The 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series season is right around the corner. That means 11 new Elites will embark on their first season on the Bassmaster Elite Series. While Russ Lane might not qualify as a rookie for the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year title, we’ll include him in the discussion anyways.
There’s no debating the fact that each class of rookies who make it to the Elite Series continues to get stronger. So, there’s no reason to believe the 2026 class won’t have an impact on the upcoming season — much like the 2025 class did a year ago.
With that said, which tournaments set up the best for each angler?
Based on what we know about each angler’s strengths and history, Ronnie Moore, Christopher Decker (Bassmaster writer and content contributor) and I will try to predict which tournament will be their highest finish of the year.
Who knows, maybe this can help you make your Rapala Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing and Falcon Rods Drain the Lake picks heading into the season!
A year ago, our friends at Best on Tour revisited our picks, so we’ll have to tighten up this year and try to do a little better.
Fisher Anaya
Kyle Jessie: Lake Guntersville – I don’t think the 19-year-old Fisher Anaya is going to waste any time making a splash on the Elite Series. Guntersville is Anaya’s home fishery, and although he is certainly a master using his forward-facing sonar, I don’t think not having it here is going to have much of an effect on his performance. I’m not going out on a limb here by saying Guntersville, but it feels like the safe pick.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Martin – Guntersville is the easy answer to put for Fisher Anaya, but this rookie will have more pressured bestowed upon him for his first Elite tournament than anyone else. I don’t expect his high point for the year to come in Week 1. Give me Week 2 for a top finish for Anaya. One that makes us say, “Where was this last week?”
Christopher Decker: Lake Guntersville – I firmly believe Anaya is going to win his first tournament as an Elite Series angler. Since 2023, Anaya has seven Top 10s in ABT, BFL and MLF High School competition at Guntersville, including an ABT North Division win in 2024. A win out of the gates will certainly make an early statement in the ROY race.
Russ Lane
Kyle Jessie: Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway – As the veteran of the group, Russ Lane has the most tournament experience on most of the bodies of water on the 2026 schedule which makes it a little easier to predict in some ways. While the Alabama pro has had success in New York throughout his career, including a 10th-place finish at Champlain in the 2025 EQs, I like the Tombigbee event based on his shallow water prowess and the fact that he registered a ninth-place finish there a year ago in the Opens.
Ronnie Moore: Arkansas River – A Top 10 at the Tombigbee River Bassmaster Open will catch people’s attention, but I think it’s the other dirty river that gets Russ Lane his top finish for the year. The Arkansas River has locking potential, grass and wood; sounds like Big Daddy to me (pause).
Christopher Decker: Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway – Lane has always been a shallow water power angler, and he used those tactics to notch a Top 10 at the Tombigbee Open last season, a key finish in achieving requalification. It would be easy to pick Guntersville, a lake he has multiple Top 10 finishes on, but Lane has a leg up on most of his competitors when it comes to experience on this river.
Aaron Jagdfeld
Kyle Jessie: Lake Murray – Aaron Jagdfeld is an absolute smallmouth hammer, but I’m going a little out of the box and saying Lake Murray will be his best finish of the year. Jagdfeld had a great collegiate career at Adrian University which featured a third-place finish at Lake Murray in 2024. Murray will also be a tournament that allows forward-facing sonar, and the Michigan pro is an expert with FFS.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Champlain – Many will list the best finish for the younger rookies at the events allowing FFS (Martin, Arkansas River, Murray, Pasquotank and St. Lawrence), but with Jagdfeld I feel confident that what he knows about smallmouth and Lake Champlain will translate even without the magic box upfront.
Christopher Decker: St. Lawrence River – A Lake St. Clair native, Jagdfeld is plenty comfortable on the Great Lakes. He should be able to utilize his smallmouth prowess and his forward-facing sonar out on Lake Ontario, or in the river if the weather doesn’t cooperate. He finished 113th in the 2021 Bassmaster College National Championship out of Waddington, but with more experience under his belt, things should go much better this go round.
Austin Cranford
Kyle Jessie: St. Lawrence River – Cranford has had success on a variety of fisheries during his stint fishing the Opens, so it’s hard to predict. However, his success in the state of New York has been steady.
Ronnie Moore: Pasquotank River – Cranford is crazy enough to make a long run at the Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound event, but I’ll also put stock that multiple reps on a fishery with cypress trees will break his Opens struggle on those types of fisheries. I also believe that this event being in June versus April will allow a little more run-n-gun and moving baits compared to slower methodical presentations of the 2025 event.
Christopher Decker: Lake Champlain – Cranford has progressively improved in smallmouth country, notching top 30s at Leech Lake twice and Champlain the last two seasons. If the offshore smallmouth deal isn’t working, the Okie will be plenty happy to go fish for largemouth too.
Sam Hanggi
Kyle Jessie: Lake Martin – While Hanggi’s tournament success makes me want to pick one of the final two northern events, his time fishing at Auburn University makes me believe he has likely spent many hours on Lake Martin. This should give him a good idea of how to mix in a few big largemouth which could be the difference maker.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Guntersville – Do you pick a kid who fished around the Tennessee River throughout his childhood and college career? Or do you pick the lake closest to his alma mater? I have a feeling the Sam Hanggi experience starts with a bang at Guntersville.
Christopher Decker: Lake Champlain – Hanggi has a solid track record in the northern part of the country, including a fifth-place finish at Champlain in the EQs last year and a third place at Leech Lake in Division 2. That success goes all the way back to his college days at Auburn where he locked in Top 10 finishes at Saginaw Bay and the St. Lawrence River.
