SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — It all comes down to Sunday. Ten pros remain, and, without hyperbole, this is one of the best Championship Round fields we’ve ever seen – from any event, let alone REDCREST. Of course, only 35 anglers qualified, and it takes some serious talent to qualify in the first place, but the names are still astounding: Wheeler, Connell, Birge, Jones, and on and on.
And it’s not just that the REDCREST Top 10 is stacked with ultra-talented anglers. It’s also that every single one of them has a reason for us to root for them and at least one great storyline that makes a potential victory worth pulling for out on Table Rock in Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance.
1. Zack Birge
Zack Birge has the potential to put an exclamation point on a signature season – the kind of season that says, “Hey, I’m excellent at bass fishing. A superstar, even.” He’s long been a star of the sport, and he really broke out at Stage 4 in 2024 with a win at Lake Eufaula, Oklahoma. Birge won again at Stage 3 this year (Lakes Whitney and Waco) and again in the NPFL later that month. He has 38 Top 10s in MLF competition (this event makes 39) and more than $1.5 million in career winnings.
Winning REDCREST would confirm what many already know about Birge: He’s a superstar. Full stop. A championship and a $300,000 payday would only make it clearer to everyone else who hasn’t seen Birge ascend the FLW/MLF ranks and crush it the whole way to the top.
2. Drew Gill
All Drew Gill has done since hitting the collegiate and professional fishing scenes is win. He’s won twice on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit and three times on the Bass Pro Tour. He has an Angler of the Year title on the Toyota Series, a mountain of Top 10s and already more than $1.3 million in career winnings. He’s young, he’s unquestionably talented (with and without forward-facing sonar) and he’s working on a résumé that’s missing one thing: a championship victory.
For most young pros, that’s not even a consideration at this point in their careers, but it’s different for Gill because he’s been so close before – recently, in fact. Gill finished runner-up via a tiebreaker at the Toyota Series Championship on Grand Lake last November. In three previous Toyota Series Championships: sixth, third and third. He’s been close, and he’ll undoubtedly win a major title at some level at some point in his career. REDCREST would certainly be a big one to get first.
3. Spencer Shuffield
Spencer Shuffield began his FLW/MLF career in 2007 as a co-angler, working his way up through the ranks before breaking into the pro scene in 2012. By 2016, Shuffield had to step away from bass fishing for personal reasons and didn’t return until 2020 (after fishing everything he could at the local and regional levels to work his way back). In 2022, the journey culminated in winning the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit TITLE.
Fast-forward to April 2026, and Shuffield has continued to make a name for himself at the Bass Pro Tour level with 10 Top 10s since 2023 and a pair of 11th-place AOY finishes. But Shuffield has yet to recapture the magic of winning on the biggest stage, as he did in 2022. Still, he’s experienced the pressure before. He knows what it takes to get over the hump. Winning REDCREST at Table Rock would be the ultimate redemption for a career even he thought might have been finished just a handful of years ago.
4. Alton Jones Jr.
It’s hard not to feel bad for Alton Jones Jr. in the same way it’s hard to not still feel bad for the Buffalo Bills teams of the early ‘90s that lost four consecutive Super Bowls. The talent on those teams was unbelievable, as is Jones’ (for catching bass; probably not so much for tackling 230-pound athletes), but a pair of REDCREST runner-up finishes (2023, 2024) has to have Jones salivating for a chance at redemption. Jones has won twice in regular-season BPT competition and at Heavy Hitters in 2023. He’s finished runner-up in a trio of other regular-season BPT events. The résumé is stacked. All that stands in his way is a Championship Round field of nine similarly talented pros and one day on Table Rock Lake.
5. Jeff Sprague
Seven of Jeff Sprague’s 31 Top 10s with FLW/MLF were runner-up finishes, including once at Heavy Hitters (2021), a tournament in which he’s won Berkley Big Bass prizes not once but twice. Sprague did win the Challenge Cup in 2020, but as far as regular-season Bass Pro Tour competition goes, he’s yet to get over the hump that eludes so many pros. And here’s the thing: Sprague deserves a win as much as anyone. In seven years on the BPT, he’s finished outside the Top 10 in Angler of the Year standings just one time, and he’s well on his way to another this season (currently in ninth). For a pro as talented as Sprague, with as much success as he’s found in his career, his first win on the biggest stage would be validation for a career that deserves more attention.
6. Mark Daniels Jr.
One of the better-known examples of rising through the bass fishing ranks, Mark Daniels Jr. made a name for himself by winning the TBF National Championship in 2013. From there, Daniels fished the Toyota Series, the FLW Tour and the Elite Series before joining the Bass Pro Tour in its inaugural 2019 season. He’s worked his way up the ladder and amassed 20 Top 10s and a Toyota Series win in the process.
Daniels is what kids think of when they consider a career in bass fishing: A success story that started at the grassroots level and blossomed into a career on the BPT. What better way to grab the final rung than to win REDCREST in a Championship Round field that includes a couple of his best friends in Wheeler and Connell?
7. Takahiro Omori
Consider this: Takahiro Omori has a chance to, in the same calendar year, win his first regular-season Bass Pro Tour event, be the first native of Japan inducted to the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame and win REDCREST. That certainly seems like a storyline worth rooting for.
Omori is an enigma in today’s world of electronics. Despite the prevalence of forward-facing sonar and finesse offerings, he’s never wavered from his favorite approach: winding a vibrating jig from lines-in to lines-out – and it’s worked for him in 2026, especially. Always a fan favorite, “Tak” has a chance to put a very big cherry on top of one of the best careers we’ve ever seen.
8. Dustin Connell
What can we say that hasn’t already been said about Dustin Connell? He’s the three-time, twice-reigning REDCREST winner trying to be the first pro to ever win back-to-back-to-back championships. That alone is worth rooting for, and it also helps that Connell has remained humble about his REDCREST dominance. But what would make this one even sweeter for Connell and really cement his claim to the REDCREST crown is winning one outside his home state of Alabama (which, admittedly, is a weak storyline considering Connell has nine career wins from Mille Lacs to Toledo Bend). Like we said, it’s hard to find something to say that hasn’t been said already. Why root for Connell to win? Because it would be extremely cool.
9. Jacob Wheeler
It almost seems ho-hum these days to talk about what Jacob Wheeler has done as a bass fishing professional. He’s been ranked World No. 1 for years. He’s won 11 times on the Bass Pro Tour and 18 times for his career (including the Forrest Wood Cup and BFL All-American). Just about the only thing he hasn’t won is REDCREST.
In six prior REDCREST appearances, Wheeler finished in the top six four times. He’s been close. He’s always close. It’s rare to not see Wheeler figure it out and be in contention for any tournament he’s fishing. And he’s watched his friend, Connell, win it more than anyone thought possible. Will Wheeler eventually win one? Probably. Will it be this year, on Sunday? We’ll find out.
10. Brent Ehrler
Brent Ehrler announced his presence – emphatically – during his rookie season in 2006 by winning the Forrest Wood Cup and $500,000 at Logan Martin Lake. While he’s still far from closing in on the end of his career, he could bookend the last 20 years pretty nicely with a REDCREST victory at Table Rock. After all, Ehrler has stacked his résumé with eight wins (including a Toyota Series championship), 53 Top 10s and more than $3.6 million in career winnings in that span. Winning REDCREST is about all that’s left for Ehrler to do.