Alabama pro catches limit weighing 14-15 to bring 4-ounce lead into final day, Final 10 anglers set for Championship Sunday
LA CROSSE, Wis. (Sept. 6, 2025) – Day 2 of the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats on the Mississippi River was fun in and of itself, and it sets things up for what could be one of the more dramatic final days of the season. Weighing 14 pounds, 15 ounces, Albertville, Alabama pro Alex Davis stayed in the lead with a 33-12 total. Meanwhile, Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee, added an even 15 pounds to sneak within 4 ounces of Davis, with a 33-8 total. Behind the top two, pros Jimmy Washam and Steve Lopez are both over 32 pounds, and even Louisiana pro Colby Miller in sixth place is within striking range, with a 30-8 total.
Once again the weather was cool, but the wind relented on Day 2, which allowed some anglers to fish more easily, especially those plying shallow vegetation. With no forward-facing sonar in play, some pros had tougher, less precise days, but the change worked out quite well for others. Though the weights tumbled around a good bit, the fishing was a little better on Day 2 overall – on Day 1, just four pros caught better than 16 pounds, and on Day 2, eight pros accomplished the feat.
Link to Morning Photo Gallery from Day 2: Cut day begins at the Invitationals Championship
Link to Afternoon Photo Gallery from Day 2: Championship Top 10 roster locked after Day 2 weigh-in
Link to Video of Fish-Catch Highlights of Day 2 from the Mississippi River
Davis is on the cusp
Trying to frog his way to a win, Davis whipped up to Pool 7 on Day 1 and caught most of his weight in about 15 minutes. That didn’t quite work out on Day 2.
“I aged about five years today,” said the veteran pro. “I had three that weighed 7 pounds in the first 45 minutes and then fished until 1:40 and never had another bite. Then, I found one little mat about 30 yards by 30 yards, and I ended up filling my limit out and culled three times right there and had one big one hit it and not get it.”
Some might say it was lucky, but Davis’ late rally was very much the result of commitment to a pattern with an expert at the wheel. Raised frogging and flipping on Lake Guntersville, the Alabama pro is deadly with the big stick. If his frog fish work out again – or if he finds more – Shaw and everyone else will have a tough row to hoe.
“I’m thinking of starting there in the morning and then going back into Pool 7,” Davis explained. “I think the water dropping is what has made [the frog bite] worse – practice was better. Now, it’s so shallow, I think the fish have pulled out of a lot of the frog areas. I’ve got a couple places left, and I’m going to hope it works tomorrow.”
One ace Davis still has up his sleeve is the Black River. Though he’ll have company, Davis has made hay in the Black before, and there’s a good chance he’ll slip some into the rotation if the frog fish aren’t paying out as planned.
“I didn’t come to the Black River today because I thought my best option was to frog,” Davis said. “Today, I ran around for two-and-a-half or three hours – I will spend that time in the Black River tomorrow.”
Without a national win to his name, Davis probably has as good a chance now as he’s ever had, but he knows it won’t come easy.
“It would mean everything to win,” Davis said. “We’re going to have to see. I just need to catch 18 or 19 (pounds). Banks is going to catch them better tomorrow. I hope I can catch them better tomorrow too.”
Shaw narrows the gap
Weighing four smallmouth and one largemouth, Shaw weathered the no-‘Scope day with ease, as he usually does. And, given that he may have a few options come back into play on Day 3, he could be a dangerous man.
“It definitely could have been worse,” Shaw said. “I was shooting for the 16- or 17-pound mark. I caught three good smallmouth and then some decent ones, but I couldn’t get a big bite. My largemouth bite wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be – the cloud cover that moved in right as I started fishing my docks probably hurt it.”
Fishing mostly current-related places for his smallmouth, Shaw is looking forward to getting his electronics back in play on the final day.
“Tomorrow I think it’s going to be better,” he said. “I couldn’t really catch the fish I was fishing for that good today. I knew they were there; they were coming up schooling and stuff like that, but being able to look at them a little better tomorrow will be nice. I’ll be able to line my stuff up better. I fished several places today where I couldn’t get them to bite – I realized these fish are keying on baitfish, not a bottom bait, and I had to throw a bottom bait on some places just to get down to the fish.”
