That’s mostly what I’m questioning. Has it made the fishing tougher? The results don’t show that. I guess only the anglers could answer that, but that would involve a lot of variables as well.
Almost every one of the fishermen would tell you they are Catching way few fish per day at this event than they have at past events here. Some of yesterdays leaders only caught 6-8 fish total. They just happened to be quality fish.
Almost every one of the fishermen would tell you they are Catching way few fish per day at this event than they have at past events here. Some of yesterdays leaders only caught 6-8 fish total. They just happened to be quality fish.
After Wes’s crash and explanation last weekend I don’t take their word for nothin’! 
Looking like a great battle for AOY. Pulling for Chris Johnston to take. He’s having a great day with 28 and change!
Looks like Chris Johnston did win AOY. The winning weight after 4 days there was over 100 pounds of smallmouth.
Wisconsin Native Jay Pzrekurat finished in 7th place in AOY. In his third year on the Elites, he’s now won ROY and had two top 10 finishes in AOY.
The 3 anglers from MN, Feider, Downey, and Felix all finished right next to each other in 49, 50, and 51. The top 70 are permitted to fish the circuit the following season, so all three of them will be on tour next year. Only the top 40 can fish in the Bassmaster Classic though, so none of them qualified for that specific event.
In this day and age of pro bass fishing, there is one specific technique that clearly stands out from the rest. Master that, and you can compete at the highest level. Here are the winning presentations for 10 events in 2024. 7 out of the 10 events are won using livescope.
Toledo Bend: Livescoping a damiki
Lake Fork: Livescoping a damiki and jerkbait
Classic at Grand Lake: Livescoping a jerkbait and jig
Harris Chain: Crankbait/hair jig
St. Johns: Sightfishing
Lake Murray: Livescoping a fluke
Lake Wheeler: Chatterbait
Smith Lake: Livescoping a Neko Rig and Dropshot
Lake Champlain: Livescoping a jig
St Lawrence: Livescoping a drop shot/damiki
Also, there are two upcoming Bassmaster Open events in the area. You’ll probably see some Elite anglers fishing these.
August 22-24 on Leech Lake
Sept 12-14 Mississippi River LaCrosse
I’m young but I feel like an old man yelling at clouds when I say, “god, I hate livescope.”
August 22-24 on Leech Lake
That should be a interesting Event. They have had several rather large events at Leech Lake in the past, but they have normally been later in the fall. Be interesting to see how the SM come into play on leech. The SM population and size in recent years has rally picked up on Leech lake. That lake also has some rather large LM bass. Be interesting to see how fishermen of this Quality will breakdown the lake and how they do. Kind of a poor time of the year to showcase the lake, but good to see a Minnesota Lake get in the open mix.
The Mississippi at Lacrosse has been done several times in the past. I think that one will play out about like they always do on the river in the late summer / early fall.
Looking like a great battle for AOY. Pulling for Chris Johnston to take. He’s having a great day with 28 and change!
Ya it was great to see Chris win the AOY and his brother Cory win the event. Those Johnston brother are great fishermen. Finishing 1 and 4 in this event and 1 and 3 in the AOY. Also have to give it to the rookies. Mckinney finishing 2nd in the AOY and 3rd in the tourney and Gee finishing 2nd at this tourney. Great class of rookies this year.
Sad to see Rick Clunn and Frank Talley retiring, but it was probably over due for both of them. Neither has been competitive in the AOY for many years now.
Sad to see Rick Clunn and Frank Talley retiring, but it was probably over due for both of them.
Commentator/Analyst Mark Zona is also retiring.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Jarl wrote:</div>
Looking like a great battle for AOY. Pulling for Chris Johnston to take. He’s having a great day with 28 and change!Ya it was great to see Chris win the AOY and his brother Cory win the event. Those Johnston brother are great fishermen. Finishing 1 and 4 in this event and 1 and 3 in the AOY. Also have to give it to the rookies. Mckinney finishing 2nd in the AOY and 3rd in the tourney and Gee finishing 2nd at this tourney. Great class of rookies this year.
Sad to see Rick Clunn and Frank Talley retiring, but it was probably over due for both of them. Neither has been competitive in the AOY for many years now.
Helluva year for the rookies, with 9/10 finishing in the top 28 places in AOY! Goes to show that the new EQ qualifying rules are working to bring in elite ready anglers. But those finished didn’t come without some growing pains.
McKinney would have likely easily won AOY too had he not had his day 2 weight at Smith Lake disqualified, which placed him in 93rd place. Then JT Thompkins was DQ’d from the St. Lawrence for receiving waypoints. Tough learning lesson for those kids.
What a finish to the year for Gee. Finishing 2-3-2 in this last 3 events, to go along with a 4th place finish in his very first elite tournament.
Lots a controversies abound in bass fishing these days. Not just to Livescope or not, but on the water arguments, threats, DQ’s, lie detectors, etc. What a shame, starting to sound almost as bad as the political scene ~
I agree, its kind of lost its appeal recently. At least as a casual viewer/follower.
