MONROE, Mich. — Lake St. Clair is Aaron Jagdfeld’s favorite place in the country to bass fish, and this week the Michigan native earned some major hardware on his home waters.
Making the 130-mile round-trip journey from the western shore of Lake Erie to Lake St. Clair, Jagdfeld won the weather-shortened 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Lake Erie presented by Lowrance with a limit of smallmouth weighing 23 pounds, 5 ounces, anchoring his bag with a 5-7 smallmouth that earned Big Bass of the Tournament honors.
“I know it’s not how it usually happens,” Jagdfeld said. “It’s a wild way for it to happen, and I don’t have any words to describe it. It is a pretty incredible feeling. I really wanted to win this one with it being on my home lake. It is incredible to get it done on my favorite place in the world.”
Iowa’s Chris Miller finished second with 21-10 followed by Ohio’s Cody Dawson in third with 21-8, Allex Conner in fourth with 20-10 and Jacob Swanson in fifth with 19-15.
Jagdfeld came close to winning two major tournaments last season, both of which would have sent him to the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour that was held in Fort Worth, Texas, with competition on Lake Ray Roberts. Last July, he finished second to Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Jay Przekurat during the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Lake St. Clair presented by SEVIIN. Then in late September, the Adrian College grad made the final round of the Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s at Tims Ford Lake, finishing second to Dylan Akins.
Now, the 24-year-old will have another shot at qualifying for the Classic at the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship presented by Lowrance.
“Finishing second in both of those events added fuel to the fire and makes me want to get to the Classic so much more,” Jagdfeld said. “I’m excited to get to the National Championship.”
As often happens, the wind kicked up on the Great Lakes this week, creating challenging conditions on Day 1 and downright hazardous conditions the rest of the week. Forecasts called for 15 to 30 mph winds out of the west on Thursday and wave heights rising between 5 and 9 feet, forcing the cancellation of Day 2. Conditions were not much better Friday morning as anglers prepared to take off as the winds shifted to the east, and tournament officials made the decision to cancel the final day.
During Wednesday competition day, Jagdfeld focused on smallmouth that had already moved into their summer patterns. Those bass were feeding on perch in 17 to 19 feet of water around isolated patches of cabbage.
“It might not have been that high off the bottom,” he explained. “Even if those fish weren’t sitting in the cabbage, they would be right around and in the general area. Those bass will congregate around something a little different on those sand flats. It wasn’t super-thick, either. They were just little clumps.”
Once he found a promising patch of cabbage, Jagdfeld pitched a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader to the smallmouth he saw on his forward-facing sonar. He rigged it on a 5/16-ounce VMC Hybrid Head to make sure the bait reached smallies moving at a high rate of speed.
“It’s not fishing a rockpile where the bass are just sitting there. These fish are constantly zigzagging,” he said. “That head gets down to them really fast, so you are a lot more efficient. Those smallmouth like it moving away from them quickly most of the time, so you can fish the bait really quickly and get a reaction strike out of them.”
If they didn’t eat the Freeloader, Jagdfeld would throw a 6-inch Deps Sakamata Shad on a 3/16-ounce Owner Range Roller Round Head XL jighead, which fell through the water column at the same rate of speed but gave the bass a different profile.
Miller notched his second top finish in a one-day B.A.S.S. derby earlier this year after winning the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Sam Rayburn presented by SEVIIN in February and punching his ticket to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour.
“We’ll take it. I was really anxious to get out there today, but the right call was made,” Miller said. “I’m excited to get an opportunity to get a shot at the Natty. The main focus now is making the (Progressive Bassmaster) Elite Series.”
The Iowa native also made the long run to St. Clair where he targeted a 50-yard stretch of short grass in 10 to 12 feet of water. High spots within that 50-yard stretch held the better groups of bass.
He caught 40 smallmouth on Day 1 to work his way to his 21-10 limit. A Strike King Baby Z-Too in the Arkansas shiner color rigged on an Owner 3/16-ounce Range Roller jighead produced all of his bites. Miller said finding a group of bass in their summer patterns was a key piece to his success.
“In practice, I noticed the short grass was a lot better. When it got hot later in the week, the bass were really moving to the short grass and actually schooling up,” Miller said. “I pulled up and had my limit in 15 minutes. I would break the school up, and then a little later I would circle back. I upgraded all day.”
Mount Vernon, Ohio’s Cody Dawson fished isolated rocks and rockpiles in 22 feet of water on Lake Erie to finish third with 21-8. He pitched a smoke purple Berkley Flat Worm rigged on a 1/2-ounce drop shot to the rocks.
“It was extremely tough for me,” Dawson said. “I thought I had a pretty good gameplan with a school (of smallmouth) at my starting spot, but it did not pan out. So, I kept running individual rocks and rockpiles and I eventually landed in an area that had them. I put a good bag in quickly.
“I didn’t LiveScope any of them.”
Indiana’s Paul Andorfer and Ontario’s Warren Cooper tied for the top spot in the nonboater division with 12-0. Minnesota’s Perry See finished third with 11-11, followed by Rhonda Pitts in fourth with 11-1 and Jediah Barrett in fifth with 10-11. Barrett also claimed Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 4-3.
The Top 18 boaters and nonboaters claimed a spot in the 2025 Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance scheduled for Oct. 22-25.
Explore Monroe Michigan hosted the tournament.
