By Jason Duran
WETUMPKA, Ala. — The Alabama Bass Trail 100 closed out its three-event season on Lake Jordan with more than $100,000 in prize money and contingency bonuses on the line. The winning team would take home $25,000, plus any contingency bonuses it qualified for. The season’s final weigh-in would also decide the Angler of the Year race and send one team home with a pair of the trail’s highly coveted heavyweight championship belts.
Michael McLaurin and Jacob Walker won the Lake Jordan finale with five bass weighing 19.08 pounds. They edged Trace Antunes and Daylon Milam by 0.21 pounds. Antunes fished solo and brought in 18.87 pounds to earn $12,500 for the team and win Angler of the Year by two points. Mike and Michael Markham finished third with 17.86 pounds and earned $10,000 after finding the fish they needed late in the morning.
Jacob Walker hadn’t fished Lake Jordan in months when he came down to practice on Thursday, but he knew that stretch of the Coosa River well. He and Chance Perry won so many night tournaments there that they earned the nickname “the Showstoppers.” As Walker tells it, they won often enough that the night tournaments were eventually called off.
It took about five minutes in practice for Walker to see what he needed. Around 10 a.m., the lake was slick calm, and he was watching other boats move around without getting bit. In that same stretch, he and McLaurin caught three bass between about 3¾ and 4 pounds. They figured those quality bites would be hard to come by on tournament day, and now they had a plan for when things got tough. As they idled back to load the boat to end practice, Walker told McLaurin they were going to win. He felt confident enough to skip another day of practice.
The north wind changed things on tournament day. Walker also thought they might have started pulling water earlier than they had in practice, when he noticed current around noon or 1 p.m. The 23 pounds they had talked about never came together, but they were able to get bites by keeping their baits small and adjusting to how deep the fish were holding.
their weight on a 4-inch Deps Sakamata Shad on a 3/32-ounce Owner Range Roller. They went to a heavier jighead when they needed to get the minnow down to deeper fish. A Megabass Vision 110+1 Jr. in GP Pro Blue accounted for two key bass. Walker said the size of the shad was the biggest thing he considered when picking a bait.
With Walker working individual fish on forward-facing sonar, McLaurin spent much of the day netting bass and grabbing another minnow out of the drawer when Walker needed one. They joked after weigh-in that professional anglers need caddies, too. McLaurin summed up how they made it work from opposite ends of the boat.
“You gotta get your ego out of the way in the back of the boat,” McLaurin said.
Fishing out of his new 2027 Phoenix 920 Elite X II at Lake Jordan earned Walker an extra $8,000 in Phoenix Boats contingency money on top of the team’s $25,000 first-place check.
His wife had been putting together the color scheme for two years before he finally ordered it. The finished boat pairs White Sand gelcoat with Black Onyx and Black Gold pinstripes. Walker said it has drawn more compliments than any boat he’s owned.
“Everywhere I went, gas station, boat ramp, the first thing people say is, ‘Man, that’s the best looking boat I’ve ever seen,’” Walker said.
Trace Antunes expected to catch most of his weight in the first hour. The fish he planned to start on were still there the evening before the tournament. When he pulled up the next morning, he couldn’t find them. His second spot was empty, too. At his third stop, he saw five or six big bass, including some he figured were over 4 pounds. He thought that was where his day would turn, but he couldn’t get them to bite. By about 8 a.m., he had two bass that weighed roughly 2 pounds combined.
Antunes thought the cold front might have moved some of his fish, but he felt boat traffic and fishing pressure had more to do with how they acted. With Milam away for the finale, Antunes kept moving and leaned on his faith when he felt himself starting to press.
“Every time I start spinning, I say, ‘Lord, show me something,’” Antunes said. “And I’ll be dang, he did every single time I said that.”
He said more than once that, just when he felt the day getting away from him, he’d come across a bass around 3 pounds and catch it. Each one gave him a little confidence back. By weigh-in, he had put together 18.87 pounds and missed the win by 0.21 pounds. Second place paid $12,500 and gave Antunes and Milam 99 points in the Angler of the Year race.
Markham knew from practice that Lake Jordan was fishing tough. They figured 20 or 21 pounds could win and planned to run spots until they found bigger fish. The first few stops didn’t give them the bites they needed. Around 11 a.m., they had one bass in the 3½-pound range.
They finally found what they were looking for at the mouth of a pocket. Shad were moving in and out, and bass were sitting there feeding as they passed through. Markham said the sun was right and the shad were positioned where the bass could feed on them. The fish there were more active than the ones they had tried earlier, and the Markhams caught most of their weight on a Crush City Mooch Minnow in Green Gizzard.
they might finish around 10th when they came in. Their five bass weighed 17.86 pounds, good for third place and a $10,000 check.
Antunes and Milam started the season with a win at Smith Lake, where they weighed 15.98 pounds. They came into Lake Jordan 14 points behind Matt Adams and Jason Whitehead. Antunes earned 99 points for second at Jordan, while Adams and Whitehead earned 83 for 18th. That 16-point swing gave Antunes and Milam the title with 273 points. Adams and Whitehead finished second with 271, and Brian Stiffler and Wesley Gore finished third with 269.
Antunes said it was a crazy feeling to come out on top in a field that included anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series and Bass Pro Tour. He plans to fish the Bassmaster Opens next year with the goal of making the Elite Series. When asked where he was going to wear his heavyweight belt, he already had an idea.
“I’ll probably wear both of them on the way home,” Antunes said, “since Daylon’s not here.”
| Place | Team | Weight | Payout |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael McLaurin and Jacob Walker | 19.08 lbs. | $25,000 |
| 2 | Trace Antunes and Daylon Milam | 18.87 lbs. | $12,500 |
| 3 | Mike Markham and Michael Markham | 17.86 lbs. | $10,000 |
| 4 | Jimmy Mason and Cole Walker | 17.24 lbs. | $9,000 |
| 5 | Zeke Gossett and Joey Nania | 16.94 lbs. | $7,500 |
Derek Hicks and Alex Davis weighed the largest bass listed in the results at 5.01 pounds. Full Lake Jordan results. www.
| Place | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trace Antunes and Daylon Milam | 273 |
| 2 | Matt Adams and Jason Whitehead | 271 |
| 3 | Brian Stiffler and Wesley Gore | 269 |
| 4 | Hunter Davidson and Bryant Fikes | 265 |
| 5 | Carson Maddux and Jake Maddux | 261 |
Fans who missed the Lake Jordan finale can look for the on-the-water coverage and weigh-in on the Alabama Bass Trail TV YouTube channel. www.
The Alabama Bass Trail Podcast is released each Tuesday. Search for “Alabama Bass Trail Podcast” on your favorite podcast app or listen on the ABT Podcast page. www.alabamabasstrail100.
The 2026 Alabama Bass Trail 100 Series was made possible by Phoenix Boats, AMFirst, Larry Puckett Chevrolet, 13 Fishing, Rapala, VMC, Crush City, Buffalo Rock, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Jack’s, Garmin, Thompson CAT, PiranhO2, Alabama State Parks, Halo Fishing, Snag Proof, NetBait, Bait Fuel, Alfa Insurance (Thomas ALFA MAN Shelton), TH Marine Supplies, Power-Pole, Pro Guide Batteries, American Trailer Rental, Yamaha, SCUM FROG, Southern Protection Agency, E3 Sports Apparel, FishAlabama.org, Sweet Home Alabama and Alabama Mountain Lakes.
The Alabama Bass Trail is a cooperative effort between the Governor’s office, the Alabama Tourism Department, and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
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