Top 30 Anglers Named for 2020 Summit Cup

Brent Ehrler qualified for his third cup event of the season. Photo by Garrick Dixon

TULSA, Okla. – The 30 pros who will be competing in the final Cup event of the season, the 2020 Summit Cup, have been decided. These 30 anglers will be kept in the dark about where they will be fishing until competition day arrives and will be given no time to practice on the body of water. The anglers that will be competing are as follows:

Red Hot Wheeler

Jacob Wheeler earned the top spot when qualifying thanks to his Stage Seven win at Table Rock Lake. Wheeler has been one of the hottest anglers on tour over the past couple of months, racking up another Top-10 finish in Stage Eight to end his regular season. Wheeler says it’s hard to complain about anything right now.

“I feel really confident where I’m at right now in my life,” Wheeler said. “I’ve got a great support system in my wife and my baby girl. I’m really comfortable with my life in general. There’s so much more to being a professional bass fisherman than just fishing. Once everything outside of fishing works together and flows, it just makes your life and fishing a whole lot easier.”

The Summit Cup will be Wheeler’s third Cup event he qualified for this season, something only a handful of pros have done. It takes consistency to earn enough points to qualify for three Cup events, and the Tennessee pro isn’t taking his great performance for granted.

 “When you have to fish against the quality of competition that we do at every event, it’s an awesome feeling to qualify for a Cup event,” Wheeler explained. “It’s not easy to do. I’ve had a couple of good MLF Cup events in my career winning two Challenge Cups, but I’ve never won a Summit Cup. Cup events are so much fun because we fish these bodies of water that a majority of us have never seen and you just have to figure it out on the fly. I can’t wait.”

Experienced Ehrler

Brent Ehrler is another angler that can put the Cup event qualifications on his 2019 Bass Pro Tour resumé.

“I had multiple goals coming into this season on the Bass Pro Tour and making all of the Cup events was one of them,” Ehrler said. “I was able to make three out of four and qualify for the REDCREST so I’m feeling pretty good about that.”

Like Wheeler, Ehrler has been around the block a few times when it comes to MLF Cup events. Ehrler won the very first MLF Cup event on Lake Amistad in 2012, which means the California pro brings valuable knowledge to the party. Ehrler knows that there are certain things that you just can’t waste your time trying to figure out heading into an MLF Cup event.

“There’s not much too much you can do to prepare for a Cup event,” Ehrler explained. “There’s no practice and you can’t really develop a game plan until you know where you are going and what you will be fishing. You can sort of get an idea based on what part of the country we meet at, but you never know what body of water you could be fishing.”

Giant expectations for O.H. Ivie, Lake Brownwood

Lake Brownwood, which will host the Knockout and Championship Rounds of Stage 4, sets up very different from the Qualifying Round venue, O.H. Ivie. Photo by Phoenix Moore.

January 30, 2026 • Mitchell Forde • Bass Pro Tour

EARLY, Texas — Over the past decade or so, Texas’ O.H. Ivie Reservoir has emerged as the undisputed top big-bass factory in the U.S. So, when 51 of the world’s best anglers visit O.H. Ivie and Lake Brownwood for Stage 4 of the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season March 26-29, it’s fair to expect some giants to hit SCORETRACKER® – possibly even the first “teener” in BPT history. 

What to expect

O.H. Ivie’s reputation for producing giant bass has become little secret. For five years in a row, the lake has produced the most Toyota ShareLunkers – bass weighing 13 or more pounds – of any Texas fishery. 

Yet several of the competitors in the BPT field saw firsthand that catching those giants isn’t easy. The Fishing Clash Team Series visited O.H. Ivie and Brownwood in the fall of 2024, and the bite was tough. Only one bass bigger than 4 pounds hit the scales across three days of competition. 

Brett Cannon, a former MLF tournament angler who now guides on O.H. Ivie and other nearby lakes, expects the action to be much better this time, when O.H. Ivie hosts the two-day Qualifying Round. The bass are always more susceptible in March than October, when the Team Series visited. Plus, those anglers didn’t get any practice time prior to competing on O.H. Ivie. The Colorado River impoundment is basically a jungle of flooded salt cedars, making it difficult to find the best areas quickly. 

“It should be a lot better event, in my opinion,” Cannon said. 

Cannon expects both catch rates as a whole to improve and more big females to show up. While the exact spawning stage the bass are in will depend on the weather, he expects plenty of male bass to be accessible in the shallows, and he noted that those fish don’t see much pressure. 

“There’s a lot of 2-pounders to be caught on this lake,” Cannon said. “Us guides, we don’t really target those, just because our clients, that’s not what they want at all. They come out with us, they’re like, ‘I want to catch a 10-pounder, or I don’t want to catch a bass.’” 

As for the big girls, Cannon thinks they’ll be less elusive than they were in the Team Series event. He expects multiple 10-pounders to be caught. However, he noted that anglers will probably need to use their one allotted period per day with forward-facing sonar to have their best shot at a giant. 

