Logan Dyar Leads Toyota Series Championship Day 1 on Pickwick Lake

Logan Dyar caught five bass weighing 20 pounds, 13 ounces to lead the Toyota Series Championship after Day 1 on Pickwick Lake, Major League Fishing reported. Thick fog held the field at the dock until 9:40 a.m., which cut fishing time and made each angler’s three hours of allowed forward-facing sonar use count for more.

Landon Lawson sits second with exactly 20 pounds, and four more pros weighed 19 pounds or better. According to MLF, the Top 10 are separated by barely more than 2 pounds, so the standings can still change a lot.

How Dyar turned a slow day around

Dyar told MLF he had a single 3-pounder at 2:30 in the afternoon. He started the morning with a run to Bay Springs and fished there for about an hour and a half without a bass, then came back and switched on his forward-facing sonar, which shows fish moving in front of the boat in real time.

The next two hours mostly produced catfish, he said. Then he pulled into a bay where, by his estimate, about 80% of the bass he cast to bit. In roughly the last hour he put together more than 20 pounds, anchored by a 6-pounder.

He said he held back his sonar time for the final three hours of the day and had to head in almost as soon as it ran out. His fish were chasing bait or holding on structure: three of his weigh-in fish came off stumps and two were suspended. Dyar said he thinks he can repeat a 17- to 18-pound bag, though he was unsure about matching it without a big fish.

Dyar makes the Top 10 in about a third of his MLF events and won a Phoenix Bass Fishing League tournament on Guntersville last March.

Lawson finds fish he barely practiced on

Lawson qualified through the All-American and fishes mostly in East Tennessee rather than on the Tennessee River. He said he had not returned to his main area since the first day of practice, when he caught one good fish there. On Day 1 more bass bit, and he chased down his fifth keeper after seeing it school.

He also said he did not cast to a single bass in the last 30 minutes of his sonar window, a possible warning sign for Day 2.

Co-angler standings

Jason Sandidge leads the co-angler division with three bass for 12-6. Jordan Clayton is second with three for 9-3, and Jakob LaBelle is third with 7-15. Only 70 co-anglers brought fish to the scale on Day 1.

What’s at stake beyond the trophy

Besides crowning a champion, the event decides the last three spots in REDCREST 2027. Two Lander University teammates, Matthew Knopp and Logan Russell, are racing each other for the college berth. Knopp is 10th with a limit weighing 18-3, while Russell is 150th with 2-7.

In the International Division, Nathan Wickham of Leraatsfontein, South Africa, leads the overseas anglers chasing a REDCREST spot. He weighed 12-1 and is 56th in his first Toyota Series Championship.

MLF noted that the fog delay pushed part of everyone’s sonar time past noon. If Friday brings less fog, some pros could use their sonar hours differently.

Top 10 pros after Day 1

• Logan Dyar, 20-13 (5 fish)
• Landon Lawson, 20-0 (5)
• Jackson Bennett, 19-9 (5)
• Tallis Morrison, 19-3 (5)
• Eric Panzironi, 19-1 (5)
• Jack Dice, 19-0 (5)
• Chance Shelby, 18-10 (5)
• Hayden O’Barr, 18-9 (5)
• Blake Davenport, 18-5 (5)
• Matthew Knopp, 18-3 (5)

Source: Major League Fishing