Alabama’s Brent Crow Surges to Win Toyota Series Championship Presented by Guaranteed Rate on Pickwick Lake

Alabama Pro Wins by 4-Pounds, 1-Ounce, Takes Home $235,000

COUNCE, Tenn. (Oct. 30, 2021) – The final day of the Toyota Series Championship Presented by Guaranteed Rate at Pickwick Lake was a come-from-behind story for pro Brent Crow of Hartselle, Alabama , who after starting the day in 10th place brought a five-bass limit to the stage Saturday weighing 23 pounds, 1 ounce to vault to the top of the leaderboard and claim the title of 2021 Toyota Series Champion and the $235,000 top prize. Crow’s winning bag gave him a 4-pound, 1-ounce margin-of-victory over pro Mikey Keyso of North Port, Florida, who weighed a five-bass limit of 15 pounds, 3 ounces on Saturday, for a total of 48-1, good for second place and $50,000.

Saturday’s final weigh-in marked the finale of the 2021 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. season, which featured thousands of anglers from around the world competing for millions in cash and prizes.

Crow finished Day 1 of the competition in 28th place with a mere 13 pounds, 7 ounces on the leaderboard. He leapt 18 spots after Day 2, narrowly winning a tiebreaker against veteran angler Randy Blaukat of Joplin, Missouri to slide into the top 10 and qualify to fish the final day. Crow began Championship Saturday with 29 pounds, 1 ounce, before laying down the hammer with the heaviest bag of the tournament to upset the field and bring home the win.

“This is the biggest tournament I’ve ever won. I’m not trying to make a living tournament fishing, but when the schedule fits, I fish,” said Crow. “Once I realized the Toyota Series Championship was on Pickwick in the fall, I knew I needed to qualify for this event. I had some schedule conflicts with fishing the Southeastern division, but the Northern division schedule was appealing and looked like it would work out perfectly.”

The Alabama pro opted to fish the Northern division of the Toyota Series, competing against a slew of tough anglers to qualify for the championship, despite his lack of experience on the fisheries in that division.

“Those lakes are all awesome and full of fish,” said Crow. “I guide full-time down south, and the Northern schedule had events in July, August and September, when guiding is slower in my area. That also meant I didn’t have to battle the summer heat.”

Crow said he went into the Championship planning to fish below the Wilson Dam, but was dismayed the first few days to find the area wasn’t performing as well as he’d hoped.

“I’ve been fishing here and guiding for many years and fall is usually the time of year I fish the tailrace,” said Crow. “I purposefully didn’t go check it out in practice because I didn’t want to get in my head about whether or not I saw other anglers up there, or if the fish were biting good or anything that might spin me out.”

However, Crow said when he went up there the first two days of the event, he was discouraged to see the fish weren’t biting at all.

“They were running a little too much water out of the dam for me to do what I wanted to do, so the first two days I basically struggled and squeaked into the top 10 catching spotted bass,” said Crow. “I have a few places I can count on to catch big spotted bass, and I weighed in seven spots and three smallmouth the first two days, which saved me.

“I noticed last night that they weren’t going to run as much current out of the dam as the past two days, so I knew there was an opportunity to really catch them there on the final day.”

With a hopeful heart, Crow ran up to the dam again early on Day 3.

“I pulled up and checked the levels and when I saw the release level was at 35,000 (cubic feet per second), I knew it could be good,” said Crow. “I got out where I needed to be and made the first cast and the next hour was just chaos. I either caught one or lost one on every cast.”

Crow said if he could have written out exactly what he wanted to happen on Championship Saturday, it would have gone exactly the way it did.

“I probably wouldn’t have lost as many as I did, but I anticipated I’d be able to get a big bag under those conditions and thankfully everything worked out perfectly for me today.”

Crow said he’s put more effort into qualifying for this championship than he has any other event he’s fished – effort that was certainly not wasted as it resulted in nearly a quarter-million-dollar payout for the Hartselle native.

“The money is great, but it’s not all about money,” said an emotional Crow. “All fishermen have pride in what they do, and it feels good to be recognized, especially by your buddies. My phone has been lighting up all day with calls and texts from friends and fellow fishermen – most of them better fishermen than I am. It’s a great feeling that everyone is supporting me and taking the time to congratulate me today.

