Breaking down the Toyota Series Championship field
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The field in this year’s Toyota Series Championship Presented by Bass Boat Technologies is pretty ridiculous. Though that’s basically an evergreen statement, this year’s field is quite special, with a half dozen Bass Pro Tour or Elite Series pros plus many of the best young anglers in the game and local experts out the wazoo.
So, set your sights on Wheeler Lake this November; it’s going to be a good one. And, as luck would have it, the final day will be streamed live on MLFNOW!, which could provide some really good action.
Here are some of the many names to know in the field this year.
Some honorable mentions
While the bulk of the field comes out of the regular Toyota Series divisions, there are a handful of qualifiers from various other MLF events in the field, as well as international representatives. In the past, Canadians have done quite well at the championship – this year the north is represented by Erik Luzak, Derek Meloche and Andrew Campbell. From the Abu Garcia College Fishing ranks, Ryan Lachniet is of high interest – he also finished fourth in the Northern Division and seems on track to continue to excel.
Annually, the Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American also puts some very interesting names into the championship. Last year’s winner, Emil Wagner, nearly won the Toyota Series Championship as well. Paul Marks Jr. won the All-American this year and also qualified for the Elite Series plus finished second in the Tackle Warehouse Invitational on Eufaula. Just about everyone who qualified via the All-American has the talent to make some noise, but these days, Marks is a tournament favorite whenever he launches the boat.
Central Division brings heat and local skills
The Central Division is an action-packed division – always one running large fields, it’s a tough nut to crack. This year, the youngest qualifier out of the Central Division is Fisher Anaya, who is just 18 years old. On the other end of the spectrum, 57-year-old Greg Pugh still has what it takes – having fished the Forrest Wood Cup multiple times, he’s obviously no pushover.
As far as locals go, Kyle Norsetter is the farthest from that – his home in Cottage Grove, Wis., is 600 miles from Ditto Landing. That said, there are a lot of locals in this one – seven Central Division pros live less than 40 miles from takeoff.
Fishing Clash Angler of the Year in the Central Division, Matt O’Connell of Georgia never finished worse than 15th on the season and nearly won the opener at Lake Guntersville. Even without the AOY honor, O’Connell would be worth watching – he’s set the world on fire lately and made the Top 10 in BFL competition a whopping 10 times in 2024 alone.
When it comes to highlighting other individuals in this group, you could reasonably write a paragraph about everyone – there’s some serious lumber in this division. But, to call out a few that have a special pedigree or highly developed skills, you’ve got to mention Forrest Wood Cup champion Justin Atkins, who lives on Pickwick and is highly skilled on the Tennessee River in general. Austin Swindle also needs some consideration – he makes the Top 10 almost a third of the time in MLF competition and seems to have a stranglehold on Alabama waters. His first Toyota Series win is coming. Similarly, Andrew Nordbye figures to be a contender. The Tackle Warehouse Invitationals pro, who lives nearby, should be well prepared for this.
Finally, you can’t ignore the youth. Anaya has had some real highlights the last few years. Banks Shaw and Hayden Marbut, his elders by just a few years, are both fascinating prospects. Shaw has dominated collegiate fishing on the Tennessee River lately and won the Toyota Series event on Lake Chickamauga this summer by a record margin – he’s legitimately one of the biggest stories of the year and only 21 years old. Fellow 21-year-old Marbut won at Guntersville in the winter, so he’s had all year to practice Wheeler if he wanted to. Like Shaw and Anaya, he’s a top-notch modern angler.
Lots of talent headed south from the Northern Division
The Northern Division Top 25 was pretty jumbled this year, with some regular northeast contenders in the mix plus pros from as far away as Florida and Texas. Though Kyle Cortiana first locked in qualification for the championship through the Central Division, he won AOY in the Northern Division with a spectacular run that saw him finish 15th, first and second. Cortiana has been fishing very well lately, and you’ve got to figure the Oklahoman will be a tough out at Wheeler.
