This is a paid press release. Contact the press release distributor directly with any inquiries.

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

Business Wire

Mon, February 23, 2026 at 9:53 AM GMT+9 5 min read

Tokyo, Japan, pro Takahiro Omori caught a final day total of 12 bass weighing 36 pounds, 6 ounces, on Lake Hartwell, Sunday, to win the Bass Pro Tour O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 2 Presented by Lowrance and earn the top payout of $125,000.

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

SENECA, S.C., February 23, 2026–(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:

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

Story Continues  

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.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260222558994/en/

Contacts

MEDIA CONTACT:
**CHARITY MUEHLENWEG **
SENIOR MANAGER, PR & COMMUNICATIONS
p: 405.694.1025
e: charitym@majorleaguefishing.com
www.majorleaguefishing.com

Terms and Privacy Policy

Privacy Dashboard

More Info