Fantasy Fishing: Heading to Elvis Country

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Stop Three on the 2026 Elite Series schedule and we’re headed to Elvis country.

Perhaps more significantly, we’re headed to a place that most of the Elites have never been, and a shallow river at that. Normally, I’d be looking for pros with white jumpsuit energy, but that wouldn’t turn out well when getting down and dirty in the mud.

If you rule out the young guns altogether, you’re making a mistake. As I try to reiterate in every column, my Fantasy Fishing mantra remains “catchers gonna catch.” You could put the Trey McKinneys of the world in a trash bag full of rocks and they’d somehow sniff out a school of giant bass just like a well-trained hound dog.

My picks are below.

Thank you, thank you very much.

BUCKET A: BLUE SUEDE SHOES

The King: This may be as close to a hometown dance as Brock Mosley ever gets, and as one of two Mississippi pros in the field, the six-time Classic qualifier is primed for a career-defining win. He got his first Elite victory on a similar playing field, the Sabine River (where he was 2nd in 2022), and has six runner-ups, including earlier this season at Lake Martin.

Crown Prince: I pick Trey McKinney just about everywhere and he rarely lets me down, including at the Classic, where he was once again the runner-up. He doesn’t have lots of these types of fisheries on his resume, but he was 3rd last year at the Pasquotank.

BUCKET B: DON’T BE CRUEL

The King: With lots of solid picks but no standout in this bucket, I’m taking a risk on Kyoya Fujita, who many people assume can only “scope,” yet has found his way to Top 10s on river systems including the Mississippi (out of La Crosse), the Sabine and the James. Surely he has some new urchin-creature ready for this particular situation.

Crown Prince: Cliff Pace has not excelled since his return to the Elites, but he’ll look to feast on home cooking (he lives a little over 2 hours down the road) in this event, maybe with one of his Black Label balsa squarebills.

BUCKET C: POLK SALAD ANNIE

The King: Coming off an unexpectedly tough Classic, there’s probably nothing Bryan Schmitt wants more than river redemption, and he’ll get it with two in a row. This isn’t a tidal fishery, but anyplace there’s flow he excels, and he’s willing to take a chance (e.g., a mega-run) to win.

Crown Prince: You’ll rarely go wrong picking two-time AOY Chris Johnston. While most people think of him as a bed fishing freak or smallmouth savant, he also has a 4th place finish and a 13th at the Sabine.

BUCKET D: VIVA LAS VEGAS

The King: Greg Hackney in Bucket D is a rare sight, but he may have as much tournament experience on this venue as anyone in the field, albeit when many of them were in diapers. He was 6th in a 2003 Open, 21st in a 2004 Open, and 39th in the 2004 E50. Even if he hadn’t been here back then, this is his type of swamp.

Crown Prince: I know that Lee Livesay is a big bait, big fish guy, but I just have a feeling that he’s going to slide that Xpress back into the dirt and find a wad of fish. For all of the talk of the young guys’ ascent, don’t rule out the possibility of this 40 year-old one day winning AOY.

BUCKET E: DON’T BE CRUEL

The King: As of this writing, Bill Lowen has a sub-10% player percentage, which seems like a glitch of some sort on a fishery that’s right up the Turtle’s alley. He struggled in the Classic, and needs to get the job done in the next two events to ensure that he’ll be back when we go to Hartwell next year. He has career Top 10s at the Potomac, Upper Chesapeake, Delaware River, La Crosse, the Sabine and the Red River, plus a win at the St. Johns.

Crown Prince: Pat Schlapper showed off his river chops last year with wins at the Upper Mississippi and Sabine. Just like 2025, he’s started off slow in 2026 and needs to make a charge to get back to the Classic.