Elite

Big bass of Lake Fork 2024

Four move into Top 10 heaviest total weight list in event for the ages.

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
It was one for the ages, rivaling the record-setting 2008 Falcon Elite. The AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork was remarkable in multiple ways, from the youngest winner, to four double-digit fish, to the entire Top 10 earning Century Club belts, with four among the Top 10 all-time weights. Let’s look back at the big fish that brought more shine to Texas’ crown jewel of bass fishing.
No stranger to big weights at Fork, Texas’ Keith Combs brought in one of the few “overs” on Day 1. Bass had to measure longer than 24 inches for an angler to take possession in the catch, weigh and release event dominated by forward-facing sonar in timber. Combs’ biggest was a late 7-pound, 14-ounce bass that helped him weigh 31-4 to stand 12th. It was one 14 bags topping 30 pounds on Day 1. A decade ago, Combs had a record 110 pounds over the three-day Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC) at Lake Fork.
Trey McKinney, just four days after turning 19, led the youth movement. He landed 5- and 6-pounders on Day 1, and an 8-2 before a late 7-4 gave him 33-11, good for fourth. The Carbondale, Ill., rookie was the only Elite to top 30 pounds all four days, helping Fork accumulate 44 “Dirty Thirty” limits to beat Falcon by one.
Fellow rookie Tyler Williams of Belgrade, Maine, caught one of the bigger bass on Day 1, a 9-9 that gave him 30-4 to stand 14th. The Barefoot Bandit, who turned 22 last November, topped 30 the next two days, including Day 3’s 33-14, to finish fourth with 124-9. Williams’ weight took over 10th place all-time.
Ben Milliken, the 34-year-old Nebraska transplant living in Texas, had a 7-14 over in his 32-13 Day 1 stringer that put him seventh. There were more than 100 6-pounders weighed on each of the first two days, and while Milliken had 6-7, 7-0 and 7-10, he also had to include a 3-4.
Justin Hamner of Northport, Ala., was all smiles as he backed up a 14-place finish at Toledo Bend with a big first day. Hamner, who lists his signature strengths as livescoping and jerkbaits, landed two 7-pounders and a 6-11 in his Day 1 bag of 33-5 that put him fifth. Bigger things were to come.
Rookie Wesley Gore of Clanton, Ala., brought in the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of Day 1, a 10-9 that helped him total 32-2, good for 12th. Gore, 23, had an 8-6 and 7-3 for potential of the CrushCity Monster Bag, but his smallest two were 3-4 and 2-12.
Stetson Blaylock, who has guided at Fork and eclipsed 100 pounds in the aforementioned TTBC that Combs won, maximized his day with a best of 9-10. Along with an 8-6, 7-6, 6-10 and 5-6, the Benton, Ark., eighth-year pro brought in his best limit ever, 37-6 to stand second.
Japanese pro Taku Ito made the most of a midmorning 10-5, rocketing up the leaderboard. With a 7-12, 6-6 and 6-3, Ito added an 8-6 in the afternoon to fall just shy of a “Freaky 40” with 39-1. That ended up earning Ito a $2,000 bonus for the CrushCity Monster Bag of the event, but 22-9 then 17-6 saw him finish 21st.
John Garrett of Union City, Tenn., had an over on Day 2, but the 24-incher only went 7-2, helping him weigh 30-4. Garrett, who finished 28th, had one of the 16 bags topping 30 pounds on the day.
There were six 9-pounders landed on Day 2, but only three were long enough to bring  to the stage. Louisiana pro Derek Hudnall had a 9-0, almost half his 19-3 and 10 pounds less than his Day 1 weight. Hudnall finished 34th.
Bernie Schultz and Patrick Walters each had 9-0s on the day, but they were headed in opposite directions. This was Schultz’s only fish of the day, dropping him from 79th to 91st. Walters had 32-8 to make a hypersonic jump from 76th to 27th. With a two-day total of 50-6, Walters and everyone above him were on pace for Century Club belts.
Jason Williamson brought in his best of the week, a 9-5. With less big friends in his five, the Aiken, S.C., pro dropped down a few spots before settling for 43rd.
Another big mover on Day 2 was Chris Johnston, who started 66th. With a best of 8-10, the Canadian pro had the top total of the day at 35-11, climbing to 17th. However, he only had about a third of that on Day 3, 12-12, to finish 38th.
JT Thompkins, the 2023 EQ Angler of the Year, showed out on Day 2. After taking 30th on Toledo Bend, the 22-year-old rookie from Myrtle Beach, S.C., jumped 21 spots to sixth. His limit of 35-1 included a 9-13, the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day. Despite a 9-1 on Semifinal Saturday, Thompkins fell out of the Top 10 with 23-9 to finish 13th.
