BAY CITY, Mich. (Aug. 7, 2025) – The vast waters of Saginaw Bay yielded a little bit of everything on Day 1 at Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats. While much of the Bass Pro Tour field power fished for largemouth, some used finesse tactics to catch smallmouth and a few combined both approaches during Thursday’s opening day of qualifying!
All of the above tactics produced bunches of bass. Pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, North Carolina, led the way, boating 48 scorable bass for 127 pounds, 11 ounces. One of four pros to top the 100-pound mark on the day, he leads Talala, Oklahoma’s Edwin Evers by 16-9. Thrift’s banner day saw him catch the most scorable bass, amass the most weight and tie for Berkley Big Bass honors with a 4-11 largemouth.
“I didn’t expect it to be that good,” Thrift said. “I thought I could catch some bass, but I never thought I could catch them that good.”
Meanwhile, it took nearly 55 pounds to claim a spot above the 20th-place elimination line. The field as a whole wrangled 1,278 scorable bass totaling more than 3,100 pounds – easily the highest totals for a competition day during the 2025 season.
While Thrift lives more than 700 miles away from Saginaw Bay, he’s clearly taken a liking to this portion of Lake Huron. The North Carolina native made the Championship Round when the Bass Pro Tour first visited the fishery in 2023, finishing ninth. Even though that event was contested with a five-fish limit as opposed to the current every-fish-counts format, Thrift was able to pick up where he left off, catching largemouth around isolated offshore grass patches.
Thrift thinks the featureless nature of the inner bay aligns with his wheelhouse because it allows him to idle and scan for sneaky offshore spots, which he’s long been one of the best at maximizing.
“It’s pretty shallow and featureless, not a lot of contours, and I can spend time looking for stuff with that Humminbird Side Imaging and find some of that isolated structure,” he said. “Luckily, it’s holding a few largemouth.”
Thrift started Day 1 on a spot that produced for him in 2023, then ran a few other areas that set up the same way. Whereas he only got about 10 to 12 scorable bites per day two years ago, Thrift found the grass patches teeming with largemouth. He attributes that to the low water level, theorizing that it prompted some of the bass to move from the ample emergent vegetation that lines the bay to deeper habitat.
“I’ve got to imagine that’s what put as many fish out there this time versus last time we were here,” he said. “Last time we were here, I was only catching 10 or 12 per day, but it was a lot of 3-pounders, 3½-pounders. And today, it was just a lot of 2½ to 2-15s.”
As good as Thrift’s opening day was, he doesn’t believe he’s found the winning formula just yet. He caught all of his weight off four spots Thursday, and he doubts they can hold up across four days of competition. He’s also concerned that the wind, which is forecast to blow harder each day, could hurt his bite. As a result, he’s still not sure whether he’ll use the second day of qualifying to scout for new spots or push to win the Qualifying Round, thus earning an automatic trip to Championship Sunday. Ideally, he’d like to do both.
“I’m going to let the wind decide what I do,” Thrift said. “I would like to go practice. I’d also like to win the round, make that guaranteed Championship berth. But I know I don’t have enough fish for four days, for sure. There’s absolutely no way. I don’t see how I can keep catching that many bass off of it. So, I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I’m going to play it by ear.”
The top 20 pros in after Day 1 on Saginaw Bay are:
1st: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 48 bass, 127-11
2nd: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 45 bass, 111-3
3rd: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 44 bass, 109-13
4th: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 43 bass, 100-4
5th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 35 bass, 94-0
6th: Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 39 bass, 93-8
7th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 34 bass, 87-2
8th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 30 bass, 71-4
9th: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 30 bass, 70-13
10th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 27 bass, 69-12
11th: Shinichi Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 29 bass, 69-4
12th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 28 bass, 68-13
13th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 23 bass, 65-13
14th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 23 bass, 64-10
15th: Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 27 bass, 64-5
16th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 24 bass, 59-15
17th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 24 bass, 58-11
18th: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 22 bass, 58-8
19th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 24 bass, 57-8
20th: Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., 22 bass, 54-15
A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 1,278 bass caught weighing 3,156 pounds, 10 ounces, by the 66 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Thursday. Both the number of bass caught and the total weight were new season-high totals for the circuit.
Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was a four-way tie – with two different fish species. Tournament leader Bryan Thrift and pro Marshall Robinson both weighed in largemouth bass totaling 4 pounds, 11 ounces, while pros Mark Daniels Jr. and Nick LeBrun both weighed in 4-pound, 11-ounce smallmouth bass to each earn a share of the award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
Hosted by Go Great Lake Bay and the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, the four-day event features 66 of the top professional anglers in the world competing for a $150,000 top prize, a share of the $6.49 million season purse, and valuable AOY points in hopes of qualifying for the Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026, the Bass Pro Tour championship.
The full field of anglers compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the pro with the heaviest two-day total will advance directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers that finish 2nd through 20th will advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the top nine to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $150,000.
Anglers will arrive each morning at 5:15 a.m. ET to the Golson Boat Launch, located at 1598 N. Johnson St. in Bay City, Michigan. The Bass Pro Tour trailering policy has been enacted for this event, so anglers will depart the Golson Boat Launch each morning at 6:15 a.m. to one of nine optional launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to the Golson Boat Launch each evening, following the end of competition at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble.
On Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 9-10, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to visit Wenonah Park at 103 Center Ave., in Bay City for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. Fans can watch the pros live on the MLFNOW!® big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways, listen to live music and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel each day. The event also includes a meet and greet with Paw Patrol's Skye and Marshall, a youth fishing derby and a casting contest.
The Toyota Stage 7 at Saginaw Bay Presented by Ranger Boats features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The 2025 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2026 championship.
Television coverage of the Toyota Stage 7 at Saginaw Bay Presented by Ranger Boats will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 15 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing Co., Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine, Toyota and Zenni.
