Elite

Big bass of Lake Martin

Fisher Anaya dials in spotted bass bite to become second-youngest Elite winner

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
Temperatures, along with the bite, warmed up in the Lippert Bassmaster Elite at Lake Martin, where those landing above-average bass put themselves in the hunt. Frigid temperatures and no forward-facing sonar cooled big expectations the week before at Lake Guntersville, but at Martin, with FFS allowed, every angler caught limits each day. There was a tight leaderboard, and big bass made a huge difference.
With no angler failing to catch a limit each day and the average bass a skosh heavier than 2 pounds, landing an over led to good things. Canadian Jeff Gustafson, who had 62 catches on his BassTrakk on Day 1, put a 3-pound, 8-ounce kicker in bag of 11-9 to stand 12th. With only 9 pounds in the next two rounds, Gussy finished 49th.
Luke Palmer started in sixth place with a 12-10 limit that included a 4-4. Day 2 was slower, and then disaster struck. Being 10 seconds late to check-in cost the Oklahoma pro dearly. Rounded to 1 minute late, he was penalized 1 pound, which dropped him outside the cut to 53rd. It was probably the most expensive miscue in Palmer’s life, costing him points and $5,500, or $550 a second.
Tennessee’s Cole Sands had several 3-pounders in his third-place bag weighing 13-4. There were 65 anglers tied in 23 places after Day 1, and with 9-10 Sands dropped into a three-way tie for 14th after Day 2. He wound up 24th, which after a 41st at Guntersville has him 17th in the Progressive Angler of the Year standings.
Alabama’s Wesley Gore caught the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1. This 4-6 was the bulk of his 10-9 that tied for 36th. Just 9-2 on Day 2 knocked him outside the cut to 56th. It was his second Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the season, a 8-1 earning the $1,000 bonus on Guntersville’s first day.
Drew Cook had a 3-15 kicker and another 3-pounder in weighing 14-11, the second-best on Day 1. Without the big bites, the Georgia pro couldn’t top 10 pounds the next two rounds and finished 19th. Cook is eighth in AOY after taking 20th at Guntersville.
Saying his practice was average, Mississippi’s Brock Mosley stunned the field with Day 1’s best of 15-7. Mosley’s 4-0 largemouth led the way with the rest averaging nearly 3 pounds each. Mosley was one of only nine anglers to top 12 pounds, while 60 anglers caught between 9 and 11 pounds on the first day.
Trey McKinney, the AOY runner-up to Chris Johnston the past two seasons, had 12-3 to start ninth, where he finished Guntersville. That gave him the early lead in points, but after moving up a spot on Day 2, he fell to finish 20th and left Martin second in AOY.
McKinney has a different Johnston to worry about this year. Chris Johnston’s older brother, Cory, made giant gains on Day 2. A 3-8 bolstered his 14-0 bag, the fourth best on the day. Johnston catapulted from 80th to 13th, where he finished Guntersville. Chris Johnston is 58th in AOY after posting two finishes below his lowest of 33rd last year, when he became only the fourth to win consecutive AOYs.
David Gaston, from nearby Sylacauga, Ala., shows off a pair of good keepers from Day 2. With 13-3, Gaston rose 55 spots to 19th. An even 12-0 had him finish 12th, helping recover from 87th at Guntersville.
Cody Meyer of Eagle, Idaho, who posted a fifth-place finish in the 2024 Martin Open, plied his spotted bass expertise again. A model of consistency, Meyer had a best of 12-2 on Day 2. With 12-1 on Semifinal Saturday, he made his first Elite Top 10. He was excited to head to his first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic next month on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville.
Knoxville’s Robert Gee, who narrowly missed qualifying to fish in a hometown Classic, jumped into the Top 10 after 12-9 on Day 2. He added 11-10 and 11-0 to finish seventh, his fifth Elite Top 10.
One can imagine the screaming celebration Michael Iaconellli, who announced before his 31st pro season it would be his last on the Elites, had when he got this 5-3 in his boat. The Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day and event was the bulk of his 13-12 that skyrocketed the New Jersey pro 62 spots up the leaderboard to 17th. Ike dropped to 33rd, but he left smiling.
Rookie Caleb Hudson of Lincolnton, Ga., bolted up the leaderboard 27 places to fifth with one of the four limits topping 14 pounds on Day 2. The 24-year-old, who won the final EQ event at Okeechobee last year, finished 10th. Combined with his 26th at Guntersville, Hudson is sixth in AOY and leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Rookie of the Year race.
Pake South, a 21-year-old rookie from Winnsboro, Texas, had a 4-8, the second-best fish on the day, in his 14-3 limit. South jumped 13 places to fourth, just 1-0 from the lead.
Emil Wagner joined South as one of five young guns who climbed into the Top 10 on Day 2. The second-year Elite from Marietta, Ga., weighed Day 2’s best of 14-10, moving from a three-day tie at 19th to third, just 11 ounces from the lead.
