PHOTO BY JODY WHITE |
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8 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY A . R . E . CHAMPIONSHIP Lake Guntersville Nov . 3 – 5
Kyle Hall ran away with the Toyota Series Championship victory on Lake Guntersville by a wide margin , topping second-place finisher Marshall Robinson by nearly 6 pounds to secure the $ 237,500 payday ( including a $ 35,000 Phoenix bonus ). With the win , Hall upped his 2022 earnings to $ 425,000 thanks to a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit victory back in early August and a second-place finish in the Toyota Series ( also on Lake Champlain ) a week later .
Weighing in two bags of 20 pounds or more ( the only angler in the tournament to do so ), Hall ’ s consistency was his calling card
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throughout the three-day event . The Granbury , Texas , pro tallied 20-8 on the final day , and while it turns out he didn ’ t need it , he did manage a stroke of luck with less than 10 minutes remaining when he boated a 5- pounder to seal the deal .
While many anglers were focused on fishing grass or finding schools of bass , Hall relied on his Garmin LiveScope forward-facing sonar to pick off suspended fish in about 20 feet of water with a Shane ’ s Bait umbrella rig and Damiki blade bait , “ roaming around ” areas with ample bait until he found big bass feasting on those bait balls .
“ My Garmin electronics were huge for me in these wins this year ,” Hall said of his winning tactic . “ When I can see them , I have a lot of fun doing it . It hurts my back a little bit doing it , but I ’ ll gladly deal with that if it means I can win .”
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9 . PHOENIX BASS FISHING LEAGUE PRESENTED BY T-H MARINE WILD CARD Wheeler Lake
Nov . 11 – 12
Two pounds separated Powell , Tennessee ’ s Jake Lee and runner-up finisher Darren Ashley in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T- H Marine Wild Card on Wheeler Lake . The two-day event is the last chance to qualify for the BFL All-American for anglers who didn ’ t qualify for a Regional tournament . In addition to securing a berth in the 2023 All- American , Lee was awarded $ 5,921 for the win .
Lee couldn ’ t manage to get much of anything going in practice – at least until the final hour of the final day of the practice period . As he idled in front of a river bar , Lee
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began seeing fish breaking the surface , only to find it was a school of white bass . As he proceeded to the back side of the bar , the largemouth began to show themselves .
“ I got to the back side of the river bar , and there were the largemouth ,” he said . “ I spent the entire tournament on the back side of that bar and just continued to go up and down that 1 / 2-mile to 3 / 4-mile stretch . That ’ s all I had . I had nowhere else to go .”
That particular stretch proved to be enough as Lee tallied 10 keepers for 29-13 over two days . He initially planned on utilizing a Heddon Super Spook on those fish , but conditions forced him to turn to a River2Sea Whopper Plopper for all his Day 1 keepers instead . On Day 2 , Lee switched to a Z-Man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer for all his keeper bites .
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