Day 4: Arkansas River
1:05 p.m. — When it’s your time, it’s your time. Foutz seems to have sealed the deal with a late-in-the-day giant. “I just made a blind pitch,” he said. “I never even saw the bass.” His scale bounced between 5-11 and 5-13.
12:42 p.m. — Everyone has a limit now except Trey McKinney, but they’re all at least a cull or two away from overtaking Jacob Foutz – he remains in the driver seat with less than10 pounds per BassTrakk. A 4-pounder for our Day 3 leader would make it incredibly hard for anyone to pass him. The gates close at 1:15, which means the four who locked down have limited time to fish. It's likely a 20+ minute run on a calm day just to get there.
12:19 p.m. — And just like that, Jacob Foutz went from four fish to culling. His move seems to have worked out, as this 3-pounder will help his cause substantially. He doesn’t know what he needs, but each little bit makes it harder for anglers to come from behind, particularly those like Schlapper who were closer to the bottom of the top 10.
12:13 p.m. — Foutz had five and he’s working a bigger one.
11:49 a.m. — The Progressive Angler of the Year race is really heating up. Trey McKinney took over the points race early in this event, and held onto it going into today’s competition. As things stand now, however, he’s fallen into the unofficial 10th spot in this week's competition. That opens the door for his closest competition, Canada’s Cory Johnston who sits in 7th for the Arkansas Elite. That puts the two anglers pretty much in a tie on the AOY rankings — so it'll be interesting to see which one leaves Oklahoma in the lead.
McKinney has finished second in the AOY points the past two seasons (the length of his Elite career). Cory Johnston has never won Angler of the Year, but his brother Chris is the current back-to-back points champ.
11:40 a.m. — With four little keepers in the livewell and the clock ticking ever faster, Jacob Foutz is pulling the plug on his starting spot – but not without a little bit of elbow grease to make the egress happen. At the same time, Pat Schlapper caught his fifth -- not huge but it puts him over 15.
11:32 a.m. — Schlapper just lost what would have been his 5th fish, which likely would have put him in the lead. He effectively has nowhere to go but up today and he knows that he sacrificed a good opportunity – the body language and foot stomp told the tale.
11:23 a.m. — Fisher Anaya just missed a fish that he desperately needed when he flipped in a bush and his line got over a branch, impeding his hook set. “It was over 5, I can promise you that,” he said.
11:10 a.m. — The bite has picked up and that benefited Pat Schlapper, who just landed the first true haymaker of the day – a 5.29 that joined two 3-pounders he’d already landed. He started the day in 9th place but another bite like that and a few missteps from the rest of the field and he could challenge for the win. He’s had a terrible start to the season so this is exactly what the river expert needed.
11:02 a.m. — Fisher Anaya’s forward facing sonar has gone out, but that may help him. Just two minutes after he announced that he didn’t have anything left a quality prespawn bass latched on as he tried to bring in his lure. Now half the remaining field has limits. Anaya is unofficially the first angler over 10 pounds.
11:00 a.m. — With four hours left to fish (and travel) four of ten remaining anglers have limits. It’s anybody’s ballgame. The door has been left wide open for Foutz to close it out, but he'll have to make the right decisions and the fish will have to cooperate.
10:38 a.m. — Photographer Grant Moxley says that Fisher Anaya may be starting to feel like he’s running out of fish. He didn’t have trouble corralling limits on previous days, but despite not locking down he’s still looking for his fifth fish and trying to expand his zone.
9:52 a.m. — Photographer Dalton Tumblin just sent a picture of his camera boat driver trying to work their way back to where Foutz is fishing. It looks more like they’re trying to get into a lagoon off of the Amazon than on a navigable American river.
9:43 a.m. — In the era of incredible technology, photographer Chase Sansom is getting a lesson in old school treacherous water navigation from Christie. The Oklahoman is taking his rod and feeling around in the mouth of the backwaters, looking for ditches just deep enough to float his boat.
9:37 a.m. — Austin Felix was late to the party as one of the quartet who locked down, but the quality of the fish he’s catching may prove why he was willing to take that risk. A solid 3-pounder when others are struggling to catch anything near that weight is a potential difference-maker as he looks to slide up the leaderboard.
