Elite

Best of 2024: Elite top lures

See the winning lures of all nine events during the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series season.

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Photography by
Dalton Tumblin
Photography by
Craig Lamb
The 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series followed all phases of the spawning cycle through the first five events. Summertime patterns prevailed at the Alabama doubleheader in June, with the season concluding on smallmouth fisheries in New York. That provided a diverse mix of patterns and lures used by the winners. Here’s a best-of recap from the season, beginning with the kickoff event at Toledo Bend in February. 
The huge crowds came to see something special unfold at the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend. They would not be disappointed. 
Big Bass. Big Stage. Big Dreams. A full moon and moderating temperatures set the stage for the big girls to migrate toward the spawning areas. 
The migration was in full swing as the bass followed textbook prespawn transition areas. Creek channels bordered by shallow ridges were transition zones, before the fish moved into secondary creeks to spawn. 
Kyoya Fujita entered Championship Sunday 6 pounds behind Pat Schlapper. The Japanese pro rallied with a final round catch of 28 pounds, 13 ounces, a bag almost entirely made up of 6-pounders. 
With a winning weight of 100 pounds, 13 ounces, Fujita claimed a coveted Century Club belt — an exclusive award given only to those who catch at least 100 pounds of bass in a four-day event. What is more, the sophomore Elite won a second Elite Series title in 10 events. 
Fujita focused in one offshore area in a large creek, where he caught suspended bass in 10 feet of water as the fish migrated toward the spawning areas. 
He used this 3-inch Jackall Revoltage RV Drift Fry, rigged on a 3/16-ounce jig head. 
Alternatively, Fujita used a Deps Sakamata Shad on a 3/16-ounce jig head. 
Bigger Bass. Bigger Stage. Bigger Dreams. The crowds definitely got the VIP experience at the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork. 
Nowhere else but Texas could an average four-day winning tournament weight be buried down in 30th place with a 73-pound finish. The perfect storm of a post-front warming trend and the backside of a full moon triggered an epic big bass migration on a big bass impoundment. 
The youngest Bassmaster Elite pro to win at age 19. The only angler to catch over 30 pounds each of the four competition days. Winning a Bassmaster Century Club belt as a rookie. Meet the future of the sport, Trey McKinney, who took his first blue trophy home to Illinois.
The young gun did it with authority, winning the tournament with 130 pounds, 15 ounces. Sharing the spotlight with him were all of the Top 10 anglers who caught over 100 pounds and also earned the coveted Bassmaster Century Club belt. 
McKinney’s bass moved shallower throughout the tournament, from 20 to 30 feet of water and then up to 4 feet on Championship Sunday. His bait choices followed the migration to shallower water. 
McKinney’s primary lure setup was a Strike King 3X Z-Too Soft Jerkbait, rigged on a 1/8-ounce jig head with a stout 3/0 hook for catching bigger bass. 
Following a month-long break the schedule resumed with the first of a Florida doubleheader at the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes in April. 
John Garrett went wire-to-wire with a four-day total of 84 pounds, 5 ounces to claim his first Bassmaster win.
Garrett fished for postspawn bass with a deep-diving crankbait and a hand-tied hair jig. He also used another deep-diving crankbait, a Strike King 1.5 squarebill and a Carolina-rigged Strike King Ocho. Garrett focused on a shellbar, cranking up and otherwise coaxing largemouth to his choice of baits. 
For deep bass he used this Strike King Pro Model 5XD Crankbait. 
Alternatively, he used this hand-tied 5/8-ounce hair jig, allowing the bait to fall to the bottom and then make short hops. 
Something special unfolded in this picturesque stretch of water at the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River. 
Salt Springs stands out for its natural mineral spring that attracts a plethora of fish and wildlife, and specifically spawning largemouth bass. Here, Canadian Cory Johnston fished a flawless tournament after a trio of second-place Elite finishes in his career. 
A four-day total of 93 pounds, 6 ounces gave Johnston a winning margin of 21-2, or the second largest in Elite history. All week, he targeted bedding bass using a variety of soft plastics while relying on his electronics and Power-Pole Move trolling motor. 
Johnston primarily flipped and pitched soft plastics to lily pads, while using a unique bait rarely before seen in the pressured waters. A key bait was this 6th Sense Bongo 3.7. He rigged it on a 4/0 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens Finesse Heavy Cover Flipping Hook, with a 1/4-ounce 6th Sense Tungsten Weight.
Johnston also used this 6th Sense Fishing Panorama. He rigged it on a 6/0 Gamakatsu Extra Wide Gap hook, with a 5/16-ounce 6th Sense Tungsten weight. 
The bass feasted on blueback herring at the Minn Kota Bassmaster Elite at Lake Murray. Early morning is prime time for surface feeding until the bite diminishes with the rising sun. Cloudy skies prolong the bite, and that was the prime scenario for a native son to put on a show. 
