Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
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BASS Report
2023 Bassmaster Classic
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — With guests soon arriving for the grand affair, the Tennessee River’s table is set for peak potential as a field of 55 anglers make their final preparations for the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota.
Competition days will be March 24-26 with daily takeoffs from Volunteer Landing in downtown Knoxville at 7:15 a.m. ET and weigh-ins each day at Thompson-Boling Arena on the University of Tennessee campus. Doors open at 3:15 p.m. with weigh-in starting at approximately 4:15 p.m. The winning angler will take home the coveted Ray Scott Bassmaster Classic Trophy and $300,000.
Bassmaster LIVE kicks off tournament coverage Friday morning at 8 a.m. ET on Bassmaster.com, Tubi and the FOX Sports digital platforms. FS1 will broadcast live with the tournament leaders on Saturday and Sunday mornings before afternoon action from Championship Sunday picks up on FOX. A full viewing schedule can be found at Bassmaster.com/how-to-watch.
Tournament waters include portions of the Holston and French Broad rivers, the confluence of which forms the Tennessee River headwaters. The dominant waters are Fort Loudoun Lake — the first of nine reservoirs on the Tennessee — and Tellico Lake, which links to Fort Loudoun through a canal passing beneath the U.S. Highway 321 Bridge.
While the long-range forecast shows the potential for rain all three days, Bassmaster Elite Series pro and Tennessee River standout Brandon Lester has a largely optimistic outlook. In his view, seasonal patterns should be ripe for an impressive show.
“I think the fishing is going to be really good; honestly, I think it’s going to be about as good as it can possibly be,” Lester said. “Loudoun has plenty of good fish, but it’s not on par with, say, a Guntersville. But if you were to look at the calendar and pick one week for us to be there, I think the third week of March is the best week of the year.
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Kevin VanDam
In New Orleans, 22 years ago, it was a black and blue jig than won him his first one. Four years later, in ultra-tough Pittsburgh, an old school Rogue brought home the hardware. Then from the cold waters of Lay Lake, a Red Eye Shad scored his third one in 2010, and the very next year, a spinnerbait-squarebill combo in New Orleans made him an undisputable legend.
The lures that helped make “KVD” a 4-time world champion and bass fishing’s G.O.A.T.!
So, what lures will be in his starting line-up as he begins his hunt for his fifth world title at REDCREST 2023, just a few weeks after announcing this will be his final season to compete as a touring professional bass angler?
“Well, no surprise, two of the three are going to be power fishing baits. A jerkbait and a crankbait. Lake Norman has blueback herring, so the bass are pretty nomadic, which means I want to be throwing baits I can stay on the move with, versus slowing down in one spot for too long,” says VanDam.
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By Al McGuckin
Darold Gleason and Gerald Swindle
Darold Gleason and Gerald Swindle often camp near one another with their wives on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour, and together they’re quite a comedy act. The two graciously took time to share what fans can expect this week at the Bassmaster Elite Series event on Lake Seminole in Southwest Georgia.
Q: Seminole is home to lots of large alligators. How many have you seen so far that were bigger than you?
Gleason: At least 20, and two of those were twice my size. I’m from Louisiana, I respect those giant lizards and keep a safe distance.
Swindle: I saw at least two that were bigger than me, and they sound like a train when they try to slip off the shoreline into the water.
Q: The weather is exceptionally warm. Highs around 85 in the afternoon, warm and pleasant while we sleep with overnight temps in the 60s. So, what percentage of all the bass weighed-in this week do you think will be early spring spawners?
Gleason: 60%
Swindle: 70% will be caught around beds, and the other 30% will be caught using forward facing sonar.
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By Al McGuckin
Brandon Lester
If you watched Bassmaster Live Thursday, you heard Team Toyota’s Brandon Lester say he just needed one more “hawg head” like the one he had in his livewell.
Lester was richly blessed with a big bite one hour into the brand new 2023 Bassmaster Elite Series season when the toad of an Okeechobee largemouth swam off with his soft stickbait from a small patch of aquatic vegetation known as arrowhead that formed a point on the reed line he was fishing.
“That’s one of the reasons I love fishing in Florida so much. You pick up your lure after a pitch to visible cover and it’s just got that unmistakable one-of-a-kind heavy feeling, and you know it might be a giant!” smiles Lester.
By Okeechobee standards the 6-pound 14-ounce fish fell short of King Kong status, but is still far bigger than most bass anglers will ever catch in their lifetime. And worth noting, Lester is 90% sure the big gal was hovering over a spawning bed when she bit.
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By Al McGuckin
Mike Iaconelli
Great tournament anglers always have a Plan B, but at massive Lake Okeechobee -- “Florida’s Inland Sea” -- you’d better have a Plan C and Plan D too, because a shift in the wind direction can wreck your best spots really fast.
“This is definitely not a place where you can put all your oranges in one basket. Okeechobee is a giant shallow bowl of water that wind affects drastically. Wind creates muddy water, and muddy water is the kiss of death here. So you have to have productive areas for every wind direction,” warns Iaconelli.