9:28 a.m. — Jason Christie is working a cove here off the main river and asked our camera crew to stay back because it’s fragile – so they put the drone up to get the scoop. There appears to be some clean water in the back.
9:10 a.m. — Jason Christie, one of the anglers who locked through, is finally on the board with a small bass. “That’ll get the stink out of the boat, anyway,” he said.
9:00 a.m. — Only four anglers locked through this morning: Foutz, Felix, Christie and Schlapper.
8:55 a.m. — Foutz and his Magdraft swimbait are on the board with a quality first keeper. The Live crew was speculating how far he’d have to go in his area without a fish before he’d spin out – now that’s irrelevant. He knows there are still fish there willing to bite.
8:37 a.m. — Luke Palmer is the first angler to a limit today, although he’ll probably need to cull them all if he’s to improve on the 7th place position where he started the day.
8:11 a.m. — Another log perpendicular to the bank, another spinnerbait bass for AOY-hungry Cory Johnston. He’s targeting a shad spawn in Pool 16 and will have a long day to fish today. Meanwhile, others are still waiting for the locking process to conclude.
7:59 a.m. — Obviously the win is important, and in theory all of the anglers competing today have a chance to notch the W, but there’s a bigger picture: the AOY race. Trey McKinney entered the day leading Cory Johnston by 3 points, but Johnston just fired the first shot across the bow for today, a solid 3+ pounder that smoked his spinnerbait. They could be duking it out all year and every day they get to fish is a chance to accumulate more points.
7:53 a.m. — Grant Moxley reports that Fisher Anaya has caught two quick fish close to Fort Gibson Dam where he’s started the last two mornings. He’s throwing a jerk bait and a minnow but primarily getting bites with the jerkbait.
7:19 a.m. — Jacob Foutz: "I'm not nervous about the fishing. I'm just nervous about getting there."
7:15 a.m. — No worries about an extended fog delay. The field is off. Fisher Anaya is already on his starting spot. He plans to give it about 30 minutes to see if it’ll fire for him. Those running to the lock are still en route – assuming they don’t pull the plug on that plan.
6:42 a.m. — With only 3 ½ hours to fish for the anglers locking through, a substantial fog delay could substantially change Championship Sunday’s strategy. “This could really hurt somebody,” said Luke Palmer.
6:38 a.m. — Competitors arrived at the ramp this morning to find a heavy bank of fog blanketing the river. “He definitely did some sort of fog dance,” leader Jacob Foutz said of the trailing Jason Christie.
Day 3: Arkansas River
1:49 p.m. — Howell seems to have realized that his day and his tournament are done. He's not going to make it to the lock in time, despite the herculean efforts of several helpful boaters. It's no consolation to him, but it's another example of how one uncontrollable incident can sully an otherwise stellar tournament. Howell struggled in Alabama but has been solid in the two river tournaments. His teen-class efforts today won't show up on the scorecard.
1:38 p.m. — Howell has a boat coming his way, but timing is tight and commercial traffic may take priority over his entrance. He says the lock only takes 15-17 minutes, plus the 23-24 to get back. He’s verbally running through the math. It has to be painful.
1:23 p.m. — Randy Howell either hit his lower unit or spun a hub as he prepared to head back to weigh-in. By the time he got in touch with other anglers they were already in the lock and couldn't leave. It’s unclear if he’ll make the next lock. Now he's trying to get in touch with camera boat drivers. That’s certainly disappointing considering this promises to be his best finish in a year and if he does not make it back – or incurs some sort of penalty – it shakes up the top ten significantly.
1:19 p.m. — Take Jacob Foutz and his purported 7 pound 11 ounce lead out of the mix and it would be a remarkably close tournament. The 2nd through 4th anglers have an estimated 49-13, 48-11 and 48-2, with three more anglers in the 47 pound range. Of course, this presumes that everyone has punched in their fish weights accurately. If Foutz were to turn in a 10 pound bag tomorrow, it becomes a wide-open ballgame.
12:39 p.m. — Jason Christie in the top 10 at day’s end seemed like a foregone conclusion heading into today, but it’s not so certain now. He’s unofficially in 9th place with 45-2, based on an estimated catch of 8-12 today. That includes three fish he estimated at 1-4 apiece. Then again, his estimates this week have been low. He may have more than that, but he’ll still likely need to cull in the remaining time to stay safe and fish tomorrow.
