Keith Carson wins Tackle Warehouse Invitational season finale at Detroit River
by Major League Fishing 31 Jul 15:59 UTC
Keith Carson won Stop 6 with a three-day total of 67-6 © Rob Matsuura / Major League Fishing
Stop 6 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches at the Detroit River was a wild one from start to finish, with big weights, lots of movement in the points standings, and a tightly contested chase for the win.
In the end, Keith Carson put it all together for three days to earn his first MLF win as a pro with a three-day total of 67 pounds, 6 ounces. For the win, Carson earned $80,000 and a ticket to REDCREST 2025. Finishing runner-up, Alec Morrison weighed 66-12, and though he could not clinch the win, he did earn both the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year and Polaris Rookie of the Year titles.
This being the last Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event of the season, the top five pros in the points also earned Bass Pro Tour invites for 2025. Morrison leads a high-flying group of anglers that includes Jake Lawrence, Colby Miller, Jaden Parrish and Marshall Hughes.
ActiveTarget skills put Carson on top
A childhood friend of John Cox, who is noted for eschewing forward-facing sonar and remaining quite successful, you wouldn't exactly peg Carson as a player on St. Clair. At home cruising the shallows, hood up and shades on, Carson prefers to look at the bass with his eyes, not a transducer. But this week, he bucked the theory that only the kids are good with a screen and proved that he could use his dedication and fishing skills to win at all angles of the game.
"I started Scopin' in '21, and I was fair with it, but my rule was I would always use it for smallmouth, and largemouth I wouldn't use it at all," Carson said. "I started learning that you kind of have to use it all the time."
This winter at Toledo Bend, Carson finished 67th in the BPT season-opener, which was an inauspicious start to a lackluster rookie campaign on MLF's top tour. Fast forward six months or so, and that event may have been responsible for this win.
"I found the same fish [Jacob] Wheeler did," Carson recalled. "So, we both start there Day 1. Before lines-in, I see Wheeler racing around in his boat, and I know he's looking for one. So, I start racing around, I figured that was what you do. I didn't even own a jighead minnow at Toledo Bend, so, I was throwing a drop-shot to suspended fish. I was racing a drop-shot to them and they wouldn't eat it. Wheeler caught like 96 pounds and I caught 15 pounds. I took that day as a lesson. I watched him most of the day, because I knew it would help in the future. I've been practicing it, learning it. It's a hell of a tool, to be honest."
At St. Clair, Carson fished like a minnow veteran, adjusting his presentations, reading fish with Lowrance ActiveTarget and maintaining a level of consistency that nobody else matched. His primary setup was a 7-foot, 2-inch Fenwick World Class walleye rod, a 3000-size Abu Garcia Zenon, 8-pound Berkley FireLine, a 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader, and a 5.3-gram jighead with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Jerk Shad.
"The best thing was actually to cast past them and bring it up to them in a natural presentation, but it got really hard because they wouldn't stay in the frame - like they'd be swimming to the side," Carson explained. "So, the best thing turned out to be to hit them on the head, and the splash of the water would call them up - it was so shallow, like 10 or 12 feet.
"A lot of times, it would splash the water, and they would eat it off the top, only a foot or two deep, when they were really feeding. If they didn't eat it, I'd start swimming it, and I'd keep it four to five feet above their head and they'd come up and eat it. I noticed if I let it get too close to their head, they didn't want to bite it, I had to keep it way above them, and they'd come, and I'd start going a little bit faster and they'd eat it."
Having the savvy to end up in the right area - and then fine tune the right bait and presentation - isn't easy, especially with how much area and how many fish St. Clair offers. In the end, even with some of the best forward-facing sonar anglers in the country in the field, Carson wound up on top.
A great week from the get-go
From the sounds of it, Carson may have won just about any tournament on the system this week. His practice was so good that roommate Alex Davis said "hands down, you're going to win," after the report.
"Everywhere I went, every day of practice, I caught like 25 pounds," Carson said. "I went to Erie, I caught like 26, I went to Anchor Bay the next day, I caught 25, and my next five after 25 weighed almost 24 - everything was huge, anywhere I went. It wasn't one spot, I'd try over here, catch a 5, try over there, catch a 5. Every now and then, you just can't make a wrong decision."
In the tournament, he even got some bites that he shouldn't have, with fish following his minnow boatside and then miraculously eating.
"The 4-12 I caught today, I made a perfect cast, and it followed my minnow all the way to the trolling motor and it swam down - I dropped it on its head, and it swam up and ate it under the trolling motor," Carson said. "All week, they'd follow it to the trolling motor and I couldn't get them to bite. I had another, it followed it to the boat, and I flipped it to him and let it sit on the bottom, and it ate it off the bottom like a worm."
Fishing in Anchor Bay, which was crowded in general, Carson stayed out of the crowds, and sometimes went 20 minutes or so without seeing a fish - he was chasing fewer, but better-quality bass. When the two sand areas he had focused his efforts at on Day 1 and Day 2 failed to produce on Day 3, he relocated his fish with relative ease.
"I had two general areas that were really good, and neither of them were producing," he explained. "So, I just trolled around them, maybe they're swimming around them, you know? And I ran into a stretch - I caught a 5, a 4, one almost 5 and then a 4-7 in a 50-yard stretch - they had moved there and I found it."
Running to Anchor Bay every day and taking his time getting back, Carson fished a nearly perfect event, even down to the decision he didn't make on the final morning.
"I almost went to Erie today, but something told me not to, so I went back," he said. "I almost went to Erie to try to catch 25 or 26 pounds, but something told me not to, to go back to where I was and stay steady. So, I did, and it turned out."
With a baby on the way in October, and having bought a new house last week, the win really couldn't have come at a better time for Carson. The injection of cash should help with building and baby supplies, and he now has momentum to spare for the BPT season finale at the St. Lawrence River.
Top 10 pros:
1. Keith Carson - 67 - 06 (15) - $80,000
2. Alec Morrison - 66 - 12 (15) - $50,000
3. Adrian Avena - 66 - 10 (15) - $20,000
4. Kyle Hall - 64 - 13 (15) - $18,000
5. Jon Canada - 64 - 08 (15) $17,000
6. Nick LeBrun - 64 - 06 (15) $16,000
7. Jaden Parrish - 64 - 03 (15) - $15,000
8. Cory Johnston - 63 - 15 (15) - $14,000
9. Jack Daniel Williams - 62 - 10 (15) - $13,000
10. Robby Lefere - 62 - 05 (15) - $12,000
Complete results