YANTIS, Texas – The pig rasslin’ that reportedly went on around here Friday night May 9, well, many folks still are waiting to hear the whole story from the fifth Bassmaster Elite Series tournament of 2025.

There were plenty of “hawgs” captured, however, by many of the Elites who fished May 8 through May 11 at Lake Fork, which lived up to its reputation of giving up trophy-sized bass. All that was lacking was a 10-plus pounder from Day 1 to Championship Sunday, which was won by Birmingham, Ala., bass fishing pro Tucker Smith.

Smith rallied against the other Top 10 qualifiers on the fourth and final day on the legendary lake with a five-bass limit weighing 34 pounds, 14 ounces. His biggest bass of the day weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces.

“It’s unbelievable. I feel like I’m in a dream right now. That was one of the best days I’ve ever had on the water,” Smith said soon after receiving the familiar blue trophy from Bassmaster Elite tournament emcee Dave Mercer. “It’s really special to win on Mother’s Day with my mother (Mallory) here. She and I fish together a lot and the most important thing she taught me is to just be happy.”

Other happy Elites included three of the four Louisianians who competed in the tournament that marked the midway point of the season. Greg Hackney of Gonzales, Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia and Tyler Rivet of Raceland each made the cut to fish Semifinal Saturday.

Hackney came within 4 ounces, the size of a nice-sized Lake Fork shad or a light glide bait, of making it to Championship Sunday. He finished 11th after catching a “dirty 30” – 30 pounds, 9 ounces – on May 10 for a three-day total of 77 pounds, 5 ounces, behind Alabama Elite Wesley Gore’s 77-9.

Louisiana bass pro Logan Latuso of Denham Springs, however, missed the cut and finished 81st with a two-day total at 29-12. Texan Dakota Ebare, who was born and raised in Louisiana, also failed to qualify for Semifinal Saturday for the fifth time in five Elite outings. Ebare, competing in his first year on the Bassmaster Elite Series, had a two-day total of 31-10.

Hackney took his near-miss to get in the Top 10 in stride. He believed it would be a close call within minutes of his weigh-in on Semifinal Saturday.

“Honestly, I’ll probably come up a little short but what a fun place to fish and it’s always fun to come to Texas because it’s one of the few places in the country where you legitimately are always around 30 pounds,” Hackney said after Mercer pointed the mic in his direction. “Today was a great day. I had a good start. I think I had 30 pounds by 8 o’clock this morning. It was fun. I was catching almost all of my fish crankin’, or most of the ones I weighed in. I weighed a handful of jig fish this week that I caught shallow … you know, flipping, but the majority of them just crankin’ high spots. I had three Strike King KVD crank baits – a 1.5, a 2.5 and an 8.0.”

Hackney said he was looking forward to the circuit’s next stop this week on the Sabine River out of Orange, Texas.

“I know. It’s a Jekyll & Hyde compared to here but it’s still a fun place to fish, too. You get a lot of bites there,” he said.

Sumrall needed a good finish on Lake Fork and he delivered before heading to the Sabine River (see related story online and in print). After a good start Day 1 but a shaky Day 2, he fished his way into Semifinal Saturday, where he busted a limit for 27 pounds, 10 ounces, for a three-day total of 69 pounds, 8 ounces, good enough for 16th place.

As Sumrall stood on the big stage before his five bass hit the digital scale May 10, Mercer said, “He had 41 pounds, 14 ounces, as of this morning. Five fish to add to that today … 27 pounds, 10 ounces! With 69 pounds, 8 ounces, you move into 10th place (with many more Elites to weigh in at the time). You’ve been wrestling pigs out here on Lake Fork this week?”

“So, uh, inside joke there haha,” Sumrall said, eliciting a knowing chuckle from the emcee.

“Man, it was a great day. I had a subpar day yesterday and knowing what lives here you cannot come in with 18 pounds. So I changed my rotation up and, man, just had fun, man. I had people who rode with me (followed) all day and watched it go down, so it was awesome,” the New Iberia outdoorsman said.

Then Sumrall addressed the heretofore unanswered pig rasslin’ question. Sort of.

“Yeah, so we did, uh, I’ll save the story for Drew Cook. You go ahead and ask him what happened last night when he jumped in the pen for the pig. He (Cook) wrestled a live hog and it didn’t go his way, heh heh, but it was a great week at Fork,” he said.

Later in the weigh-in for the Top 50 Elites on Semifinal Saturday, Cook completely avoided any reference to wrestling pigs, despite gentle prompting by Mercer.

Like Hackney, and more than likely, like Sumrall, Rivet said he was ready for this week’s Sabine River derby that begins Thursday, May 15. The Raceland bass angler finished 28th with a three-day total of 65-05. His best day was 25-02 on Day 2.

“It’s my type of water — shallow, dirty water, and we’ll see what we can do,” said the Louisiana Elite who finished second in 2024 at Lake Fork.

“It’s not as good as last year but I still love making the cut here. Like I said yesterday, you just never know when that big one’s going to bite,” Rivet said during his brief time on stage with Mercer.

He shared what he called a “cool story” about his Semifinal Saturday. He went to the same tree that he fished last year that gave up a 10-12 and “there was another one probably 10-plus on that same tree and I sat there for 30 minutes and I couldn’t get her to bite.

“It was just cool seeing that … Like I actually might get to catch another 10-pounder on the same exact tree, a year later,” Rivet said.