ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. — Kyle Welcher is utterly dominating the St. Croix Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River/Albemarle Sound.
The Opelika, Ala., pro caught the biggest bag of the tournament on Semifinal Saturday, a 34-pound limit anchored by a whopping 10-8 largemouth. With bags of 30-11 and 30-3 the first two days of the event, Welcher carries a total of 94-14 into the final day of competition.
“I’ve never had one day of fishing like this,” Welcher said. “I hope there are a few more spawning because that’s the fun way to catch them.”
The 2023 Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year is on pace to achieve several milestones on Championship Sunday. Not only will he likely claim his first Century Belt, Welcher also could break the record for largest margin of victory in Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series history set by Patrick Waltersat Lake Fork in the fall of 2020, a 29-10 difference.
He currently leads second-place Brandon Lester by 33-14.
Welcher achieved several personal bests on Saturday as well, including catching his biggest tournament bag ever in his Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series career. The 10-8 that now leads the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors is now his personal best, unseating the 10-1 he landed at the St. Johns River in 2020.
All this success comes after experiencing one of the worst practices of his career.
“A week like this is only possible when you have a bad (practice),” he said. “When they are in a migration pattern like they are right now, you need them to be coming to you. The area I have, I fished down it on Day 3 of practice and had one bite down that stretch.”
“Day 1 I had four big ones down it, yesterday I caught five big ones, and today I caught five big ones.”
Welcher has fished a mile stretch of the Pasquotank River each day of the tournament, focusing on bass that are either setting up to spawn or spawning on cypress trees and stumps.
“There’s not a lot of spawning habitat in the area, and the stretch (I’m fishing) provides the only habitat,” Welcher said. “I caught them shallower today, but the water was six inches lower.”
A Rapala Crush City Bronco Bug rigged on a ¼-ounce Texas rig has landed all his best bites this week. Welcher has focused his time on only bass he feels will be easy to catch, making his days more efficient. The females he has landed have had a male with them, but most times he can’t see them on his forward-facing sonar.
“(The Bronco Bug) has got big appendages that sit off the bottom,” he said. “It also has a hinge system that moves, so when I’m shaking it, I just visualize those legs flapping back and forth in the bed. For whatever reason the big females really like it.”
In similar fashion to Day 2, Welcher opened the morning by landing a 7-pounder, settling his nerves and ensuring he would likely fish with the lead the rest of the day.
“I knew then someone would have to catch 30 pounds to catch me with just that one fish,” Welcher said. “It got me to settle down and pick apart the area. It took me a little while after that to start generating more big bites, but around 11:30 every day I have caught a couple big ones. That same thing happened today.”
With a limit in the boat, Welcher landed a 5-pounder close to midday before coming across the 10-8. That bass ate his Bronco bug twice before Welcher was able to hook it for good and land it.
“That was unbelievable. I was trolling and I saw it. It spooked off really slow and came right back. The first cast I made to it, it bit. It swam to the boat, and I lost it. I fished for it for 10 more minutes and I hooked it for a long time then. I probably had it hooked for 10 or 15 seconds before it came off. So, I fished for it for 20 to 25 more minutes before eating it again. When I set the hook, it was like it was hooked to the back of a truck. I’ll never forget it.”
Lester, meanwhile, landed 24-11 on Day 3 and increased his three-day total to 61-0. The Tennessee pro opened the tournament in eighth with 17-7 before catching 18-14 on Day 2 to move into fifth.
“It was a really good day. I feel like it could fall apart at any moment,” the 2022 Pickwick Elite Series Champion said. “I’m fishing slow, methodical and confident. The worst I can finish now is 10th. So, it is all good.”
His Tennessee River roots were on full display during the morning hours of Day 3. Lester caught his limit fishing a shallow shellbar next to a bridge in the Pasquotank River. A 6 ½-inch LiveTarget Straight Tail Worm on a ⅛-ounce shaky head caught the majority of those bass while a ⅜-ounce jig produced a 5-pounder.
“That was the best start I’ve had, and it was totally unexpected,” Lester said. “I had a hunch on that spot. You need the north wind, because it gets the current moving out of here. That’s what happened this morning.”
Once the bite slowed on his bridge, he returned to a creek in the Pasquotank he had fished the two previous days. Late in the day, he landed a 6-12 on a 3/16-ounce drop shot with a LiveTarget Finesse Worm.
With bags of 23-7, 15-7 and 21-7, Trey McKinney is third with a three-day total of 60-5. After a disappointing Day 2 performance, McKinney returned to the North River on Day 3. After a slow start, he was able to pick off better quality bass as the day progressed, including some 5-pounders.
“I don’t know about tomorrow. I feel like I’m either going to bomb or catch them (well),” he said. “I’ve seen the most cypress knees I’ve ever seen in my life. There is so much cover there that you can’t physically fish all of it. In 30 minutes you can go down a stretch and not catch anything, and come back 30 minutes later and one will move a little bit and you can catch it.”
McKinney has rotated between a prototype jig paired with a twin-tail grub-style bait and a Neko rig with either a 6th Sense Bamboosa Worm or 6th Sense Divine Shaky Head Worm. The shaky head worm generated more bites on Day 3.
“I think it moves a little more water and they are more aggressive to it,” McKinney said.
With his epic Day 3 performance, Welcher leads both the CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament and Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors. Minnesota’s Austin Felix earned the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency award for accurate reporting.
Sylacauga, Ala., pro Will Davis Jr and Union City, Tenn., pro John Garrett lead the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 270 points each. Plover, Wis., pro Jay Przekurat is third with 268 points followed by North Carolina’s Jake Whitaker in fourth with 262 points. Texas pro Lee Livesay is fifth with 258 points.
Alabama’s Tucker Smith leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year race with 191 points followed by Georgia’s Paul Marks in second with 180 points and Arkansas pro Beau Browning in third with 163 points.
The Top 10 anglers will launch from Waterfront Park in Elizabeth City beginning at 7 a.m. ET and return for weigh-in beginning at 3 p.m. Bassmaster LIVE coverage of the 2025 St. Croix Bassmaster Elite at Pasquotank River coverage will be broadcast on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. before moving to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon.
Visit Elizabeth City is hosting the tournament.
