Championship Sunday: Lake Martin

2:53pm -- Brock Mosley made a last-minute surge by landing two quality fish with 30 minutes remaining in the day. He backed up a 2-pounder with a 3-pounder to unofficially move into second place, less than 2 1/2 pounds behind leader Fisher Anaya. It'll all come down to the accuracy of the two anglers' estimates.

Weigh-in begins at 3:20 p.m. CST, so tune in on Bassmaster.com.

2:28pm -- Click here to view Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom's on-the-water photo galleries of Emil Wagner's and Cody Meyer's final day.

2:10pm -- Just after LIVE ended, Easton Fothergill landed the unofficial Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament, a 4-0. He followed that up with a 2-0 to increase his daily total to 49-15 and move into second place.

1:46pm -- Click here to view Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance's photo gallery of Easton Fothergill's morning action.

2:29pm -- This tournament isn’t over yet. Several big bass have been caught in the last several minutes. Chris Zaldain got the party started with a quality swimbait bite. Emil Wagner followed with nearly a 3-pounder and then Brock Mosley landed a 3 ½-pound largemouth. Mosley’s bass launched him back into second-place, but he is still 4-7 behind leader Fisher Anaya.

1:24pm -- Click here to see Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley's action-packed photo gallery of Day 3 leader Fisher Anaya building his estimated 14-pound, 7-ounce limit.

1:12pm -- Does Fisher Anaya have the Lake Martin Elite locked up? Looking at BASSTrakk one might be tempted to think so with less than two hours of fishing left. It would be a big swing for Easton Fothergill (currently in second) and Joey Cifuentes III (currently in third), each of whom would have to bring in about 16 pounds to win. However, Day 1 leader Brock Mosley (in fourth) only has 8 pounds in the boat, and he's proven his area holds quality fish — and the afternoon has been his most productive period. Currently he's 6 1/2 pounds behind Anaya.

12:56pm -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that Robert Gee is targeting underwater points and ditches with a pink Neko worm. "He's catching quite a few fish and culled up a couple times in the last little while," Glenn said. "Gee is probably going to stay in this creek the rest of the day." Glenn added that this is the same creek Fisher Anaya has been utilizing most of Day 4.

11:58am -- Don't count out "The Cowboy" just yet. Joey Cifuentes landed his first 3-pound spot of the day to move into sixth-place unofficially with a total of 45-10. He still has plenty of work to do, but maybe just found a key clue to getting some more big bites.

11:25am -- Cody Meyer is fishing his first Championship Sunday as an Elite Series angler and hoping to make some upgrades in the afternoon, photographer Chase Sansom reports. "He's in search of some big largemouth he found underneath docks in practice. He'll need two or three good ones to get back into contention," Sansom said.

11:18am -- Photographer Dalton Tumblin has caught up with Chris Zaldain, who is slowly picking apart large laydowns with a big swimbait. "He is spending anywhere from 5 to 7 minutes on each tree, picking them apart completely before going to the next one," Tumblin explained.

11am -- An interesting note: It only took a then 19-year-old Trey McKinney two events to win his first event at Lake Fork in 2024. Now, a 20-year-old Fisher Anaya is closing in on his first Elite Series trophy in only his second try.

10:57am -- Easton Fothergill is now running the backs of pockets like he did the first three days, but he is also hitting the outer points going into the pocket hoping for a big bite, Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance reports. "He is still throwing the 6-inch pearl-colored swimbait around structure but also using his forward facing sonar while alternating with his finesse bait. He is fishing very fast and hitting as many different locations as possible. He is not sitting in one spot very long."

10:48am -- We may have just seen something we have never seen on Bassmaster LIVE. Fisher Anaya made a cast to a specific bass on his forward-facing sonar, but a smaller bass ate it first. Anaya then shook that bass off like he would in practice, making room for the bigger one to bite. He proceeded to land that 2 1/2-pounder to increase his daily total to 14-2 unofficially on BassTrakk. 

On Live CAST, veteran Gerald Swindle has been diving into what makes Anaya such a good angler. Swindle has been a mentor to the 20-year-old for some time now, and even as a little kid, Swindle said Anaya had the competitive drive needed to be an professional angler.

10:34am -- We currently have a break in the rain in east central Alabama. In fact, the sun has even peaked out from behind the clouds as we move through the mid-morning. Is this an opportunity for Brock Mosley to get the right bites? Most of his best bites have come in the heat of the day, including his 4-pounder yesterday. 

The sunshine isn’t going to last, however, as another round of rain is expected to arrive in the next several hours. If sunshine is the key, Mosley has a short window to make it work. 

10:28am -- Pake South has been catching a number of fish by mainly targeting wood and docks with a jerkbait, Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn reports. "So far, however, size has been minimal, and his limit goes for about 5 pounds. He had a couple nice bites on a jig, but they didn’t get the hook. South’s area is in the back of a big creek and, while there is a slight stain to the water compare with the main lake, I haven’t seen any run-ins or mud lines."

10:15am -- It seems far-fetched, but a 20-pound limit is possible at Lake Martin. Just ask Easton Fothergill, who is lurking in second-place right now. He said he landed over 20 pounds during one of his practice days, and John Cox experienced similar success on his final practice day. 

So while unlikely, it is possible, and Anaya might be on the program to come the closest on Championship Sunday. He just found a wolf pack of quality bass, but at the moment can’t get them to bite. If he can get them to bite, it might be game over. With that said, the weights are so tight that someone like swimbait guru Chris Zaldian (currently 10th) could win this tournament with a bag of that size.

10:01am. -- What has Fisher Anaya used to build his early morning 15-pound limit? Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley reported that his go-to has been a spike ball he showed off during the early morning photo session for the upcoming Top Lures gallery that should post on Bassmaster.com tomorrow.

9:54am -- Day 3 leader Fisher Anaya is putting on a school, being the only angler who has surpassed the 14 pound mark on Championship Sunday. There have been seven 14-pound stringers brought to weigh-ins over the past three days, including Brock Mosley's 15-pound, 7-ounce Day 1 limit. The difference is that this is the earliest in the day anyone has reached that mark — and Anaya has a LOT of fishing time left.

Could we see a 16-pound stringer today? Time will tell.

9:43am -- Easton Fothergill has rounded out his five-fish limit, but he had to do it by going back to forward facing sonar and using a finesse bait, Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance reports. "However, he is still hitting very shallow brush with the pearl-colored swimbait, hoping for a largemouth or a bigger spotted bass," Durrance said.

