Brian Brown wins AAA Division
Laughlin, Nev. – October 8, 2025 –– Slick winds and high, bluebird skies greeted the 166 boats carrying their pro and AAA competitors for the final morning of the 2025 Ranger Boats WON Bass U.S. Open presented by Mercury. The calm conditions were in stark contrast to Monday’s opening round where gusty winds covered Lake Mohave and even stronger winds that forced the cancellation of the second day of the championship.
While the conditions on the final day of the event made for easy navigation, they are not considered ideal for the fishing itself. Without the wind breaking up the surface of Lake Mohave, the chance existed for a shakeup on the leaderboard. No matter how tough the bite can be, the anglers in the field like the WON Bass U.S. Open features will figure out how to catch the right fish.
On this day Spencer Shuffield figured them out the best, and earned the title of 2025 WON Bass U.S. Open Champion.
As the champion of the 2025 Ranger Boats WON Bass U.S. Open presented by Mercury, Shuffield earned the Ranger Boats / Mercury Motor prize boat provided by Bass Pro Shops valued at $85,000 and a cash prize of $65,000, bringing the total winner’s purse to $165,000.
Three quarters of the way through the final weigh-in, Ben Milliken, from New Caney, Tex. came to the scales and posted a 19.78-pound limit of Lake Mohave smallmouth bass to catapult over then leader Kyle Gover of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. him into the lead with 39.22 pounds. As he took his place in the Ranger Hot Seat next to WON Bass Tournament Director Bill Egan, all he had to do was wait for the Hot Springs, Ark. pro to come to the scales.
Shuffield, who was fishing his fourth WON Bass U.S. Open had hovered around the win each time with two second place finishes and a third place to go with it. Shuffield, a full-time touring pro has made it clear that winning the WON Bass U.S. Open has become his top goal as a professional angler.
When the scales bottomed out at 21.50 pounds, he had accomplished that goal with a two-day total of 41.19 pounds. “I worried that I had put myself out of reach when I weighed 19.69 on day one, but I had over 21 pounds at nine o’clock this morning and I felt good about my chances,” he said. “I spent my whole tournament fishing in ‘The Bowl’ area and I was using my Garmin Livescope to find the fish to target; and it worked out.”
Shuffield reported using a dropshot rig with a trio of different offerings, Z Man Jerk Shad soft plastic jerkbaits in 3.5 and 4-inch sizes and a Geecrack Imo Kemuchi rigged on size 2 VMC Dropshot Hook and a 1/2-ounce Ark Tungsten Dropshot weight. He threw them on an Ark 7’3” ML Reinforcer spinning rod paired with Ark International’s Gravity G7 Spinning reel spooled with 15-pound-test white Yozuri Super 9 Braid and 10-pound Yozuri T7 Fluorocarbon line as his leader.
Shuffield said that winning the U.S. Open ranks as his greatest accomplishment. “I wanted to fish this event for years and after I fished it four years ago and finished in second place, I wanted to win it badly,” he said. “I won the Tackle Warehouse Invitational TITLE a few years ago and this one just hits differently. To have my name on that trophy next to Aaron Martens, Mike Folkestad, John Murray, Rick Clunn, Josh Bertrand and Bryant Smith – who won it last year just means a ton.
“I love this lake, love the way WON Bass runs this event and look forward to this event the most every year and I will be back to fish it as a top priority; I can’t believe I am the 2025 WON Bass U.S. Open Champion.”
Milliken, who finished with 39.24 pounds, is known for his presence as a YouTube fishing star with over 600,000 subscribers and more than a million followers on his social media platforms as well as his career in professional fishing said that he worked to try and have multiple approaches he could use in the competition. “I only had two and a half days of practice, but I wanted to have flexibility in patterns, and I found deep and shallow fish,” he said. “When the tournament started, my deep fish had disappeared, so I turned to my shallow fish and was able to catch ‘em there.”
Milliken reported catching his fish in shallow washes that held baitfish and had grass on the bottom. He caught his smallmouth in 2 to 10 feet of water on a pair of 6th Sense Lure Company baits. His lures of choice were a Wig Hair Jig and Party Prop Spybait. He threw the Party Prop on his signature Milliken Series Rods, a 7’4” medium-light and 7’6” light model for the hair jig.
He said fishing the U.S. Open has been something he had always wanted to do. “I’ve looked forward to competing in the tournament like Aaron Martens, John Murray and Clifford Pirch did; some of these guys are my heroes,” he said. “I came close to winning it and had I not lost a couple of good ones, I may have, but that’s the way this sport goes, you have to execute to win, but I’m content with the way I fished.”
Grover finished third for the championship by posting a two-day total of 38.22, fourth place went to Ty Manterola of Pasco, Wash. With 37.61 pounds, and last year’s WON Bass U.S. Open Champion Bryant Smith of Roseville, Calif. finished fifth with 36.96 pounds.
Brian Brown of Las Vegas, Nev. claimed the AAA Division title with a total weight of 38.59 pounds. He earned a Honda FourTrax ATV valued at $8500 and $7,600, a total of $16,100 in earnings. Second place in the AAA Division went to Jacob Crawford of San Pedro, Calif. with 36.75 pounds, he was followed in third place by Russ Nievar of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. with 36.03 pounds. Fourth place went to Mike Hawkins of Boulder City, Nev. with 35.16 pounds and Andrew Packard of Fresno, Calif. rounded out the top five with 35.03 pounds.
