Big bass elusive during first day of Tenkiller Bassmaster Elite Series

Yahoo

15-06-2025

Nearly every Bassmaster Elite angler had the same thought the first day at Lake Tenkiller: the big bass are hiding.
When the Bassmaster Elite's seventh stop opened at Cookson Thursday, June 12, all 102 anglers had a five-fish limit full of small and largemouth bass, but big bass were not abundant on day one. While plenty of bags were filled to the brim, no one had a game-changing bass; the biggest one weighed in at 4 pounds, 10 ounces, from Kyle Welcher.
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'I never had that really good bite; I had two of them but they didn't get in the boat,' Coalgate's Luke Palmer said.
Whether it's hard to find a bite or a lost fish, the field struggled to pull away from one another.
"I did get two really big bites today, but they were catfish – ugliest things I've ever seen,' Jamie Hartman said. "I never got a big [bass] bite today; they really eluded me. I thought I could get two to three big bites, coming off my practice, which was really good.'
Over the past several weeks, rain has consistently come down into Tenkiller, and that didn't change, as it rained off and on leading to overcast skies in day one. With the forecast looking much the same, Park Hill native Jason Christie thinks the next three days will be just as tough.
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"I knew that was going to happen, with the water falling. The problem is with no sunshine, these fish spread out; you can watch it on [our radar,]" Christie said. "When they don't school up, they're hard to catch. It went about how I thought it would."
After the first day, the leader only sits 5 pounds above the cut line. With only 50 anglers moving on to day three, no one's position is safe.
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Trey McKinney holds up a smallmouth bass, left, and a largemouth bass during weigh-ins for the first round of the Bassmaster Elite Series on Lake Tenkiller.
As the field battled wind and rain, Andrew Loberg took the lead with a bag of 17 pounds, 9 ounces. Reining Rookie of the Year Trey Mckinney was the only other angler scoring over 16 pounds, with a bag of 17 pounds, 1 ounce.
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'We didn't get a bite for two hours, then I kind of figured out a little something and started to get bites,' McKinney said. "The big ones are definitely another trick altogether.'
Muskogee rookie Blake Capps had a strong day on his home fishery. With a bag of 14 pounds, 10 ounces, Capps sits in 13th place.
"Day one was a good day,' Capps said. 'I was moving around quite a bit today, but I saw some things I am liking so far. I did lose one that would help me get up there, but that's part of fishing.'
Capps caught his limit on a variety of baits with the first-year pro and several other anglers saying they caught bass on nearly everything.
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"We caught them doing everything but they were all the same size. Hopefully, we get a few extra bites tomorrow and make a jump into the top 50,' Wesley Gore said.
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Tyler Williams loads a largemouth bass into his weigh bag during the first day of the Bassmaster Elite on Tenkiller.
The field will be on the hunt for bass hiding spots when they launch at 6:30 at Lake Tenkiller Friday, June 13, for day two of stop seven for the Bassmaster Elite Series.
"I'm going to have to make a few adjustments tomorrow; got a long day," Jacob Foutz said. "Hopefully we can catch us five big ones."
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Other Oklahoma anglers
Two other anglers returned to their home state to compete in this stop.
Cherokee Nation's Jason Christie returned to his home lake for a professional tournament for the first time since 2019. After day one, Christie sits in 87th place with a total of 10 pounds, 7 ounces.
Palmer is in 34th place with a first day limit of 13 pounds, 9 ounces.