Date: Dec. 9, 2021
Water: Lake J, a small flatland reservoir
Weather: Partly cloudy, windy, high of 55 degrees
Pro: Justin Atkins, 31, Florence, Ala. A former member of the Mississippi State University bass team, Atkins fished FLW events prior to qualifying for the 2021 Elite Series via the Bassmaster Opens.
Boat: Falcon F20 Predator bass boat with 250-horsepower Mercury outboard, Lowrance trolling motor and electronics, Bass Boat Technologies electronics mounts and twin Power-Pole shallow-water anchors
new entrant to the Elite Series not considered a rookie? When he’s already passed the B.A.S.S. career earnings threshold by pocketing over $500,000 as a pro angler, that’s when. “I joined the FLW tour in 2017 and won the Forrest Wood Cup in my rookie year,” Atkins explains with nary a hint of braggadocio. “I stayed with FLW through 2018, won the Bassmaster Central Open at Logan Martin (Ala.) that same year, then joined another tour in 2019.” By the way, Atkins didn‘t bother to mention that he caught that tour’s record largemouth — 10-8 — at Lake Fork in 2020. “But my lifelong dream has been to fish the Bassmaster Classic,” he continues, “so I got serious about qualifying for the Elite Series in 2020 and signed up for all the Opens that year. Then COVID-19 hit, pushing the Opens back to later that year. [In 2020] I ended up finishing second in the Opens’ overall Angler of the
