Bassmaster Classic 2015: Weigh-In Results and Leaderboard

The Bassmaster Classic has been the preeminent competition in bass fishing since its inception in 1971, and the world's best anglers have once again set out to prove themselves in 2015.

This year's event takes place on Lake Hartwell in Greenville, South Carolina, for the first time since 2008. Alton Jones won the Classic that year, but after failing to qualify for the 2015 contest, there is room for someone else to break through in The Palmetto State.

With past champions such as Randy Howell, Cliff Pace, Chris Lane, Skeet Reese and others in the running, this promises to be one of the most competitive Bassmaster Classics ever.

Here is a full rundown of how the action has unfolded thus far, complete with day-by-day leaderboard updates.

Day 3 Recap

Casey Ashley is now the most envied angler in the sport. 

The 31-year-old brought in a huge haul Sunday, pushing his total weight for the tournament to 50 pounds, one ounce and making him the 2015 Bassmaster Classic champion. Here's a look at the final leaderboard, courtesy of Bassmaster.com:

Place	Fisher	Day 1 Fish	Day 1 Weight	Day 2 Fish	Day 2 Weight	Day 3 Fish	Day 3 Weigh	Total Fish	Total Weight
1	Casey Ashley	5	15-3	5	14-11	5	20-3	15	50-1
2	Bobby Lane	4	10-10	5	17-4	5	19-1	14	46-15
3	Takahiro Omori	5	15-0	5	16-11	5	12-8	15	44-3
4	Dean Rojas	5	21-2	5	10-7	5	12-4	15	43-13
5	Jacob Powroznik	4	9-2	5	15-0	5	18-15	14	43-1
6	Michael Iaconelli	4	14-7	5	16-9	5	11-6	14	42-6
7	Brett Hite	5	15-7	5	14-0	4	12-4	14	41-11
8	Mike McClelland	5	12-2	4	13-4	5	16-1	14	41-7
9	Justin Lucas	3	8-4	5	15-14	5	16-0	13	40-2
10	Chris Lane	5	14-0	4	12-1	5	12-10	14	38-11

Ashley entered the day in fifth place, but that didn't matter. The crowd favorite was fishing on his home lake in Greenville, South Carolina, and his five fish weighed in at a whopping 20 pounds, three ounces to top a stacked field. 

He talked about the victory, via the Independent Mail's Mike Ellis: 

Bobby Lane, who was looking to follow in the footsteps of brother and 2012 champion Chris, finished second. He had a big day (19 pounds, one ounce) and led with the Super Six coming to the scales, but it just wasn't meant to be for the 40-year-old. 

Takahiro Omori, who led after Day 2, finished third, while Dean "The Machine" Rojas and Jacob Powroznik round out the top five. 

Day 2 Recap

Takahiro Omori caught fire on Saturday, capturing a haul that totaled 16 pounds, 11 ounces. On a day when few anglers were able find much quality on Lake Hartwell, it was enough to propel Omori into a slim lead over Dean Rojas, the Day 1 leader.

Place	Name	Day 1 Fish	Day 1 Weight	Day 2 Fish	Day 2 Weight	Total Fish	Total Weight
1	Takahiro Omori	5	15-0	5	16-11	10	31-11
2	Dean Rojas	5	21-2	5	10-7	10	31-9
3	Michael Iaconelli	4	14-7	5	16-9	9	31-0
4	Randy Howell	5	15-5	5	15-6	10	30-11
5	Casey Ashley	5	15-3	5	14-11	10	29-14
6	Brett Hite	5	15-7	5	14-0	10	29-7
7	Coby Carden	5	9-3	5	19-13	10	29-0
8	Paul Mueller	5	13-12	5	14-3	10	27-15
9	Bobby Lane	4	10-10	5	17-4	9	27-14
10	Skeet Reese	5	20-2	2	6-15	7	27-1

Although you wouldn't have guessed after he jumped to the top of the leaderboard, Omori was worried when the day began that he wouldn't catch anything, per The Associated Press, via FoxSports.com:

"

Yesterday, we were like two hours late starting—and when I got to my first spot, I caught five fish just like that. We started at normal time today. So when I get to my spot, it was too dark. I was thinking there were no fish left out here. I just hung around and stuck with it and I caught most of my fish by noon. I ended up catching about 10 keepers today.