“I think the ‘Scope period is going to be a huge period for these guys, for sure,” he said. “Because the fish don’t live everywhere out here. So, dialing in an area, finding out where that concentration of those 2- and 3-pounders are, I think, is going to be key. And then those big ones – 99% of our big ones come off of ‘Scope. Whether they’re suspended roamers, whether they’re on structure, a tree or something, you kind of have to use that ‘Scope.” 

As for Lake Brownwood, which will host the Knockout and Championship Rounds, Cannon said while the potential for a double-digit might not be as high, the catch rates should be better, especially when angler aren’t using forward-facing sonar. The lake offers an array of shoreline cover, from water willow to rock banks to docks, and Cannon said the bass there like to get shallow. 

“It doesn’t have the giants, but it’s got the number of 2- to 3-pounders, 4-pounders,” he said. “You can catch them a lot of different ways there. You can definitely no-’Scope that lake, depending on the weather. Those fish like to get dirt shallow. There’s docks, there’s river swings. There’s all kinds of stuff you can do on that lake.” 

Storylines to watch

• Strategy is always paramount on the Bass Pro Tour, but that will be especially true at this event. For one, tournaments that are split between two fisheries always present anglers with a dilemma of how to allocate their practice time. Plus, on O.H. Ivie, anglers might have to choose between targeting numbers of scorable bass or hunting one or two giants, especially during their one period per day with forward-facing sonar. 
• Qualifying for the annual Heavy Hitters event is a goal for every BPT angler, and Stage 4 should be pivotal in determining who makes it for 2027. Qualification is based on every angler’s biggest bass caught at each event, and anyone who can catch one of the lunkers that call O.H. Ivie home could gain a ton of ground. Look for pros who get off to a strong start in the Qualifying Round to use as much of Day 2 as possible to hunt for a Heavy Hitters fish. 
• The biggest bass ever caught in Bass Pro Tour competition, a 12-14 by Randy Howell on Bussey Brake in 2022, will be tough to top. But if any lake can kick out a 13-pounder, it’s O.H. Ivie. Six bass of 13-plus pounds were landed from the lake between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2025. 

Bass Pro Tour headed to uncharted territory on Lakes Whitney and Waco

Lakes Whitney and Waco will be a mystery to just about everyone in the BPT field, except Alton Jones. Photo by Phoenix Moore.

January 29, 2026 • Mitchell Forde • Bass Pro Tour

WACO, Texas — It’s not often that a high-level tournament trail competes on a fishery that has never before hosted a national event. The Bass Pro Tour will visit two such fisheries for Stage 3 of the 2026 season, which will take place on Texas’ Lake Whitney and Lake Waco March 5-8. 

Whitney will host the two-day Qualifying Round, while the Knockout and Championship Rounds will be contested just a few miles south on Waco. According to BPT pro and Waco area native Alton Jones, despite their proximity, the two lakes fish very differently, which should make for a fascinating event from a strategy perspective. 

What to expect

This event will mark the first time in Jones’ 36-year career as a touring pro that he’s able to sleep in his own bed for an event, something he’s looking forward to. He said Waco and Whitney are different than what many bass fishing fans likely picture when they think of Texas tournament waters – hydrilla flats and fields of flooded timber. 

Whitney is a highland reservoir, with deep, clear water and steeper contours, while Waco is a shallower, flatter lowland reservoir. Whitney even has some smallmouth, and Jones thinks a few of them will hit SCORETRACKER®. 

“There are smallmouth in Whitney,” he said. “And there are enough to play – not to where someone is going to go out and fish for exclusively smallmouth, but my prediction would be some of the guys that make the cut are going to have a mixed bag. And there’s some good smallmouths, some 4- and 5-pounders.” 

Jones expects the BPT field to find most of Whitney’s bass in the prespawn phase. At Waco, they could be on spawning beds, but that depends on the temperature – the shallower lake is much more impacted by weather. 

“I would be shocked if they’re spawning on Whitney,” Jones said. “Now, they’ll be within a couple weeks of it, but early March typically is too early for them to actually be bedded, laid up somewhere. Waco, I would say it’s weather dependent. If we’re there on a strong warm trend, we absolutely could have a strong push to the bank. Either way, they’ll be one step out. They’re not going to be far from those type of areas.” 

Jones doesn’t expect an event where anglers are reeling in scorable bass every few minutes. But, this being Texas, he thinks we’ll see some big ones hit the scales, including potentially some double-digits. 

“If I was going to guess big fish, I would say at Whitney, it’ll be a 9,” Jones said. “If I was going to guess big fish at Waco, I would say it’s going to be a 10-plus. It may be a 12.” 

