The biggest event of the Major League Fishing season is almost here. Thirty-five pros will duke it out for the championship trophy and $300,000 at Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance April 17-19 on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake.
REDCREST is not only an opportunity for one angler to claim a life-changing title; it’s a unique event for Phoenix Fantasy Fishing Presented by 13 Fishing players. With only 35 anglers in the field, your chances of finally picking that perfect lineup are better than ever. (Then again, that means less margin for error, too.) And unlike the pros competing in this event, the points from REDCREST do factor into the Bass Pro Tour’s season-long Fantasy Fishing standings, the winner of which will receive a fishing trip with 2022 REDCREST champ Bobby Lane and a premium prize package from Tackle Warehouse. As always, the top performer for this event will win prizes from 13 Fishing and BUBBA.
Our first bit of advice: Pick Dustin Connell. The two-time defending REDCREST champion and three-time winner owns this event. For everything else you need to know, keep reading.
Past triumphs on Table Rock
The field as a whole doesn’t have a crazy amount of tournament experience on Table Rock. Only one angler has competed in more than five MLF events on the fishery. However, five of the 35 competitors will return to Table Rock having won there before.
Headlining that list is Jacob Wheeler, who is looking to add his first REDCREST title to a trophy case that already includes 11 Bass Pro Tour regular season wins and four Fishing Clash Angler of the Year titles. The first of those BPT victories came on Table Rock in 2019, making Wheeler the only angler in the field to win an every-fish-counts event on the fishery.
While it’s been a little while, other anglers with victories on Table Rock include Brent Ehrler, Todd Faircloth and Mark Davis. Ehrler won an FLW Tour event on Table Rock in 2010, and he’s always strong on clear-water fisheries. Faircloth won a Bassmaster Elite Series event on Table Rock in 2006, while Davis prevailed in a Bassmaster event there in 2004. While the lake (and how it’s fished) has changed a lot in the past 22 years, don’t count out Davis, who lives just a few hours away and always excels around the spawn.
Finally, remember how we said one angler has logged more than five events on Table Rock? That would be Missouri native Roger Fitzpatrick, who has racked up a whopping 32 starts (and two wins) on Table Rock. While Fitzpatrick has never competed at the national touring level, he showed last fall that he can hang with the best when they’re fishing on his turf by winning the Toyota Series Championship on Grand Lake, which qualified him for REDCREST.
Ride the momentum
A few other anglers stand out as easy picks based on their track records on Table Rock, their momentum entering this event or a combination of the two. It’s almost impossible not to pick Drew Gill no matter where he’s competing, and he just so happens to have a third-place finish on Table Rock to his name at the 2023 Toyota Series Championship. Same goes for Zack Birge, who has racked up a win and two other Top 10s in the first four BPT events of the season. Birge feels overdue to break through at REDCREST, too – he’s finished sixth or better in four of his five REDCREST appearances, including a third-place showing last year.
Justin Lucas has been hot as well. He’s coming off a pair of Top 10s in the Bass Pro Tour’s Texas swing. Like Ehrler, the West Coast native is always dangerous on clear-water fisheries, and his versatility should benefit him at this event. Lastly, while Spencer Shuffield broke a streak of seven straight BPT events in which he at least made the Knockout Round with a stumble at O.H. Ivie, he’s been fishing great over the past year and has a wealth of experience on highland reservoirs in the Ozarks region.
Other anglers to consider
Matt Becker – I think the catch rate is going to be pretty high at this event, meaning anglers are going to need to keep pace both with and without forward-facing sonar. Becker has the type of versatile skill set to do just that. Plus, I believe winning REDCREST would make him the first angler to collect every type of trophy MLF has to offer, which would be fun. He’s already won at least one BFL, Toyota Series, Pro Circuit, BPT and Team Series event to go along with his 2023 Angler of the Year title.
Keith Carson – There’s a chance this event could be dominated by spawning fish. If that’s the case, Carson should be in his wheelhouse as one of the best sight-fishermen in the world. However, he’s recently proven that he can use forward-facing sonar to catch suspended bass with the best of them, too. So, even if it turns out targeting groups of prespawn and postspawn bass is the way to win this one, I still think he has a shot.
Edwin Evers – Evers has spent tons of time on Table Rock through the years, and he has an elite track record in big-time events, having won both REDCREST in 2019 and the Bassmaster Classic in 2016. Evers has come close several times, but hasn’t won since that 2019 championship. He feels due to break through sooner than later.
My picks
Flight 1: Matt Becker, Keith Carson, Mark Davis, Justin Lucas, Spencer Shuffield
Flight 2: Zack Birge, Dustin Connell, Roger Fitzpatrick, Drew Gill, Jacob Wheeler