Limit the technology and the weights come down. That was the theory going into the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit finale at Plattsburgh, the first Lake Champlain event where pros could only run forward-facing sonar for three hours a day. The lake's three-day weight record was broken instead.
Cal Lane cleared 20 pounds on all three days for 65-7, beating the 64-1 Kyle Cortiana weighed in the 2024 Toyota Series event and taking the biggest three-day catch in MLF/FLW history at the lake. Day two's 23-15 was Champlain's third-heaviest bag for the organisation. He collected $100,000 and a REDCREST 2027 spot in his home state.
His pattern was a 30-mile split: smallmouth roaming break lines in the morning window, then kicker largemouth punched from thick elodea in about 10 feet of water. It came out of a wrecked practice.
"I had to get out and go to a new area," Lane said. "I went south where the wind wasn't as bad. It was really the only option. I just started fishing stuff they should be on, like break lines. I saw some roaming on bait, and I had it all to myself."
After a string of near-misses stretching back through 2025, Lane sounded almost bewildered on stage - not least about where it happened.
"I still can't believe it's real. Especially not on a smallmouth fishery - I never would have thought," he said. "I'm not big on smallmouth; I don't understand them."
"If we had 'Scope all day, I may have fished for smallmouth a little bit longer, but that may have cost me some largemouth," Becker said. "If you would have told me I'd catch 63 pounds and don't win, I would have said you were crazy."
Banks Shaw's third place, 61-13, delivered a second straight 7 Brew Angler of the Year title by 15 points over Ryan Lachniet. His prepared plan died on day one, during the sonar window.
"I ran all my stuff Day 1 when I only had 18 pounds after using my forward-facing, and none of that stuff panned out," Shaw said. "I didn't plan on fishing for largemouth - I tried it in practice and didn't catch anything at all, not even a single largemouth. And I just went and did it."
That adaptability carried a season that included a boat fire, a 35th-place opener at the Harris Chain and a stumble at Douglas, yet still produced two Pro Circuit wins, a first Bass Pro Tour victory and more than $558,000 banked in 2026.
"Last year was an incredible year. The goal was this year just to top that year," Shaw said. "Somehow, here we are - we topped last year's season."
Rookie Brody Luckey finished fourth on smallmouth alone and, tellingly, produced his standout morning with the sonar off, catching 16 pounds on a topwater over shallow rocky shoals on the final day while hunting bites outside the window.
For pros trying to plan around rules that shift annually, Britt Myers Jr. is the case study - three seasons, three technology formats, consistent results in all of them. His practice strategy changes with the format rather than his fishing.
"When you have a three-hour period, if you find a really good area, you can make a lot happen in three hours," Myers said. "When you have a day with zero 'Scope, you need a good area with no 'Scope involved."
Lachniet took Rookie of the Year. The final Bass Pro Tour invitations went to Lachniet, Connor Jacob, Carter Nutt, Brody Campbell and Will Harkins. Lane, eighth in the standings, missed the cut by one place - with a lake record and a six-figure cheque to soften it.