Storylines to watch

• How much of a local advantage will the Joneses have? The elder Jones doesn’t think it will be a significant edge, as the timing of this event should have most of the bass positioned tight to shallow cover near obvious spawning areas. “I don’t have any ace in the hole in my mind that I’m thinking, ‘Boy, nobody will find this,’” Jones said. 
• It will be interesting to hear from anglers how much time they spend on each fishery during official practice. They will be afforded a third day of practice rather than the usual two prior to this event, but that’s still not a lot of time to break down two fisheries, especially for the many anglers in the field who have never laid eyes on them before. Do you commit all your time to Whitney and hope you can figure out Waco if you make the cut, or do you devote some practice time to Waco and risk not even making it there? 
• The two-fishery split also adds intrigue to the decision of how hard to chase the Qualifying Round win and earn the automatic trip to the Championship Round that comes with it. On one hand, there’s no advantage to using Day 2 to scout new water rather than catching fish, since the Knockout and Championship Rounds will take place on a different fishery. On the other, it’ll likely be much harder to win the event for the angler who skips the Knockout Round and competes on Waco for the first time during the final day.

Inside Walker’s big-bass bite and more notes from Bass Pro Tour Stage 1 on Lake Guntersville

Lake Guntersville was full of surprises at the Bass Pro Tour season opener, including Keith Carson making the Top 10 on the strength of a forward-facing sonar bite. Photo by Rob Matsuura.

January 22, 2026 • Mitchell Forde • Bass Pro Tour

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Mercury delivered a thrilling start to the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season. Legendary Lake Guntersville served up plenty of big bass (84 bass over 5 pounds hit SCORETRACKER®), anglers caught them in a variety of different ways and viewers got to watch dramatic races for the top spot at the end of both the Qualifying Round and Championship Round. 

With his third win in as many BPT seasons, 23-year-old Drew Gill continued to build his case as one of the best pros in the world. But that was far from the only interesting storyline that emerged across four days on Big G. Here are a few other noteworthy nuggets that deserve some shine. 

Walker figured out the Guntersville giants

Although Jacob Walker fell just one scorable bite short of the win, he came away from his first regular-season Bass Pro Tour event feeling like “that might have been a once-in-a-lifetime deal.” 

Walker, who beat the buzzer at the end of Day 2 to win the Qualifying Round and nearly did it again on Championship Sunday, boating a 6-pound, 9-ounce tank in the final minute to pull within 1-5 of Gill, found an incredible big-fish bite on Guntersville. During the Championship Round, he not only caught the Berkley Big Bass with a 7-4; he accounted for the four biggest bass caught by the 10-angler field on the day. His five biggest bass combined to weigh 31-14.  

Across his three days on Guntersville, Walker landed 11 bass of 5 pounds or more – five on Day 1 (when he also had the Berkley Big Bass with a 7-10) and six on Day 4. He caught five bass over 6 pounds and three over 7. That rest of the field combined to catch just 10 6-pounders and five 7-pounders. 

Walker, who knows Guntersville well, entered the event confident he would be around fish, but he admitted he was surprised to catch such quality so consistently. 

“Generally, that size is just harder to catch,” the Alabama resident said. “They’re smarter, they’re more educated, there’s not as many of them. So, I didn’t know that I was going to be able to catch enough, but it worked. It just worked out perfectly.” 

Almost as unique as the number of giants he landed was how Walker caught them. All but one of his 5-plus-pounders ate a fire craw bladed jig in shallow water – 4 feet or less.  

Walker thinks the sub-freezing temperatures each morning of the event deterred most anglers from venturing quite as shallow as he did. The areas he exploited had a prime combination of cover for big bass to ambush prey. 

“It’s not in the textbook of bass fishing to go fish 4 foot and less with 20-degree nights,” he said. “There’s a little more to it than just the fish getting up shallow. It was a good mix of hard bottom – anywhere that has that good hard bottom like that generally grows really healthy grass. And so, I had good, clean eelgrass, good hydrilla, and then obviously the pad stems. But the deal is not so much the pad stems; it’s more of the hard bottom that is around those pad stems. So, it’s more of that change from hard bottom into good eelgrass into good hydrilla, and getting to hit, in one cast, three different changes.” 

Walker first figured out that pattern during practice for a 2023 Toyota Series event on Guntersville. However, a storm that canceled Day 1 of that event also pushed his fish out of the shallows, illustrating just how rare it is for that kind of a bite to last multiple days this time of year. Each day, Walker wasn’t sure if his fish would still be there, but the bite actually got more predictable as he identified the most productive stretches. His best area was in North Sauty Creek (a popular spot for several pros), but he was able to expand the pattern to a few other areas farther up the lake, as well. 

“You would think the cooling temps would have been a big factor, but it didn’t affect them,” he said. “I will say, I think the water dropped during the event. It dropped a couple inches each day. And as that water was falling, I thought that pattern was going to transition farther out. But I think all it did was concentrate them into tighter areas. Like, by the end of the tournament, I had a 100-yard radius where I knew they were going to be.” 

