NORTH EAST, Md. — For 10 years, Dillon Falardeau served his country as an artillery officer in the Army National Guard. But when the time came to leave the service, the Rhode Island native knew – and has known since he was a toddler – he wanted to be a professional bass angler.
Using the skills he has built up fishing and guiding the Tennessee River, the 31-year-old put together a dominating performance at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Upper Chesapeake Bay presented by SEVIIN, catching a three-day total of 62 pounds, 13 ounces to claim his first title in a national level circuit.
“This is a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming about it for 30 years. I always wanted to get it done and now I’ve got the first one,” he said. “My whole plan was to try and go pro, I just needed to figure out how to make some money. I went on deployment and made enough money to give it a try.”
Alabama’s Lucas Lindsay finished second with 53-12, over 9 pounds behind Falardeau, while Florida’s Dave Frost earned third place with a total of 53-6.
Along with the $34,279 first-place prize and a trophy, Falardeau punched his ticket to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour scheduled for March 13-15 on the aforementioned Tennessee River in Knoxville, Tenn.
Falardeau had never fished a tidal river prior to this week, but it didn’t take him long to grasp where he needed to be during the tide cycles. Opening the tournament in the lead with 22-7, the Hixson, Tenn., pro landed 19-6 on Day 2 before catching 21-4 on Championship Friday, the biggest bag of Day 3 by a wide margin.
“The hardest thing was trying to catch a fish during the slack high tide,” Falardeau explained. “That is when I caught them today. But I felt super comfortable because it was current. I just treated it like the Tennessee River.”
That final day limit wouldn’t have been possible without a critical move. After spending three hours in his primary area on the south side of the Susquehanna Flats during the lower tide, and only one keeper bass to show for it, Falardeau decided it was time to move to an area on the north side of the flat that he had not yet fished during the tournament.
“On my (best) spot, I knew I had an hour window to catch one or two big ones. I hooked a big one and jumped it off. It took a little while to get that out of my head. After another hour, that window was gone and muddy water moved in. I knew I had to go find something else.
There, he found much cleaner water as well as a high spot in 2 feet of water that was breaking the momentum of the incoming tide. Keeping the boat in 4 feet of water, Falardeau landed every bass he brought back to Friday’s final weigh-in in a two-hour flurry around that high spot, including two 5-pounders and several 4-pounders.
“I put my trolling motor down and saw the water was clean and the current was moving. Right away I knew I made the right decision,” he said. “The wind calmed down for 30 minutes and 100 yards towards the middle of the flat I saw a slick coming across that was about 100 yards long. Usually when you see that it is because the current is rolling over. Sure enough, there was a current break, and it was lights out.”
The Chickamauga Lake guide used plenty of concepts he has learned about current and grass on the famous east Tennessee reservoir this week on the Upper Chesapeake Bay. During practice, he searched for areas with mixtures of aquatic vegetation and found largemouth hiding in holes within that vegetation. Although he didn’t use his forward-facing sonar to catch individual bass, he did use it to locate the voids in the grass as well as baitfish.
On the south side of the Flats, Falardeau rotated between several different sweet spots in 2 to 5 feet of water within a half-mile circle. All the bass in his Day 1 limit and four of the bass in his Day 2 limit were caught out of this area when the tide rushed out of the Bay in the afternoons. As he waited for the tide to get right, he would visit a separate grass line and fill out an 11 to 13-pound limit.
A 3/8-ounce black and blue Z-Man JackHammer paired with a 4.5 black and blue Hog Farmer Spunk Shad trailer produced the bulk of his bites. He tossed the Jackhammer on a Dobyns 736 extra-heavy glass rod paired with a Shimano Chronarch spooled with 12-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon.
Falardeau also caught a couple key largemouth on a chartreuse/black back Yo-Zuri squarebill crankbait and one quality keeper on a 3/8-ounce spinnerbait.
Not only is he Classic bound, Falardeau is eighth in St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN Division I points after three tournaments and almost certainly claimed his spot in the Elite Qualifier Division with the win.
Lindsay also found success on the south side of the Susquehanna Flats, landing the majority of his bass along a one mile stretch of the expansive shallow area. The Auburn, Ala. native opened the tournament in sixth with 19-13 before jumping to second with 19-6. He lost several big bites early on Day 3 and closed out the tournament with a limit weighing 14-9.
“I think everyone knew it was going to be won on the flats,” the Auburn University alum said. “I found a stretch that was a little over a mile long and I would drift over it with my Power Poles in the water to slow me down.”
Shorter grass, mostly eelgrass and peppergrass, were his most productive pieces of cover. Around those stretches, he rotated between 3/8, 1/2-ounce and 3/4-ounce green pumpkin Jackhammers paired with Yamamoto Zako trailers.
“When I found vibrant, green grass, that is when you would catch them.”
Frost caught limits weighing 16-14, 19-3 and 17-7 on the Susquehanna Flats to notch the second Top 3 finish of his Bassmaster career.
The Florida resident fished grass the entire tournament, with his best bait being a ChatterBait. To generate bites in deeper grass, he would yo-yo it almost like a blade bait. On the final day, however, the water color was just right to generate a topwater bite. Frost filled a limit early in the morning on a Heddon Super Spook and two more good largemouth on a Zoom Horny Toad.
“I was just looking at the water thinking it was right to throw a topwater,” Frost explained. “I hadn’t thrown a Horny Toad all week, I had to search for a hook to build one on. Five casts with it I caught one. Ten casts later I caught another one.
“This place, you need to adjust constantly,” he added.
Richard LeadBeater of Pitman, N.J., claimed Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 6-5 largemouth he landed on Day 2.
With three of the four tournaments completed, Lindsay leads the Division I points race with 570 points. Alabama’s Matt Adams is second with 563 points followed by Virginia’s Ryan Lachniet in third with 560 points, Georgia’s Cody Stahl in fourth with 553 points and Georgia’s Tyler Campbell in fifth with 547 points. Connor Jacob, Russ Lane, Falardeau, Chris Blanchette and Micheal Stout round out the Top 10.
The Top 50 after the finale on the St. Lawrence River next week will advance to the Elite Qualifier Division, a three-tournament gauntlet that will award 10 invites to the 2026 Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series roster. New York’s Billy Gilbert is currently on the bubble with 410 points.