“There have been a lot of great fishermen that have won this trophy, and I’m probably nowhere near the caliber of most of them but I’ll take it,” finished Crow.

The top 10 pros at the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake finished:

1st: Brent Crow of Hartselle, Ala., 15 bass, 52-2, $247,500
2nd: Mikey Keyso of North Port, Fla., 15 bass, 48-1, $50,000
3rd: Greg Bohannan of Bentonville, Ark., 15 bass, 44-8, $40,000
4th: Cody Nichols of Fayette, Ala., 13 bass, 43-0, $35,000
5th: Jeff Reynolds of Calera, Okla., 13 bass, 38-13, $30,000
6th: Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches, Texas, 12 bass, 37-1, $14,000
7th: Chris Digino of Dallas, Texas, 11 bass, 35-4, $13,000
8th: Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas, 11 bass, 33-8, $12,000
9th: Barry Graves of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, 11 bass, 32-5, $21,000
10th; Aaron Johnson of Shreveport, La., 10 bass, 30-0, $10,000

For a full list of results visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 27 bass weighing 88 pounds, 14 ounces caught Saturday. Three of the final 10 anglers brought in a five-bass limit.

Scott Parsons of Rogers, Arkansas weighed in three bass totaling 12 pounds, 12 ounces, Saturday to win the top Strike King co-angler prize of a new Phoenix 518 pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard engine, with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 35-8. Second place went to co-angler Daniel Lutz of Las Vegas, Nevada , who weighed in a three-day total of 10 bass weighing 33-9, good for $12,500.

The top 10 Strike King co-anglers at the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake finished:

1st: Scott Parsons of Rogers, Ark., 12 bass, 35-8, Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat w/115-horsepower Mercury outboard
2nd: Daniel Lutz of Las Vegas, Nev., 10 bass, 33-9, $12,500
3rd: Jason Sandidge of Centerton, Ark., 12 bass, 30-10, $10,000
4th: Matt Hummel of Lancaster, Pa., 11 bass, 28-15, $7,500
5th: Rod Mackinnon, III of Middletown, N.Y., 10 bass, 26-7, $5,000
6th: Charles Dubroc of Hessmer, La., seven bass, 24-6, $4,000
7th: Mason Chambers of Galena, Mo., 10 bass, 23-12, $3,500
8th: Ray de Jong of Harare, Zimbabwe, eight bass, 22-1, $3,000
9th: Allen Neal of Whitley City, Ky., seven bass, 18-8, $2,500
10th: Nycholas Swanson of Waterloo, Iowa, five bass, 18-2, $2,000

The 2021 Toyota Series Championship Presented by Guaranteed Rate at Pickwick Lake was hosted by the Hardin County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The three-day, no entry fee tournament featured a field of 198 pros and co-anglers from around the world, competing for a top cash award of up to $235,000, plus multiple contingency bonuses.

The 2021 Toyota Series Championship Presented by Guaranteed Rate will premiere on the Outdoor Channel at 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 15, 2022, with additional airings to follow on the Sportsman Channel.

The full field of anglers competed on Days 1 and 2 of the event, with the top 10 pros and top 10 Strike King co-anglers based on cumulative weight from the first two days continuing to the third and final day. The 2021 Toyota Series champions were determined by the heaviest three-day total weight.

The 2021 Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. consisted of six divisions – Central, Northern, Plains, Southern, Southwestern and Western – each holding three regular-season events, along with the International division. The highest finishing pro from each division at the championship claimed a $10,000 bonus.

For complete details and updated information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. via social media outlets at Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube .

About MLF5
MLF5 is part of MLF, the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization. It provides anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money across five tournament circuits featuring a five-biggest-fish format. Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, MLF and its partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain and Zimbabwe.

MLF tournaments are broadcast on Outdoor Channel, Sportsman Channel, World Fishing Network, MyOutdoorTV, Discovery and CBS Sports while MLF Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros to the world’s most avid bass anglers.

In the Sportsman Club Classic, 11 members fished for eight hours to land 33 keepers weighing about 67 pounds. There were three five-fish limits and one person zeroed.

