Mount Carmel, Illinois pro boats 29 scorable bass weighing 70 pounds, 7 ounces to take early lead after day 1, full field of 35 pros to compete again Saturday
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (April 17, 2026) – The opening day of Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance lived up to the pre-tournament hype, with Table Rock Lake yielding scorable bass of all three species (four if you count meanmouth, the smallmouth-spotted bass hybrid). In fact, Drew Gill accounted for all four by himself among his 29 scorable bass.
Gill got off to a strong start Friday, using forward-facing sonar in Period 1 to grab an early lead. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. But the 23-year-old electronics whiz actually extended his advantage after locking up his transducers. The net result was a 70-pound, 7-ounce total that has Gill 15-5 ahead of Zack Birge in second place and more than 30 pounds clear of the Lucas Oil Cut Line. The leaderboard is tightly bunched from there, with Jacob Wheeler and Wesley Strader both over the 50-pound mark and within 5 pounds of Birge.
Link to Photo Gallery: REDCREST kicks off with red-hot start
Link to Photo Gallery: Anglers hit Table Rock Lake for Day 1 of REDCREST
Link to Photo Gallery: A tight race along the cut line develops on Day 1 of REDCREST
Link to HD Video – Fish-Catch Highlights of REDCREST 2026 Day 1 on Table Rock Lake
Anyone watching on the MLFNOW! livestream could tell Gill enjoyed himself Friday, and not just because he held the lead for much of the day. He fished in his wheelhouse, throwing a jighead minnow while using forward-facing sonar and a variety of finesse worms without it. Catching an estimated 45 total bass (including every species Table Rock had to offer) was icing on the cake.
“I had a ball,” Gill said. “I caught them my favorite way of catching them: I got to throw a worm and [shake] a minnow. When I had ‘Scope, I caught all smallmouth but two, and when I didn’t have ‘Scope, I caught all largemouth but two. … Table Rock just has a ton of fish. It’s fun. Catching fish is fun.”
Anticipating a heavyweight event, Gill set the ambitious goal of trying to rack up 40 pounds while using forward-facing sonar in Period 1. He didn’t quite get there, but his 37-9 total on 16 scorable bass still gave him the lead, 5 pounds ahead of Wheeler.
During the opening period, Gill targeted “object-related smallmouth” with the Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow he designed. Doing so required a level of precision that illustrated why Gill is widely regarded as one of the best in the world with forward-facing sonar.
“Most of the fish I caught today doing that, I threw three to five casts at to catch,” he explained. “And those have to be in succession. So, you have to be dead-on with your cast, get them hot, and do that three to five times in a row to get them hot enough to catch them.”
Gill’s prowess with modern electronics has powered his rapid rise to the top of the sport and his four wins and 20 Top 10s in 32 tour-level events since 2024. But what had Gill even more excited after Day 1 is the success he found without forward-facing sonar. He shifted gears, targeting primarily largemouth in shallower water, and added another 13 scorable bass for 32-14 across the second and third periods.
“My no-‘Scope deal right now is good enough, and our conditions on Sunday are good enough that, no-‘Scope wise, I think I’m on the right track if I can put down a really big ‘Scope day like I did today,” he said.
There’s no prize for topping the two-day Qualifying Round at this event, but Gill’s strong start earned him a luxury that he thinks will boost his chances of winning his first championship event. He should be able to spend much of Saturday scouting for new water without worrying about falling out of the Top 10. That will be key, because he doesn’t think there are enough smallmouth left where he started Friday to power a similarly strong forward-facing sonar period.
“I don’t have enough ‘Scope stuff right now to have any chance to win on Sunday,” he said. “Doing what I’m doing, it’s not one of those situations where you’re like, ‘Oh, I had more; I just didn’t realize.’ No, you know what you have. And once you catch them, they’re not going to get caught again, so I’m going to need to find some new ones tomorrow.”
Gill plans to run new water from the get-go on Day 2, only returning to the areas where he knows he can get a bite if he’s forced to.
“I do not intend to weigh a single scorable off of anywhere that I know has a fish already,” he said.
While he’s hoping to locate fresh fish, Gill doesn’t have to worry about finding a different way to catch them. He’s all-in on minnowing and worming, two techniques in which he has supreme confidence.
