Dustin Connell Claims Third Career Victory at Bass Pro Tour Fox Rent A Car Stage Six at Cayuga Lake Presented by Googan Baits
Googan Baits Pro Catches 25 Scorable Bass Weighing 96-12 to Win Third Career Title – Second in 2022 – and Earn Top Payout of $100,000
UNION SPRINGS, N.Y. – In a week where largemouth bass made up more than 80% of all of the fish caught on and weighed by the 80 anglers that competed in the Bass Pro Tour on Cayuga Lake, Googan Baits pro Dustin Connell, stuck with smallmouth and bested them all. The Clanton, Alabama, pro caught 25 scorable smallmouth bass weighing 96 pounds, 12 ounces, to win the Bass Pro Tour Fox Rent A Car Stage Six on Cayuga Lake Presented by Googan Baits in Union Springs, New York, on Thursday. The victory was the third Bass Pro Tour win of Connell’s career – second of the season – and earned him the top payout of $100,000.
Link to Hi-Res Photo of Stage Six Winner Dustin Connell
Link to Photo Gallery of Day 6 Championship Round Highlights
Link to Video of Fish Catch Highlights from Day 6 at Cayuga Lake
“I am shook up. This is unbelievable,” an emotional Connell said. “I worked so hard for this tournament, man. I sat out here and battled these waves, every day, and I practiced so hard, from daylight to dark. It’s so special to win two in one year. This is just nuts.
“I’d only been here once before – I came here a couple of years ago for a MLF Cup event on Cayuga,” Connell said. “I only caught two bass, all day long. And now we’re holding the trophy up. And to win it with smallmouth – this is unreal.”
Connell spent the tournament drop-shotting a variety of baits, using his Lowrance ActiveTarget forward-facing sonar to follow the roaming schools of smallmouth.
“I caught all of my fish this week on a spinning rod. I had seven or eight of them tied up every day,” Connell said. “I was using 12-pound Gold Label Seaguar (fluorocarbon), and a variety of different baits. I was using a (Googan) Drag N Drop in green-pumpkin. I caught a bunch of key fish on it around all of the structure. For the suspended fish, I caught them on a shad bait. Just following them around. They love to roam during the summer and that’s the best way to catch them.”
The victory tied Connell with Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe for second-most career wins on the Bass Pro Tour all-time list with three. Academy Sports + Outdoors pro Jacob Wheeler, who finished runner-up to Connell this week, has the most Bass Pro Tour wins with five.
“I look at guys like Jacob and Ott, and to even be mentioned in the same conversation with them, as that type of fisherman… my gosh,” Connell said. “I’m just a kid out here, living his dream. I am so blessed to get this win.”
The Top 10 pros from the Fox Rent A Car Stage Six on Cayuga Lake Presented by Googan Baits are:
1st: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 25 bass, 96-12, $100,000
2nd: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 27 bass, 80-9, $45,000
3rd: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 17 bass, 49-7, $38,000
4th: Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 17 bass, 48-13, $32,000
5th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 14 bass, 46-10, $30,000
6th: Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 11 bass, 46-10, $26,000
7th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 14 bass, 43-12, $23,000
8th: Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, 14 bass, 41-8, $21,000
9th: Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, 11 bass, 32-14, $19,000
10th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., eight bass, 32-14, $16,000
Full results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 158 scorable bass weighing 519 pounds, 13 ounces caught by the final 10 pros on Thursday.
Brookeland, Texas, pro Dakota Ebare earned Thursday’s Championship Round $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award, and the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the overall largest bass of the event, with a massive 7-pound, 10-ounce smallmouth that bit a Strike King Baby Z-Too during Period 1. Ebare’s giant smallmouth was just 10 ounces shy of the New York state record that was set on Cayuga Lake in late June.
After six regular-season events in the 2022 Bass Pro Tour season, reigning Bally Bet Angler of the Year (AOY) Jacob Wheeler leads with 459 points with just one event left in the regular season, while Jordan Lee is in second place with 394 points. Dayton, Tennessee’s Andy Morgan sits in third with 373 points. Texas pro Alton Jones currently sits in fourth place with 356.5 points, while Randall Tharp rounds out the top five with 352 points.
The Fox Rent A Car Stage Six on Cayuga Lake Presented by Googan Baits featured anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
This six-day event was hosted by the Village of Union Springs and showcased 80 of the best professional anglers in the world competing for a purse of more than $805,000, with a top payout of $100,000. The tournament was live streamed each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MOTV app, and also filmed for television broadcast later this fall on the Discovery Channel.
Television coverage of the Fox Rent A Car Stage Six on Cayuga Lake Presented by Googan Baits will premiere as a two-hour episode at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 12 on Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of tournament competition.
The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST IV, the Bass Pro Tour championship, which will be held next March on Lake Norman in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bally Bet, Bass Cat, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Covercraft, Favorite Fishing, Garmin, General Tire, Googan Baits, Grundéns, Guaranteed Rate, Humminbird, Lowrance, Luminox, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Nitro Performance Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Power Stop, Rapala, Starbrite, Toro, Toyota, Wrangler, Yellowstone Bourbon and Zoom.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.