Patrick Walters proved it with a wire-to-wire win that would make South Carolinians proud. Walters posted an incredible winning weight of 93 pounds, 15 ounces to claim his third Elite title and $102,000. Walters caught 26-12 on a cloudy Championship Monday for the Rapala Crush City Monster Bag of the Tournament and its $2,000 bonus. The epic finish also gave him a double-digit margin of victory.  
Walters deployed a topwater and glide bait for surface feeders and a Carolina and finesse rig when that action subsided. 
For topwater bites he used this Rapala Precision Xtreme Jowler 12. 
Walters also used a Clutch Swimbait Darter glidebait.
For finesse bites, he used a Zoom Super Fluke paired with a #2 Redline Neko Hook, and he was using Sufix Revolve line in 8-pound, hi-vis green with a 12-pound Sufix Advance fluorocarbon leader.
The bass fishing on the famed Decatur Flats heated up like the mid-90s daytime temps at the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Wheeler Lake.
The flats got hot where a majority of the playing field slugged it out on the long trail of signature flats and ledges.
Veteran Elite pro Cliff Prince maximized a sweet spot on a flat featuring two prominent hard spots surrounded by submergent vegetation. Alternating between a bladed jig and worm enabled him to catch a limit, some days within 30 minutes of his 6 a.m. takeoff time.
He used this 7.5-inch Bass Assassin Tapout, rigged on a 3/16-ounce Greenfish Tackle Casey Ashley Clean Up Shakey Head. 
Prince also used a Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer, with a 3.5-inch Bass Assassin Lit’l Boss for a trailer.
Summertime, fireworks and spotted bass — all three were in play during the TNT Fireworks Bassmaster Elite at Smith Lake. The northern Alabama lake renowned for its spotted bass fishing didn’t disappoint during the late June visit. In fact, it received a new nickname from the eventual winner who provided final-round fireworks.
Takumi Ito, the fourth-year Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Chiba, Japan, nicknamed New York’s smallmouth waters “Smallmouth Disneyland” after he won an Elite tournament there in 2021. Ironically, the B.A.S.S. Media Guide lists Smith Lake as Ito’s favorite U.S. fishery. He would prove why with a wild finish on Championship Sunday. 
Championship Sunday morning featured multiple virtual ties until a wet microburst erupted at Ito’s location. Following the storm, big bass activity intensified as Ito upgraded three times, capped by a final-hour, clutch spotted bass weighing 5 pounds, 12 ounces, that would be the winning fish. 
“Smith Lake is spotted bass Disneyland!” the champ proclaimed. Ito had daily limits weighing of 13-10, 13-11, 14-2 and 16-9, for a total weight of 58 pounds.
The conditions favored by Ito allowed him to tease spotted bass with Japanese baits they’d never seen, or ones they couldn’t resist.
That lineup featured this 3.6-inch Nories Flip Gill, rigged on a 3/16-ounce Neko rig.
Another hot bait was this Nories Wrapping Minnow Spy Bait. 
Finally, the weirdest of them all, and most deadly, was this 14 mm Field Side Saikoro Dice Rubber Magnum, rigged on a drop-shot rig with a 3/16-ounce weight. 
The long-awaited Northern Swing doubleheader in New York finally came in mid-August. 
Largemouth shared the stage with smallmouth as a key player in the outcome of the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Champlain. No longer did the brown fish dominate over the green fish as the species of choice for the win. 
Bassmaster tournament veteran Ed Loughran III proved the point. Smallmouth made an appearance, but largemouth played the leading role. Opening the tournament with a mixed-bag limit weighing 19-1, Loughran then caught limits of largemouth weighing 22-15, 21-14 and 16-14 to tally a winning score of 80-12. 
Loughran’s best area was a rock ridge in 5 to 10 feet of water and surrounded by milfoil beds. Smallmouth stayed on one side of the ridge, while largemouth staged on the opposite side. 
Loughran’s lure lineup led off with a 1/2-ounce Z-Man ChatterBait with a Missile Baits Spunk Shad 4.5. 
For topwater action he used this SPRO Walking Haint.
After depleting his supply of 1/2-ounce Missile Baits Ike’s Mini Flip Jigs, Loughran tied on a homemade version. For a trailer he initially used a Missile Baits Chunky D, and then a Missile Baits Craw Father. 
Claiming first place is no easy feat in the rankings of the Bassmaster Magazine 100 Best Bass Lakes, and the St. Lawrence River has now done it twice — 2022 and 2024. 
The river and easternmost Lake Ontario again validated the coveted ranking at the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at St. Lawrence River, producing two more Bassmaster Century Club entries. 
Bassmaster Elite Series rookie Robert Gee claimed a Century Club belt with his second-place finish of 100 pounds, 7 ounces. The Tennessean capped off an impressive first season after fishing a fourth — and third consecutive — Championship Sunday at the nation’s top fishery.
Canadian Cory Johnston also claimed a belt by winning the tournament with 102 pounds, doing so on familiar ground — and conditions — by mastering the rolling waves and gusty winds of the big lake. 
Johnston fished the tournament in Lake Ontario, working an 80-yard stretch of bottom in 33 feet that held heavier-than-average smallmouth. 
His winning lure was a 3-inch 6th Sense Party Minnow rigged on a No. 2 Gamamkatsu G-Finesse Hook with a 3/8-ounce weight. 

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