Having weighed nine smallmouth so far, Shaw is executing on his pre-tournament plan to perfection.
“It’s feels like I’m right at home,” he said. “I’ve fished on the Tennessee River my whole life, and it’s the same deal. Reading current seams and seeing where the fish set up. I love this kind of fishing, and I knew I didn’t want to be with everybody else, throwing a frog, punching. I wanted to try to do something a little different.”
Heading out on Championship Sunday, Shaw will have a chance to finish off a nearly perfect season with a massive win, sweeping Fishing Clash Angler of the Year, Polaris Rookie of the Year and making every Top 10.
“I’m super excited to get going tomorrow and try to catch 16 or 17 pounds and make Alex or whoever is with me catch the same bag,” Shaw said. “It’s definitely a good position to be in, but there’s definitely a lot of work ahead.”
The top 10 anglers advancing to Championship Sunday on the Mississippi River are:
1st: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 33-12
2nd: Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 33-8
3rd: Jimmy Washam, Stantonville, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-10
4th: Steve Lopez, Oconomowoc, Wis., 10 bass, 32-5
5th: Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 10 bass, 31-2
6th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 10 bass, 30-8
7th: Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, 10 bass, 28-15
8th: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 28-6
9th: Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 28-6
10th: Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 28-5
Eliminated from competition in 11th through 36th place are:
11th: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 28-4
12th: Keith Poche, Cecil, Ala., 10 bass, 28-0
13th: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 10 bass, 27-13
14th: Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 27-6
15th: Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., 10 bass, 27-4
16th: Hayden Marbut, Grant, Ala., 10 bass, 26-2
17th: Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 10 bass, 25-12
18th: Levi Thibodaux, Thibodaux, La., nine bass, 25-5
19th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 10 bass, 24-13
20th: Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., nine bass, 23-13
21st: Christian Greico, New Bern, N.C., 10 bass, 23-5
22nd: Joseph Webster, Hamilton, Ala., 10 bass, 23-4
23rd: Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., 10 bass, 22-15
24th: Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., eight bass, 22-3
25th: Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., 10 bass, 22-2
26th: Blake Hall, Rogersville, Ala., eight bass, 20-9
27th: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., seven bass, 18-14
28th: Robby Lefere, Jackson, Mich., seven bass, 18-6
29th: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., eight bass, 18-3
30th: Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., seven bass, 16-8
31st: Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Pa., five bass, 15-14
32nd: Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., six bass, 14-7
33rd: Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., five bass, 12-1
34th: Britt Myers Jr., Clover, S.C., six bass, 11-8
35th: Alex Bradley, Wellford, S.C., five bass, 8-13
36th: Brett Carnright, Plattsburgh, N.Y., three bass, 6-14
Complete results from throughout the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 150 bass weighing 411 pounds, 7 ounces caught by 33 pros on Saturday. The catch included 26 five-bass limits.
Pro Colby Miller of Elmer, Louisiana, brought a 5-pound, 6-ounce largemouth to the scale that was the biggest of the day to earn the Berkley Big Bass award of $1,000.
The three-day Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats is hosted by Explore La Crosse and showcases the top 36 anglers from the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitations season as they compete for a share of the $417,000 prize pool.
The full field of 36 anglers competed in Days 1 & 2 on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 10 pros, based on their two-day cumulative weight, now advance to the final round on Championship Sunday. The angler with the heaviest three-day total will win the grand prize of up to $135,000 and qualification into REDCREST 2026 where they will compete against the sport’s best for $300,000.
The final 10 anglers will launch at 7 a.m. CT Sunday from Veterans Freedom Park, located at 1 Clinton St. in La Crosse. The Championship weigh-in will be held at the park and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and weigh-in events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on Championship Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats at the Mississippi River in La Crosse will premiere as two two-hour episodes, with the first episode premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 8 on CBS Sports Network, and the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, Nov. 15. New MLF5 episodes premiere each Saturday morning on CBS Sports beginning in October.