We had 15 boats competing today in a One Stop Leesville Lake Bass Tournament.
1st place – Joey & Kevin Dawson – 17.49lbs.
2nd place – Larry Witt & Charlie Davis 15.24lbs
3rd place and Big Fish of the Day went to Tyler Farmer & Jeff Peak – 14.29lbs & 5.44 Lunker
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DECATUR, Ala. (Aug. 2, 2020) – Boater Kip Carter of Mansfield, Georgia, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces to win the three-day Toyota Series at Wheeler Lake tournament in Decatur, Alabama. Carter’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 41-14 earned him the win by a comfortable 4-pound, 11-ounce margin over second-place angler Harry Peyton of Guntersville, Alabama, and earned Carter the top payout of $22,286 in the second tournament of the 2020 Toyota Series Southeastern Division.
Carter’s win this week was particularly special to him since he used his 2002 aluminum tunnel hull “beater” rig to help him get the job done.
“I’ve had that tunnel hull for 16 years,” said Carter, who has 50 career top-10 finishes in FLW competition. “It’s a special boat to me. I bought it to fish the Ocmulgee River, which is a shallow, shoaly-type river, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that it worked pretty darn good in a lot of lakes that have shallow backwaters and silted-in creeks.
“To be able to just run in out of creeks – over those big silted-in flats – at will, without worrying about hitting anything makes it an invaluable tool here on these lakes in the southeast.”
When it comes to shallow, silted-in creeks and backwaters, Wheeler Lake fits the bill, and Carter knew his tunnel hull would be an asset this week.
After running a lot of creeks in practice, Carter settled on Limestone Creek as his best shot at winning. Limestone has multiple tiny creeks seeping into it, and Carter utilized several of them throughout the week.
“I would fish back in the true creeks when it was sunny and slick,” he says. “And I did catch a few fish that way, but if the wind got up and we got some clouds, I’d go back out into the flats. When it got right in those flats, I could catch those better 4-pound fish out there.”
During the week, Carter did most of his damage with two lures: a 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs buzzbait teamed with a black Zoom Horny Toad and a 3/8-ounce white swim jig with a Zoom Super Chunk, also white.
“The first couple of days, the swim jig was the key player,” Carter said. “Today, it was all about the buzzbait. The wind and clouds probably helped that bite – and I had some vicious bites on it today.
“This win has been a long time coming,” Carter went on to say. “I did a lot of celebrating out on the water today with some special fish catches. It’s something to finally pull one of these tournaments off; I get choked up just thinking about it.”
The top 10 pros on Wheeler Lake finished:
1st: Kip Carter of Mansfield, Ga., 15 bass, 41-14, $22,286
2nd: Harry Peyton of Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 36-15, $8,636
3rd: Dustin Smith of Grand Island, Fla., 14 bass, 34-8, $7,686
4th: Andrew Johnson of Glencoe, Ala., 15 bass, 34-2, $5,572
5th: Lavoyd Lemmond of Decatur, Ala., 15 bass, 32-8, $5,214
6th: Jesse Millsaps of Jasper, Ga., 14 bass, 31-8, $4,514
7th: Josh Bragg of Jacksonville, Ala., 15 bass, 30-3, $3,900
8th: Lynn Johnson of Attalla, Ala., 13 bass, 29-12, $3,343
9th: Dustin Neat of Dunnville, Ky., 14 bass, 27-10, $2,786
10th: Bill Spratlin of Rockford, Ala., 12 bass, 26-9, $2,229
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Smith took home an extra $1,000 as the highest finishing FLW PHOENIX BONUS member. Boaters are eligible to win up to an extra $35,000 per event in each Toyota Series tournament if all requirements are met. More information on the FLW PHOENIX BONUS contingency program can be found at PhoenixBassBoats.com.
Millsaps brought a 5-pound, 5-ounce largemouth bass to the scale Thursday – the largest fish weighed by a boater in the event.
