MANY, La. — The consensus opinion among competitors and pundits was that conditions were set up for something special to happen during the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Toledo Bend Reservoir presented by Lowrance.
Boy, were they right.
Trace Antunes III, a 20-year-old from Henderson, Texas, went wild Wednesday on Day 1 of this tournament, catching five largemouth bass for a whopping total of 36 pounds, 3 ounces.
A confluence of near-perfect conditions greeted anglers at Toledo Bend this week, with temperatures in the 70s, partly cloudy skies and a gizzard shad spawn that sent the fabled largemouth bass that swim here into a feeding frenzy. Throw in a number of bedding bass, as well as solo largemouth cruising the 185,000-acre impoundment gorging on shad, and one of America’s finest fisheries was ready for action.
So were the anglers, with eight in the boater division catching limits in excess of 25 pounds on Day 1, including three that went over 30 pounds.
None were as successful on Wednesday as Antunes, who now fishes the Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops for the University of Montevallo (Ala.). He grew up about two hours from Toledo Bend, but with so many productive lakes in northeast Texas closer to home, only rarely fished the sprawling reservoir that straddles the Louisiana-Texas border.
He looked like a Toledo Bend veteran on Day 1 of this derby, though. He fished the gizzard shad spawn early on Wednesday and started strongly with a 6-pounder. He followed with a pair of bedding bass (weighing 7 and 8 1/2 pounds, respectively), and he had a 9-pounder at boatside before she broke off.
Antunes shook off any disappointment, hooking bass of 6 and 5 pounds soon thereafter.
“I had 30-plus pounds by 8, 8:30 this morning,” he said. “Once I had that, I started running new water and I upgraded with a 6 and a 7 1/2. I didn’t have to go to all my spots. I was really happy about that.”
It’s been that sort of week for Antunes, who said he caught a limit of about 40 pounds on his best practice day. That’s all he needed to see, as he spent the rest of practice boating around the massive reservoir looking for additional waypoints to consider.
“There are some really incredible fish swimming around,” he said. “I’m ready to get out there tomorrow. I’ve got four or five other spots that are just as good as the ones I went to today. Hopefully they produce as well as the ones I fished today.”
As big of a bag as Antunes boated, several in the field gave close chase. Andrew Rickman, a 24-year-old from Canton, Texas, stayed close to the leader with a 32-3 limit. Eli Bullock, 23 and of Seminary, Miss., is in third place with 30-4 caught on Day 1.
Knowing a competitor can overtake him with one monster Toledo Bend bite, Antunes was tight-lipped about the techniques he used Wednesday.
“There are a lot of people fishing around me, but they’re fishing the wrong stuff,” he said. “So, I can’t really talk about that. I have to keep pushing.”
And lucky for him, he thinks he has the bass to catch another 30-pound bag — maybe two more.
“I don’t want to sound cocky, but I do (think I can top 30 pounds again),” he said. “I don’t know if I have 36 pounds in me like today. But 30? Yeah. This place is that good.”
A total of 267 anglers are competing across boater and nonboater divisions on Toledo Bend this week. They hail from 18 different states and they’re fishing for a total cash purse worth more than $77,000. The winning boater will win $11,130.
Tyler Gautreaux, a 34-year-old from Houma in south Louisiana, caught a 10-2 largemouth that was the Big Bass of the Day. He ended Day 1 in 25th place with an 18-9 limit.
Arron Slaten, of Shepherd, Texas, leads the nonboater field with a three-bass limit of 9-12. Coy Brown, of Magnolia, Ark., is second with 9-3; and Travis Culbreath, of Alexander City, Ala., is tied with Stillwater, Oklahoma’s Hieu Ngyuen for third among nonboaters (8-13).
The entire field will return to the water Thursday when they take off from Cypress Bend Park beginning at 6:30 a.m. The Day 2 weigh-in is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. When that’s complete, the field will be winnowed to the Top 20 competitors in both the boater and nonboater divisions and they’ll fish Friday in the third and final day of the tournament.
The Top 18 will advance to the 2026 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance when it’s held Nov. 18-21 at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C.
Follow along with all of the action from the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Toledo Bend Reservoir presented by Lowrance on Bassmaster.com.
This event is being hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country.
