APRIL 7, 2023 • TYLER BRINKS • BASS PRO TOUR COLUMBIA, S.C. – Coming into Fox Rent A Car Stage Three Presented by Mercury, just about everyone with even a passing interest in tournament bass fishing had Anthony Gagliardi on their radar as a favorite to win.
He lives on the lake in Prosperity, South Carolina, and has had great success on his home waters (to the tune of $730,000 winnings in MLF tournaments alone). On Championship Day – when it mattered most – Gagliardi didn’t disappoint, claiming a dominant win with a two-day total of 47 pounds, 12 ounces to eclipse runner-up Ott DeFoe by 4-11.
Gagliardi’s 26-13 on the final day was the best five-fish bag on the week and was emphasized by an 8-pounder he caught a few minutes before noon to claim the win in his hometown.
How Gagliardi did it
Much of the talk throughout the tournament was centered around spawning – either bedding bass or bass eating spawning herring. Gagliardi sampled a bit of both, but generally did something against the grain and relied on a drop-shot rig for his winning bass this week.
“I had a decent practice, but was also a little disappointed,” he admitted. “I had found a way to catch fish with a drop-shot but never felt like I’d found the winning fish. It was a consistent bite, but I didn’t think I could catch big enough fish to win. But, the bite kept improving every day.”
Gagliardi opened the event by posting 17-12 and backed it up with 17-8 the next day. That was good for a ninth-place finish in Group A to advance to the Knockout Round, where he totaled 20-15 to settle fifth (2-8 behind leader Jeff Sprague).
But, local favorite the saved his best for the final day, highlighted by his 8-0 (the biggest bass of the event), Gagliardi added a 5-12, 4-12, 4-6, and 3-15 for his impressive limit.
Gagliardi wasn’t sold on his “advantage”
With his stellar résumé on the Lake Murray – which includes a FLW Tour win in 2006 and a Forrest Wood Cup title in 2014 to go with a runner-up spot at the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit tournament – you’d think that Gagliardi’s local knowledge was a significant factor. While it undoubtedly helped some, Gagliardi’s willingness to try something different than everyone else was the difference-maker.
“This time of year, a lot of the advantage is taken away because the bulk of the bass are shallow,” he said. “It’s a clear lake and everyone can see them on beds. Having some experience here helped a little, but some of the points I was fishing, I’d never really fished before. I’d fished the areas, but not those specific spots.”
Instead of visibly targeting fish busting on herring as many did, Gagliardi ran points in 8 to 12 feet of water and fished quickly. He focused on places where largemouth bass and stripers gathered to feed on herring, but found a way to target them when they were not visibly feeding on the surface.
“I was fishing staging points and places they would use to ambush herring, but stayed out a little deeper,” he said. “Instead of the typical fluke and topwater baits that we all use for herring spawn, I went with a drop-shot. I was looking for fish on my Garmin LiveScope and there were a lot of stripers around. I cast to stripers all week because every now and then you’d catch a nice bass out of there. Plus, the stripers won’t bite a drop-shot like they will other baits.”
His drop-shot rig wasn’t anything secret – a simple morning dawn 6-inch straight-tail finesse worm – but it worked to the tune of $100,000.
“It wasn’t fancy,” Gagliardi said of his winning pattern. “I just point-hopped with it all day and rolled with it. I did catch a few sight fish earlier in the week to help me advance, but that drop-shot was the main deal for me all week.”
A win for the hometown
The final period brought stiff winds, steady rain, and a drastic drop in air temperature. Still, people stuck around the ramp at Dreher Island State Park to congratulate Gagliardi on his win, making the victory even sweeter.
“It means a lot to win here in front of all my family and friends,” he said. “I’ll take a win anywhere, but it’s special to win one where you’re from. To have the support of my family, friends, and the community here means a lot to me.”
That weather that rolled in also helped him secure the win.
“That front this afternoon played into my favor because I had already built my lead,” Gagliaridi said. “It made it more difficult for those guys to fish effectively and catch up. What an awesome feeling this is; it all came together perfectly. You always want to have a good showing at your home lake and I was able to do that.”
BassFan.com COLUMBIA, S.C.– Lake Murray has been good to professional angler Anthony Gagliardi. Coming into the event, the Prosperity, S.C. pro had two major national wins – including the 2014 FLW Cup – and banked nearly a half of a million dollars in career tournament winnings from Lake Murray alone. On Friday, he added another big trophy and another $100,000 in earnings from his hometown fishery.
Gagliardi caught 16 scorable bass, with his best five weighing 26 pounds, 13 ounces, to win the top prize of $100,000 at the third Bass Pro Tour stop of the 2023 season. His two-day total of 10 bass weighing 47-12 gave him the win by a 4-11 margin over second-place finisher Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tenn., who weighed in 10 bass totaling 43-01.