12:29 p.m. — When things are going your way, sometimes you can do no wrong. Caleb Hudson had gotten hung up repeatedly on a set of rocks, so when he felt tension he tried to shake his bait loose before realizing that this time it was a fish. “Oh shoot. I’m an idiot,” he said. But he got the fish in the boat and is staying alive in his quest to make a top 10 and retain the Rookie of the Year lead.
12:02 p.m. — Chase Sansom reports that Bob Downey is working the backwaters of Sallisaw Creek. He’s got around 11 pounds worth looking to upgrade to slide inside the top 10 cut. Sansom reports that it’s the clearest water he’s seen in three days, with tons of grass, stumps and shad. Even the gar are jumping out of the water to eat the in this little tributary. The food chain’s working – can Downey make it work for him before he has to head back?
11:56 a.m. — The Arkansas River claimed a victim today – Carl Jocumsen’s lower unit. But he needn’t despair: 2025 Classic champ Easton Fothergill was on his way home, but turned around, filled up the gas tank and delivered his vessel to the “Aussie/Okie.” These guys are fierce competitors on the water, but there’s also an esprit de corps that shows the brotherhood – much of which doesn’t get reported.
11:43 a.m. — And just like that, Jacob Foutz is up to 20 pounds – the fourth such bag of the tournament, and it could not have come at a better time. He started the day with a 1 ounce deficit and now Fisher Anaya is no longer the lead dog. Foutz's smallest fish are 3-0 and 3-8.
11:39 a.m. — Cole Sands just caught an estimated 6-8, which pushes him up to four fish for 12-10 and 14th place, just 1-1 out of the top 10 with a spot on his dance card to fill. If he can climb into the top 10, this will be the third of his Elite Series career and second in a row.
11:35 a.m. —After Foutz, the largest bag right now is Pat Schlapper’s 14-13. He started the day in 16th place, but has moved up to 4th. He desperately needed this cut after a terrible start to the season, and a top 10 would substantially jumpstart his efforts to get back to the Classic.
11:30 a.m. — As of 11:30, there are only five teen-class bags, per BassTrakk. Jason Christie and Austin Felix remain in the top 10 despite have catches less than 10 pounds. Lots of room for growth, so while Foutz appears to have a massive lead, expect it to shrink by day’s end, even if he grabs the pole position from Anaya.
10:42 a.m. — Foutz just caught another giant, using his electronics to gauge its mood on the bed and then convince it to bite. The fish had numerous black splotches – “all tattooed up” is how he described it – but it doesn’t matter what they look like, just how much they weigh. It went in as a 4-12 and he’s up to an estimated 19 pounds. He’s making it look easy on a tough day.
10:22 a.m. — We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Day 2 leader Fisher Anaya and prohibitive pre-tournament favorite Jason Christie, but anyone who rules out Jacob Foutz is making a huge mistake. He just added two big keepers – one over 5 pounds – and took the unofficial lead.
10:17 a.m. — Fisher Anaya just got the one he needed. “That’s probably the cut,” he said of the estimated 3-12. To anyone who thinks that all he can do is scope, you need to be watching the remainder of this tournament.
10:10 a.m. — Dalton Tumblin reports that he made it to Jacob Foutz this morning but it wasn’t easy. “It is a difficult place to get to and even more difficult to navigate,” he said. “Skinny water, very shallow, and a lot of obstacles in the way. He is way up the Illinois River mostly sight fishing for bass on beds. The water temp up this river is 10-15 degrees cooler than Kerr Lake, meaning the fish here aren’t done spawning. They’re still in the middle of it. Fish on beds and plenty of prespawners roaming in less than a foot of water. When he’s not looking at one on bed, he’s tossing around a Magdraft.”
9:44 a.m. — Chase Sansom reports Randy Howell is off to a quick start this morning. He’s boated two 3-pounders this morning in Vian Creek where he sat all day yesterday. He’s working the same bank that was loaded with shad but the wind has shifted completely around.
“Yesterday every cast I made with a spinner bait there was a shad following in it and today they are completely gone. It doesn’t seem like it has made much difference yet but we will see.”
