Dustin Connell 2X REDCREST Champion: Crush City Sunday

Originally posted on Men's Journal | By Kurt Mazurek | Last updated Mar 17, 2024 5:53 PM ET

As if Dustin Connell’s sponsor planned it, today was Crush City Sunday! The Alabama pro scored an impressive 83-pound total, and a $300,000 payday at the 2024 REDCREST. His next closest competitor, second place finisher, Alton Jones Jr was 30 pounds, 15 ounces off of Connell’s blistering pace.

At the end of the day, Connell ran down the arsenal he used for his win. “I caught all my fish this week on a Crush City Mooch Minnow. This is a new bait that will officially be coming out at ICAST. The big spots love this bait. It’s unbelievable. So, I caught them on that with 12-lb Seagar fluorocarbon on my Favorite Hex rod, 7’2”, and using active target trying to find those big, pre-spawn spots.”

Connell seemed to be the strong favorite coming into the day and simply proved them all right. Sixth place finisher, Jacob Wheeler, another angler with a lot of eyes on him coming into the final round, said, “He [Connell] had the master game plan. Man, he’s hell on those spots in that current. He understands that better than anybody. I told him I wasn’t even going to try to fish for spotted bass during the tournament, because I’m just not going to beat him at his own game.”

In his career as a professional angler, Connell was hot out of the gate, claiming Elite Series Rookie of the Year honors in 2017. He won his first REDCREST title at the Lake Eufaula event in 2021. Winning Stage Three of the 2022 Bass Pro Tour pushed him to nearly $1 million in career earnings. He followed it up with a win at Stage Six of the 2022 Bass Pro Tour. This win made Connell one of the winning-est anglers in Bass Pro Tour history as only Jacob Wheeler and Ott DeFoe had won three or more events on the Bass Pro Tour. He capped off the 2022 season with his fourth Bass Pro Tour win at Stage Seven at Mille Lacs Lake. Then in 2024, Connell scored his fifth Bass Pro Tour win at Stage One on Toledo Bend.

And this victory on Lay Lake makes Connell the first angler ever to own two REDCREST Champion Titles.

This article first appeared on Men's Journal and was syndicated with permission.

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