“There is something about this lake, I don’t know what it is, but this lake just suits me,” Gagliardi said. “I don’t even fish it all that much – I honestly don’t – but this lake is just incredible, and I am so proud to be from here. Lake Murray showed out for everybody this week.
“If you’d have told me that I was going to be able to catch that kind of weight doing the things I was doing today, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Gagliardi continued. “I started the day out thinking I was going to fish conservatively and just try to get to 18 pounds and see what happens after that. But I caught a 5-12 early, and then the 8-pounder – just a huge, huge fish. Then it was on. This has just been a blessed day all around.”
Gagliardi spent his week targeting fish that were feeding on the blueback herring, but he did it in an unorthodox way – with a dropshot rig keying on schools of striped bass.
“This is not how I envisioned this tournament playing out,” Gagliardi said. “The herring bite is usually the deal this time of year, and I practiced that way. But I just didn’t find the places that I felt like had big enough fish. And then I figured out the other deal, and just went with what I had.
“I was fishing points that had herring, and I was specifically looking for points that had stripers on them,” Gagliardi continued. “I slowed down and used that dropshot so I wouldn’t have to worry about catching the stripers. A lot of times I’d throw into groups that I knew were stripers and I’d watch the drop-shot go down through them. The stripers would swim around and act real crazy, but it would get down and if there was a largemouth in that group of stripers he would bite the dropshot.
“I was also seeing some fish on the Garmin LiveScope – individual fish, and I caught a lot that way as well, but I never thought I would have been fishing like I was today.”
Gagliardi had an extremely disappointing start to his 2023 Bass Pro Tour season, finishing tied for 79th at the first event on Lake Toho. Now, after a 17th-place showing on Cherokee & Douglas Lakes and the win on Murray, Gagliardi finds himself back inside the REDCREST qualification line at 27th place in the Angler of the Year race.
“I was really nervous about this one, from the standpoint of doing well,” Gagliardi said. “I knew the lake was going to fish really good, but this time of year, with the fish spawning, I didn’t think any local advantage was going to come into play. So I just wanted to have a good tournament and not bomb on my home lake.
“But as the tournament progressed I was able to stay consistent, and the farther into the tournament I advanced I started to devote more time to the dropshot deal when I figured out I could get a good quality bite. And that’s what I stuck with the entire day, today.
“It’s been my time a couple of times on this lake,” Gagliardi went on to say. “That’s three major wins on this lake, and another second-place finish as well. She’s been good to me over the years, and this is just such an awesome feeling. I love this lake.”
Gagliardi also earned Friday’s Championship Round $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with his 8-pounder on the dropshot rig in Period 2. Fellow South Carolina pro Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg earned the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the overall largest bass of the event with his monster 8-08 largemouth that he weighed on Day 3 of competition.
After three events in the Bass Pro Tour regular season, Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tenn. is the leader in the AOY standings with 231 points. Chris Lane of Guntersville, Ala. sits in second place with 218 points, while Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., rounds out the Top 3 with 202 points. Bally Bet will award $100,000 to the AOY winner.
The next event for qualified BPT anglers will be the Heavy Hitters all-star event on Caney Creek Reservoir and Bussey Brake, April 24-29, in Monroe, La. The next regular-season event will take place May 16-21 at Lake Guntersville in Alabama.
Photo by Jody White MLF
BassFan - COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour is set to visit Columbia, South Carolina, and Lake Murray beginning Sunday for the third regular-season event of the 2023 season.
The six-day tournament will feature 80 anglers competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000.
The Jewel of South Carolina has hosted prior MLF Cup events and numerous events with FLW and MLF over the years, but the Bass Pro Tour’s arrival for Stage Three marks the tour’s first trip to the famed lake.
Lake Murray’s most recent professional event was a Pro Circuit tournament in 2021. That event, also in April, was won by Bass Pro Tour rookie Matt Becker. Second place in that event went to Anthony Gagliardi, who also won the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup on his home waters.
Gagliardi says that historically, the first week of April is dead center in the bass spawn.
“There will be fish spawning, but still plenty of fish that are in the prespawn mode and feeding heavily,” Gagliardi said. “It should be a fun event and there will be various ways to catch fish. The lake is in good shape and full of 3- to 5-pound fish.”
While the lake is known for the blueback herring and the nomadic bass that chase them in open water, Gagliardi believes the event’s timing will make them less of a factor.
“It’s awful early for them to be on the bluebacks,” Gagliardi said. “Anything could happen, but I believe most of the bass will be on the bank. You should be able to target the prespawn fish or also try to catch spawners.”
Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. ET from Dreher Island State Park, located at 3677 State Park Road in Prosperity. Each day’s takeout will be held at the launch location, beginning at 4 p.m.
The tournament will feature pros competing under the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five heaviest bass per day tallied as their day’s weight.
The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Sunday and Tuesday, with the 40 anglers in Group B on the water on Monday and Wednesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the Top 20 anglers from each group advance to Thursday’s Knockout Round.
