The final event of the 2023 Bass Pro Tour season — Minn Kota Stage Seven presented by Suzuki on Saginaw Bay and the Saginaw River — will be a pressure cooker for most of the field. Four anglers enter the tournament with a legitimate chance to claim the Bally Bet Angler of the Year trophy, while others need a strong event to clinch their spots in REDCREST 2024 or avoid losing their place on the BPT.
There’s lots on the line for Fantasy Fishing players, too. This event marks the final opportunity to climb up the season-long standings or win the $100,000 prize package on offer for anyone who can roster each of the Top 10 anglers who make the Championship Round.
Making the tournament even more intriguing is the fact that no one in the field has any tour-level experience on the fishery. Plus, it offers diverse opportunities for the anglers, who will have to choose between targeting largemouth bass in shallow grass or chasing smallmouth offshore. Like the anglers themselves, fantasy players will have to decide whether or not to prioritize competitors who figure to brave the big water in search of smallmouth, to play it a bit safer with anglers who have proven their ability to catch shallow largemouth or roster a mix of both.
To help you lock in your lineups, we’ve polled a group of fish heads from the MLF staff for their picks and expectations for the event. And in case you missed it, here’s a breakdown of who FantasyFishing.com Insider Tyler Brinks is selecting for his squad.
Mitchell Forde — Managing Editor, Bass Fishing Magazine
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Dakota Ebare
Justin Lucas
Dustin Connell
Josh Bertrand
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Jordan Lee
Jonathon VanDam
Cody Meyer
It might be risky if the weather doesn’t cooperate, but I’m going (mostly) all in on guys who I expect to brave the big water and target smallmouth using their forward-facing sonar. Until proven otherwise, I’m betting on brown fishing winning on the Great Lakes.
Drew Kuebler — Sponsorship and advertising sales executive and former Bellarmine University angler
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Dakota Ebare
Dustin Connell
Kevin VanDam
Skeet Reese
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Jordan Lee
Mark Rose
David Dudley
Mark Daniels Jr.
Being the “Fish Nerd” that I am, I’m probably tracking wind forecasts in Bay City just as much as the anglers are, and right now the forecast says Tuesday and Wednesday may be tough for anglers looking to fish offshore for big smallmouth. With that information, I’ve decided to split my roster 50/50 between anglers who we know can really key in on the shallow bite and those who dominate offshore with forward-facing sonar. Also, how can you not pick Kevin VanDam for his final event!
JT Kenney — MLFNOW! color commentator
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Justin Lucas
Dakota Ebare
Kevin VanDam
Edwin Evers
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Jordan Lee
Adrian Avena
Jonathon VanDam
Wheeler, Lucas and Ebare obviously have been great all year. They’re high in the AOY and are all accomplished smallmouth guys. KVD is fishing his last tournament and is a smallmouth lifer. He’s gonna go out with a bang. Group B is similar. You can’t deny Jones, Becker and Lee are on a roll and smallmouth experts, while JVD is a perennial smallmouth master and has spent time here.
Joe Opager — Director of Communications
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Ott DeFoe
Dakota Ebare
Kevin VanDam
Zack Birge
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Adrian Avena
Jonathon VanDam
Stephen Browning
I’m taking the chalk… with a sprinkling of local hammers and some very good grass fisherman with a lot of northern success. Wheeler, Ott, Ebare, Alton Jr. and Matt Becker are all having great seasons and should be on your roster at every event. Having the last name “VanDam” when at a tournament in Michigan will almost always assure you a spot on my roster. Birge and Browning are both grass fishing experts, and I predict the largemouth are going to play a much bigger role in this event than everyone thinks.
Joel Shangle — Vice President of digital media and Bass Fishing Magazine editor-in-chief
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Dustin Connell
Kevin VanDam
Andy Morgan
Zack Birge
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Jordan Lee
Jonathon VanDam
Cody Meyer
In the interest of full disclosure: I’ll likely change my lineup five times between now and Day 1. Saginaw Bay and the river are such true wild cards to the majority of the field that I anticipate my final lineup to be filled out by more hunch picks than usual. Having said that, it’s foolish not to include the likes of Wheeler, Jones, Lee and the VanDams.
Marty Stone — MLFNOW! color commentator
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Ott DeFoe
Dakota Ebare
Dustin Connell
Zack Birge
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Jordan Lee
Jonathon VanDam
Cody Meyer
In Group A, I don’t need to explain Wheeler. He has more Top 10s than most have Knockout Rounds. DeFoe does not have two bad events in a row and there are a lot of largemouth on this body of water. Ebare is too good and too hot not to have on the team. Connell is another no-brainer this late in the season, and he’s rolling. Birge has had an off season by his standards so you know he is due. He is ready to get the bad taste of the 2023 season out and have a good last event before duck season!
As for Group B, Jones Jr. is one of the best smallmouth fishermen on tour and no moment ever gets too big for him. Junior will not lose the AOY; someone will have to beat him. Becker is another great smallmouth fisherman, not to mention a great northern fisherman, not to mention momentum is on his side! If J-Lee is not on your fantasy team, then quit playing. VanDam is one of the few anglers on tour who has some seat time at this place. He’s fishing good and typically has good outcomes up north. Meyer’s AOY standing does not reflect how good the last two-thirds of his season has been, especially in the bonus events and Tackle Warehouse Invitationals.
Jody White — Managing Editor, MajorLeagueFishing.com
Group A:
Jacob Wheeler
Dakota Ebare
Michael Neal
Spencer Shuffield
Josh Bertrand
Group B:
Alton Jones Jr.
Matt Becker
Brent Ehrler
Jonathon VanDam
Mark Daniels Jr.
With the trailering policy in place for this event, I think it is safe to rely entirely on smallmouth specialists for this derby. Though there is some quality largemouth fishing, I suspect being able to move freely and fish until the end without needing to run to weigh in should let the smallmouth really show out. Also, in part due to the unknown nature of the fishery, I tried to really rely on folks that are excellent with their electronics. I don’t know Saginaw super well, but I know how modern smallie tournaments tend to go down.
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