THE LATEST NEWS
Spohrer Goes Medium-Light for Lipless Crankbaits
Bass Pro Tour pro Gerald Sprhrer leaned primarily on a ½-ounce lipless crankbait (Spro Aruka Shad) to propel him to the Championship Round of Stage Three on the Harris Chain this week. His one-two punch included a bladed jig, but fishing a lipless around offshore vegetation proved most productive for Spohrer.
The Quantum pro employed a unique rod and reel setup for his lipless crankbait on the Harris Chain, that he believes helped land him a strong finish and a solid paycheck to go with it.
Sporher’s setup:
Rod – 7’ medium-light Smoke S3 casting rod
Reel – 8:1:1 Smoke S3 baitcasting reel
Line – 30-lb Seaguar Smackdown braided like
“I’ve been testing out different setups for a lipless crankbait and I’ve come to find that seven foot medium-light is perfect for two reasons,” Spohrer said. “First off it really allows me to pop or rip the bait out of grass. You need to be able to do that when you are fishing a treble-hooked lure around vegetation. Braided line is key, too, because it has zero stretch and really allows me to clean the bait effectively.
“Second the lighter action rod loads up really well when I do get a bite. Traps or lipless crankbaits are notorious for having a poor landing ratio. A heavy lure, treble hooks, braided line, and a long cast is usually a recipe for disaster; but that particular rod really buttons fish up well. I’ve been super impressed with it.”
A high-speed reel is another key for Spohrer with this presentation as it gives him more control over where he keeps his lure in the water column. This is imperative when fishing around submerged vegetation like the hydrilla he’s been targeting on the Harris Chain.
Spohrer keeps hid rod high and bait moving fast so it barely ticks the top of the grass instead of burying up in it. Without the right rod and reel combo, it would be extremely difficult to keep the lure in the strike zone.
“To be honest I had never used a medium-light rod for this technique until this season,” Spohrer explained. “I’ve always used braid and a high speed reel, but the rod was a new wrinkle I am pretty excited about. That setup helped me secure a solid finish this week and no doubt will be useful down the road.”
The post Spohrer Goes Medium-Light for Lipless Crankbaits appeared first on Bass365.com.
Brent Chapman Tops Knockout Round at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three Presented at Harris Chain
LEESBURG, Fla. (May 25, 2021) – Toro pro Brent Chapman of Lake Quivira, Kansas, caught 23 bass weighing 51 pounds, 12 ounces Tuesday to win the Knockout Round and advance to the final-day Championship Round at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. The field has now been cut to the final 10 anglers, and competition will resume Wednesday morning with the anglers departing Leesburg’s Venetian Gardens Ski Beach at 6:30 a.m.
The six-day tournament, hosted by Lake County, featured 80 of the top professional anglers from around the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.
The top eight pros from Tuesday’s Knockout Round that will compete in Wednesday’s Championship Round on the Harris Chain of Lakes are:
1st: Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 23 bass, 51-12
2nd: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 18 bass, 46-0
3rd: Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 16 bass, 38-0
4th: Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 14 bass, 36-14
5th: Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 14 bass, 36-10
6th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 16 bass, 35-7
7th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 13 bass, 34-15
8th: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 14 bass, 29-2
They’ll be joined by Qualifying Round Winners:
Group A: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz.
Group B: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla.
Full results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
“I knew it was going to be a special day for me when we had our 30-minute morning ride-around before lines in at 7 (a.m.),” Chapman said in his post-day interview. “The area where I wanted to sit down and start was an area that I had finished my day in on Sunday. When I pulled in there, there were birds everywhere feeding along the shoreline. There was a shad spawn going on, and when you see that many birds along the shore there are probably just as many bass under the water that you can’t see. It killed me to sit there and have to wait 20 minutes for lines in.
