USA Bass Team Rolls To Pan-Am Triumph

BassFan Staff

American boats swept the Top 5 positions as the USA Bass Team cruised to victory at the recent Pan-American Bass Championship at Lake Cuchillo in Mexico.

Led by the duo of Andrew Upshaw and Matt Pangrac, the 10 U.S. competitors amassed 302.71 pounds of bass over two days to capture the gold medal. That total far oudistanced the runner-up and host Mexican squad, which compiled 231.51. Canada captured the bronze with 178.40.

Colombia finished 4th, followed by South Africa, Puerto Rico, Turtle Island and the Dominican Republic.

Upshaw and Pangrac caught stringers weighing 30.95 and 36.63 for a 67.55-pound total to claim the top spot on the podium for the duos portion of the competition. Mark Schlarb (the president of USAngling) and J.T. Thompkins were next with 66.44, followed by Scott Martin and Scott Canterbury (57.83), Trey McKinney and Dale Black (56.20) and Joey Cifuentes and Joshua Weaver (54.70).

The venue, an impoundment covering approximately 20,000 acres in the state of Nuevo Leon (the northeastern portion of Mexico), is strictly managed by the Mexican government as a catch-and-release fishery. No commercial fishing or netting is allowed.

"It looks big to the eye, but it fished pretty small," Upshaw said. "The shallow stuff is just like Falcon or Amistad, but offshore it's pretty similar to the Tennessee River lakes, with a bunch of rock veins. The closest thing I could compare it to would probably be Cherokee or Douglas."

With the fish closest to the bank getting heavy pressure, Upshaw and Pangrac focused primarily on the offshore bite. Their haul included a 10-4 monster and another fish that exceeded 8 pounds, both caught on a 7-inch Strike King Z-Too soft jerkbait.

They also threw a 5-inch Z-Too and Strike King 6XD crankbaits offshore in 15 to 30 feet of water for fish sitting on rock or brushpiles. They caught some fish from the 5- to 7-foot depth range on spinnerbaits and jigs, but only a couple of those ended up being counted in their bags.

He said the majority of the fish appeared to be in the postspawn phase.

"We caught some with bloody tails, so it looked like they were done (with the reproduction ritual), but not for long – they were just starting to shift out there. I'm sure there were some that had been out there longer."

It was the third straight Pan-Am gold medal for the USA Bass Team, which also triumphed last year on the Saint John River in New Brunswick, Canada, and in 2023 at Arkansas' Lake Hamilton.

"The whole thing was kind of surreal for me," said Upshaw, who was making his debut with the squad. "I'd followed it a little bit in previous years, but being a part of it opens your eyes to just how big bass fishing is. These fishermen from other countries are really focused on what we (American pros) do and they're all trying to become the best they can be.

"It's crazy how many fishermen from outside our country pay attention to everything we do. It was a really cool experience."

---