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Alex Davis Leads Day 1 of Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Mississippi River

 Sep 5th, 2025 by Chris Munchow 

Modified Sep 5th, 2025 at 8:43 PM

Alabama pro catches limit weighing 18-13 to take early 5-ounce lead, Angler of the Year Banks Shaw looms in second

LA CROSSE, Wis. (Sept. 5, 2025) – Breezy to the max and far from warm, Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats on the Mississippi River was a struggle for many. While more than half the field caught more than 12 pounds, a limit wasn’t a given, and nobody got over the 19-pound mark. Still, two high fliers emerged early, as both pro Alex Davis of Guntersville, Alabama, and reigning Angler of the Year and Rookie of the Year Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee, caught over 18 pounds to start things off.

Davis sacked up 18-13 for the lead while Shaw wrangled 18-8 for second. Pro Jimmy Washam of Stantonville, Tennessee, who won the Tackle Warehouse TITLE championship in La Crosse in 2021, caught 16-9 and local favorite Steve Lopez of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, rounded up 16-2 for third and fourth, respectively.

Day 1 saw a variety of patterns in play, with pros making hay in the remaining mats, some running main-river current breaks, and plenty doing damage in the Black River. Tomorrow, with no forward-facing sonar, many pros will be able to keep plugging without a hitch, but some will certainly need to make some adjustments.

Link to Photo of Day 1 Leader Alex Davis
Link to Morning Photo Gallery from Day 1: Invitationals Championship on the Mississippi River gets underway
Link to Afternoon Photo Gallery from Day 1: A windy day of Mississippi River bass fishing
Link to Video of Fish-Catch Highlights of Day 1 from the Mississippi River

Magical mat boosts Davis
Typically in the hunt on the Upper Mississippi, Davis came into the event off a solid practice and happy to be fishing a championship again. After a fairly slow start to the day, he blitzed up the leaderboard with big largemouth.

“I caught two on a drop-shot, and then I fished for three hours and didn’t really catch anything,” he said. “Then I pulled up to one mat and caught those three and a 4-pounder in like 10 minutes. Then I left, fished the rest of the day and culled one more time on a (Megabass) Magdraft.”

Though it’s hard to anticipate leading an event, Davis knew he was on to something after practice.

“I was hoping it was going to go like that,” he said. “There’s one place, and it’s kind of special. I only sampled it for about 10 minutes today – it was pretty awesome.”

With a much calmer forecast for Day 2, Davis could have a great opportunity to do some more damage, or, he could also arrive at his juice to find it gone.

“The wind was terrible, you can’t cast,” Davis said. “Where I’m at, most of the mat is gone, but there was a little bit left and it was terrible to try to cast. I hope it’ll l be there tomorrow.”

Regardless, Davis is in the hunt, and though he’s won at the Toyota Series and BFL levels, he’s never got it done over more than 10 years fishing the FLW Tour, Pro Circuit and Invitationals.

“It usually haunts me, usually I’m leading or second after the first day and then I nosebomb the second day,” he said. “We’re going to try to correct that this time. It’d be everything to win, especially the championship – it would be awesome.”

Spectacular Shaw does it again
The winner of the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year award and Polaris Rookie of the Year, Shaw has been a revelation this season. So, despite never having fished the Mississippi River before, it was no surprise to observers when he started putting meat on deck.

“I knew the places I found in practice had potential, and I caught plenty of solid smallmouth,” Shaw said. “But I never caught a 4-pounder, and I had two 4s today and a 3 ¾ (on Day 1). It definitely went a little better than expected, but it didn’t completely blow my mind. I knew I was around some pretty big smallmouth.”

Weighing all brown fish on Day 1, it sounds like Shaw is planning on a more diverse gameplan for Day 2.

“I’m going to mix it up tomorrow. I saved a lot of largemouth today that I think didn’t get fished,” he said. “I know I can catch some of the smallmouth again, but I don’t think I’m going to go up to Pool 7 again, I’m probably going to stick around here and shoot for that 16-pound mark and then go up the last day.”

Though turning the electronics off on Day 2 has proved to be no issue for Shaw all year, he’s certainly using his LiveScope more than Davis is. According to the young Tennessee pro, his forward-facing sonar isn’t critical in this one.

