April 23, 2025 • Mitchell Forde • Fantasy Fishing
After a break for REDCREST, the Bass Pro Tour regular season resumes May 1 with O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries. The stable of competitors should be plenty familiar with the playing field for the first two days – Lake Chickamauga, which hosted Bass Pro Tour events in 2019 and 2021 plus a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament that was open to BPT anglers in 2020. However, this visit to the Tennessee bass factory comes with a twist, as the Knockout and Championship Rounds will move one reservoir down the Tennessee River to Nickajack Lake.
The timing could be another wild card – will the bass still mostly be shallow, in and around spawning beds, or will some have made the migration to the famed Tennessee River ledges? There’s a good chance both patterns could play.
While we won’t get definitive answers to those questions until the event arrives, here are some names for Phoenix Fantasy Fishing players to consider, including a sizable cohort of competitors with strong track records on Chickamauga and a few others whose skill sets should position them well to deliver no matter the conditions.
Local sticks and other no-brainer picks
The area around Chickamauga has become a popular home for professional anglers. Five anglers in the field live either on or near the fishery: Matt Becker, Andy Morgan, Michael Neal, Wesley Strader and Jacob Wheeler. All five should be popular picks at this event. Wheeler, Morgan and Neal have all won on Chickamauga before, Strader just finished second at REDCREST just below the Nickajack Dam, and Becker simply catches them everywhere. It just so happens that all five anglers are also in Flight 1 for this event, so if you want to lean on the locals, you could already be halfway done filling out your fantasy roster.
A few other anglers who figure to be frequent fantasy selections (and who also reside in Flight 1 this week) are Dustin Connell, Drew Gill and Alton Jones Jr. After an uncharacteristically slow start to the BPT season, Connell got his swagger back with a second consecutive REDCREST title on Lake Guntersville, and he (like Strader) did it in the tailrace beneath the Nickajack Dam. It’s not out of the question that he could run the tailrace pattern again this week. Gill’s scorching start to the 2025 campaign hit a speed bump when he finished 31st at REDCREST, but he’s still someone who should always be on your short list of Fantasy Fishing options. Same goes for Jones, who’s currently positioned to notch his third consecutive Top-5 finish in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race.
Past performers on Chickamauga
While no one in the field has meaningful tournament history on Nickajack, the anglers will have to get to there before worrying about the lesser-known fishery. Thus, it makes sense to sift through the ample tournament history on Chickamauga for anglers who have a knack for success there.
Aside from Morgan, Wheeler and Neal, only one other angler in the field has won an MLF event on Chickamauga before, that being Mark Rose. Rose won a 2010 FLW Pro Circuit event on the fishery, one of several Tennessee River triumphs on the Arkansas angler’s résumé. If the bass do indeed school up in offshore, postspawn locations in enough numbers, watch out for Rose.
A couple other out-of-state anglers who have taken a liking to Chickamauga are Bryan Thrift and Luke Clausen. Thrift logged three Top 10s on the fishery in FLW Tour competition, and his mid-depth mastery could come in handy this week if fish are transitioning from spawning areas to summer haunts. Clausen’s success on Chickamauga might come as more of a surprise, but the Washington pro has logged four Top 10s on the lake since 2014, including a sixth-place finish at the Bass Pro Tour event in 2019.
Other anglers to consider
Flight 1:
Jake Lawrence – Lawrence’s rookie season on the Bass Pro Tour is off to a strong start, with Top 10s in two of the first three regular-season events plus another at REDCREST. Anytime he’s launching his boat on the Tennessee River, Lawrence is dangerous.
Shin Fukae – Looking for a pick that will set you apart from the masses in a loaded Flight 1? Fukae could be a sneaky selection. Currently 64th out of 65 anglers in the AOY standings, he’s not without risk; but he won his group and ultimately finished sixth when the BPT last visited Chickamauga in 2021, and his finesse expertise might come in handy for fooling Chickamauga’s notoriously smart bass.
Flight 2:
Brent Ehrler – Speaking of finesse experts, Ehrler is fishing well right now coming off consecutive Championship Round appearances at Lake Murray and Guntersville. He also has some solid recent history on and near Chickamauga, as he finished fifth on Chick in the 2021 Bass Pro Tour event and eighth on Watts Bar Lake in 2022.
Jacob Wall – Wall’s strong start to the 2025 campaign got derailed when he finished 65th at Lake Murray. But if enough postspawn bass have made their way to offshore ledges, he could be dangerous, as his experience on Guntersville has made him one of the best at maximizing that bite.
