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April 3, 2025.<\/p>\n
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. \u2014 Lightning struck twice for Casey Scanlon, and while one of those opportunities escaped him, capitalizing on the other helped secure a Day 1 limit of 18 pounds, 5 ounces, which leads Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN.<\/p>\n
Scanlon, a veteran Ozarks stick from Eldon, Mo., buoyed his opening bag with a 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth. Heading into Day 2, he holds a lead of 1-8 over Doug Chapin.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, I lost one bigger than that; I could\u2019ve had a really good day,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cThe one I lost was in a totally different area on an isolated piece of cover. I threw a bait across that spot that you normally don\u2019t lose big fish on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got him to the boat, and he just pulled off. I know where he\u2019s at, so hopefully tomorrow I can go back and get him.\u201d<\/p>\n
With recent rains sending muddy plumes into the lake through various creeks and drains, Norfork took on a significantly different complexion than it had presented during practice. This prompted to Scanlon to call an audible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI scrapped most of what I was doing after my first few stops in the morning,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cI slowed down, got a few bites and just kept my head down and kept grinding. Slowly but surely, I culled up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scanlon guarded his specifics, but he said he was able to develop some consistency by looking for a particular type of rock and a certain water clarity level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably hit a dozen places and when I got to each one, I tried to fish as slowly as I could and capitalize on the bites,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cI was kinda in that midrange.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe water clarity varied a lot, so I had to keep moving to find the clarity I wanted. There was definitely a lot of mixing water involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scanlon said he caught his fish on a mix of reaction baits and slower presentations. His 5-9 bit a moving bait.<\/p>\n
With lake conditions changing by the hour and more rain in the Day 2 forecast, Scanlon said he’s hopeful he can pick up where he left off today. Realistically, he suspects he\u2019ll need more flexibility for the second round.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t know if the area where I caught them today will produce again,\u201d Scanlon said. \u201cI utilized several different places today but caught both of my big ones on a similar stretch.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just keeping on the move, and I\u2019ll probably have to do that again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapin, who hails from Tigerton, Wis., is in second place with 16-13. Noting that his day was an extension of what he saw coming during practice, Chapin said his day started with a bang.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got fortunate and caught a 5-pounder on my first cast,\u201d Chapin said. \u201cI kind of just expanded off what I\u2019d found in practice. There is, for certain, a pattern. Whatever bass are supposed to do in rising water, that\u2019s what I was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chapin said he caught his fish on a mix of power fishing a Damiki rig. He had a limit in the boat by about 10:30.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had 15 pounds by 11 or 12 and then I just culled up ounce by ounce throughout the rest of the day,\u201d Chapin said.<\/p>\n
Expressing optimism for Day 2, Chapin said: \u201cWith this rising water, it\u2019s going to get even better. Hopefully, I can whack another big bag.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey Gay of Union, Ky., is in third place with 16-11. Countering the hinderance of high, muddy water, he said, came down to focusing on locating populated zones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fish are kinda grouped up and you\u2019ll get into an area that has fish, more than developing a pattern,\u201d Gay said. \u201cIt was a lot of picking up the trolling motor, running and gunning around the lake and finding hot stretches where the fish are biting.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as you\u2019d hit a stretch, you\u2019d put the trolling motor down and if it\u2019s not happening right away, pick the trolling motor back up and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gay said he hit approximately 35 spots in hopes of finding some where fish were moving up. Unable to locate a place where fish would be coming to him, Gay instead focused on staging spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was fishing a lot deeper than a lot of people \u2014 anywhere from 15 to 45 feet,\u201d he said. \u201cThe baitfish were located in that deeper water.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent some of my time shallow and caught some on a crankbait and some on a spinnerbait,\u201d he said. \u201cI caught some on a jig, I caught some LiveScoping; I just junk fished today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jace Lindsay of Beckville, Texas, is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-3.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Buzzard Roost Boat Dock. The weigh-in will be held at the same location at 2:45 p.m.<\/p>\n
Bassmaster LIVE will stream the final day\u2019s action on Bassmaster.com and the Roku Sports Channel will air coverage on Saturday from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. ET and from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Stay up-to-date on all tournament coverage at Bassmaster.com\/how-to-watch\/.<\/p>\n
The City of Mountain Home, Arkansas is hosting the event.<\/p>\n
2025 Bassmaster Opens Series Title Sponsor: St. Croix<\/p>\n
2025 Bassmaster Opens Series Presenting Sponsor: SEVIIN<\/p>\n
2025 Bassmaster Opens Series Platinum Sponsors: Progressive, Toyota
\n2025 Bassmaster Opens Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Dakota Lithium, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Progressive Insurance, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
\n2025 Bassmaster Opens Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Garmin, Lew’s, Lowrance, Triton Boats, VMC, Yokohama<\/p>\n
About B.A.S.S.<\/p>\n
B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting-edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the organization\u2019s fully integrated media platforms include the industry\u2019s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.<\/p>\n
The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series, St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series presented by SEVIIN, Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier Series presented by Lowrance, Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Strike King Bassmaster High School Series, Bassmaster Junior Series, Bassmaster Team Championship, Newport Bassmaster Kayak Series presented by Native Watercraft, Bassmaster College Kayak Series, Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.<\/p>\n
Connect with #Bassmaster on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of BASS, LLC.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
April 3, 2025. MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. \u2014 Lightning struck twice for Casey Scanlon, and while one of those opportunities escaped him, capitalizing on the other helped secure a Day 1 limit of 18 pounds, 5 ounces, which leads Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN. Scanlon, a veteran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Scanlon-Open-2.jpg?fit=2048%2C1365&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":383,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions\/383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebasshog.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}