PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA |
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON |
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1 . TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT PRESENTED BY FUEL ME COVERCRAFT STOP 6 PRESENTED BY WILEY X Lake Champlain
July 29 – Aug . 1
The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Polaris Rookie of the Year in 2020 , Kyle Hall long ago established himself as a rising star among the pro ranks . Though young ( he ’ s 25 ), Hall isn ’ t exactly inexperienced , having fished the Toyota Series as early as 2017 and the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine for a year prior .
It should come as no surprise to anyone then to see the young phenom notch his first Pro Circuit victory on Lake Champlain in the final regular-season event of 2022 – especially when you consider how much time he put in figuring out the enormous northern bass fishing playground with longtime
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roommate and good friend Dakota Ebare in their formative years fishing various circuits in their pursuit of pro aspirations .
Fittingly , Hall found himself beside Ebare onstage as the final weights were tallied , Hall edging out his buddy by just one ounce to notch the victory at Champlain thanks to a massive 21-pound , 6-ounce bag . What ’ s more , Hall led after Day 1 and Day 3 ( he fell to second on Day 2 ) and then finished the job after weights zeroed for the final day of competition . In other words , he was dominant from start to finish .
2 . ABU GARCIA COLLEGE FISHING PRESENTED BY YETI WILEY X COLLEGE FACEOFF Mississippi River
July 30
Though McKendree University won the second Wiley X College Faceoff of the 2022 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI
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season by nearly 9 pounds , it wasn ’ t exactly smooth sailing for the team of Kyle Hopping , Evan Sutton , Jaxson Freeman and Harmon Marien . After jumping out to an early lead , which they were able to maintain into the afternoon , Purdue University ( who went on the finish second ) overtook McKendree late in the day to grab a 2-pound lead .
Freeman and Marien ( the only sophomore on an otherwise allfreshman team ) decided to lock down late in the day – a decision that paid off to the tune of 10 pounds to give McKendree the boost it needed to reclaim the lead from Purdue . Similarly , Hopping and Sutton tacked on some insurance weight with just minutes remaining to up their total to 17 pounds . Paired with the 22-9 from Freeman and Marien , McKendree ’ s combined weight gave them ample breathing room to edge out Purdue ’ s Mason Bohland and Brady Metzger ( 22-5 ) and William Bruin and Ross Carter ( 8-8 ).
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3 . BASS PRO TOUR FOX RENT A CAR STAGE SIX PRESENTED BY GOOGAN BAITS Cayuga Lake Aug . 6 – 11
To say that Bass Pro Tour pro Dustin Connell has had a prolific couple of years would be an understatement . The Alabama pro claimed the REDCREST title in March of 2021 at Lake Eufaula , won BPT Stage Three this past March on Smith Lake , and then backed that up with a smallmouth beatdown on Cayuga Lake in early August to capture the Stage Six trophy as well . Oh , and he joined the Million Dollar Club in career earnings along the way .
Connell ’ s win at Cayuga was testimony to the powers of an open mind and forward-facing sonar . Heading into practice for the event , Connell believed that his tournament hinged on largemouth in the weedy north end of Cayuga . But after a fruitless half day of practice with exactly
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