Arkansas’ Joey Cifuentes, who won two Elite titles in his 2023 ROY season, added 13-0 to his Day 1 12-15 to move up two places to second, 7 ounces behind the lead. Cifuentes added 10-0 then 12-12 to finish fifth. It was his first Top 10 since winning at Lake St. Clair in 2023.
Starting in 62nd, John Garrett of Union City, Tenn., moved into 37th on Day 2, and he kicked things up a notch with 13-5 on Semifinal Saturday. Combined with a 23rd at Guntersville, Garrett’s 13th-place finish moved him to seventh in the AOY standings. Last year, Garrett led AOY after two events but missed finishing among the Top 45 in points who qualified for the Classic.
Japanese pro Kyoya Fujita, among the pre-tournament favorites at Martin, caught average bags of 10-10, good for a four-way tie at 32nd, and 10-5, to tie at Garret with 20-15. The two-time Elite winner finally caught some above-average spots, his 13-4 on Day 3 landing him in 14th.
South Carolina’s Brandon Cobb started in 89th but found another gear. He snuck into the cut at 48th with 11-10 then brought in a 4-0 to weigh 11-12 and finish 34th. After his 19th at Guntersville, the two-time Elite champ stands 14th in points as he pursues his sixth Classic berth.
Cory Johnston added 11-9 on Semifinal Saturday to finish 11th,  just 5 ounces from the Top 10 cut. Cory added 91 points, and after 13th at Guntersville, left Alabama leading AOY with 180 points, 5 more than McKinney.
Shane LeHew fell from a tie for 19th after Day 1 to 33rd, but this 4-7, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 3, helped him climb back up. The North Carolina pro posted 11-15 to finish Martin in 21st, which positioned him better for an eighth consecutive Classic qualification.
Texas’ Chris Zaldain stood 27th after two rounds, but this big bite helped him weigh 13-0 and take the final spot in Championship Sunday’s Top 10. Starting 3-12 back, Zaldain believed rainy conditions were conducive to his bite and a comeback. He added 12-0 to finish sixth.
Pake South held ground in fourth on Day 3, aided by this 3-6 that helped him weigh 11-14. South slipped to eighth with Sunday’s smallest limit of 8-13, but he’s 25th AOY and third in ROY.
Wagner couldn’t match Friday’s success but was outstanding on camera and held ground in third with 11-12. Starting Day 4 just 1-3 from the lead, the 2025 Champlain EQ winner made a run with 13-6. He totaled 50-13, 3-9 off the winning weight. The third-place finish helped knock out the bad taste of a 97th at Guntersville and put him 55th in AOY as he next competes in the Classic.
Although he suffered through a lull, Mosley finally caught a 4-2 kicker late to weigh 12-2. A week after road roommate Hank Cherry won at Guntersville, Mosley went into Championship Sunday in second place, just two ounces from the lead. “It’s me vs. the ‘Scopers,” he said.
Fisher Anaya, a rookie from Eva, Ala., was coming off a disappointing 65th on his home lake of Guntersville. The third youngest to qualify for the Elites made his way into the Top 10 after 11-6 and 12-13, then took over the lead with Semifinal Saturday’s best bag. Anaya, 20, did some heavy lifting midday, catching about 7 pounds in a five-minute span. He added a late 3-0 to total the day’s best 14-7 and head into Day 4 with 38-10, a two-ounce advantage on Mosley.
Reigning Classic champ Easton Fothergill was in the Top 10 throughout the tournament. Weighing 12-6, 11-7 and 12-2 had him sixth, and he moved up with the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Championship Sunday. This 4-3 bolstered the day’s second-best limit of 14-12. Off to a much better start than last season, Fothergill finished fourth with 50-11 and next heads to Knoxville to defend his Classic title.
Rain was also expected to aid Mosley’s shallow largemouth bite, but the 2023 Sabine Elite winner again suffered a slow morning before things picked up. He landed this 4-pounder and culled to 14-6. His 52-14 left him 1-8 back in second, his sixth Elite runner-up finish. After 28th at Guntersville, Mosley is third in points in pursuit of his seventh Classic berth.
Anaya put on a spotted bass show on Championship Sunday. Taking the lead a little after 8 a.m., he added this 3-12 and culled to 15-12, the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag of the week. With 54-6, Anaya become the second youngest Elite winner at 20 years, 2 months, and 26 days. McKinney won 2024 Lake Fork at 19 years, 1 week and also won in 2025 at St. Clair at 20 years, 5 months, 13 days. The breakdown of the average age of the Top 10 at Martin, with FFS, was 27.2 years – the bottom 10 averaged 49 years old. At Guntersville, when no sonar was allowed, the average age of the Top 10 was 37.2 and the bottom 10 40.7.
With the victory, Anaya continued a hot streak of hoisting hardware. He was crowned 2025 EQ AOY in November, days before turning 20, then won the Team Classic Fish-Off in early December to qualify for the Classic. “This feels awesome,” Anaya said. “I didn’t know if I’d ever win one of these … I knew this one would set up in my wheelhouse, I just had to get the bites and land them.”

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