Walker earned $45,000 for his runner-up finish plus another $2,000 in Berkley Big Bass cash. The cherry on top: Winning the Qualifying Round freed him up to compete in a local team tournament on nearby Smith Lake on Saturday, where he and partner Michael McLaurin finished 19th and pocketed another $1,500. Not a bad start to his rookie season. 

Walker gave some of the credit for his magical event to the lake itself, which proved yet again why it’s considered one of the best tournament fisheries in the country. 

“That tournament was a true testament to the quality that Lake Guntersville is,” he said. “Even with the 365 days a year pressure that place gets, it still out-performs any other lake in the country.”

Traditional tactics kept pace with FFS

Entering this event, many believed that forward-facing sonar would play an outsized role in determining the top anglers even though pros were limited to using it for one period each day, as was the case at last year’s season-opener on Lake Conroe. And while it obviously keyed Gill’s victory – he caught more than 200 total pounds of bass using forward-facing sonar across the event – the field as a whole found just about as much success without forward-facing sonar as they did with it. 

On the week, 32.9% of the scorable bass were caught by anglers using forward-facing sonar, accounting for 33.8% of the total weight. Given that most anglers utilized the technology for a third of their time on the water, that indicates catch rates weren’t drastically different when the lock boxes were on.  

Whether due to the unusually mild winter so far in Alabama or the fact that fish simply live shallow year-round on Guntersville, plenty of anglers found as much or more success winding lipless crankbaits, shallow-running plugs and bladed jigs around submerged vegetation as they did wielding jighead minnows.

“I think everybody felt that forward-facing sonar would be the dominant pattern, especially since this was a wintertime tournament,” third-place finisher Jacob Wheeler said. “When we started practice, I didn’t see the bait and bass floating around as I anticipated. It seemed like you could wind around and catch fish up shallow, so that’s what I committed to, and the majority of my fish were on the lipless for fish that had already started their prespawn deal.” 

Other notes:

• While forward-facing sonar may not have dominated the event as a whole, a few anglers did rely on it to produce the majority of their weight. The most surprising of the bunch was Keith Carson. The Florida native is best known for his sight-fishing and shallow-water prowess (although he did win on the Detroit River using forward-facing sonar in 2024), but 75.9% of his weight came during the forward-facing sonar periods on Guntersville. That was the highest percentage of any angler who made the Championship Round. Carson also put together the best period of any angler this week when he used his Lowrance ActiveTarget and a jighead minnow to blast 65-8 during the first frame on Day 3. 
• No angler who has worked his way through the qualification process to the Bass Pro Tour has arrived with more hype than Banks Shaw, and he delivered in his first event. Despite his boat catching fire early in the Championship Round, Shaw finished fifth. He’s now made the Top 10 in each of his first eight tour-level events – easily the most ever to start an angler’s career. 
• A note to future Phoenix Fantasy Fishing players: Pick Zack Birge and Justin Cooper early in the season. Both Birge and Cooper have now made the Championship Round at Stage 1 three years in a row. For Birge, his fourth-place showing marked his eighth Top 10 in 17 events since the start of the 2024 campaign. 

Toyota expands Bonus Bucks contingency program for 2026

Bigger rewards for anglers who tow with a Toyota

It pays to tow with a Toyota. Photo by Luke Stoner.

January 22, 2026 • Dynamic Sponsorships • Industry News

PLANO, Texas – Toyota Motor North America is proud to announce the expansion of the popular Toyota Bonus Bucks contingency program, which will reward more anglers with bigger payouts during the 2026 tournament season.

Toyota Motor North America is proud to announce the expansion of the popular Toyota Bonus Bucks contingency program, which will reward more anglers with bigger payouts during the 2026 tournament season.

Toyota Bonus Bucks offers cash rewards to anglers who tow their boat with a 2022 or newer Toyota tow vehicle and compete in one of the over 600+ supported tournaments. Bonus Bucks will now contribute additional payouts to the top three highest-placing anglers in the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour events and REDCREST.

In addition to expanding the pool of anglers eligible for payouts at each event, Toyota is increasing payout amounts for anglers competing in Bass Pro Tour competition. The highest placing eligible Toyota Bonus Bucks member will now receive a $4,000 payout in regular season BPT tournaments, up from $3,000 in previous years. Under the new structure, Toyota Bonus Bucks will provide payouts to the top three anglers in each of these prestigious tournament trails, rewarding more anglers with bigger payouts.

Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit payouts have increased to $3,000 and $2,000 for the top two finishers, from $2,000 and $1,000 in the past. Toyota Series payouts have also increased. Toyota will now reward $2,500 and $2,000 to the highest placing Toyota Series boaters. These updates build on Toyota’s longstanding commitment to the sport of bass fishing and further strengthens its support for anglers who trust Toyota for their towing needs.

“Toyota has been a trusted partner for anglers for years, and we’re proud to offer greater rewards to those who choose our vehicles to tow their boats through the Toyota Bonus Bucks program,” said Katherine Helffrich, Sr. Manager for Sports & Lifestyle Sponsorships, Toyota Motor North America. “Bass fishing is more than a sport – it’s a treasured pastime for so many and a lifestyle for competitive anglers. This expansion is another way to show our support for the bass fishing community and recognize the loyalty anglers have given the Toyota brand.”