Each of the pros and AAA anglers who finish in the top five also earned a Golden Ticket berth into the 2026 Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Championship for a chance to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic.
The daily livestream of the weigh-ins aired on the WON Bass Facebook page, located at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.
The top 10 in each division are posted below: for complete standings, visit - https://wonbassevents.com/pages/lake-mead-open-pairings-and-results.
2025 WON Bass U.S. Open Day One – Pro Standings
|
Place |
Angler |
Hometown |
Wght |
Pnlty |
B/B |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Total |
|
1 |
Spencer Shuffield |
Hot Springs AR |
41.19 |
4.97 |
19.69 |
21.50 |
41.19 |
|
|
2 |
Ben Milliken |
New Caney TX |
39.24 |
19.46 |
19.78 |
39.24 |
||
|
3 |
Kyle Grover |
Rancho Santa Margarita CA |
38.22 |
4.54 |
19.96 |
18.26 |
38.22 |
|
|
4 |
Ty Manterola |
Pacso WA |
37.61 |
4.25 |
18.47 |
19.14 |
37.61 |
|
|
5 |
Bryant Smith |
Roseville CA |
36.96 |
4.39 |
17.95 |
19.01 |
36.96 |
|
|
6 |
Patrick Touey |
Santa Maria CA |
36.72 |
4.19 |
19.72 |
17.00 |
36.72 |
|
|
7 |
Zack Holwerda |
Wittman AZ |
37.18 |
0.50 |
17.55 |
19.13 |
36.68 |
|
|
8 |
Sean Coffey |
Mesa AZ |
36.65 |
5.04 |
20.12 |
16.53 |
36.65 |
|
|
9 |
Josh Bertrand |
San Tan Valley AZ |
36.04 |
18.55 |
17.49 |
36.04 |
||
|
10 |
Tyler Ivie |
West Haven UT |
35.82 |
3.92 |
17.11 |
18.71 |
35.82 |
2025 WON Bass U.S. Open Day One – AAA Standings
|
AAA |
Angler |
Hometown |
Wght |
Pnlty |
B/B |
Day 1 |
Day 2 |
Total |
|
1 |
Brian Brown |
Las Vegas NV |
38.59 |
|
|
17.49 |
21.10 |
38.59 |
|
2 |
Jacob Crawford |
San Pedro CA |
36.75 |
17.74 |
19.01 |
36.75 |
||
|
3 |
Russ Nievar |
Lake Havasu City AZ |
36.03 |
19.96 |
16.07 |
36.03 |
||
|
4 |
Mike Hawkins |
Boulder City NV |
35.16 |
17.92 |
17.24 |
35.16 |
||
|
5 |
Andrew Packard |
Fresno CA |
35.03 |
3.68 |
17.54 |
17.49 |
35.03 |
|
|
6 |
James Clayton |
Prescott AZ |
33.45 |
3.20 |
13.34 |
20.11 |
33.45 |
|
|
7 |
Danny Snyder |
Annandale VA |
33.39 |
17.95 |
15.44 |
33.39 |
||
|
8 |
Robert Tomlin |
Stevenson Ranch CA |
32.22 |
9.09 |
23.13 |
32.22 |
||
|
9 |
John Harris |
San Diego CA |
31.99 |
16.40 |
15.59 |
31.99 |
||
|
10 |
George Parker |
Santa Rosa CA |
31.67 |
4.27 |
13.31 |
18.36 |
31.67 |
For complete details to register for future events, or to find results, look to wonbassevents.com and WONews.com to hear the latest news about the 2025 season and beyond and follow along at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.
The 2025 WON Bass Western Opens Series of events Consisting of five events in California, Arizona and Nevada, culminating with the 2025 WON Bass U.S. Open at Lake Mohave. The five event dates were as follows:
Feb. 5 to 7, 2025 - Lake Shasta – Champion Joe Uribe
April 9 to 11, 2025 - Clear Lake – Champion John Pearl
May 7 to 9, 2025 - Lake Havasu – Champion Roy Hawk
Sept. 10 to 12, 2025 - Lake Mead – Champion Dylan Denny
Oct. 6 to 8, 2025 - U.S. Open at Lake Mohave – Champion Spencer Shuffield
For complete details or to register, look to wonbassevents.com and WONews.com to hear the latest news about the 2024 season and beyond and follow along at Facebook.com/WONBassTournaments.
The 2025 WON Bass Lake Mead Open was brought to you by Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Nitro Boats, Triton Boats, Bridgford Foods, Volta Power Lithium, Power Pole, Lowrance, Daiwa, AFTCO, Costa, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Fenwick Rods, Anderson Toyota, A&M Graphics, Anglers Marine, Signature Gates, DD26 Fishing, Bad Ass Bearings, Cipher Fishing, Megaware Keelguard and GRatt.
Local presenting sponsors are Visit Laughlin, Laughlin Tourism Commission and Katherine Landing at Lake Mohave Marina