928am -- Fisher Anaya just landed another big spotted bass, and said he's had to adjust his targeting. "They haven't been on stumps all week and now every one is on a stump," he said.

That cull pushed his unofficial limit to 12-13, according to BASSTrakk.

9:24am -- Jump over to the daily launch photo gallery to see the Championship lineup preparing for the day on the water. Click here to see all Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford's photos.

9:14am -- We've been tracking the average age of the Top 10, and yesterday it jumped up a little from Day 3's leaderboard. Today's lineup averages just younger than 30 years old, with Cody Meyer and Chris Zaldain being the old men of the group at 42 and 41 years old, respectively. Day 3 leader Fisher Anaya is the youngest at just 20 years old.

The average age for the Top 10 finishers at Lake Guntersville was 37 years old.

9:06am -- Easton Fothergill is changing his approach from the other three days of this event. "He's no longer running his shallow-water pockets that he said have been warming every day," Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance reported. "He feels that the cold rain and cloudy skies will push those fish out of those pockets and onto shallow points. He has also switched over from a fluke to a 6-inch pearl-colored swimbait. He is running and gunning, and only making a few cast at each target."

8:55am -- Day 3 leader Fisher Anaya isn't letting off the gas. He just landed a 3 3/4-pound spot that anchors his 12 pounds of bass currently swimming in his livewell. BASSTrakk shows the young rookie is 6-1 ahead of his nearest competitor, Emil Wagner who has a limit of bass for 7-4.

Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley Water reported that Anaya was sight-fishing in the same creek yesterday afternoon, while today he’s just scoping it.

"He's finding roamers, and they seem to be by themselves," Moxley explained. "He said this is best morning he’s had because most of his best catches have been later in the day. He said he's fishing worry free now because he thinks he’ll have another go at them in the afternoon."

8:48am -- The day began with a squall line passing over Lake Martin, creating miserable conditions for takeoff. The area is largely rain-free right now, but Weather.com forecasts off-and-on rain throughout the remainder of the day. The Top 10 anglers, however, were excited about the change in the weather, anticipating that the rain, wind and overcast will fire up bass.

8:45am -- Four of the Top 10 anglers now have limits, but none have yet built a 10-pound bag. Robert Gee currently has the unofficial big bag of the morning with 8-13, while Easton Fothergill has the current big bass with a 3-pounder among the three bass he's logged into BASSTrakk.

8:13am - -Photographer Grant Moxley checks in with a report on Fisher Anaya, who is buying time until his midday bite hopefully heats up along shorelines.

7:57am -- Photographer Dalton Tumblin checks in with a Brock Mosley report. He is fully committed to his shallow water program, focusing on a creek that produced quality bites all week, while shunning any idea of using forward-facing sonar on the main lake. Moseley gets a confidence boost for his shallow water strategy with the combination of cloud cover and rainy conditions, which are ideal.

7:50am -- Photographer Shane Durrance all week has covered Joey Cifuentes who is fishing new water, focusing on shallow pockets, and especially those around boat docks.

7:43am -- Photographer Chase Sansom sends this update. Emil Wagner has changed pace by focusing on surface activity instead of yesterday's strategy of targeting area. This morning, he's in the back of a pocket with a creek channel where fish are surfacing everywhere. "It's a fun deal but I can only get about 60 percent of the fish to bite." Ironically, during an overcast day during practice he observed over 100 bass in the same area.

7:36am--Robert Gee's game plan for Championship Sunday. Click here.

7:34am--Brock Mosley's game plan for Championship Sunday. Click here.

6:50am -- Current view of RadarScope Super-Res Reflectivity for Lake Martin. The back side of a squall line is passing over the area. Periods of heavy rain fell overnight and that will certainly change the shallow water game plans.

6:45am -- Caleb Hudson's solid game plan includes expectations for bass to pull off the bank, with others moving in. Click here

Day 3: Lake Martin

2:54 pm -- Fisher Anaya has claimed the unofficial lead right with a 3-pounder he landed right before the check-in time. David Gaston has also worked his way into the Top 10 unofficially. 14 ounces separate seventh place Caleb Hudson and 14th place Jay Przekurat.

2:16pm -- Cory Johnston unofficially has taken command in the Progressive Angler of the Year race. He moved into the Top 10, a jump which separated him from the rest of the pack. At the same time, Stetson Blaylock moved up to 24th to move into second, while current tournament leader Brock Mosley sits in third.

2:04pm -- See photos of today's action with Takumi Ito and Brock Mosley in this photo gallery by Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin. Click here.

1:59pm -- Kyle Welcher culled again, adding this largemouth to his livewell to unofficially move into 32nd with 7-5.

1:40pm -- When Trey McKinney finally rounded out a limit of fish about an hour ago, that 1-pound, 6-ounce bass unofficially moved him back to the top the Progressive Angler of the Year race, sharing that honor with Cory Johnston. That's a testament to just how important every bass is in this event.

1:33pm -- Chris Zaldain is doing Zaldain things, fishing a swimbait around wood, according to Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn. "He says he is around a lot of good, quality fish, and he’s having a lot of followers," Glenn explained. "He caught a good keeper not long ago to put him near the Top 10 cut. A couple more bites and he may slide into Championship Sunday."

1:16pm -- Weather is always a factor in an Elite Series event, and after three days of pretty consistent conditions the Top 10 will go into Championship Sunday facing a big change. While some clouds moved in today, Sunday will bring more cloud cover and rain. Will that help or hurt? It'll be fun to watch.

12:57pm -- Brock Mosley has led two days here at Lake Martin, and just caught the fish that may help him lead after Day 3, as well. Mosley landed a 4-pounder on a ChatterBait to increase his total weight to 37 pounds, 3 ounces. That gives him a 6-ounce advantage over Fisher Anaya, as it stands on BassTrakk. Mosley's bite improved in the afternoons during the first two days, and so far the same story is unfolding on Semifinal Saturday. He has two more hours to cull out his 1 1/2-pounders. 

12:23pm -- Guntersville may not have gone his way, but Fisher Anaya is making a statement on Semifinal Saturday here at Lake Martin. The young Alabamian just landed a 3-pounder to take the unofficial lead with 36-5, 2 ounces ahead of fellow rookie Pake South. All of his bass weigh more than 2 pounds, which has proven to be a difficult feat this week.