Preview of these tournaments

Kwong Yu won with five at 14.03 pounds and had a 5.78 pound largemouth for big fish. Niles Murray placed second with five at 9.03, my five at 8.45 pounds was third, fourth went to Raymond English with four at 7.98 pounds and George Roberts placed fifth with four weighing 6.69 pounds.

At Martin we pay back each day like they were one day tournaments. We had 37 fishermen and we landed 291 keepers weighing 354.81 pounds in 17 hours. Two people didn’t weigh in a fish but there were 46 five bass limits.

On Saturday I won with five at 10.54 pounds and Kwong Yu was second with five at 9.96 and had big fish with a 3.10-pound spot. Tom Tanner had five at 9.95 for third and Doug Acree placed fourth with five weighing 8.36 pounds.

On Sunday Tom Tanner won with five at 9.65 pounds and Kwong Yu, on roll, placed second with five at 9.47 and had big fish with a nice 4.16-pound spot. Lee Hancock was third with five at 8.08 and Billy Roberts was fourth with five at 7.37 pounds.

I should have gambled and made the long run! My five weighed 5.87 pounds and did not place.

Overall, Tom Tanner won with ten weighing 19.60 pounds and Kwong Yu had ten at 19.43 pounds for second and big fish of 4.16 pounds. My ten weighing 16.41 pounds was third, Lee Hancock’s ten at 14.22 pounds was fourth, Sam Smith placed fifth with ten at 13.64 pounds and Raymond English came in sixth with ten at 13.12 pounds.

We are already looking forward to the Martin trip next year!

Ten days in a row are almost too much of a good thing. I left September 30 to camp and fish at Lake Oconee for three days then left there and drove straight to Lake Martin for seven more of the same. Ten days fishing and 12 nights camping are a lot for an old man!

Results for Oconee and Martin

It has been about 20 years since I camped at Lawrence Shoals campground on Oconee. It is a Georgia Power Parks campground and has excellent facilities with nice big shaded campsites and a clean, modern bath house.

I fished Friday and Saturday practicing for the Spalding County Sportsman Club Classic on Sunday. I caught only three keeper bass, spending most of my time on the water looking at deeper cover and scanning docks and grassbeds. After all, nothing I caught on Friday or Saturday would count in the tournament!

One fish did clue me in to a small pattern that worked pretty good in the tournament. I cast a weightless Trick worm to the edge of a grassbed and got a backlash. While I was picking it out the worm sank to the bottom and sat there still.

I learned long ago to lift my rod tip slowly after letting the worm sit like this, and sure enough, my line started moving out from the bank when it got tight. I set the hook on a good two-pound keeper. For some reason it seemed the fish did not want to chase a moving bait for me.

In the tournament I started out casting a topwater bait to a seawall but got no bites. But my first cast with the Trick worm to the same spot, a bass 13.98 inches long picked it up and took off. Although it was not a keeper, it told me to fish the Trick worm.

That pattern worked fairly good and produced a limit. Of course, the tournament was won on a moving topwater bait!

I got to Wind Creek State Park Monday afternoon in the pouring rain. The park was crazy – some huge group was having a “family” get together and their registration tent and vehicles completely blocked the parking lot you have to go through to get to the campground.

I finally got to my reserved campsite and sat there for 30 minutes in the rain. I watched folks try to put their tents back up, many had collapsed from the rain, and watched others bail out their tents then move them to higher ground. Experienced campers probably would not set up a tent in the lowest spot in a campsite in the rain.

Although the campground was extremely crowded and the park police seemed to abandon all rules, like no more than two tents or two vehicles to a campsite for the week, it was not too bad.

A few years ago I was camping in my van and Al Rosser came over early one morning, set up his small tent by my van and we went fishing. About the time the rangers got to work one of them called me, made us come in and take the tent down. I am not sure why they didn’t enforce any rules this past week like they always have in the past.

I had a decision to make. I like to make a long run first thing in the morning on Martin, about 25 miles one way, but do not know that area as well as I do the area around Wind Creek. I have been fishing the Wind Creek area for 46 years and exploring the other area for only three.

I drove over and practiced three days on the other end of the lake. I did not catch much but on Wednesday I landed a three-pound spot, a three-pound largemouth and four other two pounders. That encouraged me, ten pounds a day will usually do very good in the tournament.

