EUFAULA, Ala. – Weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces on the final day, Justin Lucas totaled up 51-13 to earn the win at the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats event on Lake Eufaula. Earning $79,300 for his efforts, the win is Lucas’ third with MLF as a pro, and his first win as a pro outside of tidal waters or the Great Lakes. In second, Bobby Bakewell sacked 17-4 for a 46-3 total to move up from sixth place for his second runner-up finish of the year at the Toyota Series level.
“I mean I’m on cloud nine,” Lucas said. “To win on an inland lake that’s not tidal and not the Great Lakes (region) is amazing.”
The victory also marks his first win at a Toyota Series or equivalent-level event, and it’s just as sweet of a win to him as any of his previous pro-level titles.
“I’ve always said that this level of competition is as hard to win at as one of the bigger pro events because you have the best locals in all of these events,” he said. “So, a lot of these people, you may not have heard of them before, but they’re hammers here. I’ve always respected these guys and so to be able to win against them is a big deal to me. It’s a great payday too.”
After catching his bass primarily with a spinnerbait and crankbait combination on a shad spawn early in the event, Lucas abandoned it quickly on Day 3. Plan B included working slow and methodically to fish his way into the right caliber of fish. Lucas spent the final day slowly upgrading his catch as the day wore on.
“My plan worked, and just everything came together,” he said. “Today, it got calm and sunny as you can tell. So, I picked up a 5-inch Berkley PowerBait Power Hawg and just got to dragging it really slow. It was just slow and steady bites; you know every time I would catch one, I would upgrade. It just all worked out.”
Lucas focused on shallower fish on the final day, opting to target fish that were more lethargic and just finishing up spawning or fish that were transitioning out of the spawning phase prior to their migration to deeper water.
“I think some of the fish I was catching today were still late spawners,” he said. “I was targeting 4 to 8 feet of water and just fishing rock, stumps, and some gravel spots. Just trying to fish slowly and pick everything apart.”
Lucas’ victory also automatically qualified him to fish the Toyota Series Championship on Table Rock Lake in November. Lucas notes that he now gets to stress a little less about the busy schedule he had planned for 2023, bouncing between both Toyota Series events and the Bass Pro Tour.
“I mean it’s awesome,” he said. “I was planning on going to the Potomac and Lake of the Ozarks. So, to be able to make it by winning this event is great because now I don’t have to go to those two places. I was going to be pushing it schedule-wise. I didn’t know if I could do it for sure, so winning this is awesome.”
Top 10 pros
1. Justin Lucas – 51 – 13 (15) – $79,300 (includes $35,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2. Bobby Bakewell – 46 – 3 (15) – $17,000
3. Kyle Austin – 44 – 9 (15) – $12,750
4. Emil Wagner – 43 – 0 (15) – $10,750
5. Michael M. Smith – 42 – 0 (15) – $9,750
6. Brent Chapman – 41 – 12 (15) – $8,375
7. Ethan Greene – 41 – 8 (15) – $7,300
8. Mike Cavender – 39 – 14 (15) – $6,300
9. Joey Bloom – 38 – 15 (15) – $5,300
10. Ron Nelson – 38 – 10 (15) – $4,200