March 5, 2025 • Mitchell Forde • Bass Pro Tour
Just about every bass fishing tournament field includes a local favorite – an angler who lives nearby or has a track record of success on the fishery. But there’s local favorites, and then there’s Anthony Gagliardi on Lake Murray.
Gagliardi’s history on Murray, which will host PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 Presented by Strike King starting Thursday, has been nothing short of dominant. The last time the Bass Pro Tour visited the fishery, in 2023, he won. That marked his third tour-level victory on the lake to go along with a 2014 Forrest Wood Cup and 2006 FLW Tour event.
In all, Gagliardi has contested seven tour-level events on Murray and finished among the top 11 six times. He’s notched five top 5s, one runner-up finish and three wins for a grand total of $867,000 in earnings.
It might be easy to dismiss Gagliardi’s success on Murray as a product of his familiarity with the Saluda River impoundment. He grew up fishing there and still lives on its shores in Prosperity, South Carolina. But even by home-pond standards, his dominance stands out. Consider this: Only one other pro has ever logged at least three national-level wins in MLF/FLW competition on his “home lake” – Bryan Thrift on Lake Norman. (Interestingly, two anglers have won three time apiece on fisheries outside their home state: Scott Martin on Lake Champlain and Jordan Lee on the Kissimmee Chain).
Prior to the start of official practice for Stage 3, we caught up with Gagliardi about what has made him so good on Murray and his outlook on his chances of adding another major win on the lake this week.
Many Murray memories
Of all his triumphs on Murray, Gagliardi said the most memorable was his 2014 Forrest Wood Cup win. Photo by Brian Lindberg
The first time Gagliardi competed on Murray, he was 11 or 12 years old, when he started fishing local team tournaments alongside his father. Even though he went to high school in the Upstate area and college at Clemson, his family always had a home near Murray, so Gagliardi would come back on weekends and during breaks from school so he could fish.
Gagliardi’s first chance to showcase his expertise on the fishery for a national audience came in 2003, his third season competing as a pro on the FLW Tour. He struggled on Day 1 with only 11 pounds but charged back with 23-15 on Day 2. That put him in 11th place – 1 ounce shy of making the Top 10 cut.
He’d get some revenge when the FLW Tour returned in 2006. That time, Murray sacked up 26-14 on Day 1, which had him in second place. He remained in second after Days 2 and 3, then blasted 28-4 – the heaviest limit of the tournament – to clinch the victory en route to winning the Angler of the Year title.
While Gagliardi remembers that first Tour win on Murray fondly, he pointed to his triumph in the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup, in which he edged Scott Canterbury by a single ounce to earn $500,000, as his favorite moment on Murray.
“That was the biggest tournament by far,” he said. “They’ve all been special. Obviously, my first (win) here in 2006, that was a special one. And then the MLF a couple years ago as well. They were all special in their own way. But definitely the Cup stands out the most.”
Interestingly, Gagliardi noted that each of those wins came doing something out of the ordinary for a Murray local. Case in point: He won the 2023 Bass Pro Tour event after switching to a drop-shot to target bass chasing blueback herring off points. While the local playbook typically says to use herring-imitating baits like jerkbaits, swimbaits or topwaters in shallower water, Gagliardi used the drop-shot to bypass the striped bass that were also hunting the same forage and give the largemouth a different look. It accounted for all of his weight on the final day, including an 8-pound kicker that anchored a limit of 26-13.
Gagliardi attributes his tendency to zig from local tendencies to the fact that his schedule doesn’t allow him to fish the lake like a local anymore.
“I don’t fish here all that much,” Gagliardi said. “That’s honestly the truth. I don’t spend a whole lot of time out there. I know the lake really well, but with us fishing on tour, I don’t really have a lot of hours every year logged on this lake. So, I may not necessarily know the bites – like the local bites – because I just don’t really get to fish that much. So, whenever I do get here and fish, sometimes I think I just end up doing something a little bit different than a lot of the people around here might do.”
A new challenge
Bucking local trends paid off big when Gagliardi used a drop-shot to catch the winning weight – including this 8-pounder – at the 2023 Bass Pro Tour event on Murray. Photo by Garrick Dixon
This week, just about everyone considers Gagliardi the angler to beat … except Gagliardi himself. The veteran pro admitted he never takes the water confident he’s going to win, even on his home lake where he’s had so much success.
“I never feel good about it going in,” he said. “Even though I’ve done well, I’m always leery,”
One reason for Gagliardi’s concern is the fact that he’s never fished an every-fish-counts tournament on Murray before. The 2023 event featured best-five-fish scoring (Gagliardi totaled 47-12 across the final two days to claim the trophy). He said fishing for numbers of bites rather than average size will necessitate a different approach.