9:40 a.m. — As some obvious areas and community holes start to run out of fish, Brandon Palaniuk is going bushwhacking, using all manner of push poles, hardware and sweat equity to access difficult areas. It’s paid off – he filled out his limit by four-wheeling – but he needs some size to retain a spot in the top 10.
9:22 a.m. — Randy Howell started off strong at the Tenn-Tom but couldn’t hold onto a top ten. He’s hoping that fate won’t befall him again this week. His last Elite top 10 was last year at Hartwell. Before that it was Winyah Bay in 2016. He’s switched from a spinnerbait to a Livingston Howeller squarebill crankbait.
9:06 a.m. — Jacob Foutz isn’t ceding any ground. He said that new fish have moved into his area. He’s throwing a swimbait and the quality is stout.
8:58 a.m. — Fisher Anaya has padded his lead with one of only two reported limits but it’s a small one, unofficially less than 10 pounds. Only one of the five bass in his livewell is over 2 pounds. That’ll provide lots of room to cull up and the fact that he has five early should provide the comfort level to take some chances.
8:48 a.m. — You can’t make mistakes or have subpar gear if you want to contend for an Elite win, AOY or ROY. Current ROY leader Caleb Hudson has performed exceptionally so far this week, but he just lost a fish due to bent out hook points on his jerkbait. He regretted not changing out the stock hooks last night.
8:39 a.m. — Anglers going to Kerr have had a little more freedom than originally expected when coming back to weigh-in, as lock masters added an extra guaranteed locking time in the afternoon — until today. B.A.S.S. officials announced just before takeoff that barge traffic is heavier today, forcing the lock masters to revert to a single afternoon locking time.
That means those anglers can't come back to the Muskogee pool earlier to hit a few spots on that stretch of the river.
7:39 a.m. — Grant Moxley reports that Fisher Anaya and Greg DiPalma are sharing water near the Fort Gibson dam. Fisher has caught two on a Jerkbait and Greg has two as well. Greg is fishing the inside of the pocket while Fisher works the outside edges of it.
7:15 a.m. — Fisher Anaya picked up right where he left off, with a bass on his first cast. The old superstition says that’s bad luck, but he’s on the board and padding his lead, which seems like a good thing.
7:07 a.m. — Jason Christie: “I’m thinking about running some old school staging stuff because I feel like today’s the day to catch a big bag.”
7:01 a.m. — We’re at the point in the season where many anglers who’ve struggled need to start thinking about requalification. Nine of the 10 anglers at the bottom of the AOY standings heading into Muskogee failed to make the cut to Saturday. Gerald Swindle, who entered in 98th, is the lone outlier. He sits in 31st heading into Day 3.
7:57 a.m. — Anglers in the top 10 in AOY heading into this event who did not make the cut: John Garrett (67th) and Brock Mosley (82nd). Drew Cook and Dakota Ebare snuck in – 47th and 49th, respectively.
7:25 a.m. — Carl Jocumsen on the changing weather : “These fish don’t care. It’s Oklahoma. They’re used to it.”
7:25 a.m. — It’s a different scene this morning than it was Thursday and Friday. Fifty anglers looking like they’re ready for a little bit of ice fishing are launching now. Last night’s brutal storms have dropped the temperature 30 degrees. These aren’t Florida strain fish, so it shouldn’t affect them drastically, but it will affect them somehow. The other factor is the wind, which is howling from the north.
Day 2: Arkansas River
1:31 p.m. — Brandon Palaniuk just caught a near 5-pounder that helped him make a massive cull, going from an also-ran up into the top 10. Two days in a row he’s had a fish take the words out of his mouth as he semi-pleaded for a big bite. That’s a superpower you can’t buy.
1:29 p.m. — Jason Christie is heading back to the lock. He doesn’t know it but he’s unofficially in 13th place. “If we can catch a big one we might scare someone,” he said. “We’ll be in position to scare someone, I might say.”
12:46 p.m. — Jason Christie, who had dropped out of the top 10, has gone on a mini-tear. One bass missed his buzzbait, he pitched another lure back in and hooked up. He’s convinced it wasn’t the same fish, though. The one he landed culled out a 1-8, but he was certain that he’d seen a giant in the first instance. He then caught a second decent keeper, but still not the giant. "I still think there's another one there that's 6 or 7 pounds," he said.
