Elite

Big bass of Lay Lake

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Written by
Mike Suchan
Going into the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Lay Lake, anglers weren’t too optimistic about quality or quantity as most fish were in a postspawn funk, but there were many big surprises once competition began. There were twists and turns along the way, but in the end rookie Will Davis Jr., in his fifth Elite tournament, won in a dramatic nail-biter by 2 ounces. Check out the big fish that made a big difference at Lay Lake.
Florida’s Bernie Schultz made the most of a stretch of grassy shoreline, landing a 5-pound, 7-ounce kicker in his fifth-place limit of 16-4 on Day 1. Surprisingly, 92 of the 104 Elites brought in limits with an average fish weighing 2-4.
Coming into Lay Lake 61st in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings, Oklahoma’s Jason Christie needed a good tournament to get back into contention to fish next year’s Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake, his home waters where he’s posted two Top 10 finishes. With several solid fish, Christie weighed in 16-4 to start fourth.
North Carolina’s Matt Arey hoped to continue his great start to the season, and a 4-11 in his bag of 17-6 certainly helped. With no bigs the next two days, Arey fell 10 spots to 14th then down to 23rd, but that finish moved him up four places to 10th in the AOY standings.
Suffering an uncharacteristically poor season, Bryan New had visions of climbing into the top 100 of the AOY standings – he started the event 101st. Helped by a 5-0, New weighed the day’s second-biggest bag at 18-12.
Not far from takeoff at Beeswax Creek Park, defending AOY champion Brandon Palaniuk fished in back of Beeswax where the 2010 Classic was famously won. Many anglers said they scouted the area but couldn’t find quality there, but Palaniuk landed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 5-14, as he took the lead with 19-7.
Although 83 anglers caught limits on Day 2, with the average weight falling just under 2-4, there were plenty of big moves, when the total number of fish over 4 pounds nearly doubled to 19. Brandon Lester stood 100th after Day 1 with three bass, but he busted Day 2’s third biggest bag at 17-6 to jump inside the cut at 40th. Lester finished 31st, moving 12 spots to 50th in the AOY standings.
Matt Robertson tried to reverse his fortunes. The Kentucky pro had led the previous two Elite tournaments after Day 1 before faltering. He started Lay in 94th with one of the smallest limits at 6-11, but Robertson got moving on Day 2 with 15-12, which put him inside the cut at 45th, where he finished.
Rookie Cole Sands figured things out, and this 5-10 was a major part of his 12-12 stringer that kept him inside the cut on Day 2. Sands, of Calhoun, Tenn., showed consistency with 12-11 on Semifinal Saturday. He posted his best Elite finish of 19th, which bumped him 15 spots to 64th in AOY and put him on the right track to get inside the Top 40 who receive automatic Classic berths.
Languishing outside the Top 50 after Day 1, Kenta Kimura shows off a 5-5 that helped him weigh 14-13. Another limit afforded the Japanese pro a 17-place finish, which moved him 13 spots closer to Classic contention at 42nd in points.
Steve Kennedy holds a 4-15 that helped the Auburn, Ala., pro weigh 12-15, which combined with his first-day weight of 13-4 to put him 16th. The you-need-to-catch-them-every-day nature of the Elites bit Kennedy on Day 3, when he only managed two fish and fell to 42nd. While he could have gained good ground, that slip only knocked him back one spot in AOY to 19th.
One of 14 Alabamians in the field, Justin Hamner again found success on Lay Lake with this 4-8. It came in Day 2’s second-best bag of 17-14 and put him fourth. His weights dropped the next two days, but he made his second Elite Top 10 in three seasons. The 97 points he earned for eighth moved him up 21 spots into Classic contention at 35th.
Joseph Webster, 55th after Day 1, caught the bulk of his 11-8 bag on this 5-8, which pushed him inside the cut at 46th. A limit of 12-13 bumped him to 28th, which gained him a dozen spots to 46th in the point standings. He was among the nine Alabamians who made the two-day cut.
Florida’s Cliff Prince was 80th after Day 1, but his Day 2 Phoenix Boats Big Bass of 6-4 helped him weigh 16-10 and catapult into 21st. Only four fish dropped Prince to 44th, but he pulled two spots closer to the Classic at 48th.
Schultz was on the big bite again, landing this 5-11 in his limit of 15-4 to stand third. As witnessed on Bassmaster LIVE, the wheels came off on Day 3 as he caught only one fish weighing 1-1 and plummeted to 40th. Schultz, however, gained nine spots to 27th in AOY.
Bryan New illustrates the have and have-not aspects of tournament bass fishing. Sure, he caught another big – it was entered as a 5-10 on BassTrakk – but he did not catch any comparable friends. With three fish totaling 8-10, New fell to 11th, but he would be heard from again at Lay.