"

Omori knows exactly what it takes to win the Bassmaster Classic. He was victorious a little over a decade ago on Lake Wylie in Charlotte, North Carolina. With such a minute difference between he and Rojas, the 34-year-old native of Emory, Texas, can't afford to rest on his laurels.

Rojas paced the field with a Day 1 haul of 21 pounds, two ounces heading into the morning. As Trey Reid noted for Bassmaster.com, Rojas simply ran into bad luck:

"

Blame it on the fish. They just didn't bite for Rojas on Day 2. He fished the same way and in the same areas as Friday, but after weighing 21 pounds, 2 ounces on the weather-shortened first day, Rojas took only 10-7 to the scales at Saturday’s weigh-in and dropped to second place.

[...]

"It was definitely tougher than Day 1," Rojas said. "I just didn't get the bites. I had five keeper bites and I landed five fish. I'll take it."

"

According to Reid, Rojas got off to a great start, averaging one fish every hour until 11 a.m. ET rolled around. It wasn't until three hours later that he finally snagged his fifth fish on the day.

Still, as bad as things were for Rojas, he's only two ounces away from Omori. At least he didn't have as terrible of a day as Skeet Reese had.

Reese was only a pound behind Rojas after the first day and sitting in second place. After catching only two fish on Saturday, though, Reese finds himself in 10th place, four pounds, 10 ounces behind Omori. He was the only angler among the top 10 to not catch the full five.

"Final day tomorrow, anything can happen being just a few pounds behind," he wrote to his supporters on Facebook.

Day 1 Recap

While Day 1 at the Bassmaster Classic was chaotic due to a schedule change necessitated by the lake conditions, the competition still kicked off in grand fashion with Dean Rojas jumping out to a lead.

As seen in this tweet courtesy of Bart Boatwright of The Greenville News, the Lake Havasu City, Arizona, native came away with a total weight of 21 pounds, two ounces:

Here is a look at the top 10 anglers after one day of fishing with the entire leaderboard being available at Bassmaster.com:

Place	Name	Total Fish	Total Weight (pounds-ounces)
1	Dean Rojas	5	21-2
2	Skeet Reese	5	20-2
3	Keith Combs	5	18-8
4	Brett Hite	5	15-7
5	Randy Howell	5	15-5
6	Casey Ashley	5	15-3
7	Takahiro Omori	5	15-0
8	Greg Hackney	4	14-15
9	Michael Iaconelli	4	14-7
10	Todd Faircloth	5	14-6

Many fishermen are likely feeling the pressure at such a big event, but Rojas is simply soaking it all in, according to Bassmaster on Twitter:

The old adage is that practice makes perfect, and Rojas believes that preparation is the biggest reason why he was able to jump out to the lead:

Rojas' success is actually quite amazing since his day started off horribly. Per Bryan Brasher of Bassmaster.com, the veteran was penalized 28 minutes for checking in late at practice Wednesday.

He was somehow able to overcome the disadvantage, though, which has every other angler in the competition looking up at him.

Rojas may be in the driver's seat right now, but he can't afford to become complacent. Several excellent fishermen are hot on his tail, including Skeet Reese.

The 2009 Bassmaster Classic champ is in second place just—one pound out of the lead. The 45-year-old star had an extremely strong day, however, it didn't come easily for him:

Another capable angler in Keith Combs is lurking a couple of pounds back in third. There is some separation between the top three and the rest of the pack, but that can change quickly.

After his solid showing, Combs revealed that it was a very challenging day due to the cold weather:

Defending champion Randy Howell is also hanging in there with fifth-place positioning. He is nearly six full pounds behind Rojas, though, which prompted him to joke about the relative skimpiness of the fish he caught:

It terms of disappointing outings, Cliff Pace has to be at the top of the list. He was viewed by most as a contender after winning the Bassmaster Classic just two years ago, but he is way back in 43rd place at just over four pounds.

Pace had no real explanation for why he got off to such a slow start:

There is still time for Pace and others to make a comeback over the next couple days, but there is no question that the likes of Rojas, Reese and Combs have put themselves in a great position.

Nobody is immune to a bad day, though, which means every angler in the competition must continue to push and hope that those in front of them falter.

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