“That’s where local knowledge really, to me, doesn’t come into play as much,” he said. “Because all my hours and days out here on this lake have not been fishing toward everything counts, like just trying to get numbers of bites. And that has to do with areas of the lake. There’s maybe areas of the lake that I typically don’t go to that are prone to numbers, but they’re not prone to big fish, and so I never spend much time in those type of places.”
Still, Gagliardi’s decades of experience on the fishery have to count for something. He acknowledged that he’ll start practice with more of an idea of where to run and what to throw than he would at a normal event.
“I guess I have more of an idea of what I’m at least going to try to figure out at first,” he said. “When I show up to most lakes, I ain’t got a clue which direction I’m going – deep, shallow, I don’t know. At least here I’ve got somewhat of a plan that I want to implement for a little while, and if it doesn’t work, it’ll be back to square one like pretty much every other tournament.”
Gagliardi admitted he feels some pressure as the home-lake favorite. It’s not so much that he’s worried about proving he can catch them on Murray – his track record there speaks for itself. However, he wants to make sure he requalifies for the Bass Pro Tour in 2026 and earns another berth to REDCREST (he’s qualified for the championship in all six prior BPT seasons), and competing on a fishery he knows so well offers a golden opportunity to amass points toward those goals.
Even if he isn’t outwardly confident, history suggests he has a pretty good shot to do so.
“If I don’t have a good tournament here, I’ve still had a pretty good run on this lake,” Gagliardi said. “So, I don’t really feel like it’s going to tarnish my reputation as a fisherman on Lake Murray. But I do feel the pressure just because it is here, and I want to make sure that I do as good as I can. It’s internal pressure more than anything.”
COLUMBIA, S.C. – The Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour is set to visit Columbia, S.C., and Lake Murray this week for the third regular-season event of 2025. The tournament will feature 66 professional anglers competing for a $150,000 top prize.
The BPT last visited Lake Murray in 2023, when Anthony Gagliardi added another major victory to his impressive record on his home lake. His success on the fishery includes a 2006 FLW Tour win, a 2014 Forrest Wood Cup title and a runner-up finish at the 2021 Pro Circuit event – a tournament won by fellow BPT competitor Matt Becker.
When asked about the conditions and expectations, Gagliardi shared insights into how he anticipates the tournament unfolding.
"I know that it's fishing good. It always does this time of year," Gagliardi said. "You can catch them on a lot of different things, so I think the guys are going to have fun because they're going to catch fish – big fish – in a variety of ways."
Taking current weather patterns into consideration, Gagliardi said he believes the event will fall squarely in the pre-spawn stage.
"We're kind of in a place where the spawn can really move. Sometimes they spawn in February, sometimes not until April. It depends on the winter and recent weather. We've had some cold spells and a warm week, but I think it's going to be a pre-spawn event. It's just not warm enough to push a lot of fish into the spawn yet."
With multiple ways to target bass, Gagliardi expects a mix of techniques to play a role throughout the tournament.
"There will be fish caught in all depths,” he said. “Some guys will fish shallow with crankbaits, spinnerbaits and flipping jigs around cover. Others will focus on jerkbaits or forward-facing sonar. It’s really going to be a typical pre-spawn deal, with ChatterBaits, crankbaits, dragging a worm and flipping a jig all coming into play. There’s not really a way you could fish this lake right now and not catch one."
As for tournament weights, Gagliardi admits it's difficult to predict.
"I’ve never fished a tournament here in the everything-counts format. Last time, I won under the five-fish limit format. Looking at it that way, you’re going to have mid-20-pound bags, and then who knows how many fish beyond that? Maybe someone cracks 100 pounds. I’d guess that 30 pounds a day would be a solid mark to advance, but we’ll have to see how it plays out."
Despite his history of success on Murray, Gagliardi remains cautious about his chances at another win on his hometown fishery.
"I never feel good about it going in. Even though I’ve done well, I’m always leery,” Gagliardi said. “I honestly don’t fish the lake as much as I should, even though I live here. I know the lake well, but I don’t always know the bite for a given time of year. Every time I’ve won, it’s been doing something different than I expected.
“I’m a little nervous going into it, like I always am before any big tournament, but I enjoy fishing the lake and it’ll be fun. It’s just the lead-up that gets me – figuring out how to practice, when to use forward-facing sonar and how to adapt. That’s what stresses me out the most. But once we hit the water, it’s all about figuring things out fast enough to stay in productive areas."
