GROVE, Okla. – Day 1 of the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats on Grand Lake was about as tough as predicted. No pros or co-anglers caught 20 pounds, and a mere 13 pounds went a very long way. On Day 2, things are set up for a ton of leaderboard movement, but at the top, Travis Pitt and Tyler Weberg set themselves apart.
Leading, Pitt sacked up 18 pounds, 14 ounces and Weberg tallied 18-11 for second. In third, Greg Bohannan weighed 16-3, and, helped by a 6-pounder, Brody Luckey fished his way into fourth with 15-15.
On the co-angler side, Ben Burk caught five for 12-9 for the lead and Tommy Pritchard sits ounces back with 11-12. Overall, limits were pretty hard to come by for co-anglers, and the leaderboard looks ripe for movement on Day 2.
Pitt sees shades of the desert
Leading the way, Pitt currently sports a Florida address (and he came out of the Southern Division), but he’s originally from the West, calling Lake Mead home. A delivery driver fishing the Toyota Series for the first time in 2025, Pitt is in the mix for some pretty big things if he can put together another solid limit tomorrow.
“Practice was bad – the worst practice I’d ever had,” he said. “If you would have told me I’d have that today, I’d have said you were nuts. It felt like I was at Mead today. The wind, the stuff I was fishing, I just settled in. I had a couple places where I was getting some bites, and today, I had a limit by 9 o’clock; they were going nuts.”
Culling three times and catching at least two limits of keepers, Pitt reacted to what he’s used to seeing in the desert.
“It’s bait,” he said. “Normally, the bait will show up, and then you’ll see bass moving in. In theory, those areas will get better. I can’t speak to this place. I pulled into some areas today and the bait was just gone [to] who knows where.”
As such, he’s not ready to declare victory just yet.
“Tomorrow could be another story,” he said. “What I’m seeing, I think it might stay, but you don’t know. Today I backed off of my stuff. I started to burn it down, but I was like, ‘Dude, this is not the day to do that.’”
One thing is for sure: Really early in the process, Pitt could make his move east pay dividends.
“I moved to try to make a run at doing something like this,” he said. “I wanted to fish something that could possibly take me someplace else. At the end of the day, I hate working. The only time I’m happy is when I fish.”
Weberg in the mix early
As you’d expect on Grand Lake, Ozark talent is very present on the leaderboard, but, considering that he’s never fished a tournament on Grand before, Weberg might not be the likeliest candidate. That said, he put it together as well as anyone, and he has the right skills for the moment.
“I’m a bank power fisherman, and this lake sets up really good for how I like to fish,” he said. “I had a good practice, so, if the stars aligned, I knew somewhere in the 18- to 20-pound range was possible today. It’s fishing tough. I didn’t get a lot of bites today. It was pretty much about making every bite count.”
Weberg is not burning through numbers by any means.
“This lake has taught me a lot,” he said. “You can’t let it get to your head; you’ve just got to keep your nose down and keep going – go back to your spots, re-fish everything, and new fish pull up. I’m nervous about tomorrow. I know how tough this lake is fishing. Just as easily as you can go out and get a good sack, you can go out and blank right now.”
And while that is certainly true, Weberg has the skills for the moment, and on Day 1, plenty of Ozark talent saw success.
Bohannan poised for more championship success
Almost always a contender in the Toyota Series Championship, Bohannan is one of perhaps nine local-ish pros in the top 15 after Day 1.
“I had a pretty decent practice, but I didn’t really know what I had,” he said. “It was better than I thought it was going to be – it out-fished the potential I thought it had. I’m just running a pattern, running and gunning and covering a bunch of water.”
Going into Day 2, the veteran pro isn’t trying to do too much and doesn’t expect anything to come easy.
“I got lucky and had two really nice fish early this morning, and that set the tone for the day,” he said. “I had a really long period without bites, so I don’t really know. I know, typically, Grand Lake on Day 2 is really tough. I’m hoping I can grind out five and stay in the cut and maybe do something big on Saturday.”
Bohannan has a sterling record in fall championships, and he’s seen success from Table Rock to Pickwick and beyond. If he can pull this one off, he’d cement his status as a primetime performer when the leaves are falling.
“I think it’s two seconds, a third and a fourth,” he said of his fall championship record. “I would love to put a first on top of that. I don’t even like fishing in the fall. I want to be deer hunting. But it does line up with how I like to fish. Usually you can throw something moving, and that’s my forte.”
Top 10 pros
1. Travis Pitt – 18 – 14 (5)
2. Tyler Weberg – 18 – 11 (5)
3. Greg Bohannan – 16 – 3 (5)
4. Brody Luckey – 15 – 15 (5)
5. Adam Boehle – 15 – 13 (5)
5. Bradley Sullivan – 15 – 13 (5)
7. Erik Luzak – 15 – 8 (5)
8. Nicholas Dumke – 15 – 7 (5)
9. Lee Livesay – 15 – 6 (5)
10. Jack Daniel Williams – 15 – 2 (5)
Other REDCREST races offer mixed results
There’s also an intriguing subplot unfolding on Grand Lake this week. The Toyota Series Championship will determine not only the overall champion, but also which standout anglers advance to REDCREST 2026. Representing the college ranks, University of Montevallo teammates Brody Robison and Peyton Sorrow are once again in a head-to-head race for the coveted REDCREST berth – with Robison off to a strong start in 28th place after catching five bass for 13 pounds, 3 ounces, while Sorrow sits in 77th with 10 pounds, 12 ounces. On the international side, Italy’s Leonardo Benassi leads the global contingent, weighing in 13 pounds, 13 ounces on Day 1 to claim 22nd place – a promising start in his fourth Toyota Series Championship appearance.