Team 7Brew Coffee (Jones/Jones) catches 24 scorable bass totaling 60-13 to cruise to Friday’s Championship Round, final Knockout Round match set for Thursday
PORT HURON, Mich. (Aug. 27, 2025) – The Team 7Brew Coffee father-and-son duo of Alton Jones Sr. and Alton Jones Jr. continued their hot streak on the St. Clair River Wednesday, landing 24 scorable smallmouth bass weighing 60 pounds, 13 ounces to dominate Knockout Round Match 1 of the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY®. With the win, the Joneses became the first team to lock up a berth in Friday’s Championship Round.
Joining them is Team O’Reilly Auto Parts – Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, and Martin Villa of Charlottesville, Virginia – who put together 18 smallmouth for 42-11 to secure the second advancing spot. Eliminated from competition was Team Kubota’s Edwin Evers and Skeet Reese , who finished third with 15 bass weighing 33-10.
All 57 bass weighed on Wednesday came from the northern half of the St. Clair River – a stretch that offered strong current, steep banks, and classic Great Lakes smallmouth habitat. With no largemouth really in play, anglers leaned heavily on finesse presentations, and the Joneses’ drop-shot approach with the 2.8-inch Geecrack Bellows Shad proved once again to be the winning formula.
Link to HD Video Clip of Challenge Cup Knockout Round Match 1 (Day 4) Highlights
Link to Morning Photo Gallery: Challenge Cup Knockout Round underway on new water
“Today has been fun,” said Jones Sr. “One of our greatest strengths as a team is we trust each other. We fish together so much, and although we certainly do have our father-and-son moments, when he has an idea, I trust his judgment enough to follow it. And when I have an idea, he trusts me enough to follow it. That’s not always easy in a high-pressure environment like this, but it worked really well for us today.”
Jones Jr. said that their ability to stay loose was what allowed them to make good adjustments.
“We didn’t overthink it. We just settled into the current, expanded on what we had going, and built confidence with every fish catch,” he said. “I really liked how we fished today, and I felt like by the second period we had it made. From there it was about refining things in case we see this water again later in the week.
“The winning bait for us was the 2.8-inch Bellows Shad that actually just dropped everywhere today – available at retailers nationwide,” Jones Jr. continued. “It’s really lifelike – it shimmies a lot in that heavy current, and the bass absolutely loved it. Dad was throwing electric shad, I was throwing my AJ’s Juice green-pumpkin variation, and both colors produced really well.”
Jones Sr. said the profile of the bait was the final piece of the puzzle.
“A lot of those smallmouth were spitting up baitfish, and they were exactly that same size,” he explained. “We did a great job of mimicking what these fish were naturally eating. Between the action of the Bellows Shad and the way we presented it on the drop-shot in the strongest current we could find, it gave them something new and they couldn’t resist it today.”
The top two teams from Knockout Round Match 1 at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® that now advance to Friday’s Championship Round are:
1st: Team 7Brew Coffee, 24 bass, 60-13
Alton Jones Sr., Lorena, Texas, nine bass, 25-14
Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 13 bass, 34-15
2nd: Team O’Reilly Auto Parts, 18 bass, 42-11
Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., seven bass, 19-9
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 11 bass, 23-2
Eliminated from competition are:
3rd: Team Kubota, 15 bass, 33-10
Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 10 bass, 25-1
Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., five bass, 8-9
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 57 bass weighing 137 pounds, 2 ounces caught by the three teams in Knockout Round Match 1 on the northern half of the St. Clair River. Team 7Brew Coffee pro Alton Jones Sr. caught a 4-pound, 11-ounce smallmouth to earn the Berkley Big Bass of the day.
The three teams that will compete Thursday in Knockout Round Match 2 at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® are:
Team B&W Trailer Hitches:
Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark.
Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas
Team StarTron:
Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla.
Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala.
Team YETI:
Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J.
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.
The B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® is hosted by Discover the Blue Michigan’s Thumbcoast and takes place over six days in Port Huron, Michigan. 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 are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 10:15 a.m. ET.
The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps, RFD-TV Now, Game & Fish TV and Rumble. The final period of every day of competition of the 2025 Fishing Clash Team Series is broadcast live on RFD-TV, from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET.
The Challenge 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 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY®.
The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops will feature four Cup events in 2025 – the Challenge, Heritage, Patriot, and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2025.
Television coverage of the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting January 3, 2026. The complete television schedule for the Fishing Clash Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.