12:10pm -- Trey McKinney, who was leading the Progressive Angler of the Year race going into today, is the only angler in the unofficial Top 30 without a limit. Not that he hasn't had his chances. "I lost a 3-pounder and another almost 3," the young angler said. "But that's OK. One bite changes it all."

That's true: He's sitting in 26th on BASSTrakk but a mere 2 1/2 pounds stands between him and the Top 10.

McKinney just said on Live, however, that the Top 10 isn't his concern. "I don't care about the Top 10," he said "I'm just thinking about how losing that 3-pounder could cost me Anger of the Year."

Currently Stetson Blaylock has unofficially taken over the AOY lead, and McKinney has fallen to fifth.

11:44am -- With the water temperatures cooling overnight, the mornings have been the toughest part of the day for Brock Mosley each of the three days so far. That means the next three hours will be critical for the Mississippian if he wants to retain the lead for the third day in a row. 

Mosley is currently up to fourth with 7 pounds, 10 ounces unofficially after spending the morning fishing offshore brush. He has moved to dirtier water and has caught several bass, but none over 2 pounds yet. 

After weigh-in, he mentioned many of the bass he were catching were pale, indicating to him that they are just moving up and more could be coming as well.

11:42am -- It's amazing how these Elite anglers seem to find a lot of the same areas. "So far, every angler I’ve covered this week has fished the spot that Taku (Ito) is currently fishing," Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin reported. "It seems to be a popular one for this side of the lake. Brock (Mosley) fished it this morning and now Taku is on it. Taku is wandering and roaming using FFS and a what looks like a shaky head to pick fish off the rocks on the bottom.

11:38am -- Easton Fothergill has committed to fishing docks. "Fothergill has hit the bank and is tossing around a big swimbait in hopes of upgrading big underneath the docks," Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom said.

11:32am -- Brock Mosley just culled up by 8 ounces. "We're fishing tomorrow," Mosley said. "I'm pretty sure."

He better not let off, however. What he doesn't know is that he's sitting in 8th, but there's just 9 ounces separating him and 10th-place Cole Sands.

11:26am -- Jordan Lee covering a lot of water during the third day of competition, Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance reported "He is quickly hitting shallow-water boat docks in the backs of small pockets, looking for that bigger bite," Durrance said. "He is making no more than two or three casts before cranking up and moving to the next one".

11:21am -- Caleb Hudson is slowly but surely culling up. Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn said he's staying true to his pattern with a 4-inch Neko worm. "Still no kickers, but he is covering a ton of water," Glenn reported. "He’s having the issue of landing fish, however, as he’s lost a number of bites and has even broken off a few."

11:19am -- Check out all the on-the-water action with Joey Cifuentes in this photo gallery by Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance. Click here.

11:08am -- Easton Fothergill just made a monster cull after landing a 2-pound, 4-ounce bass. "That gives us 1 1/4 (pounds)," Fothergill said with a smile.

And Fothergill also became the third angler today to hit the 10-pound mark. BASSTrakk shows him as unofficially in 7th.

10:54am -- With the morning almost gone, there's just two anglers who have hit the 10-pound mark. Robert Gee just landed a 2-4 to push his unofficial limit to 10-0, while Jay Przekurat has the current daily big bag with 10-10.

10:49am -- Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom photographed the on-the-water action as Emil Wagner began Day 3 of the Lake Martin Elite. See all the photos by clicking here.

10:38am -- Luke Palmer just said on Live that he had the weigh yesterday to make the third-day cut — but he was late checking in, and that put him in the show studio instead of on the water.

10:31am -- Brock Mosley led the first two days of this event, but he's sitting outside the Top 10 right now, at least according to BASSTrakk. But remember that his bigger fish didn't fire up until the afternoons the past two days — so he is far from out of contention.

The wild card is the cloud cover, which moved in overnight. Anglers have talked on Live about how that could cool water temperatures a bit. So will Mosley have a late flurry again? Only time will tell.

10:25am -- Kyle Welcher just made a quality cull, according to Bassmaster ambassador Kevin. BASSTrakk shows him unofficially sitting in 21st with five fish for 7-2.

10:18am -- Not everyone can have a good tournament every time out, but several surprising names missed the cut this week at Lake Martin. Wes Logan (65th), Steve Kennedy (80th), Logan Parks (87th), Justin Atkins (88th) and Russ Lane (99th) are a couple of the Alabama natives who couldn’t quite find the right size this week. 

Lake Guntersville stars Hank Cherry, Brandon Card and Jamie Hartman finished 93rd, 94th and 97th, respectively.

It’s also not often you see Lee Livesay (83rd), Seth Feider (85th), Greg Hackney (96th), Brandon Palaniuk (97th) and Jason Christie (101st) finish this low in the standings.

10:09am -- Expectations coming into Lake Martin were for the youngest Elite Series anglers to show out, and anecdotally it looks like that could be coming to fruition. The average age of the Top 10 finishers at last week's Lake Guntersville Elite was just over 37 years, while yesterday's Top 10 anglers here at Lake Martin averaged just less than 27 years old.

There was just one angler younger than 30 to finish in the Top 10 at Guntersville, with two 50-somethings also being in that group. Yesterday, the oldest anglers in the Top 10 after weigh-in 37-year-old Joey Cifuentes and Brock Mosley, while seven anglers have yet to see their 30th birthday.

9:47 -- Greg Hackney told the weigh-in crowd yesterday that he first fished Lake Martin back when he was 19 years old, when he made the trip to the Alabama reservoir for a BFL. "A local stick won it. I didn't know who he was at the time," Hackney said. "That angler was Tripp Weldon."

Weldon was the longtime Bassmaster Elite Series tournament director, who retired just a few years ago.

9:28-- Emil Wagner has made a unique rod/bait choice, Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom noted. "Something I’ve noticed Emil is doing with the dice bait a bit different than everyone else is his rod selection," Sansom said. "He’s got a smaller medium-light rod with super light braid, so he’s able to really throw the bait further. Every time he sets the hook on a 1-pounder it bends the rod completely over. Something different, but he has been able to cast much further than anyone else I’ve seen yet."

9:19am -- You can watch seven anglers — Jordan Lee, Cody Meyer, Cory Johnston, Chris Zaldain, Easton Fothergill, Kyle Patrick and Brock Mosley — on live streaming feeds. Just click here.

