By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
The Bassmaster Elite Series was launched in 2006 and Mike McClelland won the event at Grand Lake that year by 15-09 over 2nd-place Matt Reed. That record winning margin stood for more than 14 years until Patrick Walters obliterated it at the just-concluded Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest at Lake Fork.
In what was perhaps the most spectacular single-tournament performance in the history of the circuit, Walters achieved all sorts of milestones as the coronavirus-interrupted 2020 campaign came to its long-delayed conclusion. The 26-year-old, second-year pro from South Carolina gained his first tour-level victory, earned a commemorative "Century Belt" for a 4-day total weight in excess of 100 pounds, nearly doubled McClelland's winning-margin standard and became a triple-qualifier for the 2021 Classic – a feat much appreciated by two of his fellow competitors who'll gain berths via his efforts.
"I'm truly on an adrenalin high and an adrenalin dump at the same time," he said immediately following the final weigh-in. "It'll take a month for me to process what went down over the last 4 days."
His 22-10 haul in the final round was easily his lightest of the event, but by far the heaviest of the day. It pushed his total to 104-12, which was 29-10 more than 2nd-place Keith Combs compiled. Combs, a longtime Texas stalwart, finished with 75-02.
Walters' victory was never in doubt on day 4 – he could've launched his boat, then sat at the dock eating donuts and pizza and streaming NFL games on his phone and still claimed the trophy, as the 82-02 he had after day 3 was 7 pounds more than Combs finished with. He badly wanted that Century Belt, though, and got it with a 45-minute flurry late in the day that gave him three big upgrades to what had been a pedestrian limit.
Abandoning the deep timber that had been so good to him throughout the derby, he moved to a small pocket and fired his jerkbait at shallow stumps to make his trio of late culls. He ended up with a bag consisting of a 6 1/4-pounder, a 5, two 4 1/4s and a 2 3/4.
“On day 2, I caught a 4- and a 5-pounder in there, but I didn’t go back in there on day 3; I said, ‘I’m going to save it,’” Walters said. “I think it was the wind. We’ve had the same direction wind the last three days and it has blown directly into that pocket.
Three late culls from shallow water put Walters over the 100-pound mark for the event.
“All the bait is in there and every single day, it has gotten more loaded. Today, my fish in the treetops would not eat my bait. They’d chase it for 40 to 50 feet and wouldn’t commit. I could tell something was not right; they were not eating it. I said, ‘I gotta leave. I gotta go shallow.'''
He employed three different jerkbaits throughout the event – a Rapala Shadow Rap, a Megabass Vision 110+1 and a Duo Realis model. He could see most of the fish on his Garmin LiveScope unit prior to casting to them and could also monitor their reactions to the bait, which sometimes prompted a change in cadence or a switch to one of the other two offerings.
He notched his first Classic qualification by winning the Lake Hartwell Eastern Open in September, then added another by finishing among the Top 39 on the final Angler of the Year (AOY) points list. This win gave him No. 3 – Texas Fest is the only regular-season Elite Series tournament that awards a slot to the victor.
"It was a dream and a life goal just to become an Elite Series fisherman and now I'm an Elite Series champion," he said. "Everybody wants to catch 100 pounds, and man, it feels good to do it!"
Reigning Classic champion Hank Cherry became a double-qualifier for the 2021 edition at Texas' Lake Ray Roberts by ending up at 38th on the points list. That means that the Top 42 will get in, with Bill Lowen, 2019 Texas Fest winner Brandon Cobb and Shane LeHew the recipients of the additional berths.
That left Combs as the first angler out, but he still has hope depending on what transpires at the final two opens.
Combs' 18-01 sack was second-best of the day to Walters' and moved him up one position in the standings. Veteran Jay Yelas was 3rd with a 69-14 total (17-03 on day 4), followed by two-time 2020 winner Brandon Palaniuk with 69-05 (15-11) and Lone Star State product Brad Whatley with 68-09 (16-03).
The bottom half of the Top 10 consisted of Ed Loughran with 66-13, Fork guide Lee Livesay with 64-03, Brock Mosley with 61-09, Stetson Blaylock with 60-04 and Skylar Hamilton with 54-04.
Seth Feider won the Toyota Tundra awarded to the angler who catches the heaviest fish of the tournament – he had a 9-09 on day 1.
Winning pattern details for Walters and the other Top-5 finishers will be published this week.
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 7 limits, 2 threes, 1 two.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Patrick Walters -- Summerville, SC -- 20, 104-12 -- 100 -- $125,000
Day 1: 5, 25-14 -- Day 2: 5, 26-14 -- Day 3: 5, 29-06 -- Day 4: 5, 22-10
2. Keith Combs -- Huntington, TX -- 20, 75-02 -- 99 -- $40,000
Day 1: 5, 11-07 -- Day 2: 5, 23-14 -- Day 3: 5, 21-12 -- Day 4: 5, 18-01
3. Jay Yelas -- Lincoln City, OR -- 20, 69-14 -- 98 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 19-02 -- Day 2: 5, 19-02 -- Day 3: 5, 14-07 -- Day 4: 5, 17-03
4. Brandon Palaniuk -- Rathdrum, ID -- 18, 69-05 -- 97 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 16-03 -- Day 2: 5, 24-12 -- Day 3: 3, 12-11 -- Day 4: 5, 15-11
5. Brad Whatley -- Bivins, TX -- 20, 68-09 -- 96 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 17-05 -- Day 2: 5, 15-10 -- Day 3: 5, 19-07 -- Day 4: 5, 16-03
6. Ed Loughran III -- Richmond, VA -- 18, 66-13 -- 95 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 21-13 -- Day 2: 5, 19-12 -- Day 3: 5, 15-09 -- Day 4: 3, 09-11
7. Lee Livesay -- Longview, TX -- 19, 64-03 -- 94 -- $20,000
Day 1: 4, 09-01 -- Day 2: 5, 14-07 -- Day 3: 5, 26-02 -- Day 4: 5, 14-09
8. Brock Mosley -- Collinsville, MS -- 17, 61-09 -- 93 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 19-08 -- Day 2: 2, 05-03 -- Day 3: 5, 24-15 -- Day 4: 5, 11-15
9. Stetson Blaylock -- Benton, AR -- 16, 60-04 -- 92 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 3, 16-07 -- Day 3: 5, 21-09 -- Day 4: 3, 08-04
10. Skylar Hamilton -- Dandridge, TN -- 17, 54-04 -- 91 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 19-13 -- Day 2: 5, 16-00 -- Day 3: 5, 14-00 -- Day 4: 2, 04-07