12:28 p.m. — For the first time in a long time, we have a new leader. With a nearly 6-pounder, Jacob Foutz has topped 18 pounds for the second straight day and has surged past Fisher Anaya by half a pound.
12:08 p.m. — We went from Caleb Hudson scoping up a giant from the clearer water to seeing Austin Felix catch a kicker – albeit not quite as big – on a popping frog. That fish, estimated at 5 pounds, culled out a 1-4. It brings him up near the lead but still a couple of pounds behind leader Fisher Anaya. Felix still has an hour and a half to fish before he’ll need to make the run to the lock.
11:58 a.m. — Another angler making a move today is “Aussie/Okie” Carl Jocumsen. He was 56th yesterday, but only 5 ounces outside of the cut. Today he’s trying to leave no doubt about whether he'll be competing on Saturday. With an estimated 17-3 in the livewell today, unless something goes horribly wrong he should be fishing again. This is where he first qualified for the Elites back in 2014, it’s the state where he earned his lone Elite win, and he lived here for a while.
11:51 a.m. — Chase Sansom reports that conditions at the lower end of Kerr are pretty sporty.
“I would guess 3 foot waves are pretty consistent,” he said. “A lot of guys here in Vian Creek are going to need to leave a bit early to navigate through the waves and make it back to the locks on time. We may see some torn up equipment when they return this afternoon.”
11:33 a.m. — Caleb Hudson, who caught a 5-4 yesterday, just caught one a pound heavier. He played it gingerly, got it into the boat, and the worm fell right out of his quarry’s mouth. That’s living right. It was his fifth fish and now he’ll have to work on culling because he’s still behind unofficial leader Fisher Anaya by over 3 pounds – with a couple of others in between them.
11:24 a.m. — Shane Durrance reports that he caught up with Jeff Gustafson this morning, but this time above the lock. Gussy said that locking through would just take too much time, so he called an audible. He certainly isn’t “moping” today. Instead, he is throwing a soft plastic toad with a tungsten weight attached to give it a little more casting ability. On the retrieve it dips just blow the surface. He said that everyone’s throwing the same type of bait and he wanted to do something a little bit different.
11:05 a.m. — Dalton Tumblin reports that Bob Downey has worked his way up the leaderboard this morning sharing the same creek arm as a large group of anglers, although “he’s about as far back in this creek as you can go. He pretty much has the back of this creek to himself and it’s paid off well. Downey is fishing a swim jig and Texas rig through grass lines along the bank.”
10:55 a.m. — Chase Sansom found the rising Chris Zaldain in Vian Creek alongside Randy Howell and a few other anglers, fishing a windblown stretch. He said that the water in this area is clearer than most of the other sections of Kerr he’s visited.
“I only had 11 pounds yesterday,” Zaldain said. “My scale says 17 and a half, I think I made the cut. I have had a blast fishing here this morning.”
10:41 a.m. — The wind is gassing, which adds a little more to the decision-making process for anglers making the long run to Kerr. Sustained winds are blowing out the south at 11 to 15 mph, with cuts to 27 mph, on the lake. That means the lake is likely rough as a cob, so anglers will have to add some extra run time to the already long haul back to weigh-in.
10:39 a.m. — Craig Lamb continues his magical drone work, capturing the layout of Fisher Anaya’s current locale from above.
10:31 a.m. — Matt Arey, who has suffered this morning from an abundance of company and has therefore contemplated leaving his main area, just got a reason to stay: an approximately 4-pounder that ate his creature bait.
10:26 a.m. — Chris Zaldain has now culled up to an estimated 17-7, pushing him beyond the projected cut weight after ending Day 1 tied for 89th. Which other members of the bottom quartile will make a similar jump? With so many anglers out of range or otherwise not reporting, expect some surprises today. Seth Feider and Carl Jocumsen were both outside of the cut and have 15 or so today, but will likely need more to fish tomorrow.
10:04 a. m. — Jason Christie came into this event as the undisputed favorite — but he just admitted his fellow Elites "took it out of me" after what he thought would be secret spots turned out to not to be so secret.
"I spent a lot of time on the river, because it's changed with the grass and floods," he said. "So I spent a lot of time out here during before the cutoff. I had five spots I would have bet the house no one would find. You know how many I have left?
"These guys find everything."