9:14am. -- Elite rookie Caleb Hudson has a limit this morning, but so far size has been lacking, according to Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn. "He’s only got one fish over 2 pounds," Glenn reported. "He’s continuing with his same pattern of shoaled points with stumps and other isolated cover. He can’t see most of the fish because they are hanging so tight to the cover. With how they are acting, Hudson says he wouldn’t be surprised if some of the them were already spawning on the stumps. He missed the same fish twice in a row but couldn’t get it hooked up."

9:11am -- Had it not been for Mike Iaconelli’s 5-pound, 3-ounce largemouth, Pake South would have claimed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 2 with a 4-8 largemouth, a fish that launched him into the Top 10 heading into today. That catch was several days in the making. 

South said he marked it the last day of practice after it followed a big swimbait out from under a dock. On Day 1, he returned to that same dock to find that bass still sitting there. He nearly got it to bite then, until a 3 1/2-pounder came out of nowhere and stole the bait from the bigger bass. The 4-8 never left, but South could not get it to follow his jerkbait after that.

The Elite rookie returned to the dock around mid-morning on Friday and initially didn’t see the bass on his forward-facing sonar, but when his Berkley Stunna hit the water, it swam out from under the dock and ate it after two twitches. 

“I waited a little while to go fish for her because I noticed some of the dock fish don’t get positioned right until the sun gets up,” South said after weigh-in “I didn’t want to hit her (in the) morning and she would not be there or mess something up.”

9:10am -- There's just less than 4 pounds separating the unofficial Top 10, which on some fisheries would mean one bite could propel the 10th angler to the lead — but Lake Martin is a different animal. On a fishery that rarely pumps out 4-pound-plus bass, it's more common for an angler to cull up by mere ounces than pounds.

8:56am -- It's early in the day, but the Elite rookies are having a great morning. As of now, three of those young guns are in the unofficial Top 10. According to BASSTrakk, Fisher Anaya is leading the event, with Caleb Hudson nipping at his heels in second. Pake South is unofficially in fifth.

8:50am -- Pake South bounced around a few spots this morning before he caught any fish, Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley reported. "He's moving fast and scoping through 6 to 10 feet of water, and slowing down at stumps," Moxley said. "He made a move farther back in Koliwga, and then he started catching them. He was throwing the spike ball but didn’t have bites on that. He’s caught the last four on a jerkbait."

South landed his fifth fish in a 15-minute frenzy, Moxley reported. BASSTrakk shows the Elite rookie in sixth place with a limit weighing 5-12.

8:40am -- Joey Cifuentes just told Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance that he doesn’t think that his spots he’s been fishing all week will produce the quality he needs to stay in the Top 10. "He is staying in the same area and running the same type of structure, but he’s fishing brand new water until the sun gets up and warms the water a little bit more," Durrance reported. "He thinks his usual hotspots could replenish quality fish up in the middle of the day."

BASSTrakk shows Cifuentes unofficially in fifth with four bass weighing 5 pounds. However, that's just 1-2 out of the lead.

8:25am--Photographer Dalton Tumblin reports that Brock Mosley did a change-up by fishing main lake docks and points, which differs from his previous early morning routine. That involved beginning at the back of a long creek, fishing shallow structure along the bank. What's the big deal? True to form, he's focusing strictly on shallow water in both strike zones, never deviating outside his comfort zone that would be mostly dependent on forward-facing sonar.

8:02am--Photographer Chase Sansom just shared this screen shot from his graph display. He wanted to understand more how the bass are relating to sand flats in pockets located off the main lake. "There are ton of bass in the 4-10 foot range, some group up (white circle)." That gives great insight on this scenario.

7:52am--Photographer Chase Sansom reports that Emil Wagner is using a run-and-gun approach that differs from the overall field who are methodically spending time on specific areas. Chase has him already rotated through five areas, the object being to hunt down spotted bass moving on to flats.

7:45am--This morning on the docks the anglers spoke about the lack of sunshine in today's forecast. That could subtly impact the mid-day and afternoon warming effects of the previous days, when the prevailing bite swung to the shallow water areas as the water warmed. Right now, some guys are already on docks so it's just an unproven theory.

Day 2: Lake Martin

2:51pm -- Carl Jocumsen is looking to stay in the top 10 and photographer Chase Sansom documented the Aussie's day in this photo gallery.

2:42pm -- Photographer Grant Moxley watched Robert Gee and Trey McKinney try to make a move up the leaderboard today. Check out his photos from the water.

2:40pm -- Photographer Shane Durrance got a great view of Joey Cifuentes putting in work today. Check out his gallery.

1:41pm -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that Taku Ito has a solid bag and continues to catch more fish. He has culled twice in the last hour running flat points and ditches with a wide variety of neko worms, minnows and dice. He is covering a lot of water then slamming on the brakes when he see something noteworthy on his forward facing sonar. He knows that every ounce counts in this one so he is carefully balance beaming each fish that he lands.

1:35pm -- Mike Iaconelli told photographer Seigo Seito that he's never seen a 5-pounder before on Martin and speculated that the fish must've come from Guntersville. Then he set the hook again. Indeed, it was not other giant, but it culled up a bit. Every ounce counts.

1:23pm -- Day 1 leader Brock Mosley is still plying the shallows. Now it's with a vibrating jig instead of the spinnerbait we saw earlier. No one currently in the top 10 has a lower weight today than his estimated 6-13. His biggest fish is 2-4 and all of the others are 1-5 or lighter.

12:52pm -- Photographer Seigo Saito reports that Pake South is far up a tributary, with the entire area to himself. He said that the 4-pounder he caught today was on same spot during the practice. He tried to catch her yesterday but could not get her to bite. That changed today. However, he's still struggling to get the bigger ones to bite consistently. He says that he can see them on his sonar, but when he casts small ones rocket out of nowhere and grab his bait.

12:50pm -- Mike Iaconelli, who was in 79th place after Day 1, just added an estimated 5-pounder to his bag, making him the second angler to hit the 13-pound mark. He still has four in the 2-pound range to cull.

12:47pm -- Carl Jocumsen is angling for his first Elite Series top ten finish since the St Lawrence River in 2024. Check out photographer Chase Sansom's gallery of Carl's Day 2 efforts.

12:08pm -- As long as we're talking about rookies, don't forget about these predictions from our pundits about where the first years were likely to have their best finishes in 2026. Ronnie Moore predicted that Fisher Anaya and Brock Reinkemeyer would have their best event at Martin. Kyle Jessie predicted that Sam Hanggi and Reinkemeyer would have their best here. Chris Decker chose Reinkemeyer, too.