I wish Gary Klein and Bernie Schultz took a cue from Clunn and hang it up. Gary hasn’t been good in the last 15 years, and Bernie has been below average his entire career. Must be trust fund babies, because they sure ain’t cashing many checks.
After a cancelled day yesterday ( Not sure why. I’m told the forecaster they used for weather was way off in the wind speed ) They are up and running on Leech lake today. From Basstrak it looks like some really decent bags of fish are being recorded. It will be interesting to see how much the SM are playing a roll on Leech.
huge bag from Fothergill going for 26-10 and biggest SM was 6-4. Smallies are the real deal out there thats for sure
I didn’t realize there were 200 anglers in the Bassmaster Opens. That’s a lot of boats. I know Leech is a big lake but I have to imagine a lot of anglers are condensed into smaller specific areas together.
After a cancelled day yesterday ( Not sure why. I’m told the forecaster they used for weather was way off in the wind speed ) They are up and running on Leech lake today. From Basstrak it looks like some really decent bags of fish are being recorded. It will be interesting to see how much the SM are playing a roll on Leech.
There was also a storm that rolled through in the morning too, not just wind. But overall it does seem that the wind wasn’t quite as bad as they anticipated.
Sometimes the home lake advantage ends up hurting an angler, but certainly not the case for Fothergill. The total unknown of the lake for 95% of the field is a huge advantage for him. But no doubt the kid knows how to catch fish anywhere in the country as evident by his results and AOY standing.
Lots of compliments on the fishery and area from the anglers during weigh-in. But plenty of comments on the fish being tough to bite, especially after the pressure from practice.
I didn’t realize there were 200 anglers in the Bassmaster Opens. That’s a lot of boats. I know Leech is a big lake but I have to imagine a lot of anglers are condensed into smaller specific areas together.
I cant wait to see a picture of what the party on stony point looks like 
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
After a cancelled day yesterday ( Not sure why. I’m told the forecaster they used for weather was way off in the wind speed ) They are up and running on Leech lake today. From Basstrak it looks like some really decent bags of fish are being recorded. It will be interesting to see how much the SM are playing a roll on Leech.There was also a storm that rolled through in the morning too, not just wind. But overall it does seem that the wind wasn’t quite as bad as they anticipated.
It was a nice walleye chop thursday morning
Local angler Easton Fothergill won at Leech Lake relatively easily. He won by over 6 pounds over second place Elite angler Jay Przekurat.
The next Bassmaster Open is at LaCrosse Sept 12-14.
It looks like Leech lake turned out as a excellent event despite a canceled day of fishing. Someone told me the winning bag was all SM and most of the other top bags had #’s of SM as well. Sounds like Leech lake SM is really taking off, much like it did on Mille Lac’s. I remember a day when one being caught on leech was a big deal. Good for the Walker area. Maybe this will bring some extra bass fishermen into the area.
Well since this event was a feeler for the elites, I would assume we will have an announcement in the next 1-2 years of tournament. There has been a ton of pros fishing the lake in the past year. This also shows that even if you have FFS it does not mean you are guarantee a 20lb bag, there was a ton of guys with tiny limits.
There is also a ton of drama it seams like, if you read the public forums.
There is also a ton of drama it seams like, if you read the public forums.
What was the drama and what forms?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Charles wrote:</div>
There is also a ton of drama it seams like, if you read the public forums.What was the drama and what forms?
There was a pro that was DQ because of his actions of trying to sell his spots to the coangler. Its a long thread on facebook. A few of post of pro’s running wide open in no wakes and driving at speed near other boats.
A few of post of pro’s running wide open in no wakes and driving at speed near other boats.
I was not even aware there was many no wake zones on Leech. Ever where bass tourneys are held someone complains of them running wide open near other boats. The funny thing is a bass boat wide open makes less wake than a Pontoon or Wake board at idle speed. Should bass tourneys do a better job of respecting other boaters – Yes. But then again so should all boaters.
There have been some updates to the 2025 formats for both pro and qualifying events.
BASS Elite has just announced they will limit each angler’s boat to one live transducer and a total of 55 inches of screens for next season.
Additionally, all Bass Nation and BFL qualifying events that include a co-angler will be banning live sonar completely. Apparently enough co-anglers have recently voiced their displeasure about being back-boated by the pro up front who is just livescoping the entire day.
Whether more rules and restrictions are coming down the pipe, that’s anyone’s guess. But these are the first for a major pro and qualifying events.
Ya I saw the announcement as well. I guess it’s something. I really don’t think it will make much of a difference. Limiting them to one livescope doesn’t seem like much of a limitation. The 55” of total screens seems just crazy to me. The one about only 1 trolling motor is interesting to me. I did not realize how many fishermen were adding them to their power poles. I saw online that by next season almost all the pro’s were planning on doing so, I hear there are many ways the pro’s are using them that really help them.
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