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Blake Hice and Jonathon Collins Take the Win with 20.17 on Neely Henry By Jason Duran

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February 21, 2022

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Blake Hice and Jonathon Collins Take the Win with 20.17 on Neely Henry

By Jason Duran

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Gadsden, Ala. Feb. 20- The Alabama Bass Trail North Division started its 2022 season on Neely Henry Lake. The weather in February in Alabama can be ever changing, and the week leading up to this event brought huge fluctuations in temperature and weather patterns. When anglers arrived on tournament morning, the current was swift on the main river. The large amount of water moving through the system was cold and muddy making conditions even tougher for some anglers. Teams hoped to recover from the tough practice conditions and put together a solid day of fishing to take home the $10,000 first place prize and the title.

The anglers that make up the Alabama Bass Trail are known to be some of the best teams in bass fishing. They enjoy the competition, and this event was set up to be very competitive. Tournament morning teams found air temps in the mid 20s and water temps in the high 40s at blast off. The fact it was going to be a tough fishing didn’t scare away the 225 teams who were anxious to get this season started.

The team of Blake Hice and Jonathon Collins shared at blast off, “we really didn’t have any good bites in practice.” Jonathon “only caught one fish in practice and felt it was going to be a really tough day.” Their morning started with a little bad luck getting a crankbait hung in one of their bibs, having to cut it out and breaking the handle off their net. Blake joked with Jonathon, “with all this bad luck, you know we might just win this event.”

Jonathon shared, “yesterday I just went out to practice; I didn’t practice much, but I got a bite on the Evergreen Flat Force off a Dock. I then moved around and looked for similar docks that had the same depth and color. I was really targeting docks that had the best color and stain I could find that wasn’t just mud. Today, we were going to go upriver and just fish, but we decided to go to the dock where I got that bite in practice and start there. We had people all around us fishing and doing similar things, but felt we were just doing the different things that mattered. The Evergreen Flat Force is a perfect early in the year crankbait and the Pan Fish color is a great muddy water color. It was about fishing a confident bait for me. I have a lot of confidence in this bait and really like the tight wabble. I used a 6:3 Steez reel with 20lb Sunline mono that helped to keep the bait in the strike zone. We really fished slower than the other teams around us. We would make casts around docks in 8-10 feet water. The docks had lots of brush around them, and we bounced the bait of the docks and trees to target the strikes. When we caught the first fish it felt like we might be on to something. The second and the third were nice size fish as well. It wasn’t till the fourth and fifth fish that we felt like we might have a little something going. It is hard to judge how other teams are doing. When we came to the scales, I felt like we had around 15 pounds, but when the scales read 20.17 pounds, it was amazing!”

Blake and Jonathon were able to find key bites on a very difficult day for most of the other anglers. There were only 6 limits weighed in, and many teams only weighed in one fish just to get championship points. Their first place weight doubled many of the top 10 finishers. “We really only had a few bites all day but are thankful we were able to get those fish in the boat on such a difficult day. An emotional Jonathon said,” I really have a lot of friends out here fishing today. Each event we work hard, and today it all paid off for us. It was very surreal for us to be standing here beating some of the best guys on this lake for a long time.

The second-place team of Adam Brown and Greg Diggs call Neely Henry Home and were one of the teams favored to win this event. With 16.17 pounds they take home $5000 and a solid start to the year. They made the run upriver towards the Weiss Lake Dam. Concentrating on fishing the current breaks, they quickly culled up to about 13 pounds around 10:00. “They had 3 turbines running making the current about as strong as you can get for this lake.” Spending the rest of the day fishing the river and the current break pattern they continued to catch fish and culled up to their 16.17 pounds. The key baits for them were jigs and crankbaits. “We heard many teams were catching them on chatterbaits, but that just wouldn’t work for us.” Their top two baits were a 3/8 oz jig with a black and blue Zoom trailer and a Lucky Craft DT 6 in two different colors; chartreuse black and a custom painted color.

Ethan Franklin and Hunter McCarty took third place with 12.79 pounds and $4000. They were another team that caught them well. However, when the schedule came out, “they were dreading this event because they are more of a Tennessee River team.” They found a 10-yard stretch and worked back and forth over that area to come up with their 5 fish limit. They caught their limit between 9:30 and 11:00, and only had a few bites after that. They described their key area as a little narrow canal where the fish were probably 5 feet away when they caught them. “We found spotted bass in muddy water, and that’s not usual this time of year.” The key bait was a ½ oz ball head jig with a Zoom super chunk both in in black and blue. Starting off the year in 3^rd place this year, their goals for the rest of the year include winning AOY against this field and making the BASS Team championship.

The Top 5 places are below for a complete list of standings visit: https://www.alabamabasstrail.org/neely-henry-lake/results/

Download and listen to the ABT Podcast on your favorite Podcast app by searching for “Alabama Bass Trail Podcast.” The podcast is released each week on Tuesday.

The sponsors of the 2022 Alabama Bass Trail include: Phoenix Boats, Academy Sports, Alabama Power, America’s First Federal Credit Union, American Trailer Rental Group, BAJIO, Berkley, Big Bite Baits, Bill Penny Automotive, Black Rife Coffee Company, Buck N’ Bass, Anheuser – Bush, Inc., E3 Sports Apparel, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Garmin, Jack’s, Lew’s, Mountain Dew, Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association, Power-Pole, Strike King, Sweet Home Alabama, T-H Marine, Wedowee Marine, Yamaha, Navionics and YETI Coolers.

Alton Jones Leads Group B Qualifying Round at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns

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February 21, 2022

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Alton Jones Leads Group B Qualifying Round at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns

Lorena, Texas Angler Boats 18 Bass Totaling 80 Pounds, 7 Ounces to Pace Group B by 15 Pounds – Group A to Conclude Qualifying Round Monday

Link to Video Highlights of Group B Qualifying Round Day 1

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 20, 2022) – It was the Alton Jones, Sr., show for the start of Group B’s Qualifying Round at the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas. The affable Lorena, Texas, pro caught the most bass, the biggest bass, and the most weight, Sunday to