Of the Northern qualifiers, there aren’t many that really make their homes close to Wheeler – Jimmy Neece is the closest, and he’s nearly 300 miles away. A few pros will really be racking up the miles – or kilometers, as Luzak is coming from 971 miles away in Ontario and Nicolas Gendron is rolling 1,118 miles from Quebec.
Interestingly, the Northern Division skews a little older than the Central Division. Ben McCann is the youngest qualifier, and he’s 23 years old. Bringing the most experience to the table, John Vanore of New Jersey is 67.
As far as folks to watch out of the Northern Division, Cortiana is top of the list when you consider his resume. Neece is also a potential threat; though he may not be super close to Wheeler, he’s got a lot of Tennessee River success, including at some off times of the year. You also need to watch out for McCann, who has shown he can be successful at a pretty broad range of lakes in his young career. Mike Raber threatened to win last year’s championship on Table Rock – though Wheeler isn’t really in his wheelhouse. It’s probably also worth keeping an eye on Kurt Mitchell – a former FLW Tour pro, Mitchell can pop a good finish at a lot of random places, not just in the north.
Plains Division looks to make some noise on the Tennessee River
There’s no doubt that the Central Division has some serious heat, but the Plains Division isn’t lacking either. Leading the way, Jake Lawrence has dominated up and down the Tennessee River the last few years, and he extended his success to Grand Lake and Lake of the Ozarks to wrap up an AOY title this year. Behind Lawrence, you’ve got BPT pro Jared Lintner and multiple anglers who have fished the Forrest Wood Cup, plus Matteo Turano, the winner of this fall’s BFL Regional just down the river on Pickwick.
From the Plains Division, the longest drive award goes to Ronnie Kane, who will be trucking over 500 miles from Kansas. On the close side, there are a bunch of pros from the Kentucky Lake region who will be driving less than 200 miles to fish some fairly familiar waters.
Ethan Fields contended for the Plains AOY title and brings the most youthful outlook into the championship – he’s just 20 years old. The oldest competitor from the Plains Division is Randy Blaukat, who is 62 and finished 18th in the points.
There are a number of transcendent Ozark anglers in the group, and despite their lack of proximity, it could be dangerous to count them out. Jeremy Lawyer won his All-American at Lake Barkley, and Marcus Sykora won his on Wilson – proof that Missouri and Oklahoma anglers are more than capable of success on big river reservoirs. Still, this group has some true Tennessee River sticks in it. With Lawrence leading the way, you’ve also got to include anglers like Fields, Turano, Jordan Hartman and Ryan Kirkpatrick. Don’t be at all surprised if it takes a single-digit finish to take home the $10,000 bonus for the top finisher from the Plains Division.
Don’t count out the Southern Division
When you get to the Tennessee River in the fall, folks with Florida addresses have a knack. In 2021, Mikey Keyso pushed Brent Crow to the limit on Pickwick. Back in 2018, Kyle Walters took it to ‘em to win on Guntersville. This year, Jessie Mizell earned a hard-fought AOY title to lead the Floridians north.
Though the Top 25 from the Southern Division contains mostly Floridians and Georgians, there are a few other states mixed in. Still, there’s no real Wheeler local that snuck in from the south. As far as age goes, the division kicked out some super young qualifiers, with Colbie Cagle and Rafe Sexton both being 19 years old. Packed with earned wisdom, Lonnie O’Neal comes into the event at 72 – it’ll be the first Toyota Series Championship of his career.
The Southern Division isn’t lacking in talent, especially when it comes to Florida. As far as taking it north, that’s a little more up for debate. If this was a Florida event, Mizell, Keyso and Brandon Medlock would be terrifying adversaries. As is, some of the anglers that are a little more well-rounded outside of the Sunshine State may have better odds. If that is the case, then Christian Greico, Britt Myers Jr. and Flint Davis might be the smarter bets.