Bonus Bucks benefits more than just anglers who fish at the highest level, too. There are cash bonuses available for all levels of MLF competition, including the Phoenix Bass Fishing League (BFLs) and Columbia PFG College Fishing. Additionally, several new team trails and kayak tournaments have been added for 2026 and are now eligible for Bonus Bucks incentives.

With increased payouts and expanded eligibility in 2026, more anglers will have the opportunity to earn Bonus Bucks than ever before. To qualify, anglers must register for the Toyota Bonus Bucks program and tow their boats with a 2022 or newer Toyota tow vehicle while competing in a supported tournament trail.

If you fish bass tournaments, you should be towing your boat with a Toyota. For a full list of eligible events, more information on the program and how to register, visit https://www.toyotatrucksbonusbucks.com/.

Top 10 baits: How the best caught ’em at Lake Guntersville

Guntersville staples did most of the damage at Stage 1. Photo by Phoenix Moore.

January 20, 2026 • Tyler Brinks • Bass Pro Tour

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — The eighth season of the Bass Pro Tour got off to a fun start at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Mercury on Lake Guntersville. While the temperatures were cold, the bite was hot, and many different techniques played. The event offered a mix of both forward-facing sonar and old-school power fishing, with many of the top performers sampling both throughout the week.

Here’s a deeper look at how the top finishes caught their fish on the legendary bass factory.

1. Drew Gill – 82-4 (28)

Now in his third season on tour, Drew Gill already has his third Bass Pro Tour win. The forward-facing sonar wizard relied on the technology each day but needed to catch them afterward to hold off runs from the rest of the Top 10 on the final day.

Each morning, Gill went to work with his electronics around a bridge.

“My main deal was fishing the minnow for fish that were related to baitfish,” he said. “Technically, it was a bridge, but it was more like a causeway because there was current flowing through like a dam with a hole through it that creates current and washes the bottom out. The fish were relating to the bottom and using the shallower water that was between 10 and 14 feet to attack baitfish as they were roaming around.”

His bait of choice was a 4.25-inch Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow in blue gizzard with a 3/16-ounce jighead with a 2/0 hook.

“I never exceed a 2/0 hook on that bait so it rolls correctly,” he said. “I also made short casts with it, no longer than 35-feet, to get that correct horizontal posture and would fish it pretty vertically. It was almost like ice fishing as I worked it up and away from them, and they would come up and kiss it and get the bait.”

After his forward-facing sonar period, Gill focused on shallow, main-river bars with vegetation present and caught fish on both a pro blue jerkbait and a crawfish-colored shallow diving crankbait.

“If I could find a break that was where a bar and flat broke off into the river channel with depths around 4 feet with the right taper, that was the sweet spot,” he said. “I went with a diving crankbait instead of a lipless because that’s my confidence when the water is cold. I could wind the bait down and make contact with the grass and then engage my reel to get it back down to where it needs to be, which helped me control my presentation really well.”

2. Jacob Walker – 80-15 (20)

Alabama’s Jacob Walker started his Bass Pro Tour career about as well as possible without taking the win. He won the Qualifying Round and earned an automatic berth to the Championship Round, caught big bass all week and nearly ran down Gill on the final day.

While the Bass Pro Tour regular season was new to him, he did fish last year’s REDCREST on Guntersville and approached it in a similar way.

“The beginning of the day, during my forward-facing sonar period, I started fishing the Browns Creek Bridge, like I did at REDCREST,” he said. “I have a ton of confidence there, but it got progressively worse in the week, and I think bass were leaving and heading shallow.”

His bait of choice was a 6-inch silver shiner Sakamata Shad from Deps paired with a 3/16-ounce Owner Range Roller jighead. Walker fished it on a custom-made rod by Angler’s Resource using a 7-foot, 2-inch Phenix K2 blank and Fuji components.

One added step he used for his baits was to soak them in BaitFuel for weeks in advance of the event.

“I put them in a waterproof container and soaked them, which adds scent, but also helps the action of the bait,” he said. “Soaking them helps to make them a little softer and also removes some of the glossiness of the color to make them look even more natural.”

The rest of the time, Walker fished a variety of vegetation – including hydrilla, milfoil, eelgrass, and lily pad stems – in the middle section of the lake.

“The main deal was to hit places where the grass changed, and you could hit multiple different grass transitions on the same cast,” he said. “I was fishing a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce fire craw Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a 4-inch Rapala CrushCity The Mayor.“

3. Jacob Wheeler – 75-4 (22)

For the most part, Jacob Wheeler spent the whole week with a 1/2-ounce Rapala Snare lipless crankbait in classic craw in his hands, and he caught plenty of fish with it. Another key lure was a green pumpkin 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a fire craw CrushCity Freeloader on the back. He did mix in some forward-facing sonar each day and made a furious rally at the end of the final day with some smallmouth bass far up the river, which nearly gave him a come-from-behind win.