Will Davis Jr., the angler living closest to Lay Lake at 12.3 miles from door to Cedar Creek marina, stood seventh after Day 1 with a solid 15-14 limit. With a 5-7 bolstering his 18-5, the biggest limit of Day 2, Davis pulled into position in second place with 34-3, just 1-9 out of the lead.
Davis only trailed Palaniuk, who went back to Beeswax Creek despite having reservations that the area might not hold up. He regained the lead with a 5-4 around midmorning and a 3-12 around noon helped him milk the area for another 16-5. Palaniuk led with 35-12.
Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., had limits of 11-12 and 12-15 before making a big move on Day 3. The 2019 Angler of the Year had a pair of 4-8s on BassTrakk to rise inside the Top 10, but his 15-12 left him 11th, just 1-9 from Championship Sunday. He gained 10 AOY spots to 11th in points.
Another AOY champ, Seth Feider, was seeking a high finish to get back into Classic contention. With 13-8 and 16-1, Feider was fifth and made hay early on Day 3 with a 5-0. That led to a limit of 12-12, which allowed him to fish Sunday. He fell to 10th, but that saw him move up 19 spots to 40th in AOY with a favorable schedule of northern events ahead for the Minnesota pro.
Another favorite on Lay Lake was Matt Herren, who was in the Top 10 after 13-15, 15-6 and 14-6. The Ashville, Ala., veteran went into Championship Sunday 7-12 out of the lead and swung for a 20-pound bag.
“Big Fish” Brandon Cobb improved each day, from 23rd with 13-1 to 12th with 14-1 before his Day 3 16-3 limit put the AOY leader in fifth. Cobb dropped to seventh, but he increased his point total to 485 with his fourth Top 10 of the year. He now stands 49 points ahead of second-place Drew Cook with Tyler Rivet 70 points back.
It was thought that the Santee Cooper Elite would be the last reasonable chance to top Cobb’s 8-12 from Okeechobee, which led for the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the year and its $10,000 bonus. Jason Christie popped in on BassTrakk with a 7-0, but he was woefully low on that estimate.
At the weigh-in, Christie’s lunker even surprised him when it tipped the scales at 9-4, giving him Phoenix Boat’s daily and tournament bonuses of $1,000 and $2,000, respectively, and the year’s biggest bass. It also gave the 2022 Classic champ the VMC Monster Bag of the week at 23-0, worth $2,000, and had him in contention, just 2-5 back of Palaniuk to start Championship Sunday.
Back in Beeswax still wondering if he could milk it for more, Palaniuk did just that. He and quick-starter Jay Przekurat traded the lead several times in the morning, then Davis, Hamner and Feider held leads before Palaniuk culled to a Day 3 bag of 15-11 to total 51-7. In his five Elite wins, Palaniuk has won wire-to-wire twice, at Bull Shoals and the St. Lawrence River.
Knowing he needed a monster bag to win, Herren sought the big bite. He did get this 4-5, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day, but it was his only fish of the day and he fell to ninth. While he earned 96 points and jumped 16 AOY spots, Herren needs similar Top 10 finishes to move into Classic consideration from 75th in points.
Przekurat began Championship Sunday 10-6 back of Palaniuk. While Przekurat  again started fast and with better fish, a winning charge was too much to ask. He weighed 14-9 to total 55-13 and moved up to fifth, earning a $20,000 payout.
Bryan New, still stinging from his Day 2 debacle, was back on his big bite. After several disastrous events, New was 101st in AOY and needed the top finish to get off his back.
New, the last man in the Top 10, did the best he could. He came in with the biggest bag of Championship Sunday at 15-2, jumping from 10th to finish fourth with 56-3. He earned a $25,000 check and jumped up 20 spots in AOY, with more hill to climb.
Christie, who is tied for third with Mike Iaconelli among active Elites with eight victories, wasn’t far from knocking Ike to fourth. The Oklahoma pro brought in 11-7 on Championship Sunday and had the winning fish hooked and close to the boat before it jumped off. Christie slaps the water in frustration as the 5- to 6-pounder would have easily made up his 2-4 deficit from the winning weight and given him win No. 9.
Although much of his day was slow, Will Davis Jr. kept plugging and was within a bite of winning when Bassmaster LIVE ended an hour before the anglers checked in. Davis caught an estimated 3-pounder late that gave him 14-2 and a total of 62-12. Palaniuk was last to weigh, and his 11-3 limit, which included his second 4-ounce dead fish penalty of the event, came up 2 ounces short at 62-10.
The hometown crowd roared through a downpour as Davis held off two of the most decorated anglers on the Elites to win yet again on Lay Lake. Davis joined fellow rookie Joey Cifuentes, Tyler Rivet and Luke Palmer as a first-time champs in 2023. The victory was emotional for Davis and his father, the namesake of Davis Bait Co. Fishing alongside his dad, another partner or solo, Davis has won around $300,000 on Lay Lake, yet this was the most prestigious title of the 60 or so he’s taken on his home pond.

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