The screws are tightening.
A switch in venues has altered all but the end plan to gain Elite status for Tucker Smith, in relatively comfortable position, and Dakota Ebare, hoping to hang on.
The Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite Qualifier season concludes this week, with Elite berths on the line as well as the title and Classic berth. Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc around the original venue, Lake Hartwell, forcing a move to Alabama’s Lake Martin.
“That doesn’t bother me none,” said Ebare, a 32-year-old from Brookeland, Texas. “It’s unfortunate what happened in South Carolina. I was looking forward to going to Hartwell, but it’s out of our control. I just hate it for that area, but I’m glad we relocated and continue on.”
Continuing on is the mission. Only nine of 152 EQ competitors will advance to the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series after this week’s ninth and final St. Croix Open presented by SEVIIN. Smith, who was looking forward to one of his favorite lakes in Hartwell, said the close weights expected at Martin increases potential for jumbling the point standings, twisting up the tension.
“I’m really blessed I’m in third right now because I’d be really stressed if I was ninth or 10th going into this one,” Smith said, “because anything can happen there.”
If he wasn’t 65 points up on the final spot, Smith, 23, said he’d be more nervous, even though he’ll be fishing closer to home. He grew up nearby in Auburn, learning from legendary Aaron Martens, before a recent move to Guntersville, so he knows Lake Martin and how tough it fishes this time of year.
“I wasn’t too excited about it, honestly,” Smith said. “It can be a huge switch up in points. Half a pound can be 40 places. It’s going to be super tight. I’ll have to grind it out for sure.”
Smith is among the top six anglers more secure in their bids than the next four, who are bunched only 11 points apart. The estimated total for Elite qualification is 1,445 points, although it could move several clicks either way.
With two Opens wins, leader Easton Fothergill of Grand Rapids, Minn., is a chip shot away with 1,422 points. Cody Meyer of Eagle, Idaho, is second with 1,395, still hopeful yet doubtful he can overtake Fothergill for the EQ Angler of the Year title.
Smith has 1,350 points, 19 ahead of fourth-place Emil Wagner of Marietta, Ga. Andrew Loberg of Grant, Ala., is fifth with 1,327, and Paul Marks of Cumming, Ga., stands sixth with 1,317. All should advance with finishes in the top 70.
In seventh with 1,296 points, Ebare has an 11-point cushion on ninth. While the pressure to qualify is real, the change in fishery hasn’t affected his outlook.
“It doesn’t if you’re positive about it,” he said. “It was the same thing about Hartwell. If I have a good event here, I’ll make the Elites. It’s all up to me to go have a good event. It doesn’t matter where to me, I just have to get my job done.
“I’m not disappointed or worried at all. I’m excited. I know it’s going to be a super tight tournament, but I’m excited to get there.”
On Ebare’s tail is Canada’s Evan Kung, eighth with 1,290 points, and Alabama’s Matt Adams and Arkansas’ Beau Browning are tied at ninth with 1,285. All four could reach the estimated total by finishing a few spots inside the money line of 45th, but it’s most likely one will go home empty-handed.
Only a bomb by several could bring into play 11th-place Bobby Bakewell of Florida or Michigan’s Garrett Paquette, 68 and 70 points back, respectively, of the ninth-place tie.
“Excited, anxious, nervous,” Adams posted while switching tackle for the move. The 41-year-old from Oxford, about an hour from Martin, knows the task ahead.
“We need 11 pounds a day,” he said. “It should be a very interesting tournament with nobody pre-practicing.”
Lake Martin was put off limits when the move was announced, so anglers will get 3 1/2 days practice starting Saturday to develop a game plan. B.A.S.S. last visited Martin in February of 2018, with Takahiro Omori winning the four-day Elite with 59-8.
Smith said any limit in the double digits should be competitive, with 33 to 35 his anticipated winning weight. Two-pounders are common, making 3-pounders golden.
“There are so many small, skinny fish. It’s just hard to target big ones,” he said. “It seems like you just have to be in the right place at the right time to catch a fish that’s over 2 pounds. You catch one 3-pounder out there, it’s like a 5 anywhere else.”
Ebare has some experience on Martin, finishing 31st in an FLW event in the spring of 2020. He expects a fun event, plenty of catches and the leaders doing their jobs.
“With the way that one through 10 is, all those guys are capable of catching them, so I don’t see a lot of movement,” he said. “This is as competitive as any other trail I’ve ever fished. It’s been a task.”
Ebare started the year strong, taking fourth at Santee Cooper and holding second in EQ points for four successive events until stop No. 7. At Leech Lake, he followed 21 pounds with one fish on Day 2 to plummet to 94th, dropping him to eighth in points.
“I knew there’d be some shakeups at Leech Lake,” he said, “but I didn’t think I’d be the one on the shaking end of it, especially after being seventh on Day 1.”
Ebare, an 11th-hour addition to the EQ field, was in a similar situation as Cody Meyer, with pressure to perform in their move to B.A.S.S. Many believed their success would continue after each earned more than $1 million in FLW and MLF circuits.
“None of that matters but next week,” he said. “I’m very well aware of that. It all comes down to the next two days of competition.”
Smith knows he can’t have another hiccup. After a runner-up finish at Lake Okeechobee, he bombed with a 144th at Santee Cooper Lakes. It knocked him to 29th in points.
“Santee Cooper was a real hiccup for me,” he said. “I’ve been trying my best since then to do everything I can to make it.”
The former college angler began his climb by taking second at Logan Martin. Finishing 16th at Lake Eufaula, Okla., put him seventh in points before 15th at St. Clair, 27th at Leech and 19th at La Crosse positioned him in third.
“I really didn’t think coming into it I was going to do as well I have,” said Smith, who posted big rallies on second days at Eufaula and Leech lakes to salvage more than 100 points. “I had real rough first days but ended up figuring them out and coming back.”
Every day is critical on the EQs, and Ebare sure doesn’t want to slip now. He’d rather not have to try next year, when the EQ format changes. In 2025, there will be two Opens division of four events and the top 50 in each move on to three fall tournaments to decide 10 Elite spots.
“I want to get in now and compete at the top level of the sport,” Ebare said. “This has been a huge challenge, and as much as I feel I’ve grown as an angler, off and on the water, I don’t want to do it again.
“If I have a good event, I’ll be right where I want to be. It’s stressful, but that makes you better, makes you hungry.”
Bassmaster LIVE will air all three days of competition beginning Thursday at 8 a.m. ET, so be there to see who eats.