“I think everybody felt that forward-facing sonar would be the dominant pattern, especially since this was a wintertime tournament,” he said. “When we started practice, I didn’t see the bait and bass floating around as I anticipated. It seemed like you could wind around and catch fish up shallow, so that’s what I committed to, and the majority of my fish were on the lipless for fish that had already started their prespawn deal.”

Wheeler looked for defined edges of the grass, ditches, and drains within them, focusing on the area around Goose Pond.

“If there was a lot of grass in areas, I was looking for places where it would taper out, and all types of vegetation seemed to be important,” he said. “Eelgrass was key, but milfoil was also good. It seemed like all types of vegetation were in play.”

His smallmouth area was what he described as an offshore Tennessee River school.

“I knew it didn’t have a lot of fish, and once you catch a few, you can only pull so many from the school until they stop biting,” he said. “Late on the final day, I knew I had to run up there to give it another shot. I caught some on the CrushCity The Mayor in pro blue red pearl, some on the 3.5-inch Mooch Minnow in gizzard shad and some on a jig. They were slack-lining it and hitting it so hard, and then they just stopped biting.”

4. Zack Birge – 65-12 (19)

Zack Birge backed up his third-place finish at REDCREST 2025 on Guntersville with another excellent showing. The ultra-consistant pro stuck shallow and primarily targeted vegetation with a lipless crankbait between Waterfront and Goose Pond.

“I ran around and fished really flat points that came off and fell off into deeper water, and the last day, I was targeting the main river and fishing the edges of hydrilla and eelgrass,” he said. “I caught them all week on a 3/8-ounce Yo-Zuri 3DB Vibe in phantom red with 16-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon on an Alpha Angler Mag Rebound rod. The final day, I mixed in a small red crankbait as well, but I kept it pretty simple all week.”

5. Banks Shaw – 63-14 (21)

Alabama pro Banks Shaw came into the event as one of the most highly anticipated rookies in Bass Pro Tour history and lived up to the hype with some stellar days on the water. He caught them quickly each morning during his forward-facing sonar time, but he more than held his own the rest of the day up shallow. If not for a freak boat fire to start his final morning, he may have come even closer to the win.

“The main thing all week was targeting bass on baitfish, whether it was grass, bluff walls, seawalls, or bridges,” he said. “I targeted those fish that were not far offshore, but all were around baitfish, and I was catching them with a 3.5-inch CrushCity Mooch Minnow in the green shad color on a 1/8-ounce VMC Tungsten jighead.”

When he wasn’t minnowing, he went shallow with a 1/2-ounce, translucent shad-colored lipless crankbait.

“I was fishing shallow bars and mainly targeted places with eelgrass,” he said. “It seemed like the best depth range was between 3 and 5 feet deep, but it just didn’t last for me through the tournament. I could catch a few fish doing that every day, but my main area dried up on me that last day.”

6. Justin Cooper – 49-12 (18)

The winner of last year’s season opener, Justin Cooper had another excellent start to the season and mixed in both forward-facing sonar and shallow grass fishing, just like he did in 2025 at Lake Conroe.

“I used my Garmin LiveScope for the first period, all four days,” he said. “Some fish were suspended, and others were crawling right along the bottom, but the key was a 3.25-inch XPS Rock’n Shad in Tennessee shad with a 3/8-ounce jighead. That’s a new size that will be out soon and is the little brother of the same bait I won Conroe with last year, the 4-inch version.”

The rest of the day, Cooper fished just like he would back home in Louisiana.

“I did the Louisiana and Texas thing and got in those little drains and deeper depressions in the grass where it was shallower on both sides,” he said. “Those bigger fish tend to be right in the center of it this time of year.”

In the grass, he went with a 5/8-ounce lipless crankbait and a 1/2-ounce XPS Chatterbomb vibrating jig in an orange and red color called flamin’ pumpkin. On the back of his vibrating jig, he went with a fire pumpkin Bass Pro Shops Super Shad.

7. Wesley Strader – 48-8 (17)

Last year’s REDCREST runner-up, Wesley Strader had another excellent finish on the Tennessee River. His main pattern was to fish much further up the river than most, targeting fish along the main channel.

“I was fishing grass edges with some current breaks, and it was a two-pronged approach with a 3/4-ounce lipless crankbait and a 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen Jack Hammer ChatterBait,” he said. “I was using a red lipless and fire craw ChatterBait with a Zoom Z-Craw in tilapia magic on the back. The key was keeping those baits right on the edge of the break of the grass.”

Strader said each day that the bite slowed when the third period began, so he spent time in a backwater and fished the ChatterBait.

“I don’t know what happened in the afternoon; maybe it was less water running, but the main river bite just died each day,” Strader said.

