Big bass, big stage, big dreams. The Bassmaster classic is the super bowl of bass fishing. There is no better way to put it. Careers are born here, and statements are made. Of the 56 bass pros participating in this year’s classic in Tulsa, Oklahoma, four came from the Northeast: Tyler Williams from Maine, Paul Mueller from Connecticut, Tim Dube from New Hampshire, and Kyle Patrick from New York. All of them but Paul are rookies on the Elite series.
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Grand Lake is known to be a throw it all, try it all, fish it all type of lake. Most of our waters here in the Northeast fish like that, as the Northeast angler cuts his teeth fishing in four different seasons, forced to adapt to changing conditions and throwing different baits. Previewing the tournament at media day Tim Dube said, “There’s a lot of Northeast fishermen in this classic right now, which is a big shoutout to what is an overlooked fishery. We have some very high class, high caliber fisherman coming out of some unconventional bass fishing states.” Tim said his background in the Northeast would play well to his “junk fishing” approach to the classic, which means having a lot of rods and baits on deck to make quick changes through the day.
Early on day 1, Tyler Williams led the charge cracking the top 10 on the live bass track with Aftco pro Kyle Patrick right behind him. The post-frontal conditions made for a great morning bite that picked up for many anglers in the afternoon as well. At the end of day 1, three out of the four northeast anglers sat in the top 25. Tyler finished at 9, Kyle at 12 and Tim at 25. Great showing for these guys coming out of the gate as 3 rookies from the northeast.
Day 2 was showing a complete change of conditions. The morning forecasted near freezing temperatures and strong winds. However, Kyle Patrick was excited about this because he thought it may turn his bite on better, as he knew he was around the right fish. Day 2 is the pivotal day, as only the top 25 move on to fish on championship Sunday. Paul and Kyle both increased or matched their Day 1 weights. For most of the day, it looked like Tyler, Tim and Kyle where all going to make it inside the cut. However, a few anglers had an exceptional afternoon that bumped out Tyler and Tim, even after a great performance to fish another day by the two of them. The standout was Kyle Patrick, who battled hard, and caught another 15-pound, 8-ounce bag to thrust him into championship Sunday sitting in 11th place.
Tensions are now high, and the stakes even higher. The opportunity to fish on the final day of the Bassmaster Classic and have a chance to win was a dream come true for Kyle. His focus for day three was to continue his trust in the ¾-ounce Ike’s Head Banger Jig with a Missile Baits Chunky D trailer. Halfway through the day, Kyle was making some serious moves. The FOX sports broadcast had Mark Zona awarding the “Mercury move of the day” to Kyle after he jumped from 11th to 2nd with a 16-pound, 5-ounce bag before 10:00 am. Kyle fished hard the rest of the day but did not have enough to surpass Justin Hamner, who went wire to wire (holding first place through each day of the event) and won the tournament with 58 pounds 3-ounce total weight. Kyle had his best day of the tournament on championship Sunday, and his 17-pound, 15-ounce bag gave him an amazing 7th place finish in the 2024 Bassmaster Classic. His effort highlighted a great showing by the Northeast anglers, making a statement that fishermen coming out of our unconventional bass fishing states are not to be overlooked.