Rounding out the top 40 finishers were:
11th: Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., 11 bass, 26-12, $10,000
12th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., nine bass, 25-3, $10,000
13th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 11 bass, 24-12, $10,000
14th: John Murray, Spring City, Tenn., 12 bass, 24-4, $10,000
15th: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., eight bass, 24-4, $10,000
16th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, nine bass, 24-1, $10,000
17th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 10 bass, 23-11, $10,000
18th: David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., eight bass, 23-5, $10,000
19th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 10 bass, 21-15, $10,000
20th: Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., nine bass, 21-7, $10,000
21st: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, nine bass, 21-6, $10,000
22nd: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., nine bass, 20-8, $10,000
23rd: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., nine bass, 20-6, $10,000
24th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 11 bass, 19-12, $10,000
25th: Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 10 bass, 19-5, $10,000
26th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., seven bass, 15-12, $10,000
27th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., eight bass, 15-11, $10,000
28th: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., five bass, 14-0, $10,000
29th: Randall Tharp, Port Saint Joe, Fla., six bass, 13-9, $10,000
30th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., six bass, 13-4, $10,000
31st: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., four bass, 12-12, $10,000
32nd: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., six bass, 12-4, $10,000
33rd: Timmy Horton, Muscle Shoals, Ala., six bass, 12-3, $10,000
34th: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., four bass, 12-2, $10,000
35th: Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 11-4, $10,000
36th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., three bass, 10-9, $10,000
37th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., four bass, 10-8, $10,000
38th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., five bass, 8-13, $10,000
39th: Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., four bass, 8-4, $10,000
40th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., three bass, 5-4, $10,000
| There were 349 bass weighing 825 pounds, 14 ounces caught by the 38 pros on Tuesday.
Elam won the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award on Tuesday, catching an 8-pound, 14-ounce largemouth on a squarebill crankbait in Period 3. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament. The MLF Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three at the Harris Chain Presented by Bass Cat Boats is hosted by Lake County. The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day qualifying round on Friday and Sunday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Saturday and Monday. After the two-day Qualifying Round, the anglers that finished in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advanced to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner from each group advanced directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, the weights were zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers competed to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. Tomorrow, in the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins. Full breakdown of the format can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The final 10 anglers will take off from the Venetian Gardens Ski Beach Boat Ramp, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive, in Leesburg, at 6:30 a.m. ET Wednesday. The General Tire Takeout and Championship Moment will also be held at the Ski Beach at the Venetian Gardens, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend, but encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship. The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action from the final day of competition on Wednesday from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app. Television coverage of the Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 25 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition. For complete details and updated information on the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. |
| About Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, the Sportsman Channel and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019 MLF acquired FLW and rebranded it as MLF BIG5, which expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh and immediate release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing  |
The post Brent Chapman Tops Knockout Round at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three Presented at Harris Chain appeared first on Bass365.com.
Bobby Lane Holds on To Win to Qualifying Group B at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three at Harris Chain
LEESBURG, Fla. (May 24, 2021) – Berkley pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Florida, boated 14 bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces to hold off a hard-charging Ott DeFoe of Blaine, Tennessee, and win the two-day Qualifying Group B round at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. After Lane started the day with a 24-pound lead, DeFoe’s massive rally had him within 8 pounds of Lane’s lead early in the second period, but Lane pulled away in the third and earned the victory with a two-day total of 39 bass weighing 102 pounds, 6 ounces.
Florida Pro Holds off Hard Charge from Tennessee’s Ott DeFoe to Advance Directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round, Field of 38 Set for Tuesday’s Knockout Round
The six-day tournament, hosted by Lake County, features 80 of the top professional anglers from around the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.
DeFoe caught a two-day total of 35 bass weighing 78-2 to end the round in second place, while General Tire pro Skeet Rese of Auburn, California, finished the round in third place with a two-day total of 22 bass weighing 60 pounds even.
The remaining 38 anglers – 19 from Group A and 19 from Group B – will now compete Tuesday in the Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and the anglers compete to finish in the top eight to advance to Championship Wednesday. Wednesday’s Championship Round will feature Group A winner Brett Hite, Group B winner Bobby Lane, and the top eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.
“I really didn’t plan on fishing that hard today, but Ott DeFoe scared the living fire out of me,” Lane said in his post-game interview. “I had been planning to start practicing in the second round, but Ott was catching them so fast I knew it was only a matter of time before I was his next victim. We’re all competitors out here, though, and it doesn’t get much better than that. That was an awesome round.”
Lane said his key bait Monday was a black and blue-colored Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General Worm, fished with a ½-ounce Flat Out Tungsten Screw In weight on a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy Abu Garcia Fantasista Premier rod with an Abu Garcia REVO IKE casting reel spooled with 50-pound Spiderwire Ultracast Braid line.