In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round, when weight will carry over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
Photo by Phoenix Moore
By:Brian Carter COLUMBIA, S.C. (March 27, 2023) – Major League Fishing (MLF) and the Bass Pro Tour, featuring the top anglers in professional bass fishing, is set to visit Columbia, South Carolina, and Lake Murray next week, April 2-7, for the third regular-season event of the 2023 season – the Fox Rent A Car Stage Three at Lake Murray Presented by Mercury.
The six-day tournament, hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country, will showcase 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, including bass-fishing superstars like Kevin VanDam, REDCREST 2023 Champion Bryan Thrift, Jacob Wheeler, Jordan Lee , and local favorite Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, South Carolina. They’ll be competing for a purse of more than $805,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters All-Star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
“Lake Murray Country is excited to welcome Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour to Lake Murray,” stated Miriam Atria, President and CEO of Capital City/Lake Murray Country. “This event and tournament trail is so popular with bass fishing audiences, and our regional tourism office always loves the community support and television exposure this event provides for our region. Lake Murray is an amazing fishery that offers the professional anglers a competitive experience along with great catches.”
The Jewel of South Carolina has hosted prior MLF Cup events and numerous events with FLW and MLF over the years, but the Bass Pro Tour’s arrival for Stage Three marks the tour’s first trip to the famed lake.
Lake Murray’s most recent professional event was a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit tournament in 2021. That event, also in April, was won by Bass Pro Tour rookie Matt Becker. Second place in that event was Anthony Gagliardi, who also won the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup on his home waters.
Gagliardi says that historically, the first week of April is dead center in the bass spawn.
“There will be fish spawning, but still plenty of fish that are in the prespawn mode and feeding heavily,” Gagliardi said. “It should be a fun event and there will be various ways to catch fish. The lake is in good shape and full of 3- to 5-pound fish.”
While the lake is known for the blueback herring and the nomadic bass that chase them in open water, Gagliardi believes the event’s timing will make them less of a factor.
“It’s awful early for them to be on the bluebacks,” Gagliardi said. “Anything could happen if we get a milder winter and warmer spring, but I believe most of the bass will be on the bank. You should be able to target the prespawn fish or also try to catch spawners.”
Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. ET each day from Dreher Island State Park, located at 3677 State Park Road in Prosperity. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the launch locations, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
On Championship Friday, April 7, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF will welcome fans of all ages to visit Dreher Island State Park and celebrate the top 10 and crown the Fox Rent A Car Stage Three at Lake Murray Champion at the Watch Party and Trophy Presentation. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration to meet and greet fans, sign autographs, and take selfies.
The Fox Rent A Car Stage Three at Lake Murray Presented by Mercury will feature pros competing using the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five (5) heaviest bass per day tallied as their day’s weight. Anglers strive to catch their heaviest five fish each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the live scoring SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, fishing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2024, the Bass Pro Tour championship, held March 13-17, 2024, on Lay Lake in Birmingham, Alabama.
The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Sunday and Tuesday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Monday and Wednesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the top 20 anglers from each group advance to Thursday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to the Championship Round. In Friday’s final day Championship Round, weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.
The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.
Television coverage of the Fox Rent A Car Stage Three at Lake Murray Presented by Mercury will air as two, two-hour episodes starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Sept. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 7 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.
Proud sponsors of the 2023 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, Ark Fishing, ATG + Wrangler, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bally Bet, Bass Cat Boats, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, Daiwa, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Ferguson, Fox Rent A Car, General Tire, Grundéns, Humminbird, Lowrance, Minn Kota, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Power-Pole, Rapala, Star tron, T-H Marine, TORO, Toyota, U.S. Air Force, Yellowstone Bourbon, Yo-Zuri and Zoom Baits.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
Photo by Phoenix Moore. - It’s the fall and the kids are back in school. It’s also a great time to get out fishing because the bass are also in school. They’re ganged up heavy as they binge on baitfish, and when you find one bass, you’ll likely find many more with them.
Fishing for schooling bass is one of my all-time favorite ways to catch them and having success all comes down to finding the right areas and paying attention to baitfish – specifically how big they are – so you can select the right lure.
Where to Look
The schooling bite starts going off in late summer and really gets going during the fall. It’s something you can bank on all fall until the water temperatures get too cold as winter begins to set in. The calendar dates will vary based on where you live, but the basic principle is the same no matter where you’re fishing.
In the warmer months, most baitfish will be close to deep water and tend to relate more to river channels. As it cools in the fall, those baitfish will begin to move toward the creeks. I like to fish the channels, humps, and points closest to deep water inside these creeks. These are your high percentage areas to see schooling fish on the surface, or to find them with your electronics.
Once the water gets cooler, you’ll start to see the baitfish migration further into the backs of creeks, and the bass will be right behind them. It’s something that happens every year like clockwork.
How I Catch ‘Em
When the bite is on and the fish are in a frenzy, it’s hard to pick something the bass won’t eat.