Matt Messer
Kyle Jessie: Santee Cooper Lakes – Messer may be a young gun, but his shallow water prowess is one of his greatest strengths that he’s put on display across his career fishing the College Series as well as the Opens and EQs. Also, the fact that he notched a seventh-place finish at the Santee Cooper Open in 2024 doesn’t hurt.
Ronnie Moore: Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway – Messer has multiple victories in Florida, yet no Florida appears on the 2026 Elite Schedule. Give me the Tombigbee River for a great finish for Messer. One tournament on a body of water can make a world of difference for an Elite rookie, and this may give an edge to this class compared to the rest of the Elite field who most likely have never fished in Columbus, Miss.
Christopher Decker: Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound – I can see this going a number of different directions. Messer is multifaceted at this point, but a good buzzbait, frogging and flipping bite is something I think the 2024 Classic qualifier will relish. A number of his top finishes have come on current driven fisheries as well, which any of the rivers in this system obviously have.
Caleb Hudson
Kyle Jessie: Lake Murray – Considering Hudson is from Georgia and went to College at Emmanuel University, he’s plenty comfortable fishing blueback herring bodies of water like Lake Murray. This feels like the safest bet, but he’s certainly shown sparks in a variety of different types of fisheries.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Murray – Fishing in the Carolinas and Georgia just lend more blueback herring knowledge than any other part of the country. With that statement, you know where I’m headed with this. Jot down Lake Murray for Caleb Hudson to have a great week in the middle of his rookie season.
Christopher Decker: Lake Murray – Hailing from Georgia, Hudson is plenty familiar with blueback herring fisheries and Lake Murray should be right in his wheelhouse. In 2024 alone, he notched three top five finishes at blueback herring lakes in College Series competition: fourth at Murray, fifth at Clarks Hill and second at Lake Hartwell.
Tristan McCormick
Kyle Jessie: St. Lawrence River – McCormick has plenty of B.A.S.S. events under his belt, so he should be comfortable in all of the events, but he’s been solid in New York as a whole.
Ronnie Moore: St. Lawrence – Everyone wants to start their rookie year strong, but how about ending it with a bang? I believe a high finish is in store for Tristan McCormick at the St. Lawrence River. Whether we are launching up the river or down lake, McCormick has a stellar track record on the mecca of smallmouth fishing.
Christopher Decker: Lake Murray – McCormick may be a Tennessee River rat at heart, but the 2021 College Classic Bracket Champion has found consistency on blueback herring lakes. He has an Opens victory on Hartwell, a sixth in a Clarks Hill Toyota Series and multiple top 15 finishes at Lewis Smith Lake. He should feel plenty comfortable at Murray.
Pake South
Kyle Jessie: Pasquotank River – While South is more than capable of fishing shallow without FFS, he’s really good with the technology as well. Given the fact he guides on Lake Fork, he’s no stranger to fishing for big ones. This should serve him well at the Pasquotank.
Ronnie Moore: Santee Cooper Lakes – “I wish I was on the Elites for this tournament” was muttered by Pake South on the Halftime Show at Lake Fork in 2025. There is no Lake Fork or any other Texas fishery on the schedule for him to have definitive confidence, but I expect Santee Cooper to treat the young man well. No FFS will be interesting in that event, but he seems primed for a big bass fishery and the midseason South Carolina swing lends itself for a big week.
Christopher Decker: Santee Cooper Lakes – South guides on Lake Fork, and while there aren’t many lakes that set up quite like his home fishery, only one lake on the schedule has the potential of the same eye-popping lunkers. Based on his 2025 Opens results, it doesn’t take South long to get comfortable on an unfamiliar fishery.
Brock Reinkemeyer
Kyle Jessie: Lake Martin – Lake Martin shares enough similarities to an Ozarks lake that Reinkemeyer should feel fight at home.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Martin – Truman, Ozarks and Stockton are the home lakes for Reinkemeyer. That style of fishing lends itself to some lakes like Lake Martin. This one could be an interesting tournament, FFS will be in play, but possible rising water with the rain and snow influx, could mean docks are a bigger factor than first assumed. Brock shows up big early in the season.
Christopher Decker: Lake Martin – Reinkemeyer has enjoyed continued success around his home in the Ozarks region, and with clear water and plentiful docks, the Missouri native should feel at home on this Alabama reservoir. His Team Championship victory also came at Lake Hartwell, a spotted bass and largemouth fishery similar to Lake Martin.
Nick Trim
Kyle Jessie: Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway – Given how good Nick Trim is on the Mississippi River, you have to imagine he loves the back-to-back river events at the Tennessee-Tombigbee and Arkansas River. It’s really a toss-up between those two events, but I’ll go with the Tenn-Tom.
Ronnie Moore: Lake Guntersville – If the Mississippi River was on tap for this year, this would be an easy slot for him, with two B.A.S.S. victories on his home river, but he’s not afforded that for his rookie schedule. It’s hard to get a gauge on Trim with a track record all over the place, but I’ll put Guntersville for a good start. A lot of Wisconsin and Minnesota anglers have found good success on Guntersville in the past, plus with the extremely cold temperatures and frigid water temps, I’ll put some trust in Trim.
Christopher Decker: Arkansas River – While plenty far away from his Wisconsin home, the Arkansas River presents similar options to the Upper Mississippi River around La Crosse. Trim should be able to utilize his toolbox and adjust properly with changing water levels and conditions.
