ANDERSON, S.C. (March 15, 2025) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Tackle Warehouse Invitationals tournament on Lake Hartwell is turning out to be just as interesting as predicted. Through two days, Dustin Smith has the lead, having added 18 pounds, 8 ounces today for a 40-11 total.
Smith, of course, is operating with no forward-facing sonar entirely, running a shallow-heavy game plan. So, the new Invitationals format, which doesn’t allow anglers to use the technology on Day 2, didn’t impact him. More than 4 pounds behind Smith, Mitchell Robinson and Marshall Robinson have combined superlative ‘Scope days with local knowledge to hang right in it. Jayme Rampey dropped from the lead to fourth with a slower day, while Jack Daniel Williams rocketed up from 37th to fifth with 19-3.
Mixed into the Top 10, there are anglers catching big bags on Carolina rigs (aptly named apparently), crankbaits, wacky rigs, jerkbaits, buzzbaits and about anything else you can think of. Multiple anglers caught bass on beds today, the big largemouth are playing and there’s a significant weather front rolling into the area overnight, which will delay the start of competition by one hour. So, we’ll see what happens on the final day – it’s bound to be interesting.
Running shallow, dirty water, Smith brought a few pretty small fish to weigh-in, but he captured a few key fish as well. Starting where he fished on Day 1, he adapted his way into the lead.
“I got a lot less bites today,” said Smith. “I wasn't sure if my area was shot, or if I was just waiting for them to bite. And I think more I just kind of caught them all yesterday. So, I bailed on that and just went and ran all new water and found some pretty good stuff. I got that big one on the buzzbait, man, that was sick.”
Then, fishing a dock near weigh-in with minutes to go, Smith connected with another big fish.
“I got it in the net, scooped it up, threw a fish out, threw him in, and just took off running,” said Smith. “Like, I'd never ever had that happen.”
Though Smith had a great day, and produced some highlights on MLFNOW!, he knows he’s not running back out to a guaranteed motherlode on Day 3. Between the prospect of storms with heavy rain and shallow fish that seem to be a little limited, he’s cautious.
“In that new area, I think I only had four bites,” he said. “I mean, even if you find a good area, you're not going in there and getting 15 bites. It's so hard to run new water because you don't know if there aren’t any fish in there or if there are just a couple in there. And the rain and stuff that's coming through, I mean, this could totally ruin my life. If we get a warm rain tonight, and you could find some warm water run ins, you could get right very quickly, or it could just kill them. It's going to be one or the other.”
Smith has had some pretty close calls at the Toyota Series level, and he won the Southeastern Division AOY in 2020, but he’s still lacking a big tournament win. Tomorrow, he’ll be going out with the lead and in a position to put $115,000 in his pocket.
“It's so hard to get into contention to win one of these, as you know,” said Smith. “But I had a 1-12 in my bag, and I lost two pretty good ones today. Man, if I had just a 2-pound cull, it would have got me over 20 two days in a row. I have had some close calls, and one or two lost fish is the difference between winning one and taking, you know, third or something like that. So, it would be incredible.”
Marty Robinson missed the Top 30 cut by a literal ounce, but there’s a good chance he’ll still be at weigh-in tomorrow. Both Mitchell (the younger brother in his second year on the Invitationals) and Marshall (slightly older and a sophomore on the Bass Pro Tour) are firmly in the hunt.
“I tried to start out on the main lake and throw a crankbait and a swimbait and get me a limit, but that didn't really pan out like I thought it would,” said Mitchell. “But I did catch two small ones. So, I ran to a little bridge that I always fished growing up, and it's usually decent for one good one. But we actually caught a limit in there – a small limit – and then we actually caught two good ones. So, that kind of set my day up for success.”
Splitting their time between Hartwell and Keowee, both Robinsons have grown up fishing the lake and banked on local knowledge with no forward-facing sonar at their disposal on Day 2.
“I spent most of my practice ‘Scoping,” said Marshall. “I didn't really care about the no-‘Scope day because I knew I was going to probably just fish like I always do – a little bit of cranking, a little bit of dock fishing – and I knew what areas I was going to fish. The places I caught them in the past, the fish usually use the same general areas year after year in the spring.”
Today, both Robinsons ran almost entirely different water than they did on Day 1, but they’ll need to pull out all the stops tomorrow.
“The ceiling really isn't there right now,” said Marshall. “It usually is, and it's usually about 20 pounds, 21 pounds. But right now, for some reason, there's some big largemouth biting. So, a guy could definitely bust 22-plus. I think for me, if I could get around that 19-pound mark I had on Day 1, man, I'd feel good about my chances.”
Mitchell and Marshall will obviously both turn their transducers back on tomorrow, but the forecasted wind won’t make it easy on the pair.
“If we were having just semi-light winds, I'd feel like I have about an 80% chance at it, but the wind is going to make it tough,” said Mitchell. “I’ve got plenty of ways I can catch them in it, but it's mainly like 14- to 17-pound patterns. It's hard to get that big bag doing those type of patterns. I'm going to try to ‘Scope, of course, use my eyes again. If I can get it around five of them, the good thing about that wind is I think it's going to make them bite a whole lot better.”
For both, a win on the home front would be super cool.
“I'd rather win here than anywhere else, because I’ve got all my friends and family supporting me,” said Marshall. “I had a good group today; a big group came out to watch weigh-in. And, man, if me or my brother, either one of us, if we could get the win here, it'd be pretty special.”
Only the top 30 competitors, based on their two-day cumulative weight, now advance to Championship Sunday. The three-day tournament features pro anglers competing for a top prize of up to $115,000 and valuable points to qualify for the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship in September.
The top 30 pros advancing to the final day of competition on Lake Hartwell are:
1st: Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., 10 bass, 40-11
2nd: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 36-8
3rd: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 35-14
4th: Jayme Rampey, Liberty, S.C., 10 bass, 35-13
5th: Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., 10 bass, 33-8
6th: Flint Davis, Leesburg, Ga., 10 bass, 33-5
7th: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 10 bass, 32-13
8th: Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, 10 bass, 32-8
9th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 10 bass, 32-6
10th: Gary Adkins, Green Bay, Wis., 10 bass, 32-4
11th: Emil Wagner, Marietta, Ga., 10 bass, 32-0
12th: Joseph Webster, Hamilton, Ala., 10 bass, 31-0
13th: Cole Breeden, Lebanon, Mo., 10 bass, 30-15
14th: Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Penn., 10 bass, 30-15
15th: Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 30-6
16th: Lucas Black, Saint Simons Island, Ga., 10 bass, 30-5
17th: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 10 bass, 29-14
18th: Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., 10 bass, 29-12
19th: Levi Thibodaux, Thibodaux, La., 10 bass, 29-7
20th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 29-6
21st: Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., 10 bass, 29-5
22nd: Samuel Fish, Chelsea, Ala., 10 bass, 29-5
23rd: Austin Swindle, Parrish, Ala., 10 bass, 29-0
24th: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 10 bass, 28-14
25th: Alex Bradley, Wellford, S.C., 10 bass, 28-11
26th: Donnie Davis, Greer, S.C., 10 bass, 28-9
27th: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-6
28th: Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 27-14
29th: Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., 10 bass, 27-12
30th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 27-9
Dylan Mayo of Athens, Texas, earned Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award with a bass that weighed in at 6 pounds, 4 ounces.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/mlf-hartwell-31525.html
Major League Fishing (MLF)