12:02pm -- Pake South had four top tens in seven events last year -- two in the Opens and two in the EQs. The occurred in four different states: Texas, Minnesota, Alabama and Florida.

12:01pm -- Rookie Pake South of Texas has unofficially taken over the lead with an estimated 13-9. The young Texan just caught a 4-4, and still has a 1-14 and a 2-0 to cull out. Lots of anglers haven't sent in weights yet, but that currently puts three rookies in the top seven, a far cry from Guntersville where they struggled. Two expected to do well in the "big string" tournaments were South and Fisher Anaya. They both missed the cut up the road, but now they're getting healthy in the land of finesse. The third member of that triumverate, Caleb Hudson, finished 26th at Guntersville.

12:00pm -- At noon, with several hours left to fish, BassTrakk has 11 anglers unofficially with 10 pounds more. The lowest-ranked among them is Mike Iaconelli, fishing his final Elite season. He has not made a top 50 cut since the Pasquotank last April. He finished in the fifties in four different Elite tournaments last season. He finished 29th here at Lake Martin in 2018.

11:43am. -- Carl Jocumsen has moved to the bank, fishing a swimbait in small pockets and docks in the back of a major creek," according to Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom. "His hopes are to find one or two big largemouth to bolster his bag."

11:40am -- Caleb Hudson must have a thing for making a big Day 2 comeback. "He currently has 12 pounds but lost a 4-pounder this morning," reports Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn, who has been following the Elite rookie. "He’s doing something I haven’t seen yet this week: He’s targeting flatter points in 10 to 16 feet that have isolated stumps on them. He’s throwing a pink Neko rig at the stumps, but instead of letting it fall he’s shaking it like a minnow. Hudson has left to make a run and find new water to fish tomorrow."

BASSTrakk shows Hudson with 11-14 in the livewell, which puts him unofficially in third place.

11:36pm -- Trey McKinney just landed a 3-pound, 4-ounce bass to push his unofficial daily weight to 11-5. That puts him in second place just a pound out of the lead, according to BASSTrakk.

11:28 -- Obviously, it's really early to talk about the Progressive Angler of the Year, but yesterday's performance by Trey McKinney allowed him to take over the points race. And it looks like he's not backing off the gas: BASSTrakk shows he's in third place halfway through the second day of the Lake Martin Elite.

11:22am -- Bassmaster's Craig Lamb put a drone for an aerial view of the action on Lake Martin. Click here >>

11:15am -- Cole Sands isn't suffering lack of bites, according to Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin. "He is smoking through fish, catching a lot, just trying to find the bigger ones to upgrade," Tumblin said. "He’s hooking up about every 2 minutes, but the majority end up being too small. He’s still roaming around using FFS to target cruising fish away from the banks.

"This is a new spot I’ve seen him in. He moved away from the area he spent his morning in about 20 minutes ago. This spot is full of rocks along the bottom in about 20 feet of water. The fish seem to hover around these rocks in the deeper water."

11:11am -- Trey McKinney is unofficially in third, with BASSTrakk showing him sitting on 9-13 today. Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley is following McKinney, although he's not seen him catch a bass yet. "He is flipping the spike ball on docks and cover," Moxley explained. "He's using scope to check cover and structure quickly. He's covering a lot of water fast."

11:00am -- Lucas Lindsay: "Some people are going to think I'm lying, but I think we had a wave of spawners here in December."

10:34am -- Photographer Shane Durrance reports that Joey Cifuentes is using a what he called a "fuzzy ball" or "furry ball." He said that he knows nothing about it. Austin Felix gave it to him yesterday and told him to use it. It looks like it’s working out.

10:32am -- Joey Cifuentes gingerly and vocally played a 3-4 into the boat, culling out a 1-12. "That's a dang stud," he exclaimed. and it moved him -- at least temporarily -- into the lead. He says that things will only get better from here.

10:00am -- Per BassTrakk, there are still only two anglers over 10 pounds today: Caleb Hudson with 11-10 and Fisher Anaya with 10-7. Both rookies should be inside the cut now.

9:50am -- Trey McKinney has been scoping in back of the small cove, according to Bassmaster photographer Seigo Saito. "He said he is hoping to see a big one, but so far only small ones are showing on the graph," Saito said.

BASSTrakk has McKinney unofficially sitting in second place with 9-13 today.

9:33am --The Elite Series moved from a no-FFS Lake Guntersville event last week to Lake Martin, where FFS is back in the mix. Expectations were that the young guns, who are masters of the newest electronics, would really shine this week – but at least after Day 1 that doesn't seem to be the case. The average age of the Top 10 finishers at Guntersville was 37.3 years. While the Day 1 Top 10 here at Martin was definitely a little lower, the average age of the top leaders was still 31.3. And if you take out the Easton Fothergill and Trey McKinney from yesterday's Top 10 that average jumps to 34.

There's a lot of fishing left before any final conclusions can be made, of course.

9:20am -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that Luke Palmer is in a creek fishing the bank with a jig. That's a change of pace because earlier this this morning he was further out scoping suspended fish. He’s targeting chunk rock, lay downs, docks and transitions. He’s got a limit but for only about 5 pounds. Palmer's biggest fish yesterday came from his scope area but he lost a good one back here yesterday on the jig and is hoping they keep pulling up.

9:17am -- We're just a few hours into the day but per BassTrakk nobody has eclipsed 10 pounds, let alone 12, quite yet. Someone who's not pinging, or who has otherwise yet to catch his first fish, could be in first place at day's end.

9:05am -- Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley is following Drew Cook this morning, and he reports the angler who started today in second place isn't staying in one place very long. "We have bounced around a lot this morning," Moxley said. "He started in the back of a small cove on a flat, which is where he caught his first and second fish. He mixed sightfishing and scoping. Then he moved out to rocky points and hasn't had too much going on since. Drew is rotating between a wacky rig, spike ball, jig and occasionally throwing a larger swimbait."

9:01am -- David Gaston doesn't have a limit yet, but he's catching the right size, according to BASSTrakk. Gaston currently is the Phoenix Boats Big Bass Leader with a 3-4, backed up by two 2-pounders. His unofficial total right now is 7-15, so another 3-pounder or two could go a long way.

8:40am -- Photographer Chase Sansom reports that while Carl Jocumsen is getting bit nearly every cast, not all of htem have made it to the boat and not all of them are bass. He’s still fishing in over 50 foot of water.

