Buck/Villa and Jordon/Poche Advance From Final Match of Elimination Round at General Tire Team Series Knighten Industries Heritage Cup

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Team Star Tron (Buck/Villa) catches 11 bass weighing 21-11 to advance on a very tough day of fishing, Knockout Round to start Wednesday

NEENAH, Wis. (Sept. 17, 2024)Green Lane, Pennsylvania, pro Grae Buck, competing for Team Star Tron, caught the first two scorable bass of the day to jump out to the early lead Tuesday, and the Star Tron duo never relinquished the lead for the rest of the day. Buck and teammate Martin Villa, of Charlottesville, Pennsylvania , boated 11 scorable bass weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces to win Match 3 of the Elimination Round and advance to the Knockout Round of competition at the General Tire Team Series Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley

Link to HD Video Clip of Elimination Round Match 3 Highlights
Link to Photo Gallery of Elimination Round Match 3 On-The-Water Highlights

Also advancing to the Knockout Round in second place was the Team Knighten Industries pairing of Kelly Jordon and Keith Poche , who caught 10 bass weighing 15-4, despite starting the day with a one-hour no-fishing penalty. The duo was assessed the penalty because Poche viewed SCORETRACKER® on Monday during Match 2. Viewing SCORETRACKER® on a day off from competition is allowed while competing on the Bass Pro Tour, but is not allowed during the General Tire Team Series. While competition began at 8:30 a.m. for the other three teams on the water, Team Knighten Industries was forced to wait until 9:30 a.m. to start its day.

It was the toughest fishing day of the event so far for anglers. For the third consecutive Elimination Round match, anglers competed on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne on the Fox River Chain. Despite teams catching 56 bass Sunday during Match 1 and 81 bass Monday during Match 2, the four teams caught just 33 bass total on Wednesday.

“It was tough, but it was an awesome day of fishing out here with Martin today,” said Buck, who caught six bass totaling 11-5. “I threw a (Z-Man) ChatterBait (Jack Hammer) today, all day. I paired it with a (Z-Man) RaZor ShadZ as a trailer – I put it on and only went through one trailer the rest the day. The ChatterBait is my confidence bait, so getting to chuck this around all day long and let Martin clean up behind me was a great 1-2 punch.”

While Buck spent the day throwing the ChatterBait, Villa added five scorable bass of his own throwing a stick worm, including a 2-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth as time expired.

“We didn’t really need that one, but that was a great way to end the day,” Villa said. “We knew there was a group of fish there – we could see them on the (Lowrance) ActiveTarget. I was throwing a jerkbait at them, but they wouldn’t commit. Then I fired the worm in there and she bit. It kind of sealed the deal on a good day.”

“I enjoyed fishing with Martin, and I think we’re a strong team,” Buck went on to say. “We’re excited to see how it all plays out in the Knockout Round.”

The Team Knighten Industries duo of Poche and Jordon struggled for most of the day, but went on a furious rally in the final 45 minutes, catching seven scorable bass and adding 9-9 pounds to overtake Team Ferguson with just 10 minutes remaining and secure their spot in the Knockout Round.

“What a day,” said Poche in his postgame interview. “To start out with a freaking hour penalty, which was my fault, and overcome that adversity… man.”

“It was just one more obstacle that we had to overcome,” Jordon said. “That’s all that penalty was for us. But we fished hard and made the right decisions today.”

The area where Knighten Industries went on their rally to finish the day was found by Poche, who casted his line over a man-made rock wall into a little area that was kind of blocked off – not restricted, but also not easily accessible. He caught one, and that clued them in to go inside that area – a little backwater marsh behind a rock wall to prevent erosion.

“I was frustrated until the end,” Poche said. “It’s a challenge fishing with somebody that you don’t normally fish with – not knowing what they’re thinking, or what side they want to throw on, or where. But despite that, we pulled it out and now we get to move on to the Knockout Round.”

Most of Team Knighten Industries’ catch came on a frog, although they did add a few bass with an unnamed stick worm and a swimjig.

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 3 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:        Team Star Tron, 11 bass, 21-11
                Grae Buck, Green Lane, Pa., six bass, 11-5
                Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 10-6
2nd:       Team Knighten Industries, 10 bass, 15-4
                Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, three bass, 5-1
                Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., seven bass, 10-3

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:       Team Ferguson, seven bass, 14-7
                Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., three bass, 4-3
                Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., four bass, 10-4
4th:        Team Coign, five bass, 8-10
                Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, four bass, 7-10
                Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., one bass, 1-0

Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 33 bass weighing 60 pounds even caught by the four teams during Elimination Round Match 3 on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne on the Fox River Chain. Team Ferguson pro Marty Robinson caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a largemouth weighing 3 pounds, 13 ounces.  

The Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley is hosted by the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau and takes place over six days in the Fox Cities in Wisconsin. The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning.

Anglers depart the host hotel in Neenah each morning as early as 5:30 a.m. CT. They are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

The Heritage Cup features 12 two-man teams, divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2024 Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley.

The 2024 General Tire Team Series is comprised of four events – Challenge Cup, Heritage Cup, Patriot Cup and Summit Cup – featuring two-man teams of MLF Bass Pro Tour pros competing from the same boat. Each event features a roster of 24 anglers, teamed up and working together to claim part of a season purse of more than $720,000. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2024 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2024.

Television coverage of the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour episodes in February 2025. New MLF General Tire Team Series episodes will premiere each Saturday morning on Outdoor Channel and posted to MOTV.

Proud sponsors of the MLF General Tire Team Series include: 7 Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Builders FirstSource, C-MAP, Coign, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Fishing Clash, General Tire, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Nitro Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala Baits, REDCON1, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff, Star brite, Toyota, USAA, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, XInstagram and  YouTube.