ORANGE, Texas – Bassmaster Elite Series anglers from Louisiana never caught up with an Elite from Wisconsin during the circuit’s sixth tournament this season.

Neither did any of the other 101 Elites fishing the four-day tournament on the high and mostly muddy Sabine River because Pat Schlapper of Eleva (pop. 685 in 2020) led wire-to-wire May 15-18 in front of large, cheering crowds at the Orange City Boat Ramp. He rode a strong first-day limit of 12 pounds, 12 ounces, to his first victory as an Elite for a $101,000 payday.

Schlapper’s immediate family and friends drove to southeast Texas and helped him celebrate a win made more emotional by the fact his older brother, Matthew Schlapper, died suddenly June 27, 2024, at age 42.

Schlapper tried to fight back tears as he faced the crowd on the big stage.

“This is for my family. This is for my brother,” the winner of the coveted blue trophy said while talking to Bassmaster Elite Series tournament emcee Dave Mercer.

The Wisconsin bass angler’s winning weight of 38 pounds, 12 ounces, benefited from a fast start at a productive morning hotspot on Championship Sunday. He had a little more than 9 pounds of bass in the livewell before 9 a.m.

“It was unbelievable the way that happened this morning. That was actually the first spot that I found (during practice). I pulled in and the wind was just perfect to throw a Brazalo clacking buzz bait. It had a big gold blade and black toad on the back,” he said. “I just got to whompin’ on ’em for about 20 minutes and they were all quality fish. I missed one, but the rest choked it.”

Bass hooked and boated over the next three days bit on a homemade ⅜-ounce Do-it-Molds compact finesse jig with a Big Bite Baits chunk trailer, a dropshot and a Texas-rigged creature bait, he said.

Schlapper finished ahead of South Carolina angler Patrick Walters by a margin of 2-4. Walters’ four-day total was 36 pounds, 8 ounces, worth $21,000.

None of Louisiana’s four Elite anglers fished beyond Day 2 on the Sabine River. Logan Latuso of Gonzales just missed Semifinal Saturday with 12-7 for 55th; New Iberian Caleb Sumrall was 73rd with 10-10; Greg Hackney of Gonzales finished 89th with 8-15, and Raceland’s Tyler Rivet checked out in 90th with 8-5.

A former Louisiana resident who grew up fishing bass tournaments as a teen against adults made an Elite cut for the first time in 2025. Dakota Ebare, who had a wildly successful but relatively short career on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour, smiled ear-to-ear on stage May 16, Day 2, after weighing five bass at 7 pounds, 8 ounces, leaving him in 14th with 16-10 for two days, easily enough to fish Semifinal Saturday. To say he was overjoyed is an understatement.

After his second-day weight was announced, the Brookeland, Texas, all-around outdoorsman let out a loud, “Wooooooo!” ala South Carolina angler Patrick Walters.

“That’s a relief right there, I tell you, man, I’ve been working my butt off all year. It just hasn’t been working out. I just want to thank everybody following me and supporting me, y’all have never failed me even though I’ve been failing y’all. So thank y’all so much not giving up on me,” Ebare said. “It’s going to be fun tomorrow. I look forward to going fishing.”

In his parting words moments later to Ebare, Mercer said, “You haven’t failed anyone, dude. One cut down, one more to go.”

Unfortunately, Ebare hit the proverbial brick wall on Semifinal Saturday. He walked on the stage empty-handed, as noted by Mercer.

“Got a little taste of that humble pie again today. You know, it’s been a tough season, but adversity builds character. I was thinking about that today on the way back in after not catching a bass all day long and I fished my tail off,” Ebare said about Day 3.

“I’ll probably gain more from this season not being successful than any season that I’ve won in. Honestly. I’m learning a lot out there by myself and getting better every day. That’s the important thing.

“But I could not not come across the stage and say hello to the City of Orange. Man, thank you all for coming out … And I’ve got a ton of family here, made signs and everything else. Thank y’all so much for coming to support me.”

There was ample support on hand for Sumrall, Latuso, Rivet and Hackney, also. After all, the circuit’s sixth tournament of the year was in a neighboring state, less than 2 ½ hours from Sumrall’s hometown.

Sumrall started the tournament with 7 pounds, 1 ounce, around the average limit considering the river system was fishing tougher than it has before, and brought back three bass for 3-9 the second day.

After Mercer announced the two-day total, he told Sumrall, “I know this one hurts.”

“Yeah. Being close to home, I always look forward to Sabine, from New Iberia, Louisiana, right down the road,” Sumrall said. “So, this place here really sets up well for me. Given the current conditions, man, it really stacked up a lot of people in certain areas, so it made it really hard to differentiate yourself from the crowd but, hey, man, that’s how it happens.”

Before exiting stage left, he thanked his “whole family” for being here in a show of support.

Hackney, one of the winningest Elites, bemoaned an up-and-down bass tournament season that includes an impressive National Professional Fishing League win April 18 at Lake Norman in North Carolina and an 11th-place finish May 15-18 in the Elite tournament at Lake Fork in Texas.

He weighed in two bass at 3 pounds here on Day 1 and came back with a small limit for 5-15. He was unnerved by his first-day effort.

“Yesterday I lost a couple bites. Well, I didn’t really lose them but missed a couple bites. I’ve been snakebit by that a lot this year after a week where I fished clean or a week where I don’t,” he said. “But it’s a funny thing right now with that tide (high tides pushed by strong southerly winds kept the water way up in the woods) like it is the water’s so high, you know. Every one of those (Day 2) fish came like in a 15-minute period this morning, when the water was right. I literally had 12 bites. After that, the water changed. Literally 15 minutes later, I did not have another bite. It’s crazy.”

Nevertheless, he said, he enjoyed the two days on the water.

“It’s good we have these, you know? We just came from Fork, where we had hundreds of pounds, and, you know, now it just kind of keeps everybody’s reality check,” he said.