By MLF Communications Staff

UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. – Just prior to the start of the 2023 Bass Pro Tour season, the winningest professional bass angler of all-time, Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., announced that he is retiring and that the 2023 season would be his last as a touring professional. The seven-event BPT campaign would be his farewell tour.

Tuesday, on Cayuga Lake, VanDam showed that he is not going away quietly.

VanDam caught 12 scorable smallmouth bass, with his best five weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce, to take the early lead in Qualifying Group . Weights remain fairly tight throughout the remainder of the Top 20, as 20-01 is the current mark to break inside the cutline to advance to the Knockout Round.

Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss., had his best day of the year, catching a limit weighing 25-15 to end the day in second place, while reigning Angler of the Year (AOY) Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., ended the day in third with five bass weighing 25-10. Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla. , caught 25-03 to end the day in fourth, while Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., rounds out the Top 5 with five bass weighing 24-11.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition on Wednesday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition. Group A will resume competition on Thursday.

“Today was a really good day. I got to do what I really love to do – sight-fish for smallmouth,” VanDam said in his post-game interview. “I love to fish that way, it’s something that I’ve been doing my whole life. Just put a spinning rod in my hand, grab a Ned rig, a dropshot rig, a big tube – all of those finesse baits. A lot of the time they’ll bite on one cast, but today I really had to work for it.”

VanDam targeted spawning smallmouth with a mix of techniques and Strike King baits, including a Baby Z-Too, a Dream Shot and a Half Shell.

“This lake is a tremendous fishery and they’re all really healthy fish – they weigh so big,” VanDam said. “The good thing is it should keep getting better as the week goes on – there should be a lot more fish coming in. There is a huge population of bass in this lake, and they spawn the whole month of June up here.

“We’re off to a really good start, and hopefully we can do the same thing again on Thursday and then we’ll go from there,” VanDam went on to say. “We’re in a great position right now and I feel really good about it, but it is a long week.”

Dakota Ebare and Brandon Coulter tied for Tuesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, as each weighed in a 6-09 largemouth to claim a share of the daily award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the Top 20 anglers from each group advance to Saturday’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, where weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers launch each day at 7:30 a.m. ET from Frontenac Park, located at 15 Creamery Road in Union Springs. Takeouts are held at the park 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 MLFNOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney breaks down the extended action live from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET on each competition day. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Qualifying Group A – Day 1

(Figure at far right indidated weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Kevin VanDam -- 28-01 (5) -- 6-08

2. Cliff Pace -- 25-15 (5) -- 5-10

3. Jacob Wheeler -- 25-10 (5) -- 5-10

4. Edwin Evers -- 25-03 (5) -- 5-09

5. Mark Davis -- 24-11 (5) -- 5-11

6. Dustin Connell -- 24-06 (5) -- 5-03

7. Luke Clausen -- 24-03 (5) -- 5-08

8. Justin Lucas -- 23-12 (5) -- 5-06

9. Jared Lintner -- 23-03 (5) -- 5-12

10. Scott Suggs -- 22-15 (5) -- 5-10

11. James Elam -- 22-10 (5) -- 5-06

12. Zack Birge -- 22-03 (5) -- 5-02

13. Bradley Roy -- 22-02 (5) -- 5-07

14. Dylan Hays -- 22-01 (5) -- 6-05

15. Alton Jones -- 21-15 (5) -- 5-01

16. Dakota Ebare -- 21-09 (5) -- 6-09

17. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 21-08 (5) -- 4-11

18. Brent Ehrler -- 21-04 (5) -- 4-13

19. Jeff Sprague -- 20-14 (5) -- 4-13

20. Fred Roumbanis -- 20-01 (5) -- 4-09

21. Jeremy Lawyer -- 19-15 (5) -- 4-06

22. Keith Poche -- 19-04 (5) -- 4-06

23. Russ Lane -- 19-01 (5) -- 4-07

24. Jacob Wall -- 19-00 (5) -- 4-09

25. Brandon Coulter -- 18-07 (5) -- 6-09

26. Nick Lebrun -- 18-03 (5) -- 4-10

27. Stephen Browning -- 17-15 (5) -- 5-09

28. Gerald Spohrer -- 16-12 (5) -- 3-11

29. John Hunter -- 16-09 (5) -- 3-14

30. Jesse Wiggins -- 16-09 (5) -- 3-09

31. Skeet Reese -- 15-07 (5) -- 3-11

32. Shin Fukae -- 15-06 (5) -- 4-03

33. Todd Faircloth -- 15-04 (5) -- 3-03

34. Josh Bertrand -- 15-02 (5) -- 3-09

35. Jeff Kriet -- 15-01 (5) -- 4-00

36. Gary Klein -- 14-11 (5) -- 3-08

37. Tommy Biffle -- 14-03 (5) -- 4-04

38. Brett Hite -- 12-09 (4) -- 4-09

39. John Murray -- 12-08 (5) -- 3-05

40. Matt Lee -- 5-13 (2) -- 4-08