Christie is still unofficially in 11th right now, according to BASSTrakk, with a limit weighing 6-8.
10:02 a.m. — Comeback alert: Chris Zaldain was tied with Mike Iaconelli for 89th place after Day 1 with 11 pounds even. Per BassTrakk, he has an estimated 16-5 already this morning, which puts him on the verge of hitting our estimated 27-10 cut weight. He might already be there if the weights go down. Either way, he has a lot of time left to fish.
9:59 a.m. — If you are a fishing freak and not watching Live now, drop whatever you are doing and tune in. There’s aerial coverage of Jason Christie’s big grass flat and even from a distance the strikes are unmistakable and heart-stopping. Whatever you think of the rise of technology in fishing, “being there” has never been better.
9:49 a.m. — River events like the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Arkansas River are all about decisions. Do you maximize your time in pool 16 (takeoff pool), or do you lock down or up?
Fisher Anaya was faced with that decision on Day 2 after catching part of his bag in pool 17 and the other part in 16. Late on Day 1, Anaya locked back down to pool 16 and did a lot of damage in a short amount of time catching fry guarders. Today, he made the decision to start in the same area that he ended up yesterday.
Unfortunately, the big largemouth appear to have moved out and the spotted bass have taken over. Anaya is still off to a solid start with nearly 12 pounds in the boat, but he knows he needs a couple of big largemouth to stay in contention for the rest of the day. The Elite Series rookie has made a move in hopes of doing just that.
9:44 a.m. — Dalton Tumblin reports that Austin Felix has started in an increasingly popular area today. The Minnesota pro has been moving around a good bit and seems to be struggling to find a stretch of bank to himself.
“I'm seeing a boat on just about every stretch of bank around me and anglers are basically playing leap frog around one another,” Tumblin said. “Felix is having a slower start as he only has one fish for about 2 pounds.”
9:40 a.m. — Chase Sansom reports that Brandon Palaniuk is experiencing a rather slow start this morning compared to yesterday morning. He’s locked down and is fishing in Kerr this morning next to the dam.
“Much slower start this morning. Didn’t get a bite on my stuff that I caught them off of yesterday before I locked through”
9:36 a.m. — “There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team,’ but there’s an “I” in “fishing,” said Fisher Anaya. Actually there are two of them, but given what he’s already accomplished in the sport, and what he’s doing today, there’s no need to quibble. The kid is educating us all today.
9:20 a.m. — Jacob Foutz, currently in 2nd, is an angler who would substantially benefit from a top 10 finish. He was 71st in the points last year, at one point missing five cuts to Day 3 in a row. His last top 10 came early last season at Okeechobee after earning two apiece in 2023 and 2024.
9:08 a.m. — Jason Christie started today in the same spot where he started yesterday and quickly got on the board. Somewhat surprisingly, he started with the buzzbait, the lure that produced smaller fish for him yesterday, not the Spook which produced better quality. Then he switched and quickly added a second fish. It’s game on. At least for now he has the area to himself.
8:34 a.m. — If it seems like a slow start to the morning, that’s because much of the field has yet to make a cast in their preferred areas. The downstream lock has just opened and they’re headed into Kerr. Some still have long runs to make.
8:02 a.m. — One hour into the day and Anaya has a limit. He also has a decision: stay or go? “I’m going to give you an opinion,” Mark Zona said. “He’s going to burn it all down.”
7:56 a.m. — Anaya’s fourth fish is a 2-pounder that likely puts him inside the cut. “He’s about one good one away from not locking through,” Mark Zona commented.
7:47 a.m. — With spotted bass number three, Fisher Anaya revealed his strategy: He’s going to catch a limit of spots to calm his nerves and then go hunting for bigger largemouths. His trio total 6 pounds 12 ounces. “I need 2 more pounds and I make the cut,” he said.
7:40 a.m. — Anaya got on the board with a nearly 3-pound spotted bass, then landed a smaller one on the next cast. He’s side-eyeing another competitor in the area, noting that there aren’t enough fish in the confined space to split and still succeed.
7:16 a.m. — Austin Felix, entering Day 2 in 4th place, is a remarkably consistent angler who has made five of the last six Classics – but he’s done it by cashing checks, not necessarily with top tens. His last one was at Lake Champlain in August of 2023. His last one before that was a year earlier in South Dakota when he won at Lake Oahe.
