Trophy Bassmaster’s second tournament of the year was held on Sunday, April 19, 2026 at West Harbor on Lake Erie. The weather cooled off considerably from last week and small craft advisories were issued for the tournament day.
The statistics are interesting. The strong cold front reduced the average weights per fish as well as average total weights. Temperatures started around 40 and went to 52 by weigh-in. Also there were only 13 anglers present compared to 16 last week. More than half the field trailered to Portage River, Wild Wings, and Sandusky Bay. Portage River seemed to produce more fish of the smaller class, but Wild Wings was pretty strong on the size chart.
Don Ratcliff returned to his winning ways. After winning the AOY honors last year, he is on track to repeat this year. Don won this tournament with a very impressive limit of 5 largemouth bass for 18.56 pounds with a 5.76 pound big bass kicker. Virgil Grant returned to the winner’s circle with 13.96 pound 5 bass limit. Kelly Dearwester followed up with his own 5 largemouth a close third place with 13.77 pounds and an 5.19 largemouth kicker.
The AOY race is on with Virgil Grant leading by 2 points over Don Ratcliff. Kelly Dearwester is close behind in third place.
There are a lot of updated reports on the website for AOY, Heavy Hitters, and payments and refunds. Please check them out.
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