![]() ![]() Missouri’s Nick Luna finished 14th overall with 17-05 but didn’t make the cut to the final round.Ĭarden won $1,000 for having the big bass of the tournament (5-07).Ĭates won the non-boater division on Thursday. The field was narrowed to 14 after Thursday’s cut, including the Top 10 boaters, Cates and Drath from the non-boater division, and Green and Lindgren as leading anglers in the championship from their respective B.A.S.S. “Half my fish this week came from squeezing behind docks and the other half came from main-river laydowns,” Miller said.īoth Smith and Miller will have their entry fees paid into the 2022 Bassmaster Opens in all divisions.Īlso fishing on Friday were: 4th, Arkansas’ Chris Johnson, 32-06 5th, Wisconsin’s Jim Barczak, 31-11 6th, Utah’s Ben Byrd, 30-06 7th, Carden, 30-04 8th, Rhode Island’s Mike Wolfenden, 28-00 9th, South Africa’s Justin Karan, 26-13 10th, Missouri’s Ray Cates, 26-04 11th, Pennsylvania’s Aaron Green, 24-15 12th, Wisconsin’s Dustin Drath, 23-12 13th, Arizona’s Zack Holwerda, 20-06 and 15th, Minnesota’s Richard Lindgren, 17-04.Ī total of 101 anglers from 47 states and three foreign countries competed this week for $96,000 in prize money. His primary bait was a Berkley MaxScent Creature Hawg (green pumpkin). Miller, 37, caught a 13-04 limit on day 3, moving from 7th place up to 3rd and into a spot in the Classic. He threw a white Bandit crankbait on day 3 and wound up catching the second-biggest bag of the tournament. Smith used an aluminum boat on Friday to reach a backwater area that wasn’t accessible earlier in the week in his fiberglass boat. “Whether it’s ping-pong or cornhole, I want to win. ![]() “Being in the Classic for me is pretty special,” he said. He’ll head there again for his second trip to the biggest event in bass fishing. Nation Championship, having done so on Lake Hartwell in 2019. It is the second time he’s finished runner-up at a B.A.S.S. Smith, 36, caught the big bag on Friday – a 16-08 limit that vaulted him from 12th place to 2nd. I was looking for places on the riverbank that were on a bend, after a sandbar or a long stretch of mud.” “But I was looking for unusual stretches of laydowns. “It basically was trash fishing,” he said. He also flipped a brown jig and used a War Eagle spinnerbait with a chartreuse blade and chartreuse trailer. Wong leaned on a variety of balsa wood squarebill crankbaits to boat his best bass, with bluegill, shad and chartreuse as his go-to colors. That left Wong holding the trophy he dreamed was sitting shotgun on last week’s long drive across the continent. Carden, who’s reached two previous Classics, mustered only a 6-08 limit on the final day and fell to seventh overall. He shed tears again on stage shortly before taking the hot seat with only Carden left to weigh. When I caught my third 3-pounder, I actually started crying.” “Then I caught another 3-pounder and felt good. “I caught a 3-pounder to start the day and felt okay,” he said. ![]() Wong caught a 12-05 bag Friday, with no fish weighing more than 3 pounds. He caught a 12-02 limit on opening day and followed with an 11-02 limit on day 2, trailing only Alabama’s Coby Carden heading into the finals. He fished cypress laydowns on the main river channel throughout the week and was consistent with his catch. Wong, a 33-year old Hawaii-born angler, rallied from an 8-ounce deficit heading into day 3. Washington’s Taylor Smith (2nd place, 33-15) and former Elite Series angler Jared Miller, who hails from Oklahoma (3rd, 33-07) also claimed spots in the Classic. Wong also earned a berth into the 2022 Bassmaster Classic scheduled for March 4-6 on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell. He’ll have use of a fully-rigged Nation’s Best tournament boat for the Elite season, which he emphatically stated he’ll join. In addition to the hardware, Wong collected a $20,000 Nation’s Best first prize presented by Nitro/Mercury and a spot on the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2022. Wong caught 15 bass for a three-day total of 35-09 ounces to win the championship that concluded Friday on the Ouachita River in north Louisiana. Kerchal Memorial Trophy sitting on his passenger seat during the 25-hour drive from his home in Culver City, Calif., to the B.A.S.S. Matty Wong said he envisioned the Bryan V. ![]()
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