7:10 a.m. — Brandon Palaniuk has seven professional wins with BASS across six different states. New York is the only one represented twice. Oklahoma is not on that list – yet. The closest he’s come was 2nd in the 2013 Classic on Grand Lake, where Cliff Pace beat him by 3 pounds 4 ounces.
7:04 a.m. — Two anglers within just a few ounces of the cut to watch: Lee Livesay and Greg Hackney. Other known river rats and power fishermen with a bigger gap to make up: Brock Mosley, Kyle Welcher, Bill Lowen, John Crews and Seth Feider.
7:02 a.m. — Anaya said he’s going out with four rods on the deck today: a frog, a swim jig, a vibrating jig and a jerkbait. He may have some sort of dice or minnow in the rod box, and indeed others are likely using them, but for now it’s all about power fishing. He learned a lot from one of the greatest junk fishermen in history – Gerald Swindle – and while there aren’t a dozen sticks ready to go, he looks to fish by feel and circumstances today.
6:56 a.m. — This is Fisher Anaya’s 13th professional event at BASS, to include Opens, EQs, the Classic and Elite Series. Through 12, the two big stumbles have been Elites at Guntersville (65th) and Tenn-Tom (85th), but other than that he has been stellar: All 10 other finishes in the top 25, with 8 of them 11th or better and six in the top ten. That includes an Elite win and he also won the Team Championship, which is how he got to the Classic.
Day 1: Arkansas River
2:00 p.m. — With an hour left to fish we have 71 anglers reporting, 68 of them with limits. The estimated cut weight (50th place) will be over 12 pounds. It takes an estimated 15+ to be in the top 10, but that weight should creep higher as the additional anglers enter the mix and the sandbaggery is evened out. Right now the big question is whether we’ll see a 20-pound bag.
12:40 p.m. — And just like that Garrett added number five. Not a big fish, but when the points are tallied at the end of the season it could prove to be huge.
12:32 p.m. — John Garrett, who entered the tournament in the lead for Angler of the Year, is struggling today with four small keepers, despite being close to the unofficial tournament leader on the water. It’s not that Garrett can’t do well here – he was 2nd in the 2020 Open – but he needs to make a move to hold serve.
12:00 p.m. — At noon, with 69 anglers reporting (unofficially), 10th place is 14-4. Twenty-three anglers have 12 pounds or more and 41 have 10 pounds or more. Time is running somewhat short for those anglers who need to lock back up or down.
11:31 a.m. — Shane Durrance reports that Classic runner-up Trey McKinney is off to a strong start. The young pro has caught somewhere between 15 and 20 fish this morning with his biggest being a 4-pound kicker. He caught a 2-pounder and a 4-pounder before heading into the lock and has continued the damage with a wide variety of baits to accumulate an estimated 14-plus pounds.
11:28 a.m. — Luke Palmer is now sharing Christie’s formerly lonely backwater and immediately culls with a solid fish that appears to be prespawn.
11:19 a.m. — Dalton Tumblin is watching Brandon Cobb gradually moving up the leaderboard, but a 4-pounder – resulting in a 2-pound cull – will be big for him. That puts him around 14 pounds as he follows a grass line looking for bass on obvious ambush points.
11:03 a.m. — Blake Capps: “That bite should go on Shark Week right there.”
11:00 a.m. — As the day comes into focus and those who locked through are catching up on missed fishing time, the quality of the fishery is starting to reveal itself. Of course BassTrakk is unofficial and incomplete, but we have nine anglers at 14 pounds or more and 29 with 10 or more – and that’s with about a third of the field not reporting.
10:53 a.m. — Grant Moxley is following unofficial 2nd place angler Cole Sands north of the take-off, where he is focusing on eddies and small pockets, targeting spawners. Sands said if he can call one more he’s going to find more spots. This is area is less crowded than the downstream sections, so he has a lot of it to himself, with room to expand.
10:48 a.m. — Girl dad Lee Livesay, who made the pink vibrating jig famous at the Ray Roberts Classic, is rocking a pink buzzbait today and eliciting vicious strikes. It is not, as the Live team surmised, a pink Helicopter Lure.