Cal Culpepper of Hamilton, Georgia, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 28 pounds, 13 ounces. Culpepper took home the top prize package of a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The top 10 co-anglers on Wheeler Lake finished:
1st: Cal Culpepper of Hamilton, Ga., 15 bass, 28-13, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-hp outboard
2nd: Flint Davis of Leesburg, Ga., 14 bass, 25-7, $2,909
3rd: Lew Moore of Roanoke, Ala., 13 bass, 24-13, $2,367
4th: Jeffrey Ford of Trion, Ga., 11 bass, 19-0, $2,037
5th: Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala., 10 bass, 18-11, $1,746
6th: Hayden O’Barr of Gurley, Ala., 11 bass, 18-0, $1,705
7th: Ryan Methvin of Leoma, Tenn., 10 bass, 15-15, $1,164
8th: Josh Webster of New Market, Ala., nine bass, 14-11, $1,018
9th: James Littich of Davidson, N.C., eight bass, 14-3, $873
10th: Ryan Arnold of Gadsden, Ala., seven bass, 11-3, $727
The Toyota Series at Wheeler Lake was hosted by Decatur Morgan County Tourism. It was the second of three regular-season tournaments in 2020 for Southeastern Division anglers. The next event for Toyota Series anglers will be the Toyota Series at Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio, Aug. 18-20. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The Toyota Series consists of eight divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern, Plains, Southeastern, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. Anglers who fish all three qualifiers in any of the eight divisions and finish in the top 25 will qualify for the no-entry-fee Toyota Series Championship for a shot at winning $235,000 cash, including a $35,000 FLW PHOENIX Bonus for qualified anglers. The winning co-angler at the championship earns a new Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. The 2020 Toyota Series Championship will be held Dec. 3-5 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky, and is hosted by the Somerset Tourist & Convention Commission and the Burnside Tourism Commission.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Toyota Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
La Crosse Pro Catches Four-Day Total of 54 Pounds, 10 Ounces to Win $125K
Link to HD Video of Monsoor’s Winning Moment
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LA CROSSE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2020) – The man deemed the “Godfather of the Mississippi River” finally got it done at home. La Crosse’s own 71-year-old Yamamoto Baits pro Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 12 pounds, 10 ounces Saturday to win $125,000 at the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 54-10.
The limit gave him the win by a narrow 1-pound, 12-ounce margin over the No. 1 ranked angler in the world, pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 52-14 and earned $35,000.
“I can’t believe it. Winning at home is the neatest thing in the world. I’m going to remember this moment forever,” said Monsoor, who broke his own record as the oldest angler to ever win an FLW pro-level event. “This tournament had 50 of the best guys from MLF, and the top guys from FLW – it doesn’t get any harder than that. I am the luckiest guy in the world to be able to do what I love. To win at home – I can’t believe it.”
Monsoor caught the majority of his fish this week doing exactly what the Mississippi River legend is known for – throwing a swim jig. His jig of choice this week was a white Humdinger Tom Monsoor swim jig with a 3½-inch Yamamoto Swim Senko (pearl with silver flake). Monsoor also mixed in a homemade football-head jig with a Yamamoto Cowboy trailer and a homemade Bitsy Bug-type jig with a Fat Baby Craw to put together his winning limits.
“I caught two or three fish this week on the Bitsy Bug, but other than that everything came on the football jig and the swimming jig,” Monsoor said. “Gravel bars and drops with weeds seemed to be the two key areas this week.”
Now that the 71-year-old pro has finally earned the big win at home that had seemed to elude him for most of his career, he plans to spend a relaxing Sunday right where you’d expect to see him – back out on the water.
“I can’t wait to go out there tomorrow and see if those two schools of largemouth that I had found in practice are still there,” Monsoor went on to say. “I’m going to sleep in until 9 a.m. or so and recuperate, then I’m getting back out there.”
The top 10 pros on the Mississippi River finished:
1st: Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., 20 bass, 54-10, $125,000
2nd: Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., 20 bass, 52-14, $35,000
3rd: David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., 20 bass, 52-5, $30,000
4th: Zack Birge of Blanchard, Okla., 20 bass, 50-15, $25,000
5th: Tyler Stewart of West Monroe, La., 20 bass, 50-7, $22,000
6th: Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., 19 bass, 48-12, $21,000
7th: Bailey Boutries of Daphne, Ala., 20 bass, 48-11, $19,000
8th: Clark Reehm of Elm Grove, La., 20 bass, 48-9, $18,000
9th: Kyle Hall of Granbury, Texas, 20 bass, 48-7, $17,000
10th: Scott Wiley of Bay Minette, Ala., 15 bass, 42-6, $16,000
Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Overall there were 46 bass weighing 102 pounds, 15 ounces caught by pros Saturday. Nine of the final 10 pros weighed in five-bass limits.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River will premiere at 7 p.m. EDT, Sept. 11 on the Outdoor Channel. Running now through Dec. 27, FLW will air 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit action on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long episode goes in-depth to break down the final rounds of each regular-season competition. Episodes premiere in Friday night primetime slots on the Outdoor Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries was hosted by Explore La Crosse. The event featured a field of 200 anglers from FLW and Major League Fishing competing for $1.3 million.
In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament competition, the full field of 200 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday. The top 50 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced to Friday. Only the top 10 pros continued competition on Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.
FLW anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota, the Pro Circuit championship. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota will be held on Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Aug. 24-29.
