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1 . TOYOTA SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP Lake Cumberland December 3-5 , 2020
Ironton Ohio ’ s Chris Malone came out of semi-retirement from competitive bass fishing in 2020 to fish the Toyota Series Central Division , in part because of his love for the fishery hosting the Toyota Series Championship : Lake Cumberland in southern Kentucky . With a top 10 at Dale Hollow a month prior , Malone made the cut to fish the no-entry-fee title event on his favorite lake , though it ’ s unlikely he knew exactly how much he ’ d come to love Cumberland by the end of weigh-in on December 5 .
Malone , who spent a lot of time preparing for the event with friend and 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit pro Ryan Davidson ( against whom he competed in the Championship ), had to dedicate some serious focus to Cumberland ’ s wintertime bass population – having never really spent as much time chasing the lake ’ s green and brown fish in frigid conditions .
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What Malone settled on was a pattern predicated on suspended bass along Cumberland ’ s steep , rocky shoreline . He used an unorthodox bait for the task : a 1 / 2-ounce Bad Boy Baits tail spinner , which he flipped toward the bank , letting it fall past the unsuspecting smallmouth that were hanging out overtop their deep-water winter haunts . The result was 41 pounds over three days and a $ 247,500 payday .
2 . Cameron Lineback Mount Airy , NC
For a couple days , Cameron Lineback made hay targeting “ donothing ” stretches of transitional bank on the main lake , but things went south on Championship Saturday when Lineback ’ s primary areas dried up .
With time – and any hopes of winning – running out , Lineback ran back toward takeoff and into Pitman Creek , just a minute or two from boat check . There , in about 30 minutes , the North Carolina pro sacked up double-digit bass , four of which were keepers that filled out his limit and netted him a $ 60,000 check . Every
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fish he weighed in throughout the tournament came on a crystal craw Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap . |
3 . Drew Boggs Lebanon , TN
After securing a top 10 at Dale Hollow in the Central Division finale – a tournament in which he ran way upriver to escape the crowd – Boggs decided to try to replicate his success on Cumberland doing much of the same . Trekking up the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River , in the opposite direction from takeoff than most of the field ran , Boggs slung around a Strike King KVD 1.5 square bill to land his 37-4 for the event and take home a $ 30,000 check .
Boggs ’ third-place finish was his 52nd top-10 showing in MLF BIG5 competition .
4 . Dakota Ebare Denham Springs , LA
Like Malone , Dakota Ebare relied on something a little different to catch his fish at Cumberland . The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit pro
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( now entering his third professional season ) opted to do his damage at the lower end of the lake with a Carolina rig in hand , which he tipped with a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw . To earn his $ 35,000 check ( which included contingency bonuses ), Ebare specifically targeted the second and third points within the creeks on the lower end , and more specifically the points that “ stairstepped ” down and featured a lot of big chunk rock and boulders .
5 . Eric Olliverson Lampe , MO
Eric Olliverson spent his tournaments targeting transition banks in the mid-lake area , paying special attention to water color and clarity . Any area that had stained water was key , especially if it also had transitions with small indentations in the shoreline .
Olliverson employed a handful of different reaction baits to catch his fish , including a 6th Sense Curve 55 crankbait , a Z-Man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer and a pair of 3 / 4- and 1-ounce spinnerbaits .
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