The Starting Spot: McKinney Takes St Clair, Wheeler Can't Stop Winning, and a Minnow Shaking Masterclass

The Starting Spot Daily Bass Fishing Headlines are the perfect way to start your day with some of the top bass fishing articles on the internet. It’s the quick, informative, how, where, and who you need to know. So, rub the sleep from your eyes, pour that first cup of the day, and head to your Starting Spot.

This is Bassmaster Elite pro Trey McKinney, not from his win on St Clair this weekend, but from a little time the author got to share with him earlier this year on Lake Santee Cooper. Just a fun shot of an angler who made some big headlines this week. Congrats, Trey! | Photo by Kurt Mazurek

In this edition of The Starting Spot:

-20-year old bass fishing phenom Trey McKinney wins the 2025 Basmaster Elite series on St Clair with a dominating wire-to-wire performance, setting a new total weight record along the way.

-Honestly, Jacob Wheeler is a deadly, super-advanced, laser-focused, bass catching cyborg, right? After locking down the 2025 Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year title (his fourth AOY) on Saturday, he went ahead and won the Saginaw Bay BPT event (his tenth BPT win).

-Take a look at this video where BPT pro Jake Lawrence shares expert tips on one of the most popular and deadliest bass fishing presentations in years, shaking a jig and minnow. He’ll demonstrate rigging, bait control, and timing that will get you right up to speed with this technique.

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McKinney makes magic in Michigan

by Christopher Decker

In a story on Bassmaster.com: The Yokohama Bassmaster Elite at Lake St. Clair certainly hasn’t been difficult for Trey McKinney, but after three days of competition the second-year pro didn’t know how many big smallmouth were left in his best area.

His questions were quickly answered on Championship Sunday as McKinney caught a 6 pound, 2-ounce smallmouth within the first several minutes of fishing, putting the exclamation point on a dominating performance.

The 20-year-old from Carbondale, Ill., claimed his second Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series trophy in wire-to-wire fashion, catching 96 pounds, 1 ounce over four days at Lake St. Clair. It is the heaviest winning weight in Bassmaster competition at Lake St. Clair and the fifth heaviest winning weight in a smallmouth event in B.A.S.S. history…MORE.

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Wheeler ends season in style with win No. 10 on Saginaw Bay

by Mitchell Forde

In a story on MajorLeagueFishing.com: Time had already run out in Toyota Stage 7 Presented by Ranger Boats on Saginaw Bay with Wheeler atop SCORETRACKER®, his 10th career Bass Pro Tour win secured. Yet after Wheeler addressed the MLFNOW! viewers and offered some thank yous to those who had helped him get his tournament fishing start growing up in Indiana, he picked his rod back up and pitched a topwater frog back to the clump of reeds and lily pads in front of his boat, trying to elicit one more blowup.

That summed up Wheeler’s week on Saginaw Bay. Needing only to finish 27th or better to secure his fourth Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in the past five seasons, he could have played it safe, then celebrated and gone through the motions after he secured the hardware on Friday. Instead, he not only made Sunday’s Championship Round but overcame an early 22-pound deficit to Todd Faircloth and willed his way to a win in a three-way battle with Faircloth and Edwin Evers. His total of 110 pounds even on 42 scorable bass ultimately topped Faircloth by 7-6…MORE.

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Jake Lawrence's Minnow Masterclass

by Wired2Fish

In a video on the Wired2Fish YouTube channel: Professional bass angler Jake Lawrence breaks down one of the most effective and dependable techniques in modern fishing—the jig and minnow. Whether you're targeting bass, drum, catfish, or anything feeding on shad, the power of this bait combination is unmatched. Lawrence focuses on how to present the new Yamamoto Hinge Minnow for maximum results, with a strong emphasis on precise rigging, bait control, and timing…MORE.

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