MLF pros competing in the Pro Circuit Super Tournaments fish for prize money only. No points will be awarded toward any championship or title to MLF competitors. Only the original Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers will compete for the AOY title throughout the remainder of the season. AOY points in the final events will be awarded based on Pro Circuit anglers finishing order. The top-finishing FLW pro will receive “first-place points” regardless of where he finishes in the overall standings, and so on.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Despite a potentially disastrous impediment, Jamie Hartman of Russellville, Ark., held on to his lead at the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a three-day total of 59 pounds, 12 ounces. After taking the Day 1 lead with 22-1 — the event’s heaviest bag — Hartman added 20-3 on Friday and followed with 17-8 Saturday.
Hartman, who leads second-place angler Dave Mullins by only an ounce, lost an hour and a half of late-morning fishing time to a mechanical issue. A service technician identified a battery problem and a replacement got Hartman back on his way around Noon.
“I tried to shake it off on the way in and said, ‘Okay, let’s go get this done, get back out here and catch up,’” said Hartman, a native New Yorker who moved to Arkansas two years ago. “I tried to do that, but mentally it just spins you out.
“I’ll take what I have, but I had a little fish in my bag that I couldn’t cull. But I’ve made it to Championship Sunday, so I’ll try to make these New York home-state people proud.”
Fortunately, Hartman enjoyed a fast start to his morning with a 15-pound limit by 8:30. He caught all of his fish on the point where he ended Day 1 and started Day 2.
Hartman caught one of his five smallmouth on a drop shot when he spotted the fish on his electronics. A Carolina-rigged craw with a 1-ounce weight produced his other keepers.
“It was all kinda different today; the fish weren’t on the end where they were [on Days 1 and 2] where it sets up perfectly,” Hartman said. “They moved to the middle where there’s more moss, so it was really hard to work the bait through there. They had to hit it right away because I wasn’t getting to drag it much.”
After returning to the water, Hartman went back to his starting spot. But he couldn’t improve on his last upgrade, which he made at 9:47 a.m. Moving to “The Gut” — a popular area between Champlain’s northwestern branch and the Inland Sea — he tried various presentations over an area with shallow rock and grass.
After fishing flawlessly the first two days and most of Saturday, Hartman suffered a costly loss toward the end of the semifinal round when a broken wacky rig leader cost him a solid fish that looked like it would have helped his cause.
“I hadn’t retied that leader after yesterday and it broke right at the knot,” Hartman said. “I know it was a good one; I know what lives there. That one good fish would have been a difference-maker.
“It was just an all-around frustrating day. I just had a rough, rough day. It was just one thing after another.”
With cloudy, rainy conditions and southeast winds of 10 to 20 mph forecast for tomorrow, Hartman said he believes his heavily weighted Carolina rig will still produce. He also believes the rough water will limit the weekend recreational traffic.
Mullins, who hails from Mt. Carmel, Tenn., improved from fifth place to second by adding 20-10 to his previous weights of 19-13 and 19-4 for a three-day total of 59-11.
Depth, he said, was the key variable today.
“The first two days, I caught them all shallow cranking,” Mullins said. “But today, I started deep because the shallow bite hadn’t started turning on until about Noon. I caught four 4-pounders and lost one big one.
“Then, I went shallow for about three hours and never got a bite; but I went back out deep with about an hour left and caught another big one.”
Mullins caught his Day 3 fish on a drop shot with a goby-style bait over rock structure in 30 feet.
Koby Kreiger of Alva, Fla., is in third place with 59-2. He missed several fish on the Zara Spook that produced his first two days’ weights of 18-1 and 22-0, but he made a key adjustment and added 19-1 Saturday.
“The difference between yesterday and today was that yesterday, I caught everything that bit and today, I had a chance at a 22-pound bag and it just didn’t happen,” Kreiger said. “Yesterday, when I’d catch a fish, it would come up with what I call ‘friends’ with it. But today it was just singles. Maybe there wasn’t as much competition to eat the bait as there was yesterday.
“They wouldn’t eat my Spook, so I had to switch to a smaller profile with a Rebel Pop-R and they ate it. The bad thing is, the popper is so slow to fish, you can’t cover as much water as you can with the Spook.”
Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., fell to fourth place with 59-0, but is still in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with the 6-6 largemouth he caught Friday.
Only the Top 10 anglers will compete Sunday for the $100,000 first-place prize — and with less than 3 pounds separating 10th place from first, the event is as wide open as any in recent memory.
Sunday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held back at the marina at 3 p.m.
Live coverage of the event will be available starting at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster LIVE at Bassmaster.com with simulcasts on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Check local listings for ESPN2 times.
The tournament is being hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, City of Plattsburgh and Clinton County with support from the Office of the Governor of the State of New York.