“I can’t set the hook very hard because if I do I’ll pull them up to quick and kill them instantly. Gotta set the hook lightly and reel them up real slow," the Aussie said.

8:36am -- Don't look now, but it's a rookie rebirth. While it's still early, BassTrakk shows Alabama pro Fisher Anaya and Michigan's Aaron Jadgfeld in 1st and 2nd. Neither one has even 10 pounds, so they'll need some major upgrades to hold that position, but it's always good to be the lead dog.

8:32am -- Lake Martin is approximately 44,000 acres, not huge by Bassmaster Elite Series standards, but it's punching above its weight. That's because the field is able to spread out. We're seeing anglers catch fish in ankle-deep water and in 60 feet, so just about every inch of the place is in play. Of course we'll see some popular areas draw multiple boats, but the consistent rubrail-to-rubrail battles that we see on lakes like Okeechobee won't be the story here.

8:25am -- Day 1 leader Brock Mosley just landed a 2-4 out of a big lay down, Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin reports. "He’s fishing far in the back of this creek, rolling a spinnerbait across lay downs, logs, rocks and any other pieces of structure he can find," Tumblin explained. "Every now and then he will pole down and work a laydown with a jig. He’s covering a lot of bank and keeping it shallow.

"No FFS here."

8:19am -- A look says it all. Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford was slipping around this morning before takeoff, and Bryan New caught Crawford just before he sniped a photo of the array of tools laid out on the deck.

Crawford gets this look a lot in the mornings.

8:08am -- The relative lack of minnows on the front decks was explained to Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford this morning by Pake South. "You can catch them with a minnow, but they are all small," South said as he waiting for takeoff. "You can go out there and catch all the fish you want, but they're all 1.20 (pounds)."

Instead, anglers are turning to spike balls, dice and urchins to coax larger bites.

8:05am -- Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom said he noticed yesterday at weigh-in that Carl Jocumsen’s fish were "super pale." This morning, he discovered why. "(Jocumsen's) pulling these spotted bass he’s catching out of 50 plus feet of water in a ditch/creek channel," Sansom explained. "They are grouped up in this channel. He’s catching one every other cast right now, just not the size he’s looking for quite yet."

BASSTrakk currently shows Jocumsen with just one keeper for 1-8.

7:35am -- David Gaston, tuna slayer, has gotten off to a strong start this morning with two of "the right ones" -- a 3-4 and a 2-8. He made one top ten last year, finishing 6th at Okeechobee. It was his only top ten in his first three seasons on the Elite Series. Gaston competed in the 2024 Bassmaster Classic on Grand Lake.

7:29am -- Brock Mosley finished 52nd at the 2018 Elite event on Lake Martin. He was 30th after the first day with 11-8, then dropped 9-3 on the scales the second day and missed the cut by 9 ounces.

7:07am -- Cole Sands: "I'm catching them where they're going."

7:05am -- Brock Mosley: "I can't expect to duplicate 15 pounds on this lake."

6:35am -- Prior to winning at the Sabine River in 2023, Brock Mosley had five 2nd place finishes in Elite events. Last year he had two top tens -- 6th at the St. Johns and 10th at Tenkiller -- but never threatened to win. At his Sabine victory, a low-scoring affair similar to this one in weights but not in style he was 12th after Day 1 with 9-15, jumped into the lead on Day 2, and never relinquished it. HIs biggest bag was 12-14 on Day 3.

6:30am -- In case you missed it, click here for the Best of Day 1 Gallery.

6:25am -- Is this the start of the Joey Cifuentes comeback tour? He had a magical rookie season in 2023, but hasn't had a top ten since then. He finds himself in 4th place now, just a pound ahead of 10th and 2 pounds ahead of 23rd.

6:21am -- It's moving day once again -- and you can expect a lot of change today. No one is really out of it. The difference between 10th and 50th is less than 2 pounds. the difference between 50th and 101st is just over 2 pounds. With a projected cut weight of a little over 20 pounds, a teen-class bag puts anyone back in play.

Day 1: Lake Martin

2:26pm -- Scott Canterbury is clinging to a top ten position in his home state of Alabama. Photographer Shane Durrance put together a great gallery of the former AOY in action.

2:22pm -- If you've had your share of spinning rods and light line today, check out this video of Russ Lane making a quality Lake Martin bass eat steel with heavy string.

2:15pm -- We may be beating a dead horse by this point, but this tournament will likely come down to 3-pounders. Your leaders, Drew Cook and Brock Mosley, are the only members of the top ten who have more than one (by their estimations). They have two apiece. The next six pros all have exactly one apiece. Scott Canterbury and Austin Cranford, currently tied for 9th, haven't caught one. The only member of the top ten who doesn't have a sub-2-pound fish to cull is Joey Cifuentes, currently in 3rd.

2:00pm -- With an hour left to fish, BassTrakk is still showing only 14 bags of 10 pounds or more. Of course, the gap between between 10th and 21st is just a pound. Drop another pound and you hit 38th. And three pounds below the top 10 is 52nd place. That's a long way of saying that you can't expect these standings to hold up for more than a day -- and with quite a few competitors not reporting, take this all with a grain of salt.

1:00pm -- Joey Cifuentes has had a tough couple of years, but maybe he's getting his mojo back. Photographer Chase Sansom reports that he just boated a 2 1/4 pound fish to upgrade. He is up on the bank scoping. “I’m just seeing a lot of fish up on the bank," Cifuentes said. "The shallow bite has been way better for me than the deep bite. I tried the deep bite in practice and didn’t do any good.”

12:50pm -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that Jacob Powroznik is fishing shallow with a wacky worm, targeting small pockets that have docks. Of course, many of the docks are high and dry, so he has to skip quite a few. He's particularly focused on the ones with floating platforms. On the dock pictured above, he missed three bites before he finally connected and culled up a few ounces.

12:42am -- Photographer Chase Sansom has been on potential leader Drew Cook, one of the best sight fishermen in the game. "He is hunting down spotted bass up super shallow underneath of floating docks," Sansom said. "I asked him if he thought they were spawning and he said 'I don’t think they are spawning yet, but they are real close to spawning. I saw two yesterday in practice rubbing so I imagine it’s about to go down.'"

12:41pm -- Steve Kennedy managed to cull, but with a 1-7 it wasn't the one he needed..

12:32pm -- With an estimated catch of less than 8 pounds in the livewell, it's a bit confounded to see Steve Kennedy out deep, using finesse tactics. He said earlier that conditions weren't ideal for a glide bait, but he did have some success shallow cranking. At some point he has to move shallow again in order to get into contention.

