Welcher whacks them on Day 1 at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound 

Alabama’s Kyle Welcher leads Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound in Elizabeth City, N.C., with a weight of 30-11.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

April 10, 2025

Welcher whacks them on Day 1 at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound 

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. —  Bites were hard to come by for Kyle Welcher during practice for the St. Croix Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound. He received only seven keeper bites on Day 1, but they resulted in the best bag of the day.

The 2023 Progressive Angler of the Year caught a limit of largemouth weighing 30 pounds, 11 ounces to take the Day 1 lead in eastern North Carolina. He anchored his impressive performance with three 7-pounders and a 6-pounder.

The Alabama native holds a nearly 7-pound lead over second-place Easton Fothergill.

“It was very fortunate,” he said. “My practice was terrible. I was really struggling with the confidence to catch a limit. The second one I caught was a 7-pounder, and that was the key to the puzzle for today. I’ve got a little clue now.”

After several cold nights to end practice, sunny and windy conditions persisted over the Albemarle Sound on Thursday. Navigating to the many rivers that flow into the Sound proved challenging for anglers, and the colder weather made the bite stingier than anticipated. Even with the tough bite, 71 limits were caught. 

Welcher’s best day in practice produced five to six bites, none as big as what he received on Day 1, and on the final day of practice he caught just two keepers.

“I didn’t get a good feel for the place, but something was telling me to go to this one area. That is where I went today,” Welcher said. “I really don’t know what changed.”

When he arrived in that one area today, he found the big ones waiting. Welcher landed two of his bigger bites when he first arrived at his area before suffering a long lull. After trying to adjust with little success, he returned to the same spot he landed his first two bites and caught his third quality keeper. 

“I started making adjustments and caught one small keeper,” Welcher said. “I abandoned those adjustments and went back to the area I caught the two big ones and caught another one. After I had those three big ones, I knew I had a good day going and I went looking for new water and caught another big one.”

All of his bites came doing the same thing; flipping a CrushCity Bronco Bug in shallow water. The deepest bass he landed came in around 5 feet of water. Welcher believes he landed mostly prespawn largemouth on Day 1. 

“A big chunk of the ones I’m catching are prespawn,” he said. “Just by how they look. They are really fat and really pretty. I had to slow down a lot today.”

In order to win this tournament, Welcher imagines he will have to continue to find new areas to fish. With how few bites he is getting, however, maximizing his area will also be incredibly important.

“I don’t think where I caught them today will reload enough for multiple days, but it is so hard to get a bite here that you have to stay in (the areas you get bites),” Welcher said. 

Fothergill, meanwhile, made a key adjustment to catch his 23-13 limit on Thursday. He anchored his bag with a 6 ½-pound largemouth.

Coming off his victory at the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour at Lake Ray Roberts, Fothergill started his tournament in the Pasquotank River and caught one keeper before moving to one of the other rivers later in the day. 

“It was an awesome day,” the Grand Rapids, Minn., native said. “I started shallow throwing a buzzbait, plopper and swim jig and completely switched it up. I went finesse on them. I knew they were still there, I just had to switch it up to get them to bite.”

When the power-fishing baits did not produce, he switched to a drop shot, which landed the majority of his keeper bites.

“I had to slow down to get the big ones to bite,” he said.

In practice, Fothergill found plenty of bass on the bed, but when he arrived at those areas today, he found them high and dry. The water temperature also dropped, which he feels moved some of those bass away from the bed. 

“I have a mix of prespawn and postspawners. A lot of them I’m catching are beat up and have bloody tails. My 6 ½ was a prespawner. It is kind of all over the board,” Fothergill said. “The water dropped a bunch. I caught a 7 accidentally off of a bed in practice, and that bed is now dry.” 

Forward-facing sonar played an important role in his success on Day 1, but when the water was higher, it played very little.

Reigning Dakota Lithium Elite Series Angler of the Year Trey McKinney is in third with 23-7. The Carbondale, Ill., pro started in an area where he received a lot of bites on the final day of practice. On Day 1, he landed 30 keepers and 11 pounds by 11 a.m., but didn’t get his bigger bites until the afternoon.

“Once I started picking it apart, I started getting quality bites,” McKinney said. “I switched the type of bank I was going down. I started fishing a slow, tapering bank in the afternoon instead of a steep drop. Once I did that, I went from 11 pounds to 23 pounds (quickly).”

A prototype jig produced the majority of his bites. His biggest bass of the day was a postspawner, while several others were either prespawners or spawning.

Huntington, Texas, pro Keith Combs landed the Big Bass of the Day, an 8-2 largemouth that anchored his 15-12 Day 1 limit. 

Sylacauga, Ala., pro David Gaston leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings currently with 259 points. Brookville, Ind., veteran Bill Lowen and Plover, Wis., pro Jay Przekurat are tied for second with 256 points followed by California’s Bryant Smith in fourth with 250 points and Florida’s John Cox in fifth with 249 points.

The full field of 102 pros will launch from Waterfront Park beginning at 7 a.m. ET and return for weigh-in at 3 p.m. The Top 50 anglers after the Day 2 weigh-in will advance to Semifinal Saturday before the Top 10 anglers compete on Championship Sunday for the top prize of $100,000.