I made the long run Saturday morning and a boat was sitting on my best spot when I got there. But I managed to catch a limit in 30 minutes and landed three good spots on topwater before heading back to the Wind Creek area.

Oddly enough, when I got back I landed a spot on my first cast that culled one fish from the other end of the lake, and culled one more time before weigh-in. That made me decide to not make the run Sunday morning and I guess it turned out to be a mistake.

Sunday, July 25 was certainly a challenge at West Point for the 12 members and guests in the July Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament. We landed 16 keepers weighing about 25 pounds in eight hours of very hot casting. There was one five-bass limit and five people didn’t catch a keeper.

Jay Gerson made it two in a row, winning with the only limit weighing 7.97 pounds. Kwong Yu caught two keepers weighing 6.19 pounds for second and his 4.78 pound largemouth was big fish. Third went to Wayne Teal, fishing with Jay, with three weighing 3.60 pounds and Raymond English had two at 2.07 pounds for fourth.

Chris Davies and I started at 6:00 AM in the dark on a deep rocky bank that transitioned to shallow wood. I thought some bass may have moved to that area to feed during the night. The full moon would encourage them to feed at night, and bream should be bedding around the wood, another attraction.

It was the same bank I started on last July and got and missed my only bite that day on a buzzbait at first light. I started casting the buzzbait in the dark. We could barely make out the bank we were casting to in the moonlight.

Suddenly, at the end of a cast right beside the boat, a bass grabbed my buzzbait. I instinctively set the hook, the fish arched out of the water but luckily stayed on the hook and landed in the bottom of the boat. It was a 13-inch spotted bass.

I continued to fish the buzzbait around cover while Chris tried a variety of baits behind me. Neither of us could get a bite. As the sun got higher, I went to a rocky point where I have caught bass this time of year in the past. My first cast with a shaky head something thumped it as soon as the bait hit the bottom.

I tried to set the hook but the fish ran toward me, never a good sign. But then my line tightened up and went under the boat, the fish was hooked. Unfortunately, when I reeled the pound and a half fish to where I could see it, it was a channel cat. Fun to catch, good to eat, but no help in a tournament.

At weigh-in Zane said he caught two catfish while fishing for bass. A trip to West Point for catfish might be a good idea right now. If they are hitting artificial baits no telling what you can catch on catfish bait!

In the next shallow pocket I caught a 13 inch largemouth on my buzzbait, but largemouth have to be 14 inches long. Then Chris caught a 13-inch largemouth. Although we fished hard until quitting time and were the last boat to come back to the ramp, we did not catch another fish!

My 13 inch spot weighed one pound and was good for 7th place!

This past Sunday seven members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our June tournament at Bartletts Ferry.  After eight hours of casting, we landed 22 12-inch keepers weighing about 36 pounds. For a nice surprise, there were only six or seven spots, the rest were largemouth. There were three five bass limits and one zero.

My five weighing 10.37 pounds won and Doug Acree had five at 7.10 for second.  Bailey Stewart fishing with Lee Hancock placed third with two weighing 6.60 pounds and his 4.90 largemouth beat my 4.74 pounder for big fish. Lee Hancock was fourth with five weighing 6.53 pounds.

I was “junk” fishing, just trying a lot of different things with no pattern and never found one. I got beat to the point I wanted to start on by another club member but caught my second biggest fish, a 2.5 pound largemouth, on a buzz bait beside a seawall I went to as my second choice.

A little later I eased the boat out on a point where I saw some brush on my electronics and caught a two-pound spot on a shaky head in about ten feet of water.  My next stop was a dock on a steep rocky bank. I noticed Mayflies around the bushes overhanging the water and started skipping a jig under them and caught the 4.74 pounder under the third one I tried.

Although it was only 8:00 and I had been fishing for two hours with some success, fishing got tough.  Three hours later after trying to get another bite around the Mayfly hatch I had not gotten one.

I went to a small creek where I can usually get a keeper around docks and got a 13-inch largemouth on a shaky head worm from one of them that consistently produced for me.  A guy sitting on the next dock said that was the first fish he had seen caught in that cove all weekend, although it had been fished by several others in bass boats.  I guess the fish liked my worm for some reason, maybe the JJs Magic on its tail.

