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Bass Pro Tour, Press Release
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — When he launched his boat onto Lake Guntersville for the Championship Round of B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Mercury Sunday morning, Drew Gill never considered that he would end the day hoisting his third Bass Pro Tour trophy.
Gill has been a mainstay in the Top 10 during his young BPT career. This marked his ninth Championship Round appearance in his first 17 events. But after leaning hard on all the productive spots he’d found to make the Knockout and Championship Round cuts, it was the first time he entered the final day thinking he didn’t have a shot to keep pace with the leaders.
“This is the first time I’ve made a Top 10 where I’ve been like, ‘I know it’s not possible tomorrow,’” Gill said. “Because I had burned my ‘Scope stuff. I mean, I caught 150 pounds off one place for the last three days, and they got progressively harder to catch every day. And I couldn’t get a no-‘Scope bite going yesterday to save my life. So, I was like, ‘I’m cooked.’”
Turns out, Gill was still able to use his mastery of forward-facing sonar to stack up weight in a hurry. The 23-year-old boated 20 scorable bass for 53 pounds, 5 ounces in the first period, building a lead of more than 24 pounds over his nearest pursuer. Then, he did just enough to hold off hard charges from Jacob Walker, Jacob Wheeler and others. Walker landed a 6-9 brute right before lines out, but it wasn’t quite enough. Gill’s 82-4 total edged him by 1-5.
The win marks Gill’s third Bass Pro Tour victory and fourth total MLF win and earned him the first $125,000 paycheck of the season. He’s also the early leader in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race, a title he’s coveted since arriving on tour.
Even more important for the hyper-competitive Gill, it broke him out of a streak of near-misses. Since the end of the 2025 regular season, he’s finished second in two Fishing Clash Team Series events as well as the Toyota Series Championship in November, where he missed out a $200,000 win by tiebreaker.
“Man, I just hate coming close and losing,” Gill said. “Money and points aside, how you feel after the tournament is over, I would way rather finish between like third and sixth than I would second. Second is a hard pill. And I knew, with how tight it was getting in the last 20 minutes, I was like, ‘If I don’t win, I’m finishing second.’ I had to not psych myself up that I was going to win mentally, because I knew if I had worked myself up to it and got excited for it and it didn’t happen, I would have been really, really crushed. So it means the world to me.”
Here’s how the Top 10 pros finished the Championship Round:
Since qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series, Gallant has not missed a Bassmaster Classic, consistently competing at the sport’s highest level, is also a Bassmaster Opens Champion and an FLW Canada Champion. Gallant has shown the ability to compete with anyone on nearly any body of water for any species of bass.
“Cooper is an amazing fit for Great Lakes Finesse,” said Dan Miguel, Global Brand Manager at Great Lakes Finesse. “Our philosophy is simple — do things the best we can, treat people the right way, and stay committed to innovation. Cooper lives those values on and off the water. We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome him publicly after all these years of supporting each other.”
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| Three generations of tournament angler. Guido, Payden and Dion Hibdon. (Photo: Brad Wiegmann) |
Canadian sporting goods distributor collapses amid group liquidity strain and US affiliate exposure
By Dina Kovacevic
(originally posted in Insolvency Insider Canada)
On December 5, 2025, BRS Canada Acquisition Inc. filed an assignment in bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. KSV Restructuring Inc. was appointed as Licensed Insolvency Trustee.
BRS Canada Acquisition Inc. was incorporated under the laws of British Columbia on April 28, 2011 and operated as a Canadian sporting goods distributor. The company was headquartered in Barrie, Ontario and, as of the assignment date, operated three leased distribution centres located in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario. The company functioned as a Canadian subsidiary of Big Rock Sports, LLC, a US-based distributor of sporting and hunting firearms, fishing gear, and camping equipment.
Prior to the bankruptcy filing, the company retained SB360 Capital Partners, LLC to conduct a liquidation of inventory and to collect accounts receivable. Following the assignment, the trustee entered into a consulting and marketing services agreement with SB360 dated December 5, 2025 to continue asset realization activities that had already commenced.
The Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL) is a unique identification number for recreational boats that have one or more engines whose combined power is at least 10 horsepower- similar to a car’s license plate. It allows emergency responders and law enforcement to quickly identify the owner of a boat, which improves response times in urgent situations and supports efforts to address unsafe or abandoned boats.
The following changes have taken effect as of December 31, 2025:
All pleasure craft with one or more motors adding up to 10 hp (7.5 kW) or more must have a valid licence under the Small Vessel Regulations.
The amendments will introduce a new five-year licence validity period and a $24 service fee for licence-related services.
Applications for a Pleasure Craft Licence (PCL), payment of the new service fee, and requests for fee exemptions for those exercising section 35 treaty rights can be completed through Transport Canada’s website.
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