8. Mark Daniels Jr. – 44-1 (17)

Alabama’s Mark Daniels Jr. had one of the simplest approaches of the Top 10 anglers, catching nearly every bass on the same lure and in one creek. Fishing close to the Goose Pond area, he stayed ultra-shallow in less than 3 feet of water as he waited for feeding windows that would allow him to rack up weight in a hurry.

“I did the same thing all four days, fishing shallow flats that had really healthy eelgrass in them with a lot of holes,” he said. “I used one bait all week – a 3/16-ounce Bill Lewis Mini Hammer Trap in both Rayburn red craw and fire craw. When they decided they were going to bite, it was off the hook, and you could catch a bunch really fast, and then the bite went dry.”

Aside from one bass on a vibrating jig and one more single fish on a soft plastic, everything else he caught during that tournament was on the lipless.

“That was it,” he said. “I would just keep moving around in that grass and try to be there and ready when they got active again.”

9. Chris Lane – 37-10 (12)

Guntersville native Chris Lane had another stellar event on his adopted home lake and caught them at a torrid pace in the Knockout Round. His bite slowed on the final day, but it was another Top 10 nonetheless. Lane stuck to shallow grass and shared that he fished nearly every section of the lake.

“I was looking for grass and hard spots in shallow water. I tried to stay in that 4-foot zone,” he said. “The main bait for the week was a Bass Pro Shops Chatterbomb with their Rock’n Shad as the trailer. Early in the week, it was green pumpkin, but later in the week, it went to more shad patterns. For stuff that was a little deeper, a shad-pattern Bass Pro Shops XPS Staredown jerkbait was really good.”

10. Keith Carson – 36-14 (11)

Each day, Carson got on a strong forward-facing sonar bite and would then leave and head far up the river to target shallow grass the rest of the day.

“I caught a bunch of fish with Lowrance ActiveTarget, throwing a jighead minnow at them,” he said. “The area I found had an old creek channel that would funnel baitfish through, and the bass would come through to feed.”

When he switched gears to the shallow bite, Carson targeted a big channel swing up the river.

“Upriver, I was fishing a Berkley Jack 7 lipless in firetail green craw and would also mix in a Berkley Stunna 112 in the stone cold color,” he said. “It was about a 300-yard stretch of grass, and I kept going back and forth until I could get one to eat.”

Gill holds on to win Guntersville thriller

Drew Gill scored his third Bass Pro Tour trophy with 82-4 on 28 scorable bass on Lake Guntersville. Photo by Rob Matsuura. Angler: Drew Gill.

January 18, 2026 • Mitchell Forde • Bass Pro Tour

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — When he launched his boat onto Lake Guntersville for the Championship Round of B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Mercury Sunday morning, Drew Gill never considered that he would end the day hoisting his third Bass Pro Tour trophy. 

Gill has been a mainstay in the Top 10 during his young BPT career. This marked his ninth Championship Round appearance in his first 17 events. But after leaning hard on all the productive spots he’d found to make the Knockout and Championship Round cuts, it was the first time he entered the final day thinking he didn’t have a shot to keep pace with the leaders.

“This is the first time I’ve made a Top 10 where I’ve been like, ‘I know it’s not possible tomorrow,’” Gill said. “Because I had burned my ‘Scope stuff. I mean, I caught 150 pounds off one place for the last three days, and they got progressively harder to catch every day. And I couldn’t get a no-‘Scope bite going yesterday to save my life. So, I was like, ‘I’m cooked.’”

Turns out, Gill was still able to use his mastery of forward-facing sonar to stack up weight in a hurry. The 23-year-old boated 20 scorable bass for 53 pounds, 5 ounces in the first period, building a lead of more than 24 pounds over his nearest pursuer. Then, he did just enough to hold off hard charges from Jacob Walker, Jacob Wheeler and others. Walker landed a 6-9 brute right before lines out, but it wasn’t quite enough. Gill’s 82-4 total edged him by 1-5.

The win marks Gill’s third Bass Pro Tour victory and fourth total MLF win and earned him the first $125,000 paycheck of the season. He’s also the early leader in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race, a title he’s coveted since arriving on tour.

Even more important for the hyper-competitive Gill, it broke him out of a streak of near-misses. Since the end of the 2025 regular season, he’s finished second in two Fishing Clash Team Series events as well as the Toyota Series Championship in November, where he missed out a $200,000 win by tiebreaker.

“Man, I just hate coming close and losing,” Gill said. “Money and points aside, how you feel after the tournament is over, I would way rather finish between like third and sixth than I would second. Second is a hard pill. And I knew, with how tight it was getting in the last 20 minutes, I was like, ‘If I don’t win, I’m finishing second.’ I had to not psych myself up that I was going to win mentally, because I knew if I had worked myself up to it and got excited for it and it didn’t happen, I would have been really, really crushed. So it means the world to me.”

