Anaya saves his best for last, claims Bassmaster Elite title at Lake Martin

ALEXANDER CITY, Ala., Feb. 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Fisher Anaya has officially arrived.

Thanks to a dazzling Championship Sunday performance, the 20-year-old rookie from Eva, Ala., earned his first Elite Series victory at the Lippert Bassmaster Elite at Lake Martin with a four-day total of 54 pounds, 6 ounces. 

Opening the tournament with 11-6, Anaya worked his way into the Top 10 on Day 2 with a limit weighing 12-13 before claiming the Day 3 lead with a sack weighing 14-7. Entering the day with a 2-ounce lead over Brock Mosely, Anaya landed the biggest bag of the tournament on Championship Sunday, a 15-12 limit of spotted bass to secure the title.

His Championship Sunday limit was the biggest bag he's ever weighed on Lake Martin. 

"This feels awesome," Anaya said. "I didn't know if I'd ever win one of these. My buddy Gerald Swindle always tells me it's not easy to win one of these, so if you get a shot to win, you better make it work. I knew this one would set up in my wheelhouse, I just had to get the bites and land them."

After winning the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier presented by Bass Pro Shops Angler of the Year, Anaya made his much-anticipated debut last week at Lake Guntersville. That ended with a disappointing 65th place finish.

Lake Martin has always suited Anaya's fishing style, however, thanks to a lot of time on Lewis Smith Lake. He was able to get even more dialed into the Tallapoosa River impoundment by winning a tournament before the off-limits period went into effect. 

"I won a small local tournament here that paid $5,000, and won Phoenix money," he explained. "I had right at 15 pounds with all spotted bass and thought, 'Maybe I can make something work down here.' I fished the same exact way, just in different areas." 

Anaya spent his tournament targeting prespawn staging areas in big pockets on the south end of Lake Martin, a much cleaner section of the lake. Once he arrived, he would put his trolling motor down and hunt with his Garmin LiveScope for bigger than average bass. 

The majority of his spotted bass were located on rockpiles in less than 10 feet of water, but on the final day he found a lot of the bass were staging on stumps. 

"A lot of the females were staging on rockpiles in 5 to 7 feet of water and the males were really shallow," he said. "The females were staging on any piece of cover they could find before they went up to spawn."

An unnamed 13 mm dice-style bait rigged on a VMC Redline treble hook and a 1/32-ounce nail weight produced all of his best bites. He tossed that bait on a 7-foot-4 13 Fishing Myth spinning rod with 16-pound mainline braid and 12-pound Suffix fluorocarbon leader. In most instances, Anaya needed to keep the bait above the spotted bass.

LiveScope was imperative for making accurate casts, but Anaya also sight-fished several key bass, especially on Day 3.  

"Staying my distance away from them was (important). I tried to hit them from 50 to 70 feet away to give them time to see the bait and not the boat," Anaya said. "Some of them would come up and blow up on it and others I'd have to force feed it to them."

Most days, it has taken most of the day for any angler to work up to the 13- or 14-pound mark, but Anaya put his foot on the gas amidst the pouring rain, something he assumed would hurt his bite. 

"I thought the rain and clouds would make it tougher, but it honestly made it better," he said. "It was quick. Like every cast I was catching one over 2 1/2, so I can't complain when I'm doing that." 

After filling out a limit early on with two 2 1/2-pounders, Anaya landed an almost 4-pound spotted bass just before 9 a.m., a bass that ate his bait 5 feet away from the boat.

"As soon as my bait hit the water, I saw her open her mouth and close on it," Anaya said. "I set the hook and freaked out a little. A 4-pounder out here is major. I've never caught a spot that's 4 pounds out here before."

About an hour later, he landed another 3-pound spotted and upgraded one more time in the afternoon with a 2 1/2-pounder. While he felt comfortable with the weight he caught, Anaya wasn't convinced he had won until he got back to weigh-in. 

"I thought I had caught enough to make it happen, but in the back of my mind I kept thinking Brock had caught a 6-pounder on spinnerbait," he said. 

Mosley, meanwhile, notched his sixth second-place finish as a Bassmaster Elite Series angler with a four-day total weighing 52-14. The Mississippi pro lead the first two days of the tournament with mixed bags weighing 15-7 and 10-15. He fell to second on Day 3 after landing 12-2 before catching 14-6 on the final day. 

"I went shallow all day and caught a pretty good one early on," Mosley said. "The bite wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be. There was no wind and the rain quit, and the bass started slapping my bait. I knew they were going to catch them 'Scoping. Finally when it rained this afternoon, they committed to it again and I put a good stringer in the boat."

Mosley's best bites during the tournament came in the afternoon, and the final day was no different. Around 1 p.m., he landed a largemouth that was almost 4 pounds and late in the day, he added a 2-pounder and a 3-pounder, but it wasn't enough to unseat Anaya. 

"Hats off to him, he beat me," Mosley said.

Mosley's best bites during the week came in shallow pockets with dirtier water on the northern end of the lake. Secondary points, docks and wood cover all held bass. A 3/8-ounce Z-Man Evo Tungsten ChatterBait paired with a Yamamoto Zako shined the final two days, while a spinnerbait, a Bill Lewis ATV squarebill and a Buckeye Lures Thump Jig also produced key bites.

With daily totals weighing 11-1, 14-10, 11-12 and 13-6, Georgia pro Emil Wagner finished third with a total of 50-13. The Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series sophomore targeted shallow prespawn staging areas. 

The final day, Wagner caught over 50 bass on a fluke before moving to his primary pattern. He culled out those five bass during the rest of the day, including two spots weighing 3 pounds as the tournament ended.

Several baits produced bites for Wagner, including a Berkley Magnum Hit Worm, a Berkley The General rigged on a shaky head and a dice-style bait. Power-Pole Vision was also key. 

"I can look at Google Earth, so I went back in time and found new places to fish," Wagner said. "The bass were in different places every day. The second day they wanted to be on points and today I caught some on short points with chunk rock."

Canadian pro Cory Johnston leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race with 180 points followed by Illinois pro Trey McKinney in second with 175 points. Mosley is third with 174 points, Kyle Welcher is fourth with 173 points and Stetson Blaylock is fifth with 170 points. Caleb Hudson, John Garrett, Drew Cook, Cody Meyer and Matt Robertson round out the Top 10.

Hudson leads the Pro-Guide Batteries Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race with 168 points followed by Anaya in second with 138 points and Pake South in third with 129 points.   

Pitts Grove, N.J., pro Mike Iaconelli won Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors with his 5-3 largemouth from Day 2, earning a $2,000 bonus. 

Anaya won the $2,000 Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag with his final day limit weighing 54-6.

Mosley won the $4,000 Toyota Bonus Bucks contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler while Wagner earned $3,000 for being the second-highest finishing entrant.

Wagner won the $2,500 Yamaha Power Pay contingency award for the highest-placing eligible angler while Minnesota pro Easton Fothergill earned $1,500 for being the second-highest finishing entrant.

Texas pro Lee Livesay earned the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency prize for the angler whose BassTrakk estimates are closest to their official weight.

The tournament was hosted by Explore Lake Martin and Tallapoosa County Tourism.

Media Contact: Mandy Pascal, Communications Manager, 334-414-8677, [email protected]

SOURCE B.A.S.S.