JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. — The catches weren’t fast and furious, but Iowa pro Chase Loftus weighed in his second consecutive limit of over 15 pounds to leapfrog a pair of Tennesseans into the Day 2 lead at the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Cherokee Lake presented by Lowrance. Loftus caught 15 pounds, 1 ounce, of smallmouths today to go along with the 15-14 he boxed yesterday and is ahead of Day 1 leader Rex Reagan by 3 ounces.
Everyone other than Loftus in the top eight is from either Tennessee or Kentucky, as are 15 of the top 20 overall, but the Iowa City resident doesn’t feel intimidated.
“I’ve learned a lot from the Iowa B.A.S.S. Nation boys,” he said. “They’ve taken a lot of my money over the years. I had to learn how to adapt up there and I guess what I learned works down here, too.”
He’s put together over 30 pounds of Tennessee bass by chasing spawners using his electronics, but he’s yet to be able to settle into a single area.
“My stuff from Day 1 was really bad today,” he said. “The day started off really slow, but then I went to a new spot I’ve never fished and caught a limit. Then I went to another new spot and caught a 4-pounder. I think I figured out a little pattern, but I’ve been consistent because I’ve been able to run new water. I still don’t know exactly what I’m going to do tomorrow, but I’m going to have three rods on the deck.”
Reagan had the big bag of the tournament so far yesterday with 16-15, but couldn’t quite back it up today. He added 13-13, still a decent amount, but lost the lead. He too said he was the victim of a tough morning bite.
“It was a slow start to say the least,” he reported. “But I did have one 2-pounder I was working on and a 4 ½ pounder shot up and took it from him. It was slow from there, with just another 2.70. My fish are moving, they’re leaving the area I’ve fished.”
While he’d said yesterday that the vast majority of his fish were smallmouths, today he weighed in two largemouths. His cousin, also fishing nearby, had a lighter bag, but it included another 4-pounder. Combined, those factors gave him hope that he can push through to victory without having to chase new water. But if burning gas is required, he’ll be ready to get on the throttle.
“I’d like to have multiple backup patterns in case this doesn’t work out, but I haven’t found anything else,” he said. “If it doesn’t work out, I definitely won’t be sitting in my first area as long as I did today. Today I had some motor trouble. It kept cutting on and off, so I didn’t get to move around a lot. But I have a mechanic coming over to fix it. I’m a run-and-gun fisherman. I like to cover a lot of water.”
If Reagan were to qualify for the 2027 Bassmaster Classic, he would be in position to become the second straight Nation champ, and the youngest champ in the event’s history. He would not, however, become the youngest qualifier. He’ll turn 18 later this year, several months before the tournament. In 2024, Florida’s Aaron Yavorsky fished the Classic on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake a week after his 18th birthday.
Virginia boater Jeff Salmon landed the Big Bass of the Day. It weighed 5 pounds even. Through two days, Kentucky boater Kevin True holds the mark for big bass of the event with yesterday’s 5 pound, 6 ounce largemouth.
Clifford Chilson of New York leads the non-boater division with a two-day total weighing 16-9. He added a three-bass limit weighing 8-10 to his Day 1 catch of 7-15 to take the lead by nearly a pound and a half. KB Bridges of Tennessee is second with 15-2 and Ryan Baker of Tennessee is third with 13-3. Today’s big bass on the non-boater side was a 3-8 caught by Bob Zagrzebski of Wisconsin. Julie Price of West Virginia caught the largest non-boater bass of the tournament so far with a 3-11 on Day 1.
The Top 20 boaters and non-boaters will advance to Saturday’s final round.
The cut weight for the Top 20 on the boater side was 25-4, just 5-11 behind the leader, meaning that anyone still fishing on Saturday has a legitimate shot to win. Four anglers are within a pound of Loftus and two more are within 2 pounds. Gavin Clevenger was the only member of the current top five whose weight went up today. He added 15-5 to the 14-10 he weighed in yesterday and jumped up from 8th place to 3rd. Otherwise, the top of the leaderboard has largely contained the same names both days, albeit in different orders.
The Top 10% of boaters and non-boaters after the final-day weigh-in will advance to the 2026 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance, where boaters will compete for a spot on the 2027 Bassmaster Elite Series as well as one of three spots in the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
The tournament is being hosted by Visit Jefferson County, TN.
