Elite

Big bass of Arkansas River

Health of bass evident as Foutz averaged 18 pounds a day for his first victory.

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
Plenty of limits including some kicker fish at the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Arkansas River showed the health of the fishery. In the event allowing forward-facing sonar, many shared areas in pool 16 after locking into Kerr Reservoir, while others maximized fishing time closer to host city Muskogee, Okla. Jacob Foutz went off the beaten path and pulled away to win with 72 pounds, 4 ounces. Check out the big bass that made a difference.
Bryan New got the big bass parade started with a 5-2, almost a third of his 16-3 limit that had him tied for 22nd after Day 1. He finished 42nd. Only two of the 100 anglers failed to catch a limit on Day 1, and there were 93 double-digit bags, 62 anglers in the teens or above, and the average fish weighed an impressive 2-13 on a tight leaderboard.
Matt Arey landed one an ounce shy of 5 pounds, helping him weigh 18-6 and stand fifth. Fishing a crowded area in Kerr Reservoir, Arey’s weights shrunk and he ended up 19th, which propelled him 14 spots up the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings to 20th.
Hank Cherry, who won the season-opener on Lake Guntersville, reeled in the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 5-13. That spotted kicker helped the two-time Classic champ stand 14th with 17-4 and go on to finish 16th, which jumped him 20 spots to 45th in points.
Two-time AOY Brandon Palaniuk started third with 19-0, but his limits decreased by about 5 pounds each of the next two rounds. He finished 23rd, improving 18 spots to 53rd in points as he seeks a 15th Classic berth.
Rookie Caleb Hudson caught a 5-4 in his second-place 19-1 limit on Day 1. The 24-year-old from Lincolnton, Ga., came to Muskogee leading the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race.
Rookie Fisher Anaya, who won the Lake Martin Elite, held the Day 1 lead with 20-1. After an early 4-pounder, the 20-year-old suffered a lull before posting a string of 4s BassTrakk. He became the first angler to eclipse 20 pounds in a B.A.S.S. event here.
One of the many movers on an overall slower Day 2, Chris Zaldain climbed into the cut with 17-3. He rose 60 places in the standings then finished 32nd. He gained 11 AOY spots to 40th, the anticipated cut to qualify for the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
Australian Carl Jocumsen, who cut his teeth on American bass in Oklahoma, brought in 19-3. The third-best limit on Day 2, which included a 4-8 and 4-12, put Jocumsen 11th after starting 59th. He ended 22nd, moving from outside Classic qualification to 24th in points.
Disappointed in his Day 1 12-8, Oklahoma’s Luke Palmer busted 20-8 to jump 60 spots to ninth. He stayed in the Top 10 with 15-8 on Semifinal Saturday and wound up sixth. After missing cuts in the first two Elites, Palmer has risen 52 spots to 27th in AOY.
The biggest bag at Muskogee produced the biggest rally. Seth Feider, one of seven who didn’t top 10 pounds on Day 1, landed a 5-15 in his Day 2 21-3, the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag of the event. Feider added 15-11 and missed Championship Sunday by 4 ounces. Feider is 17th in AOY points – without Day 2 he would be in the 60s.
On Day 2, 97 anglers caught limits but the average fish went down to 2-10. Easton Fothergill was average despite a 5-10 kicker that was almost half his 12-8. He finished 61st and is going in the wrong direction, dropping to 38th in points after standing 16th two events ago.
Heartbreaking describes Randy Howell’s tournament. This 5-2 helped Howell stand seventh after two days. However, disaster struck on Semifinal Saturday. With about 15 pounds in his livewell, Howell spun a hub and missed the lock. He had to throw back the fish that would have put him in contention to win. He finished 44th and fell to 82nd in AOY, whereas a top five would had put him around 60th.
Austin Felix backed up Day 1’s 18-15 with 16-12, including a 5-0. The Minnesota pro went into Semifinal Saturday just 1-6 off the lead.
Oklahoma’s Jason Christie, coming off a victory at the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, was favored on his home waters. He stood fourth after limits of 18-4 and 18-2, which included enthralling drone footage of bass chasing his topwater. A cold front passing Friday cooled Christie, who didn’t top 15 pounds the next two days and finished fourth. Adding 199 points the past two events improved his AOY standings 63 spots to 22nd.
