Macy Wins the All-American - Major League Fishing
Macy Wins the All-American
2y • Jody White • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Podcast: Emil Wagner on his All-American win and blueback herring strategies
2d • MLF • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Top 10 baits and patterns from the All-American on Lake Hartwell
4d • Tyler Brinks, Rob Matsuura • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Wagner closes strong to win the 40th All-American on Hartwell
6d • Tyler Brinks • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Taylor goes from ninth to first on Strike King co-angler side
6d • Tyler Brinks • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
GALLERY: Champions crowned at the All-American
6d • Rob Matsuura • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Phoenix Bass Fishing League – All-American Championship – Day 3 weigh-in (6/2/2023)
6d • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Wagner triumphs in 40th All-American on Lake Hartwell
6d • Jody White • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
GALLERY: Battling it out for the All-American title
6d • Rob Matsuura, Tyler Brinks • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
GALLERY: All-American Championship Friday starts on Hartwell
6d • Rob Matsuura • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Wagner, O’Connell both crack 20 for first and second on Day 2 of the All-American
1w • Tyler Brinks • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Phoenix Bass Fishing League – All-American Championship – Day 2 weigh-in (6/1/2023)
1w • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
GALLERY: Day 2 Weigh-in on the shores of Hartwell
1w • Rob Matsuura • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
Wagner cracks 20 pounds to take the lead on Day 2 of the All-American
1w • Jody White • Phoenix Bass Fishing League
GALLERY: See the leaders in action on Lake Hartwell
1w • Rob Matsuura, Tyler Brinks • Phoenix Bass Fishing League

Macy Wins the All-American

Missouri angler continues the Ozark Division tradition of success in FLW’s grassroots championship
Image for Macy Wins the All-American
Chris Macy Photo by Rob Matsuura.
November 13, 2020 • Jody White • Phoenix Bass Fishing League

Weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce on the final day, Chris Macy totaled 34-10 to win the Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American presented by TINCUP. Hailing from Diamond, Mo., Macy rose from fifth to first on the final day to claim the $100,000 top prize in his first time in the All-American.

Complete results

Top 10 patterns 

Top 10 baits

Macy, who is team partners back home with Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit pro Jeremy Lawyer, sat in fifth place through the first two days, and didn’t have a fish in the box at 11 a.m. on the final day. Turning it on in the afternoon, Macy closed out the win in the final minutes.

“I already had a pretty good bag, and I stopped on a spot right within sight of weigh-in with 15 minutes to go,” says Macy, who is a home builder in Missouri. “When I dropped that LiveScope down, I could see a school, I bet there were 40 bass. When I fired that swimbait out there, I caught one first cast, and it didn’t help me any. By looking, I just thought it was a school of that size of fish. Two casts later, I fired back out there, and I set the hook, and it was a good one. It was the one I needed, I got it in the boat, and it probably weighed close to 3 pounds. That’s when things got real. I knew I had a chance before that, but with that one I knew I really had a chance at this thing.”

Macy qualified for the All-American out of the Ozark Division, and he put together three outstanding days of fishing on unfamiliar water to beat some seasoned Hartwell anglers.

“It’s unbelievable, going into today, I really didn’t think I had a shot at it,” Macy says of his win. “I was just trying to hold my own. When you make it to the last day, you’re looking at the pay scale, and every spot you can hold is a thousand bucks. But, anything can happen, it’s the All-American, and if you can hang in there, and maybe throw a big one in there, anything can happen. What an unbelievable deal – it’s been a super three days.”

All week, Macy targeted spotted bass suspending over brush piles. Catching a couple on a drop-shot, his main bait was either a Tennessee shad or sexy shad 2.8-inch Keitech Swing Impact FAT on a jig head ranging from ¼- to 3/8-ounce.

Chris Macy

“I was targeting brush piles,” says Macy. “I spent a couple days in practice idling all this stuff, and I saw some cane piles, but to me, they weren’t on the cane piles. It was definitely a brush pile deal, every fish I caught came off a brush pile. That Garmin LiveScope, it was crucial, every fish I caught this week, I watched it.”

On days one and two, Macy cast his swimbait over brush in 20 to 30 feet and wound it back, doing best on brush piles with a group of fish over top of them. On the final day, Macy was fishless late in the morning, but he adjusted to roar back for the win.

“Starting at about 10:30, once the sun got up, the fish got positioned right,” explains Macy. “All morning, they were kinda down in the brush, or halfway in the brush, and for the swimbait, I needed those fish to get up and sit on top of the brush pile in little wolf packs. Once the sun positioned those fish, I could get them to follow the bait, but I couldn’t get them to eat it. I was getting pretty frustrated, and honestly, I burned a lot of time, because I could see fish there, but I could not get any kind of reaction out of them.”

After switching to a heavier 3/8-ounce head and a slightly faster presentation, Macy unlocked the secret to converting follows to bites.

“About 1 o’clock, I stumbled on to something and it absolutely went crazy from there,” says Macy. “On the LiveScope, I could see my swimbait come across the top of the brush pile, and if I could get those fish to follow it, which most of them did, I could just kill it and let it go straight to the bottom. Every one of those fish would nose down on it, and as soon as I popped that swimbait up off the bottom they would eat it every time.”

From there on out, Macy made hay. After drawing a group of fish just far enough from the brush to ensure he’d land them on 8-pound-test, Macy dropped the bait to the bottom. When it was working best, Macy says he could watch the school go back to the brush pile with his LiveScope as he fought one of their brethren to the boat.

While his final stop on a surprise mega-wad sealed the deal, his afternoon adjustment was what put him in position to win. Now, as the top finisher from the Ozark Division, Macy is headed to the Toyota Series Championship this December on Lake Cumberland. He’s also starting to think about the possibility of pro angling, which has been so good to Lawyer the last few years.

“I might fish some bigger stuff, but me and Jeremy Lawyer, we fish a lot of team stuff together, and I love it,” says Macy. “I like the pro-am style events and the team circuit and staying close to home, so I don’t know what it holds.”

Chris Macy

 

Top 10 pros

1. Chris Macy – Diamond, Mo. – 34 – 10 (15) – $100,000

2. Todd Goade – White Pine, Tenn. – 32 – 6 (15) – $20,000

3. Cole Floyd – Leesburg, Ohio – 31 – 11 (15) – $15,000

4. Jayme Rampey – Liberty, S.C. – 31 – 7 (15) – $21,000

5. Bryan Dowdy – Florence, Ala. – 30 – 7 (15) – $18,000

6. Roger Fitzpatrick – Eldon, Mo. – 28 – 1 (15) – $12,000

7. Randall Allen – Owens Cross Roads, Ala. – 27 – 11 (15) – $12,000

8. Kip Carter – Mansfield, Ga. – 27 – 11 (15) – $10,000

9. Dustin Lippe – Lampe, Mo. – 25 – 11 (12) – $9,000

10. Dennis Berhorst – Holts Summit, Mo. – 23 – 11 (13) – $8,000

Complete results

Watch Live Now!