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8 . ABU GARCIA COLLEGE FISHING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Grand Lake March 3-5
Cole Breeden and Cameron Smith of Drury University grabbed an early lead in the three-day Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI National Championship presented by Lowrance and battled back from third place on the final day to earn the victory and a brand-new Phoenix boat , along with a place in the Toyota Series Championship this fall .
Breeden and Smith call Lake of the Ozarks one of their home lakes and assumed they might find their winning Grand Lake fish on a similar pattern to one they ’ d be employing back home . Instead , they found fish up on the bank and focused their efforts on steep , rocky banks in shallower creeks and pockets , utilizing jerkbaits to coerce fish sitting on the first break of the bank to commit to their offerings .
The Drury duo used their Garmin LiveScope to really get dialed in on the pattern , which indicated that the lethargic bass wanted the variety of jerkbaits they utilized to be fished with a moderate retrieve and quick , twitchy cadence .
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9 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY A . R . E . PLAINS DIVISION Lake of the Ozarks March 4-6
In a tournament with predictably low weights across the board due to a wave of punishingly cold weather that left Lake of the Ozarks still melting off ice during the Toyota Series Plains Division opener , Sunrise Beach , Missouri ’ s Michael Harlin was hot enough to thaw out anything he touched .
Harlin took a commanding lead on Day 1 with 21-11 and then backed up that impressive stringer with two more 20-plus-pound days to – get this – be the only angler in the field to crack the 20-pound mark in the entire tournament . He did it all three days .
Harlin wasn ’ t doing anything all that unusual , but he certainly did it well . Leaning on a YUM YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr . rigged with 3.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FATs and his forward-facing sonar , Harlin targeted up to 15 areas with quality fish in 6 to 20 feet of water to eventually win the tournament by more than 15 pounds .
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10 . TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT PRESENTED BY BAD BOY MOWERS Smith Lake Presented by Covercraft March 11-14 |
John Cox is no stranger to winning ( he boasts eight wins in MLF competition alone ), but he does happen to be a stranger to going the distance on Smith Lake . At least until recently .
Cox came up just short in his previous two trips to Smith – both resulting in runner-up finishes . In the second event of the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit season , though , Cox got his revenge in the form of a dominant win predicated on catching almost all largemouth while most of the rest of the field was teeing off on Smith ’ s ample spotted bass population .
Cox found himself in contention from the onset with 16-13 on Day 1 ( fourth place ). Another 16-13 on Day 2 vaulted him into the lead – a lead he refused to relinquish with 12 pounds on Day 3 and 16-10 to seal the deal on Championship Sunday .
Despite his constant desire to sight fish , Cox swam a black-andblue Dirty Jigs swim jig teamed with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Meaty Chunk to do his damage .
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11 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY A . R . E . SOUTHERN DIVISION Harris Chain March 16-18
After finishing 187th in the B . A . S . S . Open on the Harris Chain just a couple weeks prior , Jordan Thompkins , determined to make up for his abysmal finish , stayed in Florida to figure out the unfamiliar fishery . That extra practice paid off to the tune of a $ 40,000 payday thanks to a wire-to-wire victory for the 19- year-old from Myrtle Beach , South Carolina .
Thompkins leaned on a 31-6 Day 1 bag to catapult to the top of the leaderboard . From there , he tallied 15-7 and 18-3 to finish the job , milking some hard spots with scattered eelgrass on Lake Beauclair to do most of his damage ( while mixing in some light work on Lake Harris ). For the task , Thompkins employed a Rapala DT10 , a Megabass Vision 110 and a Z-Man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ trailer .
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PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE |
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PHOTO BY PATTERSON LEETH PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA |
PHOTO BY ROB NEWELL |