Tallis Morrison Wins $201,000 Toyota Series Title on Pickwick Lake

Tallis Morrison of Canon, Georgia, won the 2026 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake on Nov. 7, beating Hayden O’Barr by 9 ounces. Morrison weighed 19 pounds, 10 ounces on the final day for a three-day total of 58 pounds, 15 ounces, according to Major League Fishing.

The win paid $201,000, including a $1,000 Phoenix MLF Bonus, and gave Morrison his first MLF trophy and a spot in REDCREST 2027.

A finish decided at the scale

Morrison and O’Barr, of Scottsboro, Alabama, started the last day only 5 ounces apart. When the MLFNOW! broadcast ended, the two were in an unofficial tie. MLF Weigh Master Chris Jones confirmed the result at the weigh-in: O’Barr finished second with 58-6, the shorthand anglers use for 58 pounds, 6 ounces.

O’Barr took home $60,000 in total. That included $40,000 for second place plus two $10,000 bonuses as the top finisher from both the Central and Northern divisions. Clayton Ellis of Saltillo, Mississippi, was third with 57-2. Three pros in the Top 25 caught more than 21 pounds on the final day and climbed into the Top 10.

Morrison said the biggest check he had won before this was about $10,000, earned just before the championship. He joked that he might start putting cheese on his bologna sandwiches.

How Morrison caught them

Most of the field did its best fishing during the three hours each pro was allowed to use forward-facing sonar, a live sonar that shows fish moving in front of the boat. Morrison did the same, but he caught most of his weight on a chartreuse Zoom Super Fluke, a soft plastic jerkbait that imitates baitfish such as herring.

He found his main spot in practice by catching a smallmouth on a topwater lure. His first cast with the Fluke there produced a 5-pound smallmouth. The fish held in less than 10 feet of water in a small depression, a current eddy behind a high spot on the Tennessee River. Morrison said the spot did not stand out on a map or on LiveScope and that he suspected other anglers knew it.

He rested the school on Day 2 and stayed close enough to keep other boats away. On the final day the fish were slow at first. He then caught a fish of about 3 1/4 pounds and, soon after, his biggest bass of the day.

His other baits were:

• Zoom Super Fluke in chartreuse pearl and crazy chrome
• 6th Sense Magnum Catwalk topwater
• 3/8-ounce Greenfish Tackle Bad Little Dude with a Zoom Creepy Crawler trailer

He used Fish Xtreme rods and Sunline line throughout.

What it means for REDCREST 2027

The championship sent three anglers to REDCREST 2027, scheduled for April 16-18 at Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Alabama. Morrison qualified as the winner. Yuma Ejiri of Tokyo, Japan, earned a berth and a $10,000 bonus as the top MLF International Division angler, finishing 75th. Matthew Knopp of Lander University, from Mercer, Pennsylvania, took the last spot as the best finisher from the College Fishing National Championship team. He placed 11th.

Other $10,000 division bonuses went to Matteo Turano (Plains, 5th), Banks Shaw (Southern, 6th), Chance Shelby (Southwestern, 13th) and Ellis (Wild Card).

Co-angler division and final-day numbers

Chris McClellan of De Soto, Missouri, won the co-angler side with three bass weighing 5-12 on the final day. He won by 9 ounces over Jason Sandidge of Centerton, Arkansas, who had eight bass for 24-12 and won $12,500. McClellan’s prize was a Phoenix 518 bass boat with a 115-horsepower outboard. MLF’s figures for him differ: the story lists a three-day total of 28-5 and a boat worth $33,500, while the results table shows 25-5 and $33,600.

On Saturday, the 25 pros caught 106 bass weighing 373 pounds, 7 ounces, including 17 five-bass limits. The no-entry-fee event drew nearly 400 pros and co-anglers and offered a top cash award of up to $235,000. Hayden Marbut, the 2024 champion, finished 17th.

When to watch

The championship will air on VICE Sports on Dec. 13 at 9 p.m. ET.

Sources: Anglers Channel, Major League Fishing