Takahiro Omori Earns First Bass Pro Tour Win at O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Presented by Lowrance

Tokyo, Japan pro catches 12 bass weighing 36-6 in final-day Championship Round to earn top prize of $125,000

SENECA, S.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Prior to the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour’s first ever visit to Lake Hartwell, the prevailing expectation was that finesse techniques and spotted bass would rule O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 Presented by Lowrance. A few anglers have managed to contend in past tournaments on the famed fishery by catching shallow largemouth but given the Bass Pro Tour’s every-fish-counts scoring, the February timing of this event and the fact that the water is about 7 feet low, no one would have predicted that bladed jigs, dirty water and largemouth would dominate.

That included Takahiro Omori.

The angler best known for exclaiming “I knew it!” after he caught the winning fish at the 2004 Bassmaster Classic admitted that he didn’t anticipate being able to contend on Hartwell while sticking in his power fishing wheelhouse – much less earning his long-awaited first Bass Pro Tour win.

Link to Hi-Res Photo of O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Winner Takahiro Omori
Link to Day 4 Photo Gallery: Stage 2 Championship Round underway on Lake Hartwell
Link to Day 4 Photo Gallery: Bass Pro Tour anglers tough it out during Stage 2 Championship Round
Link to Day 4 Photo Gallery: Omori scores his first Bass Pro Tour victory at Stage 2 on Lake Hartwell
Link to HD Video of Highlights from Day 4 Championship Round Competition

“To be honest, I had no motivation to come here,” the Tokyo, Japan, native said. “I thought I was coming here to get beat by the spots.”

But Omori never wavered from his game plan. The veteran pro spent the entire event in the Tugaloo River, using his smooth casting skills to pick apart whatever shallow cover he could find in the backs of creeks. He never even bothered to turn on forward-facing sonar.

The result was a near wire-to-wire win. After he finished Day 1 in second place, Omori topped the Qualifying Round, earning an automatic trip to Sunday’s Championship Round. There, he overcame a slow start to stack up 36 pounds, 6 ounces on 12 scorable bass. With post-frontal, windy conditions making the bite tough on everyone, that was enough to edge Jacob Walker by 2-10. His first tour-level victory since 2018 and the ninth of Omori’s decorated career earned him $125,000.

The top 10 pros at O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Presented by Lowrance finished:

1st:	Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 12 bass, 36-6, $125,000
2nd:	Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 12 bass, 33-12, $45,000
3rd:	Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 11 bass, 29-4, $35,000
4th:	Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-9, $30,000
5th:	Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., nine bass, 23-15, $25,000
6th:	Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., nine bass, 22-6, $23,000
7th:	Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., five bass, 19-6, $22,000
8th:	Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., six bass, 14-14, $21,000
9th:	Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., six bass, 14-7, $20,500
10th:	Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., five bass, 13-12, $20,000

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 85 bass caught weighing 235 pounds, 11 ounces, caught by the final 10 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Sunday.

Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was earned by Jesse Wiggins of Addison, Alabama, who caught a 5-pound, 2-ounce largemouth in the second period on a bladed swim jig. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

The four-day O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Presented by Lowrance was hosted by Visit Oconee SC and featured a roster of 51 of the top professional anglers in the world competing for a $125,000 top prize and their share of the $600,000 purse, along with valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the MLF Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2027, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 2026 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 51 of the best professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2027 championship.

Television coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 at Lake Hartwell Presented by Lowrance will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Aug. 22, on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing Co., Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine, Toyota, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing

Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing woorganization, 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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, Rumble 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.