That fish made me run to another dock that often has a keeper under it, and I got a 13-inch spot on a whacky rigged Senko.  It was a miracle I caught that fifth fish. As I skipped my worm under the dock, waves from a big boat going by pulling a tube hit my boat

sideways.  I had to grab my boat seat with one hand to keep from getting thrown out.

I thought I felt a bite while I was rocking and rolling and holding my rod in one hand. When the waves finally passed, I tightened up my line, set the hook and landed the fish.  I had to cut off the last six feet of line it was so frayed because the fish had gone around a concrete post.  Normally, my line would break or the fish would feel pressure and spit the bait.  I guess some fish are just meant to get caught.

I relaxed after catching a limit and went to some calmer water up the river and fished bluff banks with
Mayflies on the bushes for the last couple of hours.  Although it was calmer and conditions seemed ideal, I caught one 14 inch largemouth that culled the skinny 13-inch spot.  I did catch two 11-inch spots while fishing the area, but they were too small to weigh in.

…

I went to Hartwell on Tuesday, May 11 to camp and fish, getting ready for the Potato Creek Bassmasters tournament.  Wednesday was miserable, windy rainy and cold, so I was on the water only about three hours.  I went way up a creek to put in to get out of the wind and did not find anything to make me want to go back.

Thursday was nicer but still cold, and I explored some new places to try to find a pattern.  I caught one barely 12-inch-long spotted bass. I felt completely lost even though I found one point with a lot of shad and bigger fish under them, so I planned to start there in the tournament Friday morning.

I pulled up there Friday and caught a throwback on my first cast with a topwater plug, then had a 2.5 pounder jump and throw my bait. I stayed there an hour and got one more bite but missed it.

I started running to places where I have caught fish in the past this time of year, trying all kinds of patterns, structure and cover. I manage to catch one keeper spot and one keeper largemouth by weigh-in.

Saturday I started in a different place and got no bites, so I went to a small creek that has been good in the past. I quickly caught a two-pound largemouth on topwater so I thought maybe it would be a better day.  By the end of the day I had caught one more small keeper spot, on a Carolina rig.

That was a very frustrating trip for me.

—-

Last week at Hartwell 21 members of the Potato Creek Bass masters fished our May tournament. We landed 102 spots and largemouth weighing about 157 pounds.  There were six five bass limits during the two days and no one zeroed.

Raymond English won with ten weighing 15.89 pounds and Niles Murray placed second with nine at 15.46 pounds.  Lee Hancock came in third with seven weighing 14.63 pounds and that included the big fish weighing 4.83 pounds.  Kwong Yu rounded out the top four with nine keepers weighing 14.58 pounds.

Fish were reportedly caught on a variety of baits in a big variety of places.  With weights that close, one bite makes a huge difference.  On Friday, Kwong culled several fish but could land only four on Saturday.  If any of his culls weighing 1.5 pounds had hit Saturday he would have won, just like if Niles had landed one of his culls from Friday.

Its amazing how often that happens and how close the top four often are in weight. I keep telling myself that during the tournament, especially if it is a bad day for me. Just one bite can make a big difference!

At Hartwell it would have taken a lot more than one more bite for me, though!

   Congratulations to Jordan McDonald for finishing in second place in the Bulldog BFL on Lake Eufaula last weekend.  He beat out about 199 other fishermen on the boaters’ side in the tournament.  Fishing against some of the best fishermen in the state, that is quite an accomplishment.

    Jordan’s five bass weighed 16 pounds, 12 ounces, just two ounces less than first place winner.  Those two ounces were worth $2000 each in winnings!

    Jordan joined the Flint River Bass Club as soon as he turned 16, the minimum age.  He started fishing as my partner the end of that year and joined the Spalding County Sportsman Club the next year as my partner. 

    We fished together for almost ten years then he moved on up, fishing as a no-boater in BFLs and the BASS Weekend series. He did well in both, winning one trail’s no boater points standings one year and making the regional tournaments in both.

    After starting a business and a family he got a boat and got back into fishing big time the year, and I look forward to seeing him post many wins and top ten finishes in the future!