12:07pm -- Granted, BassTrakk is a useful but inexact barometer, but with three hours left to fish we have one angler over 12 pounds, another at 11, and then eight more with 10 or greater. Every angler in the top ten has at least one fish estimated under 2 pounds. Lots of room for growth.

11:53am -- Photographer Solomon Glenn reports that rookie Aaron Jagdfeld is having a solid first day, with approximately 10 pounds. He’s running the trolling motor on high and is covering ditches in both the mouths and backs of pockets. Jagdfeld says he’s seeing quite a few solo fish suspended but his bigger bites have been grouped up. However, the groups have been hard to come by. Because the solo fish are swimming so fast and are down a fair amount, he’s dropping his minnow straight down a lot of the time. He reports that he’s going to give this pattern another hour before going shallower and fishing docks with a worm.

11:45am -- Per BassTrakk, the top 43 all have limits in the livwell. Number 44, Easton Fothergill, only had four, but he's thrown back number five on several occasions. He's catching his fish deep and can't get stuck with a fish care penalty situation that prevents him from culling. The 43rd place angler has an estimated 7 pounds, which means that he's only 2 pounds out of 15th, a remarkably tight field -- and that doesn't take into account the fact that some anglers don't have marshals or otherwise have not reported, which likely bunches up an even greater number of pros. Things are warming up and anyone who adds a 3-pounder to their bag shortly should find themselves at or near the top.

11:40am -- Bassmaster photographer Dalton Tumblin reported that Cole Sands has an area all to himself. "He’s sitting in a spot that's basically on the opposite end of the lake from the rest of the current Top 10," Tumblin said. "He’s still using forward facing sonar and roaming a little, but he’s moving around a lot slower than the anglers I’ve seen so far — and he’s throwing a red-colored shallow diving crankbait.

Sands is unofficially sitting in 11th right now with 9-15, according to BASSTrakk.

11:36am -- Click here to view a photo gallery of the on-the-water action with Logan Parks, Brandon Lester and Trey McKinney.

11:27am -- More coverage than ever. Check out the Bassmaster Angler Cams to see your favorite pro putting in work on Lake Martin.

11:16am -- Third-year pro Robert Gee put on a show early this morning, building a nearly 9 1/2-pound limit by 8 a.m. Click here to check out all the action-packed photos.

11:12am -- Scott Canterbury is doing something a little different, according to Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance. "He is targeting water 20 feet or less, looking for those 2-pound-plus spots and possibly largemouth," Durrance reported. "He said he can go out in 50 feet of water and catch 50 to 100 spots but that you will be very lucky if any of them weigh more than 2 pounds. He figured out during practice the bigger fish are up shallower. Canterbury said once he has 9 or 10 pounds, he is going to head south looking for largemouth the rest of the afternoon."

11:09am -- Culls this week will likely be incremental, so expect to see a lot of anglers using balance beams to eke out every single ounce.

10:53am -- Bassmaster Open tournament director Hank Weldon, who grew up on Lake Martin, is on BASS Live and just explained that this lake is devoid of timber because the area was clearcut before the lake was flooded. So locals plant lots of Christmas tree piles, which this week could be players.

10:44am -- Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom just noted a trend. "This is third angler I’ve covered putting the Neko worm to work," Sansom reported. "All of them seem to be working them on scope around any sort of structure on the bottom."

10:41am -- There’s a lot of running a gunning going on this morning on Lake Martin, according to Bassmaster photographer Solomon Glenn. "G-man checked in on Carl Jocumsen and reported he’s only boated 2 fish," Glenn said. "Jocumsen, on the other hand, is sitting just outside the Top 10 with about 9 pounds. He’s caught most of his in the mouth of a large creek arm and now is fishing marina docks with a fuzzy dice looking for a bigger bite."

10:40am -- Trey McKinney is sitting in the unofficial Top 10 right now with 9-4, according to BASSTrakk. However, Bassmaster photographer Grant Moxley reports that McKinney told him he actually has more 10-11 riding around in his livewell. In a tournament of ounces, that's an important difference — and, in fact, would have the young angler in the unofficial lead.

10:30am -- With the day approximately halfway done, there are only three anglers in double digits, led by Alabama pros Will Davis Jr. and Scott Canterbury. Expect a lot of movement as a single 3-pounder can vault someone up the leaderboard.

10:15am -- Photographer Grant Moxley reports that Trey McKinney is in about 6 feet of water, focusing on the minority of docks that still have water on them. In between, he's scoping for stumps and trees.

10:10am -- Photographer Dalton Tumblin reports that Austin Cranford is staying locked in on one particular creek. He’s using his scope and doing a lot of zig zagging, looking for fish roaming around. The trolling motor is steadily moving and he’s covered this creek from one end of the other just about.

10:00am -- Water temperatures are climbing quickly. They were generally in the mid-40s last week, possibly cooler in some places, but now we're seeing it well into the 50s.

9:36am -- Steve Bowman reports Lake Martin is low. Some might say super low. However, as always, these anglers will utilize every inch of water possible. That’s the case for Greg Hackney on Day 1. He’s super shallow and we are trying to get to him. It’s not going as well as we hoped.

Donnie Johnson, whose an old hand on this lake, is battling to get us across a bar. Hackney is on the other side and he got stuck as well, but he made it. We are fighting to hopefully make it, but it doesn’t look good. It’s always an adventure on the Elite Series, and in every Elite you can expect every drop of water no matter how deep or shallow these guys are going to go there.

9:28am -- Wes Logan updated photographer Chase Sansom on his quick start: “First dock I pulled up to this morning I flipped in there and caught one. Then I ain’t had a bite on a dock since. All of my fish have been coming off stumps or rocks offshore”

9:25am -- When Christopher Decker talked to Bassmaster Opens pro Lucas Lindsay for the tournament preview story, the Auburn angler mentioned several times big swimbaits and glidebaits have been an important part of his arsenal for catching bigger bass in recent years at Lake Martin. Megabass Magdrafts, Berkley Cull Shads and Clutch glides are just a couple of examples of baits that meet this criteria.So far on LIVE, only Steve Kennedy has picked up a glidebait, and it has yet to generate a strike.