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2020 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain 7/30-8/2 |
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Monsoor Holds Lead Heading into Final Day at Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries
La Crosse Pro Brings 1-Pound, 1-Ounce Lead into Final Day of $1.3 Million Event
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LA CROSSE, Wis. (July 31, 2020) – Yamamoto Baits pro Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, brought a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces, to the scale Friday to retain his lead after day three of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries. Monsoor now enters the fourth and final day of competition as the No. 1 seed in the Super Tournament that features 200 of the world’s best bass-fishing anglers from FLW and Major League Fishing (MLF) competing for a piece of the $1.3 million prize pool.
Monsoor has crossed the stage with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 42 pounds even, which gives him a slim 1-pound, 1-ounce lead over second-place pro MLF angler Zack Birge of Blanchard, Oklahoma, who caught five bass today weighing 13 pounds, 2 ounces. Birge has weighed in 15 bass totaling 40 pounds, 15 ounces in his three days of competition.
“It was pretty tough, today. At noon I only had 7½ pounds, and I went through around 50 fish to even get that,” said Monsoor, who has one prior win – on the Potomac River in 2017 – in Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit competition. “Right at the end of the day I pulled up to a weed bed and caught my biggest fish of the day, and two other nice ones. You just have to keep plugging away and never give up out there.
“I caught more fish today than I had on the first two days combined, but I just couldn’t find the big ones,” Monsoor said.
Monsoor spent his morning on two offshore spots in Pool 8, near the Black River. His first spot was producing until an altercation with a local water ski boat in the same area shut it down.
“That kind of wrecked my morning,” said Monsoor. “I’ve been here all my life, and I’ve never had anybody do that before. They ski there all the time. I fish there all the time. There’s never been a problem. That took the edge off right away. I was having fun until that. I was going to catch some fish there, too. But he shut it down.”
Monsoor managed to catch around 10 pounds off of his second area before running into his three bigger fish later in the day.
With numerous top-10 finishes and six career victories on the Mississippi River in various levels of FLW competition, a victory on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit is the only trophy that has eluded Monsoor here in La Crosse. With one day left, Monsoor said all he can do is fish as hard as he can.
“The big FLW events are my worst tournaments,” Monsoor went on to say. “The worst! I couldn’t do any worse. And I’ve had the best practices before these events. This is the first one it hasn’t screwed me on. So, I want this one really bad. All you can do is fish as hard as you can, and nobody fishes harder than me. I know that. I don’t stop.”
The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition on the Mississippi River are:
1st: Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 42-0
2nd: Zack Birge of Blanchard, Okla., 15 bass, 40-15
3rd: David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., 15 bass, 40-8
4th: Scott Wiley of Bay Minette, Ala., 14 bass, 40-5
5th: Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., 15 bass, 39-12
6th: Tyler Stewart of West Monroe, La., 15 bass, 39-9
7th: Kyle Hall of Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 39-0
8th: Bailey Boutries of Daphne, Ala., 15 bass, 37-13
9th: Clark Reehm of Elm Grove, La., 15 bass, 37-10
10th: Cody Meyer of Auburn, Calif., 14 bass, 37-9
Finishing in 11th through 30th are:
11th: Clayton Batts of Butler, Ga., 15 bass, 37-3, $14,000
12th: Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 37-2, $14,000
13th: Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., 15 bass, 37-2, $14,000
14th: Adrian Avena of Vineland, N.J., 15 bass, 37-1, $14,000
15th: David Gaston of Sylacauga, Ala., 15 bass, 36-15, $14,000
16th: Bradford Beavers of Summerville, S.C., 14 bass, 36-14, $14,000
17th: Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., 15 bass, 36-14, $14,000
18th: Paul Elias of Laurel, Miss., 15 bass, 36-13, $14,000
19th: Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., 15 bass, 36-13, $14,000
20th: Matt Lee of Bremen, Ala., 15 bass, 36-10, $14,000
21st: Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., 15 bass, 36-9, $11,000
22nd: Jacob Wall of New Hope, Ala., 15 bass, 36-3, $11,000
23rd: Kurt Mitchell of Milford, Del., 15 bass, 35-15, $11,000
24th: Alton Jones Jr. of Lorena, Texas, 15 bass, 35-10, $11,000
25th: Chad Warren of Sand Springs, Okla., 15 bass, 35-8, $11,000
26th: Jon Englund of Farwell, Minn., 15 bass, 35-5, $11,000
27th: Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Minn., 15 bass, 35-4, $11,000
28th: Darrell Davis of Dover, Fla., 15 bass, 35-2, $11,000
29th: Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 34-14, $11,000
30th: Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 33-14, $11,000
Full results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Overall there were 217 bass weighing 497 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 48 pros Friday. The catch included 36 five-bass limits.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries is hosted by Explore La Crosse.
In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super-Tournament competition, the full field of 200 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday. The top 50 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced to Friday. Now only the top 10 pros will continue competition on Championship Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.
FLW anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota, the Pro Circuit championship. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota will be held on Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Aug. 24-29.
