Banks Shaw Continues to Crush Expectations and Shatter Records
The fishing world was awed by Banks Shaw’s achievements in 2025, and with good reason. He won both the Tackle Warehouse Circuit Rookie of the Year and Angler of the Year titles, amassing an MLF record 15 total top tens, including finishes in that range in all seven Invitationals.
But rather than using that incredible campaign as an exclamation point on his career, the young pro has doubled down on his excellence. He started the 2026 season by winning a Toyota Series tournament on Lake Okeechobee, then added a Tackle Warehouse victory close to his Tennessee home last month.
But in June he truly kicked it into overdrive, first winning another Tackle Warehouse event on Eufaula, and then following that up two weeks later with a Bass Pro Tour victory on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake. Befitting the fishery’s name, he did it in grand fashion, with the MLF writers asserting that his come-from-behind victory featured “perhaps the best final period in BPT history.” He rebounded from a nearly 30 pound deficit to win by over 8 pounds.
To put that all in perspective, he’s still only 22 years old. We likely have yet to see the best of the young angler’s talents. Here’s a peek into the ascending phenom’s mind.
Lofty Goals and Big Rewards
“It hasn’t really set in by any means,” Shaw said as he drove home from Oklahoma. “It’s not necessarily that I expected to win, but once I got a feel for the lake I kind of thought how it was going to go, other than the almost-7-pounder that I caught near the end. I was expecting a pretty good last 15 minutes and it worked out in my favor.”
Indeed, while most anglers in his age class are presumed to be primarily electronics experts, Shaw’s strength is his ability to adjust to a given format. Yes, he can certainly use forward-facing sonar, mapping and other tools, not he’s not fully reliant upon it.
“I did use LiveScope for a little bit,” he said. “But this was an early summer tournament and that’s my favorite time of year. I love to chase an early shad spawn and then wander around fishing visible structure like docks and laydowns. In tournaments where you can use LiveScope all day, you have to use it, but the BPT format forces you to mix it up. It makes for a fun day of fishing.
“In every big tournament I’ve won, I’ve caught plenty of big fish without it,” he said of FFS.
Indeed, his ability to ping pong back and forth among areas, techniques and mindsets is reminiscent of all-world angler Jacob Wheeler, who earlier this year notoriously stopped hooking fish in a given period because he was all but certain that he had enough to progress to the next round.
“At the beginning of the week the fish were fresh and not pressured, but as the week progressed they were more pressured and became harder to catch,” Shaw said. “I planned out a strategy during practice that played out perfectly over the course of the tournament. I found places off the beaten path and saved them for later in the week. That gave me the flexibility to go and dial in more places.
“You need to be super-bold to save spots for the last minute,” he opined. “And what I’m most proud of is that I made the right calls, along with certain gut decisions that helped me win. To beat some of the best guys on tour in that format really means a lot to me.”
Living the Boyhood Tackle Dream
Consistent with his multifaceted approach to the tournament, Shaw employed multiple lures to get the job done.
Early in the tournament, when the schools were “super fresh and biting really well,” he cranked with a Rapala® DT®20 in Disco Shad and Caribbean Shad on a 13 Fishing® 7’9” Oath cranking rod, a prototype 13 Fishing baitcasting reel and 12 pound test Sufix® Advance® Fluorocarbon.
“It’s more of a subtle crankbait and it often gets bit a lot better than the more aggressive crankbaits,” said the offshore expert of his lure choice. “When the schools would get set up on rock I could slow wind it through them and catch those fish.”
His main bait through the mid-section of the event was a football jig with a green pumpkin CrushCity™ Cleanup Craw® on the back.
“As the week progressed it’s what I’d throw first,” he explained. “Not only did it get the school going, but it also seemed to get bigger bites. I figured that it was better to get three or four big bites than five or six 2-pounders. That Cleanup Craw just has a really good action that makes them bite.”
The final aspect of his three-pronged lure strategy was a gizzard shad colored 5.25-inch CrushCity Freeloader® fished on a 3/16 ounce VMC RedLine Series ballhead jig.
“That’s what I generally threw when I had the forward-facing sonar turned on,” he said. “It quickly became clear that they wanted a bait that had a hard rolling action to it. I tried some other baits with more of a tail action and they didn’t get bit as well. That 3/16 ounce jighead was also really important. I tried lighter heads and it was obvious that they didn’t want to chase a lure. They wanted it hanging around the school. I would sneak it up to the school, keeping it a foot above them and all of a sudden they’d see it and eat it.”
He fished both soft plastic offerings on 13 Fishing Enzo rods which will be released at ICAST next month, along with 13 Fishing baitcasting and spinning reels that will likewise be introduced in July. The jig and craw required a 7’3” heavy-action baitcasting paired with 20 pound test Sufix® Advance® Fluorocarbon while the Freeloader worked best with spinning gear – a 6’10” medium-light Enzo and a line setup consisting of 10 pound test Sufix 832 Hi-Viz yellow braid and a leader of 14 pound test Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon.
Shaw called the fact that he’s now on the Rapala/CrushCity team “a dream come true.”
“I remember getting those Rapala crankbaits in the distinctive boxes in the store when I was younger,” he said. “Now when I get an order and open the package it brings me back to that same feeling. And to be on this team with guys like Jacob Wheeler and Dustin Connell, it’s pretty crazy and simply amazing.”
Also amazing is the fact that he’s amassed nearly $900,000 in MLF winnings – along with all of the trophies and accolades – at such a young age. While he could take a well-deserved break after the Grand event, he admitted that after a day or two of not fishing he needs to get back on the water. He also fishes each day, even those labeled “fun,” with a distinct sense of purpose.
“It bothers me when I go out and find something really good and I’m not fishing for a lot of money,” he laughed.” My goal for the rest of this year is to go up north and seal the deal on AOY on the Pro Circuit. I don’t have much of a lead right now, just 13 points, but it’s really important to me to go back-to-back. And I’d like to have a strong finish in the BPT points, ending up in the top five.”
Just another day at the office and a set of incredibly realistic goals for the sport’s hottest young angler.