EQs

Best of 2025: Elite Qualifiers top lures

From old school to brand new, see the lures used by the top anglers at lakes Champlain, Wheeler and Okeechobee.

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Lake Champlain provided a stunning backdrop for the season kickoff Nitro Bassmaster Elite Qualifier presented by Bass Pro Shops. Summer-like conditions in mid-September quickly turned into fall, with the leaves on the trees seeming to turn more colorful every day. The 100-plus anglers gathered in Plattsburg, N.Y., with hopes of either earning a spot in the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic or earning points towards qualification for the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. 
With all the beauty came a little kick. The wind howled across the lake the first two days of the tournament, creating rough and bumpy conditions on much of the fishery. Despite those conditions, the EQ anglers enjoyed spectacular days of smallmouth fishing. During the two full-field days, 83 bags of 20 pounds or better hit the scales.
Elite Series pro Emil Wagner caught impressive quality on Lake Champlain and took home his first Bassmaster victory, bringing in a total of 69 pounds, 2 ounces. He outlasted Kentucky’s Matt Messer and fellow Georgia Elite pro Paul Marks.
Matt Messer earned second with his weight of 68-5. Targeting smallmouth with a jighead minnow was a key tactic. 
The Kentucky native pitched a Berkley MaxScent Flatnose Jerk Shad rigged on a 3/16-ounce Berkley Fusion 19 jighead with a 3/0 hook.
Wagner pitched a jighead minnow to smallmouth.
His best setup was a Berkley MaxScent Jerk Shad rigged on 1/4-ounce head.
Two primary patterns were in play in early October at the second stop at Lake Wheeler on the Tennessee River in northern Alabama. Those were the fabled Decatur Flats along the Tennessee River channel. 
Or the Guntersville Dam tailrace, where Matt Adams took advantage of the current-swept habitat for all three days.
The outlier was an obscure patten seldom exploited during fall on Tennessee River impoundments. The secret is out. You can win a fall tournament on a topwater. Laker Howell had it planned out from the start and proved it with a winning weight of 65-11.
The ‘made dad proud moment’ was the second Bassmaster win for the younger Howell in two months, both times on topwater baits. Who says you can’t win having fun? Howell proved you can with a frog in August and most recently using a walking topwater. Check out his top bait and those used on the flats and tailrace. 
Runner-up Matt Adams (65-9) targeted tailrace bass with a crankbait and swimbait.
That choice was a 6th Sense Shindo 6.0 Saltwater, rigged on 3/16-ounce Treeshaker Tackle Company Austin Felix Dream Stroller Jig. 
Alternatively, he cranked a 6th Sense Cloud 9 Series C15. 
Howell focused on a saddle with shell bottom between two bars near the river channel. His fish would funnel in off the main channel, stage on the shell and feed on shad as they came through.
Using topwater Howell also won the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Elite at Leech Lake in Minnesota. So why not make it a double win on top?
His primary lure at Wheeler was a Livingston Lures Walking Boss. The bait’s cupped mouth imparting a water spit across the surface was key to attracting sluggish largemouth. The bait also features a No. 2 feathered tail hook complementing the No. 4 trebles on the front and middle and Livingston’s patented Electronic Baitfish Sound technology.
He also used a Livingston Lures Walking Boss Jr. 4. Howell used the Bone Cracker pattern for both baits.
The mid-November season finale was no doubt one of the toughest tournaments anglers experienced all season long. A major front ushered the coldest air of the year into South Florida, making it difficult to coax the largemouth into biting.
The most consistent bite seemed to be in the various canals that connect and surround Lake Okeechobee. Caleb Hudson opened the tournament in 25th with a limit weighing 10-9, but he knew there was plenty of potential still in his area of the Rim Canal. That was realized in full on Day 2 when he vaulted into the lead with a 25-7 limit, the second biggest bag of the tournament.
Although the final day was anything but easy, Hudson’s 16-6 limit was enough to hold off Robert Gee and claim his first B.A.S.S. trophy with a total of 52-6. The win also secured his spot in the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
Gee came up just short (51-12) of his first B.A.S.S. victory on Championship Saturday. This time, he only needed an additional 7 ounces to take the trophy.
Gee used the new 7-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow to target bass he could see on his forward-facing sonar. He rigged it on a 3/16-ounce jighead.
On Day 2, a Dixie Jet Talon Spoon produced several big bites and vaulted him into the Top 10.
Two baits were part of the winning formula for Hudson.
This jighead minnow setup caught most of his bass. Because the bass were so high in the water column, Hudson rotated between 1/16-ounce, 3/16-ounce and 1/8-ounce jigheads.
The new Spro McDart in Matte Shad also generated several big bites.

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