Eight Bassmaster Elite Series pros, divided into four randomly-selected teams, competed in the inaugural Bassmaster Tuesday Night LIVE tournament on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake. After three hard-fought hours of competition, the team of Drew Benton and Mike Iaconelli prevailed with a six-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces.
For just about all of these suddenly-ready-for-prime-time-players, it was a return to their roots – a winner-take-all format, a parking lot weigh-in, more than a little bit of trash-talking, and consistent demonstrations of their hypercompetitive nature. Tournament director Mark Zona ruled with an iron fist, although some of his rules, like the fact that competitors had to file any protests directly in the face of the alleged rule violator, seemed more focused on creating drama than on solving problems.
Tournament emcee Dave Mercer made light of some of the gaps in the regulations: “I think Chris Johnston called every local around here to get information.”
If he did, it helped, but not quite enough. Benton and Iaconelli beat the back-to-back Elite Series Angler of the Year and his partner Bryan New – known as “AOY and the Other Guy” — by 5 ounces. Depending on who told the story, the 2ndplace team may have been helped or may have been hindered by the fact that New forgot to fill the gas tank on his boat prior to blastoff, limiting their range but maximizing their fishing time.
Drew Cook and 2022 Bassmaster Classic champion Jason Christie – considered by some to be the pre-tournament favorites – were 3rd with 13-8.
Team “Kyle Squared,” consisting of 2023 AOY Kyle Welcher and Kyle Patrick, rounded out the top four with three fish for 7-1.
The anglers seemed energized and excited by the format. Christie said that he substantially supplemented his income throughout high school, college and his early coaching years by squeezing in as many weeknight “fruit jar” tournaments as he could.
“That’s how I made a living,” he said. “We’d have 75 to 80 boats. If you won and had big bass you could make several thousand dollars in just a few hours.”
One of the oddities of this format was seeing Iaconelli, the 2003 Bassmaster Classic champion and 2006 AOY, as well as Christie, the 2022 Classic champ, fishing out of the back of the boat. At one point Christie stood poised with the net, waiting for Cook to hook a finicky bass. Iaconelli, meanwhile, was sure to note that “I am the best net man in the business.”
Benton agreed: “He is an absolute net ninja,” he said.
Indeed, while there was a huge amount of diverse bass fishing talent in the four boats, strategy played as much of a role as any lure. Ike and Christie both resolved to let their particular Drew work on bed fish while they mopped up with finesse tactics.
For Iaconelli, it was a return to the 1990s. He brought the co-angler mindset that he developed in his bass club days, then in AA and AAA events. He recognized that as Benton worked on fish that he could see, there were doubtlessly many others around that they couldn’t see. Accordingly, he took a painstaking approach to finding those fish.
“It was all about the wacky rig, wacky rig, wacky rig,” he emphasized. “With the Power Poles down, I’ve got what I’ve got. I focused on using light line and a finesse bait. I would make casts aimed at covering water, 6 inches different each time. I’d make a cast and the next would be 6 inches to the right, and so on. Then I’d work the other bank the same way.”
It was important that each member of each team weigh in at least one fish, as no single angler was permitted to compile a team’s entire limit.
Benton’s key sight fishing tools were two Japanese soft plastics, a Nories Front Flapper and a Nories Latterie. Behind him, Iaconelli utilized a 5-inch Berkley General soft stickbait, which he characterized as “the best bait to clean up the scraps.”
It was equally strange to see Christie, a Type A personality and one of the greatest closers of the sport’s modern era, in the back of the boat. He welcomed this event as a learning experience and, like Iaconelli, sought to contribute to the team while letting Cook do his own heavy lifting. The Tennessee-Tombigbee champion left the venue impressed and satisfied, even if they didn’t win.
“What I actually learned is that what happens to me when I sight fish isn’t abnormal,” the Oklahoma pro said. “Sometimes you pull in looking for one and it’s not there or it’s acting weird. I expected Drew to be able to find and catch those fish every time, but it happened to him, too. He’d move on to the next one. That makes me feel better about myself.
Overall, the event drew raves from everyone involved. Despite some pairings that might have seemed likely or perhaps intended to cause friction, there was nothing but praise for the format. Rather than leaving the venue dejected, the also-rans left determined to come back stronger, while Benton demanded an opportunity to defend his team’s title.
There was even speculation that Iaconelli, who won this inaugural event to add bragging rights to his unparalleled list of titles, would return to college in search of that championship, too.
“This turned out better than I expected,” Mercer concluded. “I was excited to see the awesomeness and the awkwardness of it all. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that Ike and Benton would flow as well as they did. Please feed us more of this.”
He and broadcast partner Mark Zona refused to put any brakes or limitations on their coverage and the assembled fans – several hundred somehow managed to find the unannounced weigh-in site – ate it up. Zona likewise fed off of that energy.
“I’m never restrained,” he said. “I think I’ve always called it like I’ve seen it, but we were able to give it a little more tonight. With all of the weird, negative stuff that sometimes infects this sport, this was just about fun competition and making people smile. This is what bass fishing really is.”