Hudson was captured landing this 6-8 on Bassmaster LIVE. The Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 2 was more than a third of his 17-9 that put him third, 7 ounces from the lead. Two 11-pound days had him settle for eighth, but he maintained his ROY lead and moved up to fifth in AOY.
Foutz, who slipped through a tree-tangled mess to reach spawning grounds up the Illinois River, caught a 6-2 in his 18-15 bag. That put the Tennessee pro second, 1 ounce from the lead.
Fishing behind islands in the Neosho River downstream from the Fort Gipson dam, Anaya scrambled for 16-15 on Day 2. He led with 37-1, then added 14-0 and 11-15 to finish fifth, which cut his AOY standing in half to 26th.
Trey McKinney was second to John Garrett in the AOY race entering the event, and the 21-year-old took over the lead after Day 1. With Garrett faltering, McKinney weighed 16-3, 16-14 and 15-8 to make Championship Sunday. The only angler not to limit on Day 4, McKinney fell to 10th but leads the season-long race with 354 points.
Cory Johnston, older brother to Chris, the two-time and reigning AOY, stands second in AOY with 353 points. Starting 29th, Cory Johnston weighed 16-13 and 16-8 to reach Sunday in fifth. Johnston finished seventh, making up three of his four-point deficit to McKinney entering the event.
Justin Hamner was well inside the cut after 15-7 and 14-9 rounds, and this 5-1 kicker helped the 2024 Classic champ weigh 15-14 and climb to 13th, just a pound from making Day 4. The Alabama pro’s best finish this year gave him hope for a fifth Classic as he jumped 23 spots to 58th in points.
Justin Atkins shouldn’t be worrying too much about points. The Alabama pro also weighed a 5-1 on Saturday. It came in a 17-5 limit that helped him to a second consecutive 12-place Elite finish. After a sixth in the opener on Guntersville, Atkins suffered a hiccup at Martin (88th) but is now 10th in points.
Big bass translate to big rallies, as Cole Sands experienced on Semifinal Saturday. Standing 27th after 17-13 and 11-2, the 29-year-old from Tennessee landed a 6-13, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day and event. It helped him weigh 17-15 and slip into Sunday in 10th, 3 ounces ahead of Feider in 11th.
Pat Schlapper, who won two Elites last year, dropped a bit on Day 2 with 13-12 after starting with 17-6. A 4-5 helped him rally from 16th to ninth on Saturday with 17-0. On Day 3, 44 of the 50 caught limits and the average fell to 2-8.  
Foutz was again sight-fishing on perspective mode on Day 3, but without much success before a game-changing flurry. He caught about 14 pounds in 25 minutes. It started with a 5-4 at 10:15. Three minutes later, he added a 4-0 then at 10:40 brought in a 4-12. Foutz’s 20-10 was the biggest limit of the day, giving him 57-10 for a 6-9 lead on Anaya heading into Championship Sunday.
Sands caught almost half his Day 4 11-15 on one cast, a 5-2. He moved up a notch, duplicating his ninth at Tombigbee. Sands has made all four cuts this season and is third in AOY, 29 points behind McKinney.
Schlapper caught a 5-6 in Championship Sunday’s top limit of 16-8. On BassTrakk, he got within 3 ounces of Foutz, who was struggling. Schlapper ended third with 64-10. His first cut of the season earned 99 points — more than the first three events combined — and moved him from 87th to 60th in the standings.
Felix was also closing the gap on Foutz on BassTrakk. His 16-0 gave him 65-7 and a runner-up finish. Adding 100 points, Felix catapulted 32 spots to 48th in AOY.
Upon launching, Foutz said he wasn’t worried about catching fish, just making the lock and getting back. The fish didn’t listen. He caught several smaller fish and his lead shrunk. Racing against time, he thought of his grandmother, his biggest fan who he continually promised to win a blue trophy before her death two years ago. “I said, ‘Grandma, if you’re watching, I can use a 5-pounder right now.’ About five minutes later, I caught a 6-1,” he said. “You can’t script it any better than that.”
Relating that story on stage brought Foutz to tears. He weighed 14-10 to total 72-4 and win his first blue trophy by 6-13. “I’ve been waiting for this since I was 5 years old,” he said. “Bass fishing is all I’ve ever known. I love it more than anything else in the world. This is something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little, little boy.” Foutz, the College Classic qualifier in 2018, is 11th in points as he seeks a third Classic berth.

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