anaya and Lashlee far outstripped the field, as Blake Schroeder finished third with 51-14.
If you’re going to have an unbelievable day of fishing, there’s hardly a better day for it than the last day of a major tournament. According to Anaya, a mid-afternoon discovery on Day 2 led to an incredible morning on Day 3.
“It was the most insane thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Anaya. “I found them midway through the second day. I was fishing for spawning fish in the back (of a marina), and I just came out and got on a random sand flat out in the mouth. And I found a little sinkhole, and I saw a bunch of blobs sitting there. I was like, ‘There’s no way that’s all bass.’
“I made three casts on it yesterday and caught three 4 1/2-pounders and left them alone,” he detailed. “And then I went back today and sat the boat down. And for like an hour and a half, I caught 4 1/2-pounder after 4 1/2-pounder.
“I’ve never seen nothing like it in my life,” he said. “They looked like a school of largemouth on Guntersville stacked up there, but they were in 4 foot of water.”
After blasting them all morning, Anaya earned an emotional win, with tears and rain both falling on stage.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” said the young angler. “I’ve been a nervous wreck since 8 o’clock this morning, since I had them. I mean, I’ve been back and forth pacing on the boat. Eating a sandwich, drinking water. I was trying to do anything to keep my mind off what was going to happen.
“To finally have it go my way, it feels great,” he added. “I lost a 7-pounder the first day, and I really thought that was going to be the one that came back to haunt me. That was going to be the reason I didn’t win and finished second. I’m just lost for words.”
Recently, Anaya has fished quite a few tournaments on Kentucky Lake, so he went into this one theoretically well prepared for standard spring conditions. Fortunately for him, the high, dirty water boxed him in.
“I had some spawning fish found in [the Paris Landing Marina],” he said. “It’s the only clean water I found on the lake, really. So, I just told myself I was going to run there, and if I got five to bite, I’d have a decent bag. And I really thought the weights were going to be really bad.
“I pulled in that first day and caught a 5-pound smallmouth and some keepers, but I could never get nothing else rolling,” he said. “I decided to go crank the muddy water late that afternoon, and I ended up catching a 3 1/2-pounder, which got me to whatever I had the first day. And I jumped off a great big largemouth – it was a 6- or 7-pounder. Huge. And that’s been in the back of my mind since it jumped off.”
Though he whipped around a firetiger Rapala DT6, the trusty minnow got the bulk of the work done, both for spawning fish and on his winning hole. In that case, he went with a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader on a 1/8-ounce head with a 6-foot, 10-inch, medium-light 13 Fishing Myth spinning stick and 12-pound Suffix Revolve with a 12-pound Suffix Advance leader.
“The second day, I ran and did the same stuff, but I actually ended up catching 19 pounds of spawners in the back of Paris instead,” said Anaya. “I was actually trolling over there to crank the bridge, and I trolled over the top of them, and they all shot up off the bottom. And I was like, ‘Maybe that was bass.’ I spun around. It was meant to be, I guess.”
The final day, Anaya ran straight to the juice, and he had the tournament won in short order.
“I think it took me 47 minutes to get there,” he said. “And when I clicked my camera at 58 minutes, I had 22 pounds. I’ve never seen nothing like it.”
The top 10 pros at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:
1st: Fisher Anaya, Eva, Ala., 15 bass, 62-14, $39,545 (includes $1,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2nd: Sam Lashlee, Camden, Tenn., 15 bass, 62-0, $14,936
3rd: Blake Schroeder, Whitehouse, Texas, 15 bass, 51-14, $11,563
4th: Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 51-14, $9,636
5th: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 51-10, $8,673
6th: Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., 13 bass, 51-3, $7,709
7th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 15 bass, 50-4, $6,745
8th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 49-13, $5,782
9th: Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., 15 bass, 48-13, $4,818
10th: Brock Bila, Republic, Mo., 15 bass, 47-10, $3,854
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Pro Joe Lucarelli of Benton, Kentucky, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass Award on Day 1 Tuesday with a bass weighing 6 pounds, 12 ounces, while pro Justin Berger of Murray, Kentucky, earned the $500 Berkley Big Bass on Day 2 Wednesday with a 7-pound, 1-ounce fish to earn the $500 prize.
Dan Bowman of Osage Beach, Missouri, won the co-angler division Thursday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 42 pounds, 12 ounce. Bowman earned the top co-angler prize package worth $33,500, including a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The top 10 co-anglers at the Toyota Series at Kentucky Lake finished:
1st: Dan Bowman, Osage Beach, Mo., 14 bass, 42-12, Phoenix 518 Pro boat w/115-hp Mercury outboard
2nd: Noah Dickneite, Westphalia, Mo., 13 bass, 36-3, $4,836
3rd: Jeremy Duke, Gautier, Miss., 12 bass, 36-2, $3,868
4th: Alan Bernicky, Dardanelle, Ark., 12 bass, 32-5, $3,485
5th: Chase Johnson, Quincy, Ill., 12 bass, 31-4, $2,901
6th: Douglas Guidorzi, Genton, Mo., 11 bass, 30-8, $2,418
7th: Jeff Moss, Oronogo, Mo., 11 bass, 28-0, $1,934
8th: Dustin Selck, Hixson, Tenn., nine bass, 25-12, $1,692
9th: Josiah Ennes, Billings, Mo., eight bass, 24-11, $1,451
10th: Dennis Young, Olathe, Kan., nine bass, 24-11, $1,209
Co-angler Kristin Hamilton of Mount Washington, Kentucky, earned Tuesday’s Berkley Big Bass co-angler award with a 6-pound, 4-ounce bass to win the $150 prize, while Wednesday’s Day 2 $150 co-angler award went to Clayton Hale of Grove, Oklahoma, who weighed in a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth.
The Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats at Lake Chickamauga was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season tournament for the Toyota Series Plains Division. The third and final event for the Toyota Series Plains Division regular season will be Sept. 25-27 – The Toyota Series at Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. For a complete schedule of events, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The 2025 Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern and the Southwestern – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International and Wild Card divisions. Anglers who fish in any of the five divisions or the Wild Card division and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning up to $235,000 and a qualification to REDCREST 2026. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2025 Toyota Series Championship will be held Nov. 6-8 on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma, and is hosted by the City of Grove Convention & Tourism Bureau.