Here’s how the Top 10 pros finished the Championship Round:

1. Drew Gill – 82-4 (28)
2. Jacob Walker – 80-15 (20)
3. Jacob Wheeler – 75-4 (22)
4. Zack Birge – 65-12 (19)
5. Banks Shaw – 63-14 (21)
6. Justin Cooper – 49-12 (18)
7. Wesley Strader – 48-8 (17)
8. Mark Daniels Jr. – 44-1 (17)
9. Chris Lane – 37-10 (12)
10. Keith Carson – 36-14 (11)

Complete results

Gill once again separates himself with FFS

Gill reminded fans this week why he’s widely considered one of the best anglers alive at using modern technology to catch bass. He knew he would need to take full advantage of his one allotted period per day with forward-facing sonar to have a chance to win, and he did just that. 

After catching 43-8 during the first period on Day 1, he topped 50 pounds each of the following three days for a grand total of just over 200 pounds using forward-facing sonar throughout the event. Gill caught just about all of those fish using a 4 1/4-inch Big Bite Baits Spotlight Minnow in blue gizzard on a 3/16-ounce jighead with a 2/0 hook.

Even more impressive is that all those fish came off one spot. During the last hour of practice, Gill found a huge school of bass chasing bait by a bridge at the mouth of a creek. The area had all the ingredients of prime wintertime habitat – plenty of baitfish, a pinch-point for bass to corral them and a place for them to rest while not feeding.

“That place was perfect,” Gill said. “Right out from the bridge, there’s a roadbed that’s about 10 feet deep, and so they had a place where they could sit when they weren’t feeding, and they had that baitfish presence not even 100 yards away. 

“Two hundred pounds in four days – an average of 50 pounds a ‘Scope period. That is absolute filth. That is murder.”

One reason the spot surprised Gill Sunday is he was no longer sharing it. Each of the first three days, Banks Shaw had started the first period fishing right next to Gill, also using his forward-facing sonar. But Shaw, who felt the bite slowing down Saturday, opted to start the Championship Round elsewhere.

“I couldn’t win if we were sharing that water, because it just gets diluted,” Gill said. “That was critical, for sure.”

Holding on for dear life

While a 24-pound lead after the first period might seem like significant breathing room, Gill knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough to win. All week, the shallow winding bite had been getting better in the afternoon, leading to some big third-period comebacks.

Meanwhile, keeping the pace once he turned his transducers off had been a challenge for Gill. On Day 1, he didn’t catch a single fish after the first period. He fared better on Day 2, catching eight scorable bass for 23-13, but found the bite tougher again during the Knockout Round, when he caught seven for 17-11.

Gill started the second period with a jerkbait and added four scorable bass in the frame, but it was just one here, one there – not steady action. Noticing that the wind had picked up, he switched to a crankbait, which had keyed his solid afternoon on Day 2. He went to a shallow bar and, after breaking the bill off his shad-colored plug, nearly left. But he saw a “divot” with cleaner water and made one more cast to it with a craw-colored bait, which produced a 2-14. The very next cast, he caught a 2-3.

“I was like, ‘Dang, maybe there’s something to this,’” Gill recalled. “So, I go run to another stretch. As soon as I pull up, I catch a non-scorable. Fire back out there, catch a 4-8. Go another like 8 minutes, fire out there, catch a 3-8. At that point, it was an hour and change left, and I was sold. I was like, ‘I’m going to commit to this the rest of the day.’”

Gill caught six bass on the crankbait to bring his non-FFS total on the day to 28-15 on 10 scorable bass. He would need every single one of them.

Throughout the third period, he kept getting word of other anglers making big moves up SCORETRACKER®. Right before Gill’s flurry early in the third period, Walker had caught a 7-pounder to pull within 5 pounds. Zack Birge and Shaw both made charges to pull within 20 pounds – a deficit that could be erased in five casts on Guntersville. Then there was Wheeler. The 10-time BPT winner, who Gill (and everyone else on tour) always seems to be battling for his wins, made a roughly 50-mile run to the upper end of the fishery and caught 22 pounds of smallmouth in 16 minutes to trim his deficit to 7 pounds with about 10 minutes remaining.

“It was awful,” Gill said. “Banks hit a streak where he started smashing them. Jacob Walker was there all day long, and man, his big-fish bite that he had going on this week was horrifying, because he could make up so much ground in the blink of an eye with how many big fish he was catching. And then obviously, anytime you’ve got Wheeler behind you in a less-than-double-digit pursuit, it’s not ideal.”

Walker, who caught four bass over 6 pounds on the day, including a 7-4 that earned Berkley Big Bass honors, looked for a moment like he had pulled off a second miraculous buzzer-beater in his BPT debut, but his last-minute fish weighed just a little light. 

That left Gill to celebrate a win he never saw coming with his parents and fiancée watching from shore.

“I’ve gotten to win a Pro Circuit and now three Bass Pro tour events, but I’ve never had my family present for one,” Gill said. “My parents are here, and my fiancée is here, and that’s super, super cool. It means the world to me to get to experience it with them.”