PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Emil Wagner estimated a couple hundred waves crashed over the bow of his boat on Day 2 of the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Lake Champlain presented by Bass Pro Shops.
No worries. Just keep the bilge pump running and catch dozens of fat smallmouth bass.
Wagner, a 27-year-old Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series angler from Marietta, Ga., leads the year’s first Elite Qualifier with a two-day total of 45 pounds, 11 ounces. He was in eighth place (five bass for 22-2) after the Day 1 weigh-in, and he jumped to the top of the leaderboard Friday with a 23-9 limit, which is tied for the second-heaviest bag of the three-day tournament.
Like most of the 105 anglers competing this week, Wagner worked for every ounce on Friday. The wind blew out of the north with gusts of more than 20 mph, turning this mammoth 278,000-acre lake into a stomach-sinking roller coaster.
“Five minutes into the run today, I stuffed a wave into my neck and I was soaked to the bone,” he said, chuckling. “That was the roughest water I’ve ever caught a bass in. It was every two seconds, five gallons of water in the boat.”
Fortunately for Wagner, the smallies were coming aboard almost as quickly. He said he’s caught 50 or more smallmouth bass on each day of the EQ.
“I probably had 20 today that weighed over 4 pounds,” Wagner said. “The big ones are all about the same size, from 4.30 to 4.70 (pounds.) Then right at the end of the day, I caught a 5-pounder in a spot I hadn’t fished yet.”
Though he cut his teeth fishing Southern water, Wagner said Champlain fishes much like the spotted-bass fisheries he knows so well.
“It’s very similar,” Wagner said. “They set up on a big drop going into the main river,” he said. “It’s about a mile long and you go back and forth on it. They push up on it and eat the bait, and then sometimes they’re out off the ledge, waiting on the bait.”
Wagner, who was an Elite Series rookie this year, already has qualified for next year’s Elites, as well as the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. So, he’s basically fishing Champlain for fun, not to mention part of the $294,000 in prize money that will be divided among the Top 40 anglers here. The winner’s cut checks in at just more than $58,000, so there’s plenty of incentive to finish strong on Champlain.
“I’m excited to go again tomorrow,” he said. “It’s literally two of the most fun days I’ve ever had on the water.”
Day 1 leader Matt Messer is now in second place on Champlain with a two-day total of 45-9, only two ounces behind Wagner. An admitted largemouth specialist, Messer has mastered the smallmouth bite this week, bagging 23-9 on Day 1 and 22 pounds on Friday.
There’s no doubt he’s surprised by his haul, but he’s confident his good fortune can continue on the final day of the derby.
“This is my third year of fishing the Opens, and I fished in college,” the 23-year-old Warfield, Ky., native said. “I don’t think I’ve ever got a Top 30 smallmouth fishing. But I’m starting to learn. I can catch ’em out here.”
The 10 leading anglers slipped inside the Phoenix Boats Cutline and will fish on Championship Saturday. Behind Wagner and Messer are, third, Georgia’s Paul Marks, 44-2; fourth, Pennsylvania’s Grae Buck, 43-5; fifth, Alabama’s Russ Lane, 43-2; sixth, Georgia’s Cody Stahl, 43-1; seventh, Michigan’s Garrett Paquette, 43-0; eighth, Tennessee’s Sam Hanggi, 42-14; ninth, Michigan’s Aaron Jagdfeld, 42-14; and 10th, Tennessee’s Christian Nash, 42-13.
Only Wagner and Marks are not eligible for EQ points, and the other eight have staked themselves to a solid start in the EQ series. The Top 10 anglers in the points standings following the season’s three EQ tournaments will earn an invitation into the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series. The other two EQ tournaments in 2025 are scheduled for Alabama’s Wheeler Lake Oct. 2-4 and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee Nov. 13-15.
The three tournament winners will earn spots in the 2026 Bass Pros Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour when it’s held in Knoxville on the Tennessee River in March. If an EQ tournament winner already is qualified for the Classic, the berth will go to the Elite Series angler who came closest, but missed, qualifying for the 2026 Classic.
Ryan Broughman caught a 6-pounder on Friday and has the edge on the Phoenix Boats Big Bass Award.
The Top 50 anglers in the points in both Division 1 and 2 of this year’s Opens qualified for the EQs. The circuit also was open to any 2025 Elite who failed to requalify for that series, as well as the Top 3 anglers in the 2024 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship.
Day 3 of the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Lake Champlain presented by Bass Pro Shops takes off at 7 a.m. ET Friday from the Plattsburgh Boat Basin. Weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. ET from the same location.
Coverage of the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Lake Champlain presented by Bass Pro Shops can be found on Bassmaster.com each day. Live coverage of Championship Saturday will be streamed on Bassmaster.com as well as the Roku Sports Channel from 7-10 a.m. ET and 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
This event is being hosted by The Adirondack Coast.