Lake Murray, SC 02/26/2025 - Major League Fishing (MLF) is set to visit Lake Murray next week March 6-9, for the third regular-season event of the 2025 Bass Pro Tour – the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King. Top anglers in professional bass fishing will be competing for a $150,000 top prize, crucial points in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) race and coveted qualification spots for the Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2026.
The four-day event, organized by Capital City/Lake Murray Country, will feature 66 of the world's leading professional anglers, including the defending champion of Lake Murray, local resident Anthony Gagliardi, the current Fishing Clash AOY Jacob Wheeler, and the 2024 REDCREST Champion Dustin Connell. Also participating are notable South Carolina anglers such as Casey Ashley, Andy Montgomery, Britt Myers, along with the father-son fishing team of Marty and Marshall Robinson, all looking to leverage their local knowledge for success.
The tournament will feature the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament is being filmed for broadcast later this year on Discovery. Television coverage of the PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 at Lake Murray Presented by Strike King will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. EST, on Saturday, Oct. 4 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Sunday, Oct. 5. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
Returning Champion - Prosperity Local, Anthony Gagliardi The Bass Pro Tour last visited the Jewel of South Carolina in 2023, where Anthony Gagliardi added another major victory to his impressive record on his home lake. His success on the fishery includes a 2006 FLW Tour win, a 2014 Forrest Wood Cup title and a runner-up finish at the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event – a tournament won by fellow Bass Pro Tour competitor Matt Becker, underscoring the high level of competition that defines this event.
When asked about the conditions and expectations, Gagliardi shared insights into how he anticipates the tournament unfolding. "I know that it's fishing good. It always does this time of year," Gagliardi said. "You can catch bass on a lot of different things, so I think the guys are going to have fun because they're going to catch fish – big fish – in a variety of ways."
San Antonio, Texas – Anthony Gagliardi recently joined Livingston Lures’ Pro Staff team. Livingston Lures is the industry innovator in EBS Technology™ and the only brand utilizing actual biological baitfish sounds to attract predators.
A native of Prosperity, South Carolina, Gagliardi is one of a select few anglers to have won both the Forrest Wood Cup (2014) and the FLW Tour Angler of the Year title (2006). With a career spanning more than two decades, he has secured three FLW Tour victories (2003, 2006, 2009) and, most recently, captured Stage Three of the 2023 Bass Pro Tour on Lake Murray — his third major triumph on his home waters.
Renowned for his precision, strategic mindset, and deep understanding of the sport, Gagliardi is not only a dominant competitor but also a respected ambassador within the fishing community.
“We are thrilled to welcome Anthony Gagliardi to the Livingston Lures family,” said Erick Arnoldson, VP of Operations at Livingston Lures. “His exceptional skill, experience, and passion for fishing perfectly align with our mission to push the boundaries of innovation and performance. Anthony’s insights and expertise will be invaluable as we continue developing cutting-edge solutions for anglers worldwide.”
As a Livingston Lures Pro Staff member, Gagliardi will play a key role in product development, serve as a brand ambassador at tournaments and industry events, and contribute to educational content designed to help anglers elevate their skills.
“I’m honored to join Livingston Lures as a Pro Staff member,” Gagliardi said. “I’ve long admired their commitment to quality and performance, and I’m excited to help showcase how their products can truly enhance an angler’s experience on the water. Together, we’ll inspire anglers of all skill levels to push their limits and achieve more.”
With Gagliardi on board, Livingston Lures further solidifies its commitment to equipping anglers with the tools, technology, and knowledge needed to excel in both competition and recreational fishing.
For more information about Livingston Lures and its partnership with Anthony Gagliardi, visit livingstonlures.com or follow Livingston Lures on Facebook, Instagram or X.
ERIE, Pa. – Arkansas pro Stephen Browning hailed his team’s chances during pregame interviews the night before he and teammate Anthony Gagliardi took to the water for the second day of Elimination Round competition at the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops.
“Anthony is a great finesse fisherman, I’m a power fisherman, I think we’re going to be a pretty good team,” Browning said.
Yes, pretty good – to the tune of 110 pounds, 11 ounces on 76 scorable bass, which easily topped the other three teams fishing Monday in the second day of Elimination competition in the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by Toyota. Representing Team U.S. Air Force, the Browning/Gagliardi tandem easily earned a spot in the Knockout Round, where they’ll be joined by Matt Becker and Spencer Shuffield of Team B&W Trailer Hitches who advanced with 88-0 on 50 bass.