“What I’m doing right now, I committed my entire practice to,” he said. “It’s what I wrapped my entire week around, and it’s the approach that I felt was best for me personally to have a chance to win this tournament. Every chip is in for me. I’m dancing with the one that brought me.”
The standings after Day 1 of REDCREST 2026 on Table Rock Lake are:
1st: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 29 bass, 70-7
2nd: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 24 bass, 55-2
3rd: Jacob Wheeler, Birchwood, Tenn., 21 bass, 52-2
4th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 20 bass, 50-13
5th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 17 bass, 40-3
6th: Mark Daniels Jr., Shorter, Ala., 15 bass, 39-13
7th: Matteo Turano, Puryear, Tenn., 15 bass, 38-14
8th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 16 bass, 38-7
9th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 16 bass, 38-5
10th: Brody Robison, Dawson, Ala., 15 bass, 38-3
11th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 17 bass, 38-3
12th: Alton Jones Jr., Lorena, Texas, 16 bass, 37-7
13th: Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 15 bass, 37-5
14th: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 15 bass, 37-2
15th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 36-13
16th: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 15 bass, 36-11
17th: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 14 bass, 35-5
18th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 14 bass, 34-3
19th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 14 bass, 34-0
20th: Nick Hatfield, Afton, Tenn., 14 bass, 31-8
21st: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 11 bass, 29-0
22nd: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 11 bass, 25-0
23th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., nine bass, 22-0
24th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., nine bass, 21-0
25th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, nine bass, 20-10
26th: Adrian Avena, Marmora, N.J., nine bass, 20-2
27th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., eight bass, 19-10
28th: Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, nine bass, 19-8
29th: Luca Della Ciana, Perugia, Italy, eight bass, 19-4
30th: James Elam, Cleveland, Okla., eight bass, 17-10
31st: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., seven bass, 15-14
32nd: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., five bass, 15-1
33rd: Steve Lopez, Oconomowoc, Wis., six bass, 14-5
34th: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., four bass, 10-10
35th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., three bass, 7-2
Full results throughout the event will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 453 scorable bass weighing 1,097 pounds, 10 ounces caught by the 35 pros on Day 1.
Bass Pro Shops pro Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tennessee, on the Day 1 $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award Friday with a 4-pound, 12-ounce largemouth bass that he caught on a bladed swimjig in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day of the tournament.
The full field of 35 anglers will compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Friday and Saturday. After the Qualifying Round is complete the top 10 pros, based on two-day cumulative weight, advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $300,000.
Anglers will launch each morning from Long Creek Marina, located at 1368 Long Creek Road in Ridgedale, Missouri, at 7:15 a.m. Fans are invited to attend all launch events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The free, family-friendly MLF Outdoor Sports Expo will also take place throughout the weekend, April 17–19, at Bass Pro Shops, located at 1 Bass Pro Drive in Springfield, offering something for fans of all ages. Attendees can shop the latest in fishing, boating and outdoor gear, enjoy live seminars, meet Bass Pro Tour anglers and Bass Fishing Hall of Famers like Kevin VanDam, Skeet Reese, Gary Klein and Jimmy Houston, and snap photos with special guests Skye and Marshall from Paw Patrol. Kids 14 and under can score a free Shakespeare rod and reel presented by KY3 (first 200 each day, Saturday and Sunday), while MLF members can access exclusive giveaways, including autograph cards and free lures for the first 50 members daily. With hourly prizes and daily $500 Bass Pro Shops shopping sprees presented by KTTS, the Expo delivers nonstop action all weekend long.
The three-day event showcases the top 35 MLF anglers from 2025 – including the top 30 anglers from the Bass Pro Tour – competing for the prestigious REDCREST Championship and a total prize pool for more than $700,000.
The 2025 Bass Pro Tour featured a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to finish in the top 30 and qualify for Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance. The field also features the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Champion, 2025 Toyota Series Pro Division Champion and International Division Champion, 2025 All-American Boater Champion and the highest finishing member of the 2025 College Fishing National Championship team from the Toyota Series Championship.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Television coverage of MLF’s Bass Pro Shops REDCREST 2026 Presented by Mercury and Lowrance at Table Rock Lake will premiere as a one-hour episode in December on CBS, immediately following an NFL game.