MLF pros competing in the Pro Circuit Super Tournaments will fish for prize money only. No points will be awarded toward any championship or title to MLF competitors. Only the original Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers will compete for the AOY title throughout the remainder of the season. AOY points in the final events will be awarded based on Pro Circuit anglers finishing order. The top-finishing FLW pro will receive “first-place points” regardless of where he finishes in the overall standings, and so on.
The final 10 anglers will take off at 7 a.m. CDT Saturday from Stoddard Park, located at 502 Forest Lane, in Stoddard. Saturday’s Championship weigh-in will also be held at Stoddard Park and will begin at 4 p.m. Attendance is limited to competing anglers and essential staff only. Fans are encouraged to forgo the daily takeoffs and weigh-ins and follow the event online through the expanded four-day “FLW Live” on-the-water broadcasts and weigh-in coverage at FLWFishing.com.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River will premiere at 7 p.m. EDT, Sept. 11 on the Outdoor Channel. Running now through Dec. 27, FLW will air 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit action on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long episode goes in-depth to break down the final rounds of each regular-season competition. Episodes premiere in Friday night primetime slots on the Outdoor Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel.
The popular FLW Live on-the-water broadcast will air each day of competition, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran is joined by Toyota Series pro Todd Hollowell and MLF’s Marty Stone to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts are live streamed on FLWFishing.com.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
| Jamie Hartman, originally of Newport, N.Y., is leading after Day 2 of the 2020 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a two-day total of 42 pounds, 4 ounces.
Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S. July 31, 2020 |
Hartman Maintains Lead At Bassmaster Elite Series Event On Lake Champlain
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PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Reversing his game plan, Day 1 leader Jamie Hartman of Russellville, Ark., added 20 pounds, 3 ounces to Thursday’s weight of 22-1 and retained the top spot in the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with a two-day total of 42-4.
Hartman ended Day 1 by stopping on a rocky point close to the tournament site and catching a 4-pounder 10 minutes before the 3 p.m. weigh-in began. Friday, he started on this spot and quickly lit up the BASSTrakk leaderboard by securing a solid limit of smallmouth in less than two hours.
“I took a lot of pressure off this morning in the first hour and a half, I had 18 1/4 pounds,” said Hartman, a New York native who moved away from his home state to pursue a career in professional bass fishing. “Then I figured I only needed two more 4-pounders, but it took all the way to the last two hours to do it.
“That spot was on my way to a big flat I wanted to fish in the lake’s north end, so I just said I’m going to start there and see if the fish were there, and they sure were. Hopefully, they’ll reload and I’ll get on them tomorrow morning.”
Having fished this spot in years past, Hartman said his nearly immediate bite on Day 1 told him the point held greater potential than he had anticipated. With Friday’s calm, clear conditions contrasting Thursday’s partly cloudy and increasingly breezy complexion, he started Day 2 expecting fireworks and the bass mostly cooperated.
Hartman caught those early fish on a Carolina rig with craw bait on a 3/0 Owner extra-wide gap hook. He used a 1-ounce weight and a 3-foot leader, which helped him keep his bait above the grass.
“The spot had scattered grass and rock, so the Carolina rig was absolutely perfect, and my hookup to landing ratio is really good,” he said. “I said I was going to put it in my hand this week before we started because I lost so many fish last week [at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the St. Lawrence River]. I said I’m going to swing with the big one this time.
“I was using a steady retrieve and whenever I’d come through a patch of grass, I’d pop the rig to snap it out of that grass. They’ll whack it every time when I do that.”
By midmorning, he decided he was not going to upgrade on his starting point, so he made a move to avoid burning up too much of the spot’s population. Heading to his northern flat, he focused on scattered grass in about 10 to 15 feet.
“I didn’t want to keep hammering my starting spot,” Hartman said of his plan to manage the bass. “I didn’t even go back to it on the way in. I didn’t want to catch another one off that spot; I need them for tomorrow.”
When the Carolina rig failed to produce, Hartman went to a 1/2-ounce Riot Baits Lil’ Creeper jig with a swimbait trailer. He was again targeting smallmouth but ended up making a key cull with a largemouth around 2:30 p.m.
Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., is in second place with 41-8. After anchoring his fourth-place Day 1 catch of 20-1 with a 5-4 largemouth, Feider added a limit of 21-7 Friday that included another huge largemouth that went 6-6.
Feider caught Friday’s big fish by targeting boat docks with milfoil and flipping a 5/8-ounce Outkast Tackle jig with a chunk-style trailer. While largemouth on marina docks produced most of his Day 1 weight, today told a different tale.
“I did most of my damage this morning on smallies; I ended up weighing four smallies and one buckethead (largemouth),” Feider said. “My smallmouth spot was a grass point in 10 to 12 feet on a big flat. I caught two on drop shot and two on a crankbait.”
