Alabama pro holds on with 12-15 limit on final day to win by 4 ounces and earn $80,000 payday

RICHMOND, Va. (June 22, 2025) – Pro Keith Poche of Pike Road, Alabama, has a sterling record when it comes to riverine fisheries, with a bevy of Top 10s and wins on rivers proper plus high finishes plucked from the upper reaches of reservoirs. At Stop 5 Presented by 7Brew Coffee on the James River, Poche led the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event from the start after catching the biggest bag of the event on Day 1 – 23 pounds, 15 ounces. On Day 3, he tallied 12-15 for an even 53-pound total and the win, surviving 20-pound charges from Chad Mrazek and Dustin Smith and staying well clear of his closest competition at the start of the day.
 
The win is Poche’s third with MLF and his first at the Invitationals level, and he pocketed $80,000 for his efforts. It also sends him into next week’s Bass Pro Tour Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Athletic Brewing Company at the Potomac River (just up the Chesapeake Bay) with some prime time tidal momentum.

Link to Photo Gallery of Day 3 Championship Sunday Weigh-In
Link to Photo Gallery of Day 3 on-the-water Highlights
Link to Video of Fish-Catch Highlights of Day 3 from the James River

Famous for running a Gator Trax aluminum boat with a 150-horsepower Mercury, Poche is a master when it comes to getting where others can’t. This week, he caught all but one of his weigh fish out of a hard-to-reach creek off the James, which he could access at any water level – a feat that others in larger tin rigs and standard fiberglass boats couldn’t accomplish.

“That was the X-factor in the whole deal, my boat and motor,” said Poche. “I mean, having that Gator Trax with a Mercury allowed me to win. I could get there. No nobody else could. It doesn’t matter how many fish are in there if you can’t get there. That was the difference.”

In practice, Poche scouted the area, which he’s leaned on before in James events, and he immediately liked his chances.

“I went in there first thing, and it was tough to get in there,” he said. “There’s trees down everywhere in there, it’s just nasty. Looking at the tide, there were some boats, I think, that went in there. I could tell stuff was disturbed. But, the first day of the tournament, I knew it was going to be low tide. Ain’t nobody gonna get in there. Like, they could try, but they ain’t gonna get there. So, I felt good about it, knowing that at least I can get there before anybody else – even if I had to pass them in the ditch, because I knew they could not make it all the way.”

As it happened, Poche was the first in the area and made hay, blasting nearly 24 pounds right out of the gate. In the creek, which led into a backwater pond, he did his damage in two key areas – one deeper section as well as the mouth of the pond.

“It’s really two key spots in there,” he explained. “A little hole halfway back or three-quarters way back. It has steep banks, and it was just a little dip. They stay there waiting for the water to go back and forth. And early morning, the tide was coming out, the water was clean, and they would feed. And then, of course, the other spot was right there at the pond.

“I think that each day catching fish in those small little areas, there’s just only so many that live there,” he said. “But, I did all I could. I cleaned house.”

This week, the fishing in the creek was a little different than Poche has experienced before, but it didn’t slow him down.

“That water’s going back and forth. Before, typically, when it’s going in the pond, that’s when I caught them,” he said. “But this time, it had to be coming out. And I don’t know why, but I think it was the water color. I think the river got dingy, and then when that mud pushed in there from the river, the fish aren’t used to that in there.

“They’re used to that clean water in there, and it would scatter them. But when it turned and it would start sucking that clean pond water out, they’d set up and feed.”

Across the event, Poche didn’t need anything super fancy to get the job done. He used a 5/16-ounce shaky head with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General for a lot of his fish, as well as a crankbait and vibrating jig. For the shaky head, he used 15-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, an Abu Garcia Zenon reel and a 7-1, heavy, Fenwick baitcaster.

On stage, Poche was emotional as always.

“I was worried all day,” he said. “I felt like I needed more. I couldn’t hold it back, I couldn’t hold it back, man. It feels good to get it done.”

The top 30 pros at the Invitationals Stop 5 at the James River Presented by 7Brew Coffee finished:

1st:        Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 15 bass, 53-0, $80,000
2nd:      Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 15 bass, 52-12, $30,000
3rd:       Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., 15 bass, 51-13, $20,000
4th:        Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-12, $18,000
5th:        Britt Myers Jr., Lake Wylie, S.C., 15 bass, 47-12, $17,000
6th:        Mitch Crane, Columbus, Miss., 15 bass, 47-6, $16,000
7th:        Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 46-1, $15,000
8th:        Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., 14 bass, 45-15, $14,000
9th:        Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 15 bass, 45-14, $13,000
10th:     Blake Hall, Rogersville, Ala., 15 bass, 45-3, $12,000
11th:     Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 44-0, $10,000
12th:     Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 15 bass, 44-0, $10,750
13th:     Chaz Carrington, Suffolk, Va., 15 bass, 43-1, $10,000
14th:     Matt Baty, Bainbridge, Ga., 15 bass, 42-10, $10,000
15th:     Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 42-9, $10,000
16th:     Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 15 bass, 42-1, $10,000
17th:     Blake Smith, Lakeland, Fla., 15 bass, 41-15, $10,000
18th:     Cole Breeden, Lebanon, Mo., 15 bass, 41-13, $10,000
19th:     Cody Petit, Arundel, Maine, 15 bass, 41-13, $10,000
20th:     Jimmy Washam, Stantonville, Tenn., 15 bass, 40-4, $10,000
21st:     Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 40-4, $9,000
22nd:    Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 40-3, $9,000
23rd:    Kyle Goldstein, Paso Robles, Calif., 15 bass, 40-1, $9,000
24th:     Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 15 bass, 39-11, $9,000
25th:     Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 13 bass, 39-10, $9,000
26th:     Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 38-8, $9,000
27th:     Robby Lefere, Jackson, Mich., 15 bass, 38-1, $9,000
28th:     Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 15 bass, 37-13, $9,000
29th:     Christian Greico, New Bern, N.C., 15 bass, 36-13, $9,000
30th:     Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Pa., 15 bass, 34-6, $9,000

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 149 bass weighing 404 pounds 14 ounces caught by the final 30 pros on Sunday. The catch included 29 five-bass limits.

The three-day MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 5 at the James River Presented by 7Brew Coffee was hosted by Richmond Region Tourism and featured professional bass anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and valuable points to qualify for the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship in September. The full field of anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 30 pros, based on their two-day cumulative weight, advanced to the final round on Championship Sunday.

Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 5 at the James River Presented by 7Brew Coffee will air as a two-hour episode, premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 25 on CBS Sports Network.

The next event on the schedule for Invitationals anglers is the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Stop 6 at the St. Lawrence River Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, set for July 25-27 in Massena, New York.