Matty Wong, who had 33-2 on Day 1, brought in a 9-3 and moved into second place with 30-8, just 3-11 back of Day 2 leader Trey McKinney. With 67-5, McKinney was on pace for 134-10, which would break the all-time record of 132-8 set at Lake Falcon in 2008.
Jay Przekurat, shown with one of his Day 1 bass, had his best day of fishing ever on Day 3. The best five from the Plover, Wis., pro went 6-0, 7-2, 7-11, 7-14 and 8-1 for 36-12. After starting 52nd, he wound up 16th. When Przekurat won at the St. Lawrence River in 2022, he became the youngest Elite winner at 23 years, 26 days. McKinney blew that mark out of the water, winning at 19 years, 7 days.
Jonathan Kelley, who had a 9-4 on Day 2, had another big on Semifinal Saturday. The pro from Old Forge, Pa., shows off this 8-12 that helped him total 28-13 to finish 19th with 79-12. Seventeen anglers who were on pace for 100 pounds didn’t get a shot as only the Top 10 went out on Championship Sunday.
Walters was among those who just missed. With an 8-10, the five-time Bassmaster winner posted 33-15 on Day 3. His 84-13 total left him in 12th, just 1-9 from a chance to fish on Sunday for his fourth Century Club belt. On the day, there were 11 30-pound bags and two 9-pounders.
Louisiana’s Tyler Rivet, in the Top 10 after 31-5 and 29-13, had an 8-15 in his Day 3 limit weighing 31-13, good for third. He was one of six anglers topping 90 pounds after three days.
Milliken fell out of the Top 10 after 25-4 on Day 2, and he was falling further back with just over 20 pounds before this late Saturday bite. The 9-10, his last fish of the day, gave Milliken 29-2 and spot in the Top 10. Needing 12-13 on Championship Sunday for a belt, Milliken caught a 3-15 at 10:15 a.m. that put him in the club. He finished eighth with 113-12.
Trey McKinney’s 8-8 bolstered his Day 3 bag of 30-0, his smallest of the week. It included three fish just over 5 pounds, so with a cull or two, McKinney might have breached 100 pounds in three days. As it was, he led in his second Elite event with 97-5.
Justin Atkins, who made the Top 10 behind limits of 32-11, 29-2 and 28-3, became the first to top 100 pounds on Championship Sunday. And he did it in style. And on his 34th birthday. At 7:39 a.m., Atkins landed this 9-3 to total 100-15. He finished the day with 27-12, and his 117-12 eclipsed the previous 10th-best weight of all-time. But he’d soon drop to 14th all-time.
In the next half hour, McKinney and Williams earned their belts, then Hamner accomplished it with a 5-10 at 8:13 a.m. Wesley Gore was next at 9:41 a.m. with a 7-2. Gore finished with 115-9. Hamner was not done, bringing in the biggest fish of the event (above).
Tyler Rivet knocked out his first belt with a 3-12 at 10:01 a.m., and Blaylock followed shortly with a 6-8. Rivet later took over the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the event at 11:40 a.m. with a personal best of 10-12.
Kyle Patrick, a 26-year-old rookie from Cooperstown, N.Y., came into the day needing 9-11 to reach 100 pounds, and he finally did it with a 3-0 at 10:46 a.m. Patrick, who had bags of 31-15, 28-5 and 30-1, finished with 21-9 to total 111-14.
Canada’s Cooper Gallant sweated his Century Club belt. Needing 12 pounds even, Gallant was struggling with two bass when he set the hook around 2:15 p.m. “Please be a Century belt,” he said. “You come in with the mindset of catching 40, and you get to the point where I just need a Century belt. I always wanted one of those things.” The 5-7 was a great relief as it put him at 100-7. Fork joined Falcon as the only B.A.S.S. events where all the finalists earned belts.
A 12-1 is needed to tie for the final spot on Bassmaster’s Top 10 all-time heaviest single fish. It didn’t happen at Fork, but Hamner came close. His 11-7 at 1:20 p.m., the biggest bass ever caught on Bassmaster LIVE, helped him to the day’s second-best bag of 33-7 and third place. However, Hamner’s 124-10 total put him in the books with the ninth all-time best weight.
Rivet was disappointed his 10-12 didn’t hold out for the $3,000 of Phoenix Boats Big Bass bonuses, lamenting Hamner’s fish came about an hour and a half later than his. But he also made the record books. Rivet muscled up for 32-10 on the final day for the eighth-best total in B.A.S.S., 125-9.
McKinney just kept rolling. Adjusting to fishing shallower, he didn’t have the biggest individual fish but he had the best average and biggest bag of the day. McKinney weighed 33-10 on Championship Sunday to win by 5-6. His fish went 5-7, 6-7, 6-11, 7-4 and 7-13. With 130-15, McKinney posted the fourth-best total of all-time and was just 1-9 from equaling Paul Elias’ record 132-8 in the 2008 Falcon Elite. The other Falcon weights above McKinney are Terry Scroggins’ 132-4 and Byron Velvick’s 131-15. The 2024 Fork Elite was definitely one for the ages, which the Daily Limit will soon explore.

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