RICHMOND, Va. — Ryan Lachniet saved the best for last on his home waters of the James River.
The Gum Spring native landed a 20-pound, 4-ounce limit on the final day of the B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier to take the victory with a three-day total of 53-6.
“This is pretty awesome,” Lachniet said. “I’ve been pretty close to winning a few times lately and to finally get a win is pretty cool.”
After a rather difficult practice period, Lachniet opened in sixth with 16-6 before jumping into a tie for second on Day 2 with a 16-12 limit. His final-day limit gave him a nearly 2-pound advantage over his roommate Connor Jacob. Illinois native Erik Brztowski claimed third with 49-2.
“This place is fishing (tough) for April, and I wasn’t really on that much,” he said. “I had only caught three or four good ones in practice, so when I caught 16 on Day 1 I felt pretty good about it. And it just got a little better throughout the tournament.”
The Top 3 finishers are all under the age of 24.
A Campbellsville University angler, Lachniet is now qualified for both the Bassmaster College National Championship at Cherokee Lake in July and the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at the Upper Mississippi River in late October.
Two more good finishes in Division I of the Bassmaster Opens and Lachniet will qualify for the three-tournament Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers division.
Throughout the tournament, Lachniet made long runs downriver to target cypress trees that held the final wave of spawning largemouth. Females were hard to come by, he said, as he didn’t land any until the final day of the tournament.
He targeted those spawners with an 1/8-ounce dropshot paired with a 6-inch morning dawn Roboworm. An 1/8-ounce Owner shaky-head with a green pumpkin Big Bite Baits Nekorama also produced a couple of quality bites.
“I tried to fish enough cypress trees to where I was bound to run into some good fish eventually,” he said. “I needed the tide to be a little higher for the trees. It didn’t set up right when it was lower, so I waited to hit that stuff at the end of the day.”
On Day 2, however, the 22-year-old did all of his damage with a Megabass Magdraft swimbait on a well-known community hole. When he arrived at the start of Day 2, he was shocked to see no one else fishing it and landed all of his weight in a 30-minute flurry.
“The fact no one was on it was a surprise to me,” Lachniet said.
To open Day 3, Lachniet returned to his tide-driven area and landed a 3-pounder and two 2-pounders, but he noticed the tide wasn’t quite how it needed to be, so he started a long run to his next area. On his way, he pulled over to a spot where he has landed quality bass in the past and it paid off again this time.
“I had caught a big one there once or twice, so I stopped and fished down the stretch for 45 minutes. I flipped up to a tree and one bit it, and it is an almost 6-pounder. I thought I had a chance if I could catch one more big one.”
As the day shortened, Lachniet made a move to a creek closer to takeoff at Osborne Landing and landed two 3-pounders and then a 5-pounder with 30 minutes left to upgrade to his final tally.
“This is definitely the most important 20-pound bag I’ve caught out here,” he said.
Jacob, meanwhile, qualified for his second-straight Nation Championship with bags of 15-12, 17-6 and 18-3. The 2025 Bassmaster Classic competitor will get another chance to qualify for the Classic at the Nation Championship.
“I finished 13th in the Open at La Crosse last September,” he said. “I have got some schools out there, and I hope they are still there (when I get there).”
After spending the first two days of the tournament in a gravel pit in the Appomattox River catching spawning and postspawn largemouth, the Auburn University grad moved out to the main river and landed his Day-3 limit on “baby ledges.”
Those breaks started in 6 feet of water and dropped to 15 feet, and when the tide was right Jacob could target those bass with a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait.
“It was exclusively current-oriented,” he said. “You had to have a slow enough current to get the jerkbait to them. They would sit in the crevices, and you couldn’t really get a bait to them. I came back this morning and it was slow enough to where the bass were feeding and would come up and look at the jerkbait.”
Brztowski, the Day 2 leader, fell to third on the final day. Opening the tournament in second with 17-12, the 22-year-old jumped to the lead with 18-13 before finishing the tournament with 12-9.
“Today it just wasn’t meant to be. I lost a 3-pounder at 1:55 today that might have lifted me to the win, but my hook never popped out of the plastic. It’s just how it goes sometimes.”
Several different baits played a factor for Brztowski. For spawning largemouth, he threw a Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog in tilapia magic on a 1/4-ounce Texas rig around cypress trees and knees as well as a Berkley The General.
For prespawners and postspawners, a Tight Rope Bite Getter spinnerbait and a crankbait produced key bites.
Austin Burton of North Prince George, Va., claimed Big Bass of the Tournament honors with a 6-13 largemouth he landed on Day 2.
The Top 13 boaters and non-boaters punched their tickets to the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at the Upper Mississippi River, scheduled for Oct. 22-25 in La Crosse, Wis. The final Qualifying tournament is scheduled for July 16-18 at Lake Erie.
