{"id":1373738,"date":"2025-12-11T09:33:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T15:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=1373738"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:33:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T15:33:25","slug":"daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/","title":{"rendered":"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A longshot for sure, Caleb Hudson cashed in a \u201ctrifecta\u201d at Lake Okeechobee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 23-year-old from Lincolnton, Ga., went into the third and final Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier with a slim shot at his goal to make the 2026 Elites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI was hoping for a miracle,\u201d he said. \u201cI know I didn&#8217;t have much of a chance, but somehow I got my chance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standing 20th in points, Hudson, who had fallen just short of winning several times in Bassmaster College Series competitions, needed some magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI definitely feel like I was due for a win,\u201d he said. \u201cI somehow made it happen and made it happen somewhere where it mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Boy did it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Needing a top-five finish to get inside the Top 10 in the EQ standings, Hudson scored a rewarding first B.A.S.S. victory. It not only punched his ticket to the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, but the 95 points for winning secured his big climb to Elite qualification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things didn\u2019t look great heading into Big O, or even after Day 1. Hudson stayed in a canal near takeoff and a caught a limit weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces, good for 25th among the 75 competitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was a super tough tournament, so after Day 1, I felt I had a had a chance to climb,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t think I was going climb the way I did, but I knew I had a chance. That&#8217;s what kind of gave me a spark, put some hope in me for Day 2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Practice took Hudson up and down the lake, but he settled close to takeoff for a number of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was so windy during practice, it made the main lake nearly impossible to get out to unless you liked going on a roller coaster, so I just stuck it out in the rim canal,\u201d he said. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t catching many at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On his best day of practice, Hudson landed four fish there, but they were of better quality. Besides eliminating a potentially treacherous run, staying near the launch allowed him to maximize his time hunting bigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew what I had to do being that far out (of the points), I had to catch big ones,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we went on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the first day wasn\u2019t what he had hoped \u2014 Hudson\u2019s biggest of seven catches was a 2-8 \u2014 how the bass were moving gave him hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt kind of clued me that maybe some females we&#8217;re going to be doing the same soon. I didn&#8217;t think it&#8217;d be happening in 24 hours,\u201d he said. \u201cI don&#8217;t know much about Florida fishing, but from what I was told from other Florida anglers, it doesn&#8217;t take much for them to initiate spawn or start traveling.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A cold snap had affected the bite in southern Florida, but it began to warm during competition. On Day 2, Hudson received some positive reinforcement with a 7-pounder in the first 45 minutes. A lot of fished nipped at his bait, but he didn\u2019t get another bite until after 1 p.m., when they put on the feedbag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI really went on a flurry,\u201d he said. \u201cI caught No. 2 just randomly and about five minutes later I caught my third one. Next cast I caught my fourth, and then I threw again in a brushpile and got hung up, broke off, retied, stood back up, threw over there again and caught my fifth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSo it went pretty quickly for me. And then I ran around and went back to stretch where I caught the 7-pounder, and I caught a 4 1\/2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hudson ended the day with 25-7 and the lead. With 36-0, he was 1-9 ahead of Austin Cranford and Ryan Lachniet, who had the event\u2019s big bag of 27-1. Hudson\u2019s average fish increased by 3 pounds from Day 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1373742\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp?resize=150,100 150w, https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/hudsonhoist.webp?resize=500,333 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was totally flipped,\u201d he said. \u201cI caught all females that second day, doing the same exact thing on the same exact stretch. It&#8217;s just the bucks had moved out and the females had moved in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maxed out on points after Day 2, Hudson knew he couldn\u2019t falter on Championship Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI did the math the night before Day 3,\u201d he said, \u201cand I knew I needed to stay somewhere in the top five or six. That was really my main goal. Winning was a huge accomplishment, but my main goal was ultimately to make the Elites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hudson got off to a great start with a 4 1\/2 and added two more after a move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI knew right then that it was going be a good day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of shut down for a long, long time and I had to kind of milk out some brushpiles for the last two keepers. Those first three I caught really quick definitely saved me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With 16-6, Hudson\u2019s winning total was 52-6, just 10 ounces ahead of Elite pro Robert Gee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the three-event EQ sprint, four anglers climbed from outside the Top 10 into Elite berths, the biggest jump being Hudson from 20th to seventh. The others were Austin Cranford (12th to fourth), Pake South (14th to ninth) and Tristan McCormick (15th to eighth).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hudson was also the lowest finisher in Division 1 of the St. Croix Opens to make the Elites. He was 40th after the four events. The only incoming Elite lower was Aaron Jagdfeld, 42nd in Division 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Elites kick off 2026 on Lake Guntersville Feb. 5-8, and while Hudson hopes to do well in the nine-event series, he\u2019s got the biggest event on his mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re going some places I&#8217;ve never even seen, but I couldn&#8217;t be more excited to be there,\u201d he said. \u201cI plan to go in the next couple weeks to pre-practice for the Classic, and then I&#8217;ll probably hit a couple other ones throughout the year as we travel on the way back home. Right now, the Classic is what&#8217;s on my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A win on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville, March 13-15, would give Hudson a superfecta.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A longshot for sure, Caleb Hudson cashed in a \u201ctrifecta\u201d at Lake Okeechobee. The 23-year-old from Lincolnton, Ga., went into the third and final Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":1373739,"template":"","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":59751,"post_id":61204}}]},"bassmaster_plugin_short_title":"","bassmaster_plugin_photo_attribution":[],"bassmaster_plugin_caption_attribution":[],"bassmaster_article_column":false,"bassmaster_article_columnists":[],"bassmaster_dfp":{"keyword":"dailylimit"},"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_bool":false,"bassmaster_ad_refresh_interval_length":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100026,115590],"sponsors":[],"people":[103975,33540,104378,104536,102281,40686,100334],"tournaments":[],"tournament-series":[104359,1267],"byline":[59751],"class_list":["post-1373738","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elite","category-eqs","people-aaron-jagdfeld","people-austin-cranford","people-caleb-hudson","people-pake-south","people-robert-gee","people-ryan-lachniet","people-tristan-mccormick","tournament-series-eqs","tournament-series-elite"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O - Bassmaster<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O - Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A longshot for sure, Caleb Hudson cashed in a \u201ctrifecta\u201d at Lake Okeechobee. The 23-year-old from Lincolnton, Ga., went into the third and final Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier with...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bass\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CalebHudsond2O.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bassmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"Mike Suchan\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/\",\"name\":\"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O - Bassmaster\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CalebHudsond2O.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-11T15:33:25+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CalebHudsond2O.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CalebHudsond2O.webp\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Caleb Hudson make big things happen in the Lake Okeechobee EQ.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/\",\"name\":\"Bassmaster\",\"description\":\"Pro Bass Tournament Fishing, Bass Fishing Tips &amp; News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O - Bassmaster","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bassmaster.com\/elite\/news\/daily-limit-hudson-hit-trifecta-at-big-o\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Daily Limit: Hudson hit trifecta at Big O - Bassmaster","og_description":"A longshot for sure, Caleb Hudson cashed in a \u201ctrifecta\u201d at Lake Okeechobee. 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