Koby Kreiger of Alva, Fla., is in third place with 40-1. After posting 18-1 Thursday, he added 22 pounds on Day 2. Noting that a Heddon Super Spook Jr. and two jerkbaits — a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 and a Megabass Vision 110 — produced his fish, Kreiger said today’s calm, sunny conditions plus a cleaner performance yielded a better sack.
“It slicked off, which made it easier for me to see the fish and for them to see my bait,” Kreiger said. “Yesterday, I jumped off a couple and today, I fished clean.
“I’m fishing a great big flat in 10 feet with isolated rocks and isolated grass patches on it. I can see them pretty far out with my Humminbird 360; that shows me what’s in front of the boat when I’m drifting.”
Feider is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-6 largemouth.
Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.
Live coverage of the event will be available starting at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster LIVE at Bassmaster.com with simulcasts on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Check local listings for ESPN2 times.
The tournament is being hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, City of Plattsburgh and Clinton County with support from the Office of the Governor of the State of New York.
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2020 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain 7/30-8/2 |
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B.A.S.S. Nation Northeast Regional Championship At Lake Erie Canceled
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The 2020 TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Northeast Regional Championship, scheduled for August 19-21 on Pennsylvania’s Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay, has been canceled. The tournament cancellation was prompted by various state regulations, which would have prevented competitors from several states and B.A.S.S. staff from traveling to and from Pennsylvania for the event.
In addition to teams from Pennsylvania, the Northeast Regional Championship includes teams from Maryland, Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island.
“We’re obviously disappointed to see an event of this caliber canceled,” said Mark Jeanneret, Executive Director of Erie Sports Commission. “We know that Erie is a world-class bass fishery, but with the various statewide travel restrictions in place, it became obvious that we would not be able to host a full field of participants, significantly diminishing the level of competition.
“B.A.S.S. has been a great partner as we collectively worked through the changing landscape of sporting events this year. We’re looking toward 2021 and remain hopeful that Erie will be able to serve as the host of this prestigious event in the future.”
The top finishing boater and nonboater from each participating state at the Northeast Regional Championship would have advanced to the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Lake Pickwick to compete for a spot in the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic. Officials say they are working toward a solution for impacted anglers.
“It is disappointing any time we have to cancel a tournament, especially knowing how much these championships mean to our grass-roots anglers,” said Jon Stewart, B.A.S.S. Nation Director. “I will be working alongside these state presidents to find a fair way to advance anglers from this region to November’s National Championship.”
About B.A.S.S.
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LA CROSSE, Wis. (July 30, 2020) – Local pro Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard on day two of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries in La Crosse. Monsoor’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 28-11 will give him a 12-ounce advantage as the event enters into day three of competition in the four-day Super Tournament that features 200 of the world’s best bass-fishing anglers from FLW and Major League Fishing (MLF) competing for a top cash award of up to $160,000.
After starting the day in seventh place, Monsoor caught a limit in Pool No. 8 consisting of two smallmouth and three largemouth bass Thursday to move into first place. He says that the tournament is still completely up for grabs with two days of competition remaining and the fishery changing each day.
“I can’t believe that the River has been fishing as tough as it has been, but I had more weight today than I did yesterday so I guess it wasn’t too bad,” said Monsoor, a 17-year FLW pro veteran who has 25 previous top-10 finishes on the Mississippi River in FLW competition. “Yesterday I started out in Pool 7 and it did not work out. My two starting spots I didn’t get a bite – and I thought I could catch a limit at both. But that’s La Crosse – it can change overnight.
“Today I hunkered down in Pool 8 and it worked out a little better,” Monsoor continued. “I tried everything. I threw a topwater, I threw a popper, I threw a buzzbait, a football jig, a swimming jig, a Senko, and a homemade Bitsy Bug. All my weight is coming on the jig, but I’m trying other stuff. I see some big fish feeding but they ain’t biting. I don’t know why, yet.”
Monsoor said he remains on the lookout for the “big bite”, and that he almost had it in the boat late yesterday.
“Near the end of the day yesterday I thought I had snagged a stick, because it wasn’t fighting – it wasn’t moving. Then it came to the surface and opened its mouth – it was a 4- or 5-pounder – and the hook flew out. I’ve got good hooks, but the fish just didn’t get all of it. That bass would have been another couple of pounds, at least.
“That’s why this is still anybody’s tournament,” Monsoor went on to say. “I could get nothing tomorrow, and somebody else can catch a big bag. You can just stumble into them. I’m going to keep looking because I haven’t really found them yet.”