“Whenever I’m looking for new areas, it is, it’s lining up the cast,” he explained. “I caught one 4-pounder today on an area I need it, but most of the places it isn’t too bad without it. It could honestly be better.”

If Shaw can win, he’ll complete one of the best seasons of all-time with a title, which would be a pretty incredible way to jumpstart a career.

“In practice I didn’t really think I was around the fish to do it,” said Shaw. “Slowly I started to piece it together, and today I really started to think about it, it would be crazy to get the clean sweep. I lost a 4-pounder at the end of the day today, and something like that could get in your head a little bit, but it makes me want to go out tomorrow and catch them even better.”

The standings after Day 1 on the Mississippi River are:

1st:        Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., five bass, 18-13
2nd:       Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 18-8
3rd:       Jimmy Washam, Stantonville, Tenn., five bass, 16-9
4th:        Steve Lopez, Oconomowoc, Wis., five bass, 16-2
5th:        Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Pa., five bass, 15-14
6th:        Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 15-10
7th:        Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., five bass, 15-2
8th:        Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 15-0
9th:        Chad Mrazek, Montgomery, Texas, five bass, 14-13
10th:     Christopher Lane, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 14-11
11th:     Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 14-6
12th:     Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 13-13
13th:     Hayden Marbut, Grant, Ala., five bass, 13-7
14th:     Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., five bass, 13-2
15th:     Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., five bass, 12-15
16th:     Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 12-14
17th:     Kyle Cortiana, Broken Arrow, Okla., five bass, 12-13
18th:     Cal Lane, Grant, Ala., five bass, 12-9
19th:     Christian Greico, New Bern, N.C., five bass, 12-5
20th:     Blake Hall, Rogersville, Ala., four bass, 12-2
20th:     Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, five bass, 12-2
22nd:    Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., five bass, 12-1
23rd:     Joseph Webster, Hamilton, Ala., five bass, 11-15
24th:     Keith Poche, Cecil, Ala., five bass, 11-7
25th:     Terry Fisher, Decatur, Ala., five bass, 11-5
26th:     Jordan Wiggins, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 11-0
27th:     Colby Miller, Elmer, La., five bass, 10-14
28th:     Robby Lefere, Jackson, Mich., three bass, 10-9
29th:     Levi Thibodaux, Thibodaux, La., four bass, 8-15
30th:     Alex Bradley, Wellford, S.C., five bass, 8-13
30th:     Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., four bass, 8-13
32nd:    Britt Myers Jr., Clover, S.C., four bass, 7-8
33rd:     Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., three bass, 7-2
34th:     Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., three bass, 6-9
35th:     Jack Daniel Williams, Kingsport, Tenn., two bass, 3-8
36th:     Brett Carnright, Plattsburgh, N.Y., one bass, 2-10

Complete results from throughout the event can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 163 bass weighing 436 pounds, 11 ounces caught by the 36 pros on Friday. The catch included 27 five-bass limits.

Davis’ 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth was also the Berkley Big Bass of the day and he was awarded Friday’s payout of $1,000.

The three-day Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats is hosted by Explore La Crosse and showcases the top 36 anglers from the 2025 Tackle Warehouse Invitations season as they compete for a share of the $417,000 prize pool.

The full field of 36 anglers will compete in Days 1 & 2 on Friday and Saturday in a five-fish, weigh-in format. Only the top 10 pros, based on their two-day cumulative weight, advance to the final round on Championship Sunday. The angler with the heaviest three-day total will win the grand prize of up to $135,000 and qualification into REDCREST 2026 where they will compete against the sport’s best for $300,000.

Anglers will launch at 7 a.m. CT each day from Veterans Freedom Park, located at 1 Clinton St. in La Crosse. Weigh-ins will be held at the park and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and weigh-in events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® live stream and coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on each day of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Television coverage of the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship Presented by Phoenix Boats at the Mississippi River in La Crosse will premiere as two two-hour episodes, with the first episode premiering at 9 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 8 on CBS Sports Network, and the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, Nov. 15. New MLF5 episodes premiere each Saturday morning on CBS Sports beginning in October.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitationals include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Bubba, Deep Dive, E3 Sport Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Humminbird, Lew’s, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PirahnO2, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated information visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular Tackle Warehouse Invitationals updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the MLF5 social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.