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This is one of the original IBASSIN.com videos we shot over Thanksgiving. Cool nights and sunny afternoons can make fishing challenging if you don't get the timing down right.
The show also determined the live-sonar format for the next two Bassmaster Classics. Live sonar will be permitted during the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour on Lake Hartwell, March 19-21, while the 2028 Bassmaster Classic will be contested without live sonar.
Under the 50/50 technology format introduced in 2026, a coin flip determines whether live sonar can be used at each Elite Series event. The format is designed to test the complete skill set of Elite anglers across a variety of fisheries and fishing styles.
The 2027 coin flips produced the following results:
LIVE SONAR
NO LIVE SONAR
Of all the results, perhaps none creates more intrigue than Lake St. Clair.
Frog bite key to Nick LeBrun win!
The entire LeBrun clan celebrating one of the largest payouts in fishing history.
(Photo: The Ultimate Angler World Championship facebook page)
By Luigi De Rose, IBASSIN.com
Scottsboro, Alabama: The bass fishing world has a new millionaire, well half-millionaire! Nick LeBrun became $500 000 richer after winning the The Ultimate Angler World Championship on Lake Guntersville, Alabama this past weekend.
This Bossier City, Louisiana, angler made a last day charge like no other. As the rains fell on Sunday, Nick hunted the thick grass mats that choke Lake Guntersville with his Frog Factory Ribbit Top Toad Frog and smashed a 5-bass limit to the tune of 28-pounds. LeBrun three day total for 15 bass 69-02lbs was enough to leapfrog Day 2 leader Bryan Schmitt who sacked 67-08lbs. The remaining Top Five anglers were Buddy Benson 64-08lbs, Ron Nelson 62-12lbs and Canadian angler, Cory Johnston with 62-04lbs in 5th.
The Ultimate Angler World Championship event pitted anglers from national bass fishing circuits and top-tier state anglers. Anglers were forbidden to use forward facing sonar or 360 Image technology and only given 2 days of official practice.
The field of anglers experienced late summer fishing at Guntersville despite the event being held in early October. With the south remaining gripped in summer heat, the anglers found the majority of the bass in the grass. Thick weed beds had the anglers casting over it with topwaters, punching through it or patrolling the lanes that intersect these enormous grassbeds with vibrating jigs.
The Bassmaster Opens have long served as a proving ground for aspiring professional anglers, providing competitors a pathway toward the highest levels of tournament bass fishing. The 2027 schedule will test anglers across a variety of fisheries, from Southern reservoirs and grass-filled lakes to Northern smallmouth waters. The Opens will once again provide competitors a route toward the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops and ultimately the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series.
Division 1 Schedule
Division 2 Schedule
*Forward-facing live sonar will be permitted at these events.
With a three-day total of 42 pounds, 7 ounces, Kaden Buchmann wins the 2026 Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Norfork Lake presented by Bass Pro Shops.
MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — Kaden Buchmann followed the same script that had him headlining the first two days’ weigh-ins for the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier at Norfork Lake presented by Bass Pro Shops, but only Act 1 brought the applause.
Fortunately, that’s all the Troutman, N.C., pro needed to close out a wire-to-wire win with a three-day total of 42 pounds, 7 ounces.
“This is incredible,” Buchmann said. “I absolutely did not think I had it.”
Buchmann set the early mark with a Day 1 leading limit of 16-7 and held the top spot after adding a second-round bag that went 14 even. Buchmann found Championship Friday less generous, but his 12-pound limit allowed him to edge Cody Stahl by a margin of 1-14.
For his efforts, Buchmann won the top prize of $71,317. He also received an invitation to fish the 2027 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, March 19-21 at Lake Hartwell.
The 2027 season will again feature a split between tournaments in which live sonar is permitted and tournaments where live sonar is not allowed. A coin flip will determine the technology designation for each tournament on the 2027 schedule. The results will be revealed live during the Bassmaster Coin Flip Show on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at 10 a.m. CT.
In additional news, for the first time ever, the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic will also be included in the Coin Flip Show. The 2027 Classic field will be the first composed entirely of anglers who qualified under the 50/50 technology rule, making it a natural extension to apply the same format to the World Championship of Bass Fishing. One coin flip will determine the live-sonar rules for the next two Classics: If the 2027 Classic is designated a non-live-sonar event, the 2028 Classic will allow live sonar, and vice-versa. This ensures consecutive Classics will showcase both styles of competition.
“The first season of the 50/50 format showed us that great competition is not defined by a particular style of fishing,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson. “Our anglers were challenged to demonstrate their versatility, and our fans embraced the opportunity to watch and learn from both forms of competition. Continuing the format in 2027 allows us to celebrate innovation while preserving the broad range of skills that has always defined the Bassmaster Elite Series. With the success of this structure in the Elites and because it is how our 2027 Classic contenders qualified, it was a natural fit to continue the framework and allow a coin flip to determine the format for the 2027 Classic.”