Southwestern Division will be a tough out
No shade to any other division, but the Southwestern Division could pack a real punch in this one. Winning AOY, Cole Moore edged out a stacked group. Behind Moore were some of the hottest anglers in the country, including many with copious experience and success away from the East Texas pines.
Pretty much everyone in the division will be making a solid drive to Wheeler, but there are few with notably long hauls. From Colorado, Ty Faber will be doing 1,160 miles, and Riley Nielsen will be fishing 1,436 miles from home. Notably, the Southwestern Division is sending three teens to Wheeler, with Zane Parker, Austin Pemberton and Kaden Mueck all being just 19. On the high side, Randy Despino is 63 years old.
However you want to slice it, this division packs a punch. If you’re looking for veteran talent, both Aaron Johnson and Todd Castledine have excelled on the Tennessee River before in the fall. If you want folks that are just straight up on fire, Brody Campbell, Jaden Parrish, Marshall Hughes and Colby Miller all fit the bill.
Could this be the year for the Western Division?
With no Western Division events scheduled for 2025, this could be the last chance for a while for many western anglers to fish the Toyota Series Championship. This year, Christian Melton earned the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in the west, and he made the Top 10 in every event to do it.
Everyone from this division is putting on some serious miles – the longest drive belongs to Joe Mariani, who will be launching his boat 1,970 miles from home. The average distance from takeoff for the western pros is 1,751.6 miles – not close! As far as age goes, the west skews old – Ed Arledge is 81 on the upper end, and the youngest qualifiers are Mariani and Cody Crist at 22.
Historically, finishing well in the Toyota Series Championship is not easy for the western pros, but it can be done. In 2023, Christian Ostrander made the Top 10 on Table Rock. Patrick Touey finished 12th at Guntersville in 2022, and in 2020, Michael Caruso and Andrew Loberg both made the Top 10 at Cumberland. The west will be sending some standout talent back east for this one – nobody can deny the skills of Roy Hawk, and Julius Mazy is on a roll. Still, it’s going to be an uphill battle for them.
Wild Card Division is loaded with standout talent
The premise of the Wild Card Division is that anglers can build a schedule that works for them and still have a chance to make the championship. It’s also a second chance for an angler to salvage a season after a bomb. So, almost by definition, the anglers who qualified out of the Wild Card Division are a little more motivated than most to make it to the big dance. This year, the $10,000 highest-finisher bonus also applies to the Wild Card Division, which is a nice cash infusion for whoever comes out on top in that division.
With the most points in the Wild Card Division, Chad Mrazek locked up a theoretical AOY and a return to the event he won last year. Mrazek had a good but not great season on the Invitationals, and there’s no reason to doubt that he could close another year with a big performance.
As you’d expect, the Wild Card Division also has some competitors looking to take advantage of home water – Crow, Phillip Dutra, Logan Dyar, Blake Hall, Laker Howell and Jordan Wiggins are all from less than 50 miles away. Though his address is in Oregon, Lane Olson’s 2,050-mile trek only sort of counts – the next farthest is Alec Morrison, who’ll be coming 905 miles from Peru, N.Y.
By age, the Wild Card crew skews fairly young. There are only two anglers over 50 in the mix – Crow and David Williams. They both stand a good chance to be in the mix on Day 3 – Williams has excelled at just about every level of bass fishing, and Crow won the 2021 championship fishing the tailrace at Pickwick. The kids of the group are also impressive – Alex Bradley is 19 years old and put up two Top-20 finishes in his first season fishing from the bow. At 18, Mitchell Robison made two Toyota Series Top 10s and finished 20th in the points in the Invitationals.
If you’re looking for possible contenders out of the Wild Card, you could pretty much highlight the whole list. Still, there are some standouts: Morrison has been on a roll, Drew Gill is basically unstoppable, and there’s some extremely good talent with Alabama addresses. If John Cox’s past success on Wheeler is any indication, Keith Poche and his tin rig could be worth an eye as well.