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Published: 13 June 2021

B.A.S.S. Report

Day Two Leader Hank Cherry

Hank Cherry, of Lincolnton, N.C., is leading after Day 2 of the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk with a two-day total of 37 pounds, 14 ounces. Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

FORT WORTH, Texas — The 54 anglers competing in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk had planned to start fast and take advantage of an early-morning shad spawn bite that has been extremely reliable this week on Lake Ray Roberts.

But Mother Nature threw up an electric stop sign.

Freak thunderstorms with dangerous lightning delayed the tournament by more than two hours and negated much of the morning bite. While many of the Day 1 leaders struggled, North Carolina pro Hank Cherry landed 17 pounds, 10 ounces to move from third place into the lead with a two-day total of 37-14.

The winner of last year’s Classic on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, Cherry will now begin Championship Sunday with nearly a 5-pound lead and a chance to become only the fourth angler in the 51-year history of the event to claim back-to-back titles.

“There was definitely more pressure to win the first one last year,” Cherry said. “Winning is one thing, but to win it twice, it’s got to all go right.

“What’s eerie about this is that it’s the same feeling as last year. I’m out there on the dam today and people are stopped all the way down the dam getting out watching me fish — it just feels the same.”

Despite the late takeoff, Cherry got off to a fast start, catching two bass in the 4-pound range flipping a jig into wooden structure. The fish came only four or five casts apart and gave Cherry the shot in the arm he needed to fish confidently all day.

That was especially important when he lost a big bass later in the day on a jerkbait.

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Published: 12 June 2021

B.A.S.S. Report

Steve Kennedy - Day One Leader

Steve Kennedy, of Auburn, Ala., is leading after Day 1 of the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk with 23 pounds. - Photo by Chris Brown/B.A.S.S.

FORT WORTH, Texas — Steve Kennedy caught a five-bass limit that weighed 23 pounds Friday to take the lead during the opening round of the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.

And the scary thing is, he said he didn’t even get to go to the biggest bass he found in practice.

The Auburn, Ala., pro made the most of an early-morning shad spawn bite, putting the bulk of his limit in the livewell before 7 a.m. Then with the winds blowing hard across Lake Ray Roberts, he decided he wouldn’t be able to proceed with the second part of his game plan.

On Saturday, he hopes to exploit that morning bite again — and hopefully move on to Phase 2.

“I kind of got stuck up on one end of the lake because the wind was blowing so hard,” said Kennedy, a 10-time Classic qualifier who has finished as high as second in the event. “I didn’t go anywhere near where I was planning on fishing my second deal.

“Maybe I will tomorrow. Maybe I won’t have to. If I don’t have to show that until the final day, I sure don’t want to.”

During Kennedy’s final day of practice, he said he got 18 bites the first two hours of the morning. But those came during cloudy conditions — and since he didn’t know if there would be cloud cover Friday, he said he tried to cover water as quickly as he could.

“I was trying to condense that two hours into 30 minutes,” he said. “I was fishing a jig, and they were just eating it like crazy. The morning went just like I had hoped it would.”

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Published: 10 June 2021

MLF Report

Kevin VanDam

DAYTON, Tenn. (June 9, 2021) – Bass Pro Shops angler Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, promised that MLF NOW!® livestream viewers would see fireworks on Lake Chickamauga, Wednesday, and the man most consider the G.O.A.T. of professional bass fishing did not disappoint. VanDam caught 25 bass weighing 70 pounds, 1 ounce to win the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four Presented by ATG by Wrangler at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee, and earn the top prize of $100,000.

It was a tight five-angler race to start the third and final period of competition but VanDam quickly pulled away, boating a dozen scorable bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces, in just 30 minutes. VanDam won by a 6-pound, 10-ounce margin over second-place pro Jacob Wheeler, who caught 24 bass totaling 63 pounds, 7 ounces, good for $45,000.

“That last period – to get on a flurry like that. Man, that was incredible,” said VanDam, who pushed his career earnings to more than $6.9 million. “Any time you can have that kind of day fishing is special, but to do it on the last day of a Bass Pro Tour event is pretty dang awesome. This (trophy) was something that I’ve really wanted since we started this, so today was a pretty special day for me.”

VanDam earned his victory this week on Lake Chickamauga doing what he loves to do – fishing the deep Tennessee River ledges.

“I found those fish in practice and when I hit that school, I knew that I’d really found something special,” VanDam said. “I just had to wait for that window when the current gets just right and when it happened, it was magical.

“I caught fish on a lot of different baits this week, but far and away the Strike King Series 5 (green gizzard) and Strike King 5XD (blue gizzard shad) crankbaits were my money baits, all week long,” VanDam continued. “I fished them on my signature system – a Lew’s CC4 Cranking rod paired with a Lew’s BB1 Pro reel , 12-pound Bass Pro XPS fluorocarbon line, and I threw a couple of No. 2 Mustad Triple Grip (treble hooks) on there. I was fishing the bait real fast and really making the fish react to it, even when they didn’t want to bite.”

VanDam also credited his Humminbird electronics and HydroWave as being crucial to his success.

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