10:43 a.m. — Shane Durrance reports that JT Thompkins just culled for his first time this morning with a 3-pound largemouth. He started on a shad spawn where he expected to run into a kicker that never came. He’s at around 10 pounds and needs to keep on culling.
Shallow-water maestro John Cox told Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford he had trouble finding backwaters he could actually access without fear of getting stuck.
“I saw Jason Christie coming out of one, and he was running it,” Cox said before Day 1 takeoff. “He can have it; he obviously knows how to run it.
“I could see the mud in his prop wash.”
10:09 a.m. — We’ve seen lots of buzzbaits and topwaters this morning, but Dalton Tumblin reports that Tristan McCormick is bucking that trend, working a Texas rigged craw slowly through the grass. “He’s really taking his time to pick it apart,” Tumblin said. McCormick is making it work, putting a 4+ pounder in the boat and then immediately catching two more to complete his limit from this stretch of bank lined with water willow grass.
10:04 a.m. — Chase Sansom is following Hunter Shryock, who has already boated two good ones thus far fishing a bank where there is a massive shad spawn going on.
“It’s been slow this morning and I promise I’m not one of these guys, but the barometric pressure is the highest it’ll be all day,” Shyrock said. “So to get a bite like that when the pressure is high is huge for this week. I’ll come back through this same stretch around noon when the pressure drops out and I bet I’ll catch a bunch more”
10:00 a.m. — Forward facing sonar is allowed this event, but a couple of young anglers known as top scopers told Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford that it likely won't play a major part in this event.
Pake South, who has won two Opens this year, said he found it really ineffective during practice.
"There are so many trash fish that it doesn't really help," South said before takeoff this morning. "And there's tons of baitfish, but they're not ganged up. So the screen just sparkles."
Trey McKinney, who goes into this event in second place in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of Year points, said the current also has made FFS less effective.
"They're running a lot of current, so the fish are holding tight to cover," he said. "So I can't see the fish. I can see them when they bite, but I can't see them before they move away from the cover."
9:46 a.m. — Jason Christie made a slight bait change and got the bite he needed, a definite confidence-builder. “I was about to lose confidence in my hole,” he said.
9:31 a.m. — Jason Christie is getting consistent bites, but he’s also spending a lot of time with his measuring board. “I can’t believe I’m having to measure fish,” he said.
9:13 a.m. — Photographer Andy Crawford captured the pre-tournament scene this morning. Click here to check out his gallery.
9:07 a.m. — Mark Zona: “There is nobody within miles of Jason Christie.” They can probably hear that buzzbait click-clacking wherever they are, though. He’s getting healthy in a hurry in this isolated zone.
8:51 a.m. — Photographer Dalton Tumblin reports: “The lock finally opened down here on Kerr lake and it looks like 90% of the field came through. It looked like a shotgun blast off coming down the lake.”
8:14 a.m. — Fishing fans who have Jason Christie on their Fantasy Teams and are panicking over his “slow start” needn’t worry. He’s locking down, as is much of the field. The lockmaster has apparently made concessions or guarantees to the anglers that’ll ensure them a maximized fishing day even if they sacrifice time by leaving the launch pool.
8:10 a.m. — Pake South has unsurprisingly jackrabbited out to an early lead. That’s still critical because despite winning two Opens, neither qualified him for the 2027 Classic. That’s because he didn’t fish the full schedule in either slate. He started this tournament in 23rd in the AOY race, and will need to keep his foot on the gas all season.
7:40 a.m. — Dakota Ebare has been on a tear lately, up to and through the birth of his son Bowen. Now a month old, Bowen is attending his first Elite event. The “baby pattern” has historically been an accelerant of success on this trail.
7:30 a.m. — The oldest cliché in the books about Oklahoma’s sometimes volatile weather is “wait five minutes and it’ll change.” Today, as the Elite Series field took off under increasingly drizzly skies, it went one step further than that – move 50 feet and you’ll find new conditions. Some clear skies could be seen in one direction and dark clouds in another. The Muskogee area has been buffeted by some violent storms the last couple of nights, but they’ve been localized – with small tracts getting hammered and others unscathed. It remains to be seen how that will affect the fishing, if at all. Most anglers were remarkably positive on the dock, saying that this portion of the Arkansas River has a lot of fish, but there should be heavy pressure in certain key areas.