Team Builders FirstSource (Michael Neal and Dean Rojas) and Team 7 Brew Coffee (Adrian Avena and Mark Daniels Jr.) were eliminated.
Fishing primarily a 1-2 punch of a vibrating jig and drop-shot or shaky head, Browning and Gagliardi stacked 40-6 on SCORETRACKER® in a cloudy, rainy first period. They followed it up with 38-2 in the second period and 32-3 in the final period to stay comfortably ahead of Becker and Shuffield for the majority of the day.
Although each caught more than 20 pounds in the first 90 minutes, it took a little time for them to zero in on the Presque Isle Bay bite.
“We got to an area and caught two back-to-back, so we settled in there,” Browning said. “We started off throwing the little Z-Man ChatterBait MiniMax. We had some clouds, some rain and a little bit of wind this morning, and that bait really showed out in those conditions. We pretty much just let the ChatterBait and the weather conditions dictate the first period.
“I think with the clouds and everything this morning, the fish were probably a little bit more active on moving baits, We were able to catch quite a few during the rain, and that got us clued in on an area, which was really key for us.”
When the Air Force duo caught its third fish in the same spot, Gagliardi knew they were onto something that would translate into a drop-shot bite to supplement the ChatterBait.
“I knew if they were biting that ChatterBait, they’d bite a worm, so I picked up a worm and started throwing it, hoping I could get bites on it while Browning was throwing the ChatterBait, and we’d have two different things going on,” he said.
As the day went on, the ChatterBait bite died out, so Browning ditched the moving bait and picked up a worm as well.
“We threw that worm every which way – wacky worm, put it on a jighead, shaky style – it really didn’t matter how we rigged it, it was just a matter of getting it around them today,” Browning said. “There are a couple thousand acres out there to try to cover, and thankfully we guessed right in the beginning and got in an area that we felt like might have some water moving through it.”
Team Air Force primarily fished a large grass mat in 8 to 12 foot of water, right in the middle of Presque Isle Bay.
“What we found was a giant grass clump, but the water’s deep on either side of it,” Browning said. “It’s got some cover and a little bit of current – evidently it has a ton of bait – and if you can get all three of those in one area, that’s a good indicator that there’s going to be some good fish there.”
And there were – around 60 scorable largemouth, to be exact.
“We were really just fishing slow around the edges of a big grass mat, not really covering much water,” Gagliardi said. “But it seemed like every 50 to 100 yards, we’d run into another fresh group of fish and get some bites. Those fresh fish helped us maintain the lead that we had over second all day long.”
It’s no secret there’s a lot of grass in Presque Isle Bay, and although there have been fish caught in other cover around the bay, Browning and Gagliardi believe they’ve found the winning pattern if the Challenge Cup returns to Presque Isle Bay for the Knockout Round.
“There’s a lot of milfoil and eelgrass in here, so whatever we could throw in this dense grass, and keep it clean, seemed to be the deal,” Browning said.” The grass is really the ticket out there right now. The rock walls with grass lines are definitely holding some bass, but they must have been hit hard yesterday. Out on these big, expansive areas of grass, there’s a lot of real estate – not only for the bass, but for the bluegill and gobies and other baitfish that these bass are feeding on.”
The U.S. Air force team said they spent the day fishing along those grass lines until they caught one, then hunkered down in that area and waited for more.
“That was the key,” Browning said. “They really came in flurries throughout the day, so once you caught one, you could almost count on catching at least three or four more with it. Sometimes we’d catch seven or eight with it. I found a few with the [Lowrance] Active Target, but the majority of the ones we caught were pretty much just from casting blind.
“The fish seemed like they were high in the water column and aggressive in the morning, but once the sun poked out later on in the day, the brighter conditions moved them down to the bottom and that’s where the worm really shone. It was just kind of a one-two punch and it worked out for us.”
The 2024 Santee Cooper Open Team Tournament (SCOTT) was held last Saturday at the John C. Land, III Sports Fishing Facility. Food trucks and a Striped Bass Festival t- shirt table kept spectators busy until the 3 p.m. weigh-in.
The local - pro duo of Wayne Frierson and Anthony Gagliardi combined for 28.03 lbs of bass and a first place prize of $5,000. Their limit included a 7.58 lb kicker that just missed Big Fish for the event. Second place went to Craig McFadden and Mike Watson, who combined for 25.48 lbs. Mark and Michael Hutson came in third with 25.2 lbs. combined. The Big Fish for this year’s SCOTT was reeled in by William Holmes and Michael Craven and weighed 8.07 lbs.