4th place finish on wind-whipped Lake Erie secures AOY
Blanchard resident Zack Birge will be the first to admit that everything has seemed to break his way in 2026.
“Every turn I made, it seemed like I ended up in a good place,” the Oklahoma pro said.
But when he faced the opportunity to cap his dream season by clinching the Bass Pro Tour Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title during the Saturday, August 8 Knockout Round at Suzuki Marine Stage 7 presented by B&W Trailer Hitches, it sure didn’t come easy.
The wind whipped up big waves on Lake Erie, and Birge spent all day bobbing up and down on the deck of his Bass Cat. His closest pursuer in the points race, Jacob Wheeler, rocketed out of the starting blocks with 57 pounds in the opening period, virtually assuring himself a spot in Sunday’s Championship Round. Thus, Birge knew he had to finish 11th or better Saturday to avoid giving Wheeler — the AOY winner four of the past five years — an opening.
Around the midpoint of Period 3, Birge slipped as far back as ninth. Between the relentless waves and the pressure to clinch his first AOY crown, Birge threatened multiple times Saturday afternoon to throw up on MLFNOW. But, as he’s done each day on Erie and just about every day all year, he came through in the clutch. He boated five scorable bass for 13-9 in the last 80 minutes to climb to fourth place and seal the Angler of the Year victory, which will earn him $100,000.
“I never thought I’d be in a position to say I had an opportunity for Angler of the Year against all these guys that are so good,” Birge said shortly after lines out. “It’s freakin’ awesome, I know that. I’ve had so many good things happen this year, so many good events. … I’ll probably never have a year like this again, but it sure does feel good to get one.”
Sticking to strengths pays off Birge has been consistently solid across his eight-year Bass Pro Tour career, including finishing sixth in the AOY race in each of 2024 and 2025. But entering 2026, he admitted winning the title wasn’t on his radar.
“Just making REDCREST and Heavy Hitters and that kind of stuff — cashing checks, Top 10s — that was kind of my goals coming into the year,” he said. “And it’s just kind of been one of those years where we made a Top 10, we made another Top 10, we won one, we made another Top 10. And then about halfway through the season, it starts becoming a reality. Like, hey, there’s a shot at AOY.”
Birge started the year strong with a fourth-place finish at Guntersville. That gave him a shot of positive momentum that he never relinquished. He followed it up with a 15th-place showing on Lake Hartwell (incredibly, his lowest finish of the season). Then, he claimed his second career Bass Pro Tour victory with a runaway final at Stage 3 on Lake Waco.
While that gave Birge even more confidence (not to mention the Angler of the Year lead), he said AOY still wasn’t on his radar at that point. But he just kept stacking on good finishes: eighth place at Stage 4 on O.H. Ivie and Lake Brownwood, third at REDCREST (which didn’t impact the points race but kept his mojo rolling), fourth at Stage 5 on Beaver Lake, third at Stage 6 on Grand Lake.
The through lines in all those strong showings were Birge “making great decisions” and fishing his strengths — two things that went ZACK BIRGE on page 2