“That bait really got it done for me today,” Lane said. “I missed a lot of fish, but I think a lot of them were small. But none of that matters anymore because we’re moving on to the Championship Round. There will only be 10 of us left on Wednesday, and I’m so excited because I get to keep a flipping stick in my hand all day long. Let’s see if this Florida boy can get it done on one of his favorite lakes.”
DeFoe, meanwhile, overcame every negative fishing superstition that you can think of on his whirlwind day.
“I ate a banana in my boat this morning, and on my very first cast I missed one on a swimjig,” DeFoe said. “So, not only did I have a banana, but I had a bite on my first cast. I did miss it, but after that it was on, quick. I caught a couple of scorable bass, then I caught a really nice one, and then it just kept rolling after that.
“The morning was really unbelievable and set the tone for the day,” DeFoe continued. “On Saturday I went to Lake Griffin, but today I stayed close and was able to use the 30-minute ride-around period to actually look around. I graphed and idled and looked at some different stuff, and by the time the 30 minutes was close to being up, I had idled a stretch that had Kissimmee Grass, a few docks, and some baitfish flipping. I just figured that looked as good as anywhere to start. It ended up being pretty special.”
DeFoe said that he caught some fish on a swimjig and a topwater bait, but his key lure was a Rapala OG Slim Crankbait in a new color – bream – set to debut at ICAST in July.
“That bait has some chartreuse and green and blue and some brown, with a white belly – it’s just an excellent dirty-water color, and that’s what we’ve got out there right now with the algae bloom,” DeFoe said.
“There is definitely some fish left there that I didn’t catch, and I’m definitely going to start there tomorrow,” DeFoe went on to say. “But, what was interesting, the area I started in and I fished down through there… eventually I ran into Andy Montgomery, who was catching them this morning. Then a little bit later, (James) Watson runs by and he was catching them today. And Alton Jones came by, and he caught them today. That area of the lake, there was a lot of fish caught today. So I hope it can produce again tomorrow.”
The top 20 pros from Qualifying Group B that now advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round on the Harris Chain of Lakes are:
1st: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 39 bass, 102-6 – ADVANCES TO CHAMIONSHIP ROUND
2nd: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 35 bass, 78-2
3rd: Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 22 bass, 60-0
4th: David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 21 bass, 59-10
5th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 24 bass, 57-10
6th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 25 bass, 57-4
7th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 23 bass, 57-3
8th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 21 bass, 54-8
9th: Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., 18 bass, 48-3
10th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 19 bass, 47-10
11th: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 47-9
12th: Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 19 bass, 47-0
13th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 17 bass, 45-7
14th: Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 19 bass, 44-6
15th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 18 bass, 44-3
16th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 19 bass, 44-0
17th: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 17 bass, 42-15
18th: Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 18 bass, 41-12
19th: John Murray, Spring City, Tenn., 17 bass, 40-6
20th: Timmy Horton, Muscle Shoals, Ala., 14 bass, 39-14
| A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 358 bass weighing 870 pounds, 4 ounces caught by the 40 pros on Monday. Pro Aaron Martens of Leeds, Alabama, caught a 7-pound, 2-ounce largemouth on a creature craw in Period 2 to win Monday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler that weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament. The MLF Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three at the Harris Chain Presented by Bass Cat Boats is hosted by Lake County. The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day qualifying round on Friday and Sunday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Saturday and Monday. With both groups two-day qualifying round now complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups now advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins. Full breakdown of the format can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Anglers will take off from the Venetian Gardens Ski Beach Boat Ramp, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive, in Leesburg, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will also be held at the Gardens, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend, but encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship. The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app. Television coverage of the Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 25 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition. For complete details and updated information on the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. |
|
About Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, the Sportsman Channel and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019 MLF acquired FLW and rebranded it as MLF BIG5, which expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh and immediate-release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care. Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing |
The post Bobby Lane Holds on To Win to Qualifying Group B at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three at Harris Chain appeared first on Bass365.com.
Hite Coasts to Group A Qualifying Round Win at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three at Harris Chain
LEESBURG, Fla. (May 23, 2021) – It turns out Brett Hite could have taken the day off. After catching a whopping 34 bass weighing 83 pounds, 5 ounces on Friday, the Phoenix, Arizona pro added eight more bass totaling 17 pounds, 2 ounces Sunday to coast to an easy victory in the Qualifying Group A round at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes with a two-day total of 42 bass for 100 pounds, 7 ounces.