The top 20 pros after day two on the Mississippi River are:
1st: Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., 10 bass, 28-11
2nd: Scott Wiley of Bay Minette, Ala., 10 bass, 27-15
3rd: Bailey Boutries of Daphne, Ala., 10 bass, 27-14
4th: Zack Birge of Blanchard, Okla., 10 bass, 27-13
5th: Bradford Beavers of Summerville, S.C., 10 bass, 27-9
6th: Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., 10 bass, 27-4
7th: Tyler Stewart of West Monroe, La., 10 bass, 27-3
8th: Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-2
9th: Clark Reehm of Elm Grove, La., 10 bass, 26-7
10th: Clayton Batts of Butler, Ga., 10 bass, 26-1
11th: Kyle Hall of Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 25-7
12th: Matt Lee of Bremen, Ala., 10 bass, 25-7
13th: David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-7
14th: Mike McClelland of Blue Eye, Mo., 10 bass, 25-4
15th: Jon Englund of Farwell, Minn., 10 bass, 25-1
16th: Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., 10 bass, 25-1
17th: David Gaston of Sylacauga, Ala., 10 bass, 24-15
18th: Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., 10 bass, 24-13
19th: Kurt Mitchell of Milford, Del., 10 bass, 24-12
20th: Jesse Wiggins of Logan, Ala., 10 bass, 24-11
Full results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas, won the $500 Berkley Big Bass award Thursday in the pro division after bringing a fish weighing 4 pounds, 10 ounces to the scale.
Overall there were 797 bass weighing 1,774 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 190 pros Thursday. The catch included 119 five-bass limits.
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River presented by OPTIMA Batteries is hosted by Explore La Crosse.
In Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super-Tournament competition, the full field of 200 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Wednesday and Thursday. The top 50 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight now advance to Friday. Only the top 10 pros will continue competition on Championship Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.
FLW anglers are vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota, the Pro Circuit championship. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse FLW TITLE presented by Toyota will be held on Lake Michigan in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, Aug. 24-29.
MLF pros competing in the Pro Circuit Super Tournaments will fish for prize money only. No points will be awarded toward any championship or title to MLF competitors. Only the original Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit anglers will compete for the AOY title throughout the remainder of the season. AOY points in the final events will be awarded based on Pro Circuit anglers finishing order. The top-finishing FLW pro will receive “first-place points” regardless of where he finishes in the overall standings, and so on.
Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. CDT each day from Stoddard Park, located at 502 Forest Lane, in Stoddard. The weigh-in each day will also be held at Stoddard Park and will begin at 4 p.m. Attendance is limited to competing anglers and essential staff only. Fans are encouraged to forgo the daily takeoffs and weigh-ins and follow the event online through the expanded four-day “FLW Live” on-the-water broadcasts and weigh-in coverage at FLWFishing.com.
Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Mississippi River will premiere at 7 p.m. EDT, Sept. 11 on the Outdoor Channel. Running now through Dec. 27, FLW will air 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit action on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long episode goes in-depth to break down the final rounds of each regular-season competition. Episodes premiere in Friday night primetime slots on the Outdoor Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel.
The popular FLW Live on-the-water broadcast will air on all four days of competition, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran is joined by Toyota Series pro Todd Hollowell and MLF’s Marty Stone to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
| July 30, 2020 |
Late-Day Bonus Helps Hartman Take Lead At Bassmaster Elite On Lake Champlain
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PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — An afternoon decision paid off big for Jamie Hartman of Russellville, Ark., who nabbed a day-ending bonus that helped him claim the Day 1 lead of the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain with 22 pounds, 1 ounce.
At the day’s conclusion, Hartman’s name appeared next to three of the Top 10 Big Bass — a 5-pounder, a 4-14 and a 4-4. He also added a 4-0 just 10 minutes before the weigh-ins opened at 3 p.m.
“I upgraded in the last few minutes on the way in; I was pretty much done and I just hit something on the way in, made three casts and caught a 4-pound smallmouth,” said Hartman, a native New Yorker. “That spot was just a steep drop with some grass on top of it.
“I’ve fished it in the past and I’ve never caught a big fish off of it, but I’ve caught some decent fish. I was basically scouting for tomorrow, so after catching a 4-pound smallmouth, I think they’re there.”
Hartman’s late-day bonus spot exemplified the type of habitat he eventually settled into. Finishing his day with a mixed bag of three smallmouth and two largemouth, Hartman actually got off to a slow start but eventually turned his day around by adjusting his location.
“I went up north and the water was so calm that it was tough for me to get bit at all,” he said. “I ground it out for a while, got a couple of bites and made one move. When I finally made the move to go fish what I wanted to fish, it all came together. I bounced around to several different spots within the same area, making decisions on what to fish.”
Hartman generally described his area as a mix of rock and grassbeds in 12 to 15 feet. The key, he said, was targeting the right type of grass, specifically taller patches of milfoil.
“I was watching my electronics and making sure I was around patches of grass,” he said. “I was making sure I was in the high enough grass.”
