Auburn’s Benjamin Travis Chases $235,000 at Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick
After losing a Guntersville win by 1 ounce, Auburn's Benjamin Travis heads to the Nov. 5-7 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake with a $235,000 top prize.
Benjamin Travis, a standout angler at Auburn University, will fish the Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake from Nov. 5 to 7, with $235,000 going to the winner. The event comes after a season in which he finished a single ounce short of a victory, then won a national college title on the same lake.
The one-ounce heartbreak
In February, Travis led a charge on Lake Guntersville during a Toyota Series event. On the final day he caught a largemouth over 7 pounds, which pushed his Day 3 limit past 25 pounds. He weighed more than 70 pounds over three days. Day 2 leader Kane Weekley was the last angler to weigh in, and he edged Travis by 1 ounce. The gap cost Travis a $50,000 first prize. He took home $20,000 instead.
Travis admits he was not happy at first. Looking back, though, he believes the runner-up finish set up the rest of his year, and the money helped pay for the remaining tournaments.
From college team to the Pickwick spotlight
Travis fished his first tournament in sixth grade, joined his high school fishing team and later landed on Auburn’s program. At his first team meeting he met anglers who have since moved up, including Bassmaster Elite Series pros Tucker Smith and Sam Hanggi, and 2024 Toyota Series Championship winner Hayden Marbut. Seeing them succeed convinced him a pro career was realistic.
In 2025 he fished the Toyota Series Central Division and finished 24th in points, just inside the cut for the Championship. At that event on Grand Lake he placed 12th despite a poor practice. In 2026 he added a ninth-place finish on Pickwick and a third-place finish in the division points, which earned him a return trip to the Championship.
A national title on a lake he once dreaded
Travis used to dread Pickwick, but in May he teamed with Carty Shoen at the ACA championship there. Practice was slow, and around 1:30 p.m. on Day 1 they had only three fish, roughly 7 pounds, in the livewell. Over the next 90 minutes they added nearly 27 pounds, including a 9-pound kicker fish, and led the field of more than 200 boats.
On Day 2 their first spot did not produce, so they ran far up the reservoir to water Travis had never fished. With about 5 minutes left, they returned to a spot where two big fish had followed his lure earlier. Shoen’s first cast caught a 4 1/2-pounder, and the pair won by a pound.
Why it matters for anglers
Travis says the pattern from that win, built around a gizzard shad spawn, probably will not carry over to the Championship. He has not scouted heavily and does not have a firm plan. Poor practices at Grand and in the national championship forced him to adjust on the fly, and both times it worked. For anglers, the lesson is that flexibility can beat a rigid game plan when conditions change.
The stakes are large for him. He called $235,000 life-changing and said it would help him pay for pro-level fishing, including a shot at REDCREST, and attract sponsors.
What happens next
The Toyota Series Championship runs Nov. 5-7 on Pickwick Lake. Travis is one of several Tennessee River specialists with a real chance at the top prize. Whether his loose approach pays off will be known by the final weigh-in.
Source: Major League Fishing