“It’s a post front day. They are not going to eat my glide,” Kennedy said. “I’m going to have to throw my jig, which is eating me up.“

While Day 1 may not be setting up for that bite, there are plenty of anglers in the field who will try to make it work all week. Kennedy, Chris Zaldain, Carl Jocumsen and Brandon Palaniuk come to mind. At the moment on BassTrakk, Kennedy is tied for ninth with 7 pounds, 10 ounces with his jig. Zaldain is next in 31st with three bass weighing 4 pounds, 5 ounces, although Palaniuk has yet to register any activity.

9:07am -- Photographer Grant Moxley reports that Brandon Lester is on fire, catching tons of fish, but culling up only an ounce or so at a time. This is one of those tournaments where having the right scale or culling beam (or possibly both) is a necessity. Too much money is on the line to make a mistake when organizing your livewell.

8:56am -- Shane Durrance reports that Robert Gee is fishing a 500 yard long stretch and "fish are literally everywhere. He is targeting 50 to 60 feet of water. However, the fish are suspended in 40. He said that one issue he is having with forward-facing sonar dealing with catching the bigger spots, is that you can’t really distinguish a small striper from a large spot."

8:46am -- There were lots of dice rigged or ready to rig as the anglers prepared for takeoff this morning, Bassmaster photographer Andy Crawford reported. “I saw a few minnows, as well, but not as many as I expected,” he said. “There were way more dice.”

8:45am -- On Live, Davy and Tommy have made references to the Kennedy family cabin on Lake Martin. It's loaded to the gills with evidence of the many successes achieved by Steve and his dad Van, who qualified for the 1982 Bassmaster Classic. Trophies galore, magazine covers, and other ephemera of long term success.

8:40am -- Trey McKinney's marshal sent us a photo of a quality Lake Martin largemouth, they type he'll need to double or triple down on today if he's to rack up his second consecutive top ten to start his AOY quest.

8:15am -- While the mob scene on the lower lake is underway with forward-facing sonar addicts searching for those 10-pound limits of spotted bass, another scenario could play out far up the lake. This was the scene during practice when I ventured into a creek to discover a dozen boats searching for evidence of prespawn activity. Water temp was 58 degrees. Too soon to call it, but sunny afternoons warming the rocky shorelines and near-shoreline areas could bring that bite into play. It's a tale of two fishes: scoping for a weak limit of spotted bass, or going for broke up the lake and add a kicker to the base weight.

While doing Dock Talk yesterday Kyle Patrick talked about the "randomness" of the bite and how critical one bigger catch will make the difference. Click here.

Carl Jocumsen shares insights on how junk fishing will come into play when searching for that one key quality catch. Click here.

Beau Browning on the importance of quality bites for upsizing a daily catch. Click here.

8:10am -- Will Davis has logged three bass worth 7-4 into BASSTrakk. "While I’m not sure what the field is throwing at the fish yet, (he) is making quick work with some sort of crankbait this morning," Bassmaster photographer Chase Sansom reports. "Not sure what it is, but I’m guessing he's one of the few guys winding a crankbait around."

8:06am -- Robert Gee already has a limit for 9 pounds, 5 ounces, according to BASSTrakk. He told Bassmaster photographer Shane Durrance that he's seeing large schools of fish "everywhere." Gee said he is targeting the larger blobs using his forward facing sonar to ensure he catches the biggest fish out of the school.

8:01am -- What difference does FFS makes It allows anglers not just to find fish, but to target the bigger ones. Photographer Shane Durrance is following Robert Gee, and says that "He is seeing largemouth schools of fish everywhere. He is targeting the larger blobs on forward-facing sonar to ensure he catches the biggest fish out of the school."

7:55am -- Let the scoping theories begin. It's still very in our first FFS tournament of the Elite Series season, but the of the top six in the standings, five -- Robert Gee, Jacob Foutz, Beau Browning, Evan Kung and Jay Przekurat -- are all in their twenties. Will Davis Jr. is the old man of the group at 33. We'll see if this lasts all day and over the remainder of the event.

7:45am -- Robert Gee is the first angler to a limit today. He has 8-13 on five fish. He'll need to cull up to make the cut. In 2018, 8-13 on Day 1 was good enough for 84th place. Over two days, that catch as an average would have been 91st.

7:40am-- Steve Kennedy, who is likely to go for broke this week, started the day right with a 3 pound 2 ounce largemouth cranking heavy cover. If he can get five of those caliber fish each day, he should end up in the running on what is generally considered his home pond. A second later his rod bowed up again, but this time it was a bare keeper. It went in the livewell, because four quality fish might not be enough -- that 12 or 15 ounce little guy could put him into a cut.

7:16am -- Will Davis Jr., adorned in what Ronnie Moore described as an "old school Reebok jacket," cranked up a 3 pound 4 ounce largemouth to start the day. That fish could be a difference-maker. Five of them could put him in the lead.

6:58am -- In the 2024 Open, Josh Butler's Day 2 catch of 14-5 was the only bag over 14 pounds. Bobby Bakewell's 13-12 on Day 3 and the 13 pounds Will Davis Jr. amassed on Day 1 were the only other catches of 13 pounds or more.

6:50am -- Of course, there was also an Open here in October 2024, won by Bobby Bakewell with 35-15, an average of just under 12 pounds a day. Current Elites who finished in the top ten that week: Dakota Ebare (3rd), Will Davis Jr. (4th), Cody Meyer (5th), Paul Marks (6th).

6:15am -- Expecting tight competition? You're in luck. Expecting huge bags? Maybe not so much. In 2018 at Martin, there were a total of seven bags over 15 pounds. That included four on Day 1 and three on Day 2, with none on the final two days. No angler had more than one bag over 15 pounds. Cliff Prince jumped out to an early lead with 19-13, then struggled with three fish for 4-5 on Day 2 to fall to 14th. On Day 3 he had a baby limit of 6-7 (six seven!) and dropped to 48th.

6:10am -- The only current Elite pro to make the top ten at Martin in 2018 was Mark Menendez. He finished 8th with 49-1.

6:06am -- In the 2018 Elite Series event on Martin, it took 35-13, and average of just under 12 pounds, to qualify for the top ten after three days of competition.

6:02am -- It's not even blast-off and we're already thinking about cut weights. It's been a long time since the Elite Series has been to Lake Martin: February 8-11, 2018, to be precise. In that tournament, won by Takakiro Omori with 59 pounds 8 ounces, 50th place after two days was 21-4.

Official Practice

Dock Talk - Click Here.

Drone Gallery of Lake Martin - Click Here.