BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — After a record-breaking 2022 Elite Series season that awarded eight Century Belts, crowned four first-time champions, and garnered over 18.5 million views on FOX and the FOX Sports channels, B.A.S.S. announced the newly expanded field for the 2023 Elite Series.
The 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series field is set with 104 of the world’s best anglers, including 13 new qualifiers from the St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by Mossy Oak Fishing and TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S
By DAVID RAINER
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
If you love to head to the woods this time of year to pursue white-tailed deer, Capt. Lee Pitts is right there with you. However, if you want to take a break from the deer stand and catch crappie on Weiss or Neely Henry reservoirs, Pitts is your man.
TULSA, Okla. – Major League Fishing has announced the roster for the 2023 Bass Pro Tour, the fifth season of professional bass fishing’s most competitive tournament circuit. The field of 80 of the world’s top bass-fishing professionals will compete across seven fisheries during the Bass Pro Tour regular season for a total purse of more than $7.7 million.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S. officials unveiled the Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and Bassmaster Junior Series 2023 schedule, which will give young anglers from across the country an opportunity to compete on challenging and fun fisheries next spring to qualify for a chance at a berth in the prestigious National Championship tournament.
The 2023 Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors and the Bassmaster Junior Series will offer talented young anglers from across the country an opportunity to compete for a National Championship. Photo by Dalton Tumblin/B.A.S.S.
FLORENCE, Ala. — Will Davis, Jr. said earlier this week that despite difficult fishing on Pickwick Lake, the TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship was setting up well for him.
Will Davis Jr. of Sylacauga, Ala., has won the 2022 TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Pickwick Lake with a three-day total of 43 pounds, 8 ounces. Photo by Chase Sansom/B.A.S.S
Another successful milestone has been reached in the recovery of shoal bass, a Florida Species of Greatest Conservation Need, by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) freshwater fisheries biologists and managers.
The Association of Collegiate Anglers hosted its second event of the 2022-23 season on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series. Close to 220 teams competed for two days at Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, AR for the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open.
Each of the Top 5 finishing teams in the overall standings earned automatic qualification into the 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC. In this article, we will take a look at each of the teams that finished in the Top 5 and punched their ticket to the 2023 ACA Championship.
Mat Higby and John Foster Case from Arkansas Tech University won the 2022 AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open with a two-day total of 27.09 pounds. The duo bested second place by almost two and a half pounds to take top honors and win a prize payout valued at nearly $3,000. Case and Higby jumped out to the lead on Day 1 with a five-fish limit weighing 15.56 pounds. They then backed that up with 11.53 pounds on the final day to best the elite field of 218 boats.
2023 will mark the first time in which the two Arkansas Tech anglers have qualified to compete in the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops.
Finishing in second place at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open were Connor Nimrod and Dylan Nimrod. Representing the University of Louisiana-Monroe, the pair weighed a two-day total of 24.69 pounds. Connor and Dylan earned a prize payout of close to $2,500. Connor also earned a total of $750 in contingencies by claiming the ACA Logo Contingency and Garmin Tournament Rewards.
Ben Cully and Hayden Gaddis, from 10th-ranked Carson-Newman University, finished in third place at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open to earn automatic qualification into the 2023 ACA Championship at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC.
The 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops will mark the fourth straight year in which Cully and Gaddis have qualified to compete.
Representing the second-ranked University of Montevallo, Grayson Morris and Trey Dickert secured one of the team’s three Top 10 finishes at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open. Morris and Dickert weighed in a two-day total of 24.26 pounds to claim fourth place. That fourth-place finish netted the pair a prize payout valued at over $1,600. The prize package included a $400 Bass Pro Shops gift card, a $200 AFTCO gift card, Engel 80 QT. cooler, a Rapala prize package, and a T-H Marine prize package.
This is the first automatic qualification Montevallo has earned via these criteria.
Rounding out the Top 5 at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open are Lane Stephens and Colsyn Head from third-ranked McKendree University. The Top 5 finish earns the pair automatic qualification into the 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC. Combined with the two additional spots earned at the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash presented by Berkley at Kentucky Lake last month, McKendree has now earned three automatic qualifications into the 2023 ACA Championship.