Hartman caught his bass on a mix of soft-plastic presentations. Although he tried to get the fish interested in reaction baits early, a Carolina rig proved most productive.
“I tried to catch them on a swimbait like I did in practice. But there was no wind, so they wouldn’t eat it,” he said.
With the grassy shallows of the Ticonderoga area at Champlain’s lower end presenting the tempting potential for big largemouth, Hartman admitted he considered making the 70-mile run.
“When I had a slow start, I thought I had made the wrong decision by not running to Ti, but I slowly started to put it together,” he said. “I just kept reminding myself: pick off one at a time. They’re good ones, so we’ll keep going.”
Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Ga., is in second place with 21-2. Noting that Champlain’s smallmouth have often confounded him in the past, Gross mainly focused on largemouth Thursday. But with the lake about 4 feet below normal, he caught them in places where he has targeted smallmouth.
“I had spent a lot of time looking for structure for smallmouth, but the largemouth took over some of my spots and it’s really helping a lot,” Gross said. “As low as the water is, it’s pulling the largemouth out to the first places on the drops, and it’s making them a little easier for me to find them.”
Fishing the lake’s north end, Gross caught his fish on a prototype bullethead jig from Nichols Lures with a Zoom Chunk trailer and a Z-Man Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a Zoom Z-Craw trailer. The latter, he said, proved most strategic in finding his bites.
“I used moving baits to cover a lot of water,” he said. “I haven’t been getting a ton of bites, but when I do, it has been quality. So, I’m having to run a whole lot of water.”
Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., is in third place with 20-8. Targeting solely smallmouth, he committed to the lake’s north end where he targeted offshore humps, shoals and boulders in 15 to 40 feet.
“I caught my fish on a drop shot with a Yum Warning Shot and a 3/8-ounce weight,” Frazier said. “I had a midmorning flurry, and then I caught a couple of bigger ones later once the sun came out.”
Bryan Schmitt of Deale, Md., is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-2 largemouth.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in will be held back at the marina at 3 p.m.
Live coverage of the event will be available starting at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster LIVE at Bassmaster.com with simulcasts on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Check local listings for ESPN2 times.
The tournament is being hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, City of Plattsburgh and Clinton County.
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Scottsboro, Ala., will host the Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville Sept. 30 – Oct. 3.
Photo by B.A.S.S.
July 30, 2020
Bassmaster Elite Tournament Moved To Lake Guntersville
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Bassmaster Elite Series tournament previously scheduled for Cayuga Lake earlier in July will instead be held Sept. 30 – Oct. 3 on Alabama’s historic Lake Guntersville, B.A.S.S. officials announced today. Daily launches and weigh-ins will take place at Goose Pond Colony Resort Marina in Scottsboro, Ala., which is hosting the event.
“We are excited to host another B.A.S.S. event and showcase our facilities at Goose Pond Colony,” said Scottsboro Mayor Robin Shelton. “I know the event will be as successful as last year’s event, and I am looking forward to working with this staff again.”
Lake Guntersville has hosted 24 major B.A.S.S. events, including the 2020 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. The Big G also took the No. 2 spot in Bassmaster Magazine’s list of Best Bass Lakes of the Decade. Lake Guntersville is known for its breathtaking scenery and easy access, but big fish swim there as well. Most big-bass prizes are awarded to fish topping the 8-pound mark, with 10-plus-pounders taking center stage on occasion.
Angler Jamie Hartman raised the coveted blue championship trophy when the Elite Series visited Scottsboro in June 2019, winning the four-day tournament in dramatic fashion coming from tenth place to win with a total of 79 pounds, 10 ounces. In March of this year, Hank Cherry dominated the 2020 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Guntersville. Cherry weighed in a massive 29-3 limit on Day 1 of the tournament en route to a wire-to-wire victory.
“While it has been challenging to reschedule events, we intend to complete a full schedule of tournaments,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “We are thankful to our friends at the City of Scottsboro for partnering with us to offer anglers another opportunity to fish on one of our country’s best lakes while showcasing the area’s beauty for our audience.
“Our anglers and fans are going to really enjoy the fishing on Lake Guntersville in the fall.”
Officials emphasized that they will adhere to all local and state guidelines to ensure the event is safe for athletes, staff and the host community.
The Bassmaster Elite at Lake Guntersville will kick-off a busy schedule of fall derbies that will see the Elite Series pros competing on Santee Cooper in Clarendon County, S.C., Oct. 8-11, Tennessee’s Lake Chickamauga Oct. 16-19, and Texas’s Lake Fork for the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Nov. 5-8.
For more information, visit Bassmaster.com.
About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 515,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bassmaster Team Championship, new Huk Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series powered by TourneyX presented by Abu Garcia and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic.
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