Arizona Pro Breaks the Century Mark, Boating Two-Day Total of 42 Bass Weighing 100 Pounds, 7 Ounces to Advance Directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round, 19 Anglers Advance to Knockout Round
Hite earned the win by a 25-pound, 4-ounce margin over second place and now advances directly into the Championship Round of competition, set for Wednesday. The six-day tournament, hosted by Lake County, is being live-streamed online and filmed for television broadcast on the Discovery Channel and the Outdoor Channel later this year.
Toro pro Brent Chapman of Lake Quivira, Kansas, caught a two-day total of 29 bass weighing 75-3 to start and end the day in second place. Jasper, Texas pro Todd Faircloth, boated a two-day total of 28 bass weighing 70-7 to end the round in third place. After starting the day in 26th place, pro Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona , was the big mover of the day Sunday, catching 17 bass weighing 44 pounds, 4 ounces to vault into fourth with a two-day total of 24 bass for 57-13. Rounding out the top five is pro Boyd Duckett of Guntersville, Alabama, who caught a two-day total of 22 bass weighing 54-10.
The top 20 anglers from Group A will now enjoy an off day, while the 40 anglers in Qualifying Group B will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition on Monday. The Knockout Round, featuring 38 anglers competing to finish in the top eight, will take place on Tuesday. Wednesday’s Championship Round will feature Hite, Monday’s Group B winner, and the top eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.
“All of the hard work that we put in pays off every once in a while, and it’s been a really good couple of days for me so far,” said Hite, who has five career wins and 33 top-10 finishes in MLF competition. “Today, it was almost like those fish were kind of in shock because the wind had been blowing 20 to 30 (miles per hour) every day for the last week and today it was dead, slick calm. I guess if I am going to have a bad execution day, it’s nice to have a 40-pound lead when I do it. I’m looking forward to a couple of days off – my shoulder needs it after what seems like 1,000 casts a day.”
Like Friday, Hite relied mainly on a Z-Man Jackhammer and an EverGreen Grass Ripper swimjig to catch his fish.
“The bread and butter bait for me today was the (Z-Man) Jackhammer StealthBlade (green pumpkin shad) with a Yamamoto Zako trailer,” Hite said. “We designed this bait – EverGreen, myself and Morizo Shimizu – for days like this. In the slick calm conditions, those fish are just real finicky, and the StealthBlade just doesn’t vibrate quite as hard as the regular Jackhammer. I threw it with 14 or 16-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line and that’s what I caught most of my fish on today.
“I also caught some key fish on an original ½-ounce (Z-Man) Jackhammer (green shad), also with a Yamamoto Zako (sight flash) with 20-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon,” Hite continued. “I threw it on a 7-foot, 3-inch heavy-action EverGreen Combat Stick with a 6:3:1 Daiwa Tatula Elite reel. And I let the cat out of the bag this week on our new swimjig. I worked on this thing for about a year and it’s going to be coming out in a couple of weeks – the new EverGreen Grass Ripper swimjig. I fished that with a Yamamoto Zako Paddletail Swimbait (sight flash) with 20-pound Sunline fluorocarbon line and a Daiwa Tatula Elite with a 7:1 gear ratio.
“I’m super excited to advance into the Championship Round on Wednesday,” Hite went on to say. “I’ve got a good game plan, and we’re going to let those fish rest and hopefully have a shot to win this thing.”
Tuskegee, Alabama pro Mark Daniels Jr. felt the pressure of the SCORETRACKER leaderboard on Sunday. After starting the day in 10th place, Daniels found himself sitting in 21st place, outside the Toro Cut Line, with just six minutes left in the day. Luckily for Daniels, he caught a 1-pound, 8-ounce largemouth as the clock ticked down to overtake pro Randy Howell by just 5 ounces and advance to the Knockout round in the final spot.
“Oh my gosh, that was one of the most stressful days of my entire career,” a relieved Daniels said in his post-game interview. “I don’t have any gray hairs yet, but I think I might have gotten a couple after today. I was trying to fish the conditions, but nothing was working. I had to fall back on what got me here, a Z-Man ChatterBait with a Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer. And golly, I can’t believe it was a 1-8. Literally the fish that I needed. He could have been a 1-7 and I wouldn’t be here. Unreal. I’m so, so happy that I’m going to get another opportunity in the Knockout Round.”
The top 20 pros from Qualifying Group A that now advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round on the Harris Chain of Lakes are:
1st: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 42 bass, 100-7
2nd: Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 29 bass, 75-3
3rd: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 28 bass, 70-7
4th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 24 bass, 57-13
5th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 22 bass, 54-10
6th: Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., 23 bass, 54-8
7th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 21 bass, 54-1
8th: Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., 25 bass, 54-0
9th: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 21 bass, 53-5
10th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 25 bass, 52-13
11th: Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 22 bass, 52-13
12th: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 24 bass, 52-1
13th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 23 bass, 51-14
14th: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 21 bass, 51-14
15th: Randall Tharp, Port St. Joe, Fla., 19 bass, 51-7
16th: Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 24 bass, 48-15
17th: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 22 bass, 47-4
18th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 18 bass, 46-3
19th: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 14 bass, 41-3
20th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 15 bass, 39-7
| A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 327 bass weighing 776 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 38 pros on Sunday. Elam won Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in a 9-pound, 1-ounce largemouth on a squarebill crankbait during Period 1. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler that weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament. The MLF Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three at the Harris Chain Presented by Bass Cat Boats is hosted by Lake County. The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day qualifying round on Friday and Sunday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Saturday and Monday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins. Full breakdown of the format can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com. Anglers will take off from the Venetian Gardens Ski Beach Boat Ramp, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive, in Leesburg, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will also be held at the Gardens, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend, but encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com. The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship. The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app. Television coverage of the Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Three Presented by Bass Cat Boats at the Harris Chain of Lakes will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 25 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition. For complete details and updated information on the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. |
| About Major League Fishing Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, the Sportsman Channel and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019 MLF acquired FLW and rebranded it as MLF BIG5, which expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh and immediate release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing |
The post Hite Coasts to Group A Qualifying Round Win at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour – Stage Three at Harris Chain appeared first on Bass365.com.
Last Minute Heroics for MDJ
Stage Three of the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour offered plenty of drama today at the conclusion of Group A’s Qualifying Round on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Mark Daniels Jr. and Randy Howell played leapfrog on the Toro Cut Line throughout the third period, which culminated in MDJ catching one last scoreable bass in the waning minutes of competition to lock in the 20th spot.
By sliding into the 20th place position in the last five minutes, the Toyota Bonus Bucks angler secured his qualification for Tuesday’s Knockout Round, with just 5-ounces separating him from Randy Howell. Talk about last minute heroics.
“Man it is so dang stressful to be right there on the cut line as the clock is winding down,” Daniels Jr. said. “I don’t like being in that position at all, but thankfully for me I ended up on the shiny side today. I’m not happy I put myself in that position, but I’m grateful it turned out the way it did.”
The always-gracious Bill Lewis pro started the day in 10th place and was hopeful he could wind up enough fish to cruise into the Knockout Round, but changing weather conditions threw a wrench into that plan. On the first day of his Qualifying Round, MDJ caught every bass on a reaction bait but he struggled to get that pattern going today.
“The lack of wind really seemed to hurt the bite I was on,” MDJ explained. “It becomes extremely hard to fool Florida bass with a reaction bait when it slicks off.”
Daniels Jr. tried of plethora of other techniques, and actually caught one key scoreable bass with a flipping stick, but ultimately had to go back to the well with a moving bait to give him the boost he needed.
Team Toyota pro Jacob Wheeler travels with MDJ on the Bass Pro Tour and was unfortunately on the other side of the cut line drama today in the sunshine state. Wheeler finished the day just over 4-pounds out of 20th place and lost a big bass on a crankbait with just a few minutes remaining in dramatic fashion.
Wheeler is coming off his third Bass Pro Tour victory on Lake Travis just a couple short weeks ago and will have to live vicariously through his travel mates Dustin Connell and Mark Daniels Jr. this week. Both anglers advanced to the Knockout Round today and will start fishing again Tuesday morning with a clean slate.
“The beauty of this Major League Fishing format is I can absolutely still win this tournament,” Daniels Jr. proposed. “I barely squeaked in to the Knockout Round, but come Tuesday the weights will be zeroed and anything can happen.”
The post Last Minute Heroics for MDJ appeared first on Bass365.com.