STAGE ONE – KISSIMMEE CHAIN OF LAKES 48th place / AOY = 48th Toho was actually the low point in my season . I caught them pretty well the first day and was in ninth place . The next day I went practicing in a different area , thinking I could catch 12 pounds and make the cut , no problem . That was a bad mistake . I only caught nine pounds and missed the cut . I learned right then , never get too cocky from the first day ’ s catch and think , “ I can make the Knockout Round just practicing .” The rest of the year , I made sure I was in the cut before I went practicing . With a 48th-place finish , I figured I had already blown my AOY chances for the year . |
STAGE TWO – DOUGLAS AND CHEROKEE LAKES 6th place / AOY = 23rd In 2022 , we moved to Tennessee , near Watts Bar , to be in the Tennessee Valley . TVA lakes were my nemesis , so I moved down there to learn TVA bass better , from the ledges in the summertime on Chickamauga and Guntersville to Damiki rigging in the winter on Dale Hollow , Douglas and Cherokee . My Top 10 at Cherokee was a result of that homework . I used a jerkbait and flat-side crankbait to get to the Knockout Round and then LiveScoped them at Cherokee with a jerkbait and a Damiki Rig .
STAGE THREE – LAKE MURRAY 23rd place / AOY = 14th I don ’ t know why , but I love herring fisheries . Lanier , Smith Lake , Clarks Hill , Murray – if it ’ s got blueback herring in it , I love it . I guess because herring are so nomadic and in a way that reminds me of Great Lakes smallmouth fishing : The fish are always on the move . Plus , I had a lot of confidence going into Murray due to my Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit win there in 2021 . The Bass Pro Tour was three weeks earlier , but the fish seemed to set up on the same places to ambush herring in the prespawn as they did in the postspawn . Once I realized that , I felt comfortable there all week .
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PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE |
STAGE FOUR – LAKE GUNTERSVILLE 5th place / AOY = 5th I was most proud of this finish out of all of them this year . I ’ ve never felt like I understood Guntersville , and it ’ s one of the reasons we moved south . The Bass Pro Tour was the same week as the Tackle Warehouse event there last year , and I learned a lot during that event . Before the tournament started , I spent lot of time on Chickamauga keeping up with the postspawn fish as they moved out offshore and experimenting with different ledge techniques , which all paid off at Guntersville .
STAGE FIVE – CAYUGA LAKE 6th place / AOY = 3rd Once the Tour headed back up north to smallmouth country , I was back to the way I grew up fishing . I ’ ve spent so many hours looking for smallmouth on beds , it ’ s second nature to my eyes to see what kind of terrain they like to spawn around . We had horrible conditions for looking during practice for that event . But I found enough fish to get me through the first day , and I started looking for new fish from that point on . Out of the four days I fished – basically 32 hours – I spent 20 hours just practicing and looking for new fish .
PHOTO BY TYLER BRINKS
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE
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STAGE SIX – LAKE ST . CLAIR 17th place / AOY = 4th St . Clair is where AOY became a real possibility to me . Up until then , Ott DeFoe and Dakota Ebare had such big leads , it was kind of an afterthought . But after they left the door open at St . Clair , my whole perspective and focus changed toward Angler of the Year . As long as I had a chance , I was all in for winning it . |
STAGE SEVEN – SAGINAW BAY 1st place / AOY = 1st Given the fact that Alton Jones Jr ., Jacob Wheeler and Ott were in the AOY race right up until the last day , I would never say I knew I could win it . They are all great anglers and they are closers . But as long as there was a chance to win it , I wasn ’ t backing down at all . I kept getting those little goosebump feelings that I could win it . Every time one of those happened , it pushed me harder . As long as I could still see light in the crack where the door was left open , I was gunning for it . Everything just went my way the last day . The wind , the weather , finally figuring out those big smallmouth that were roaming on flat sand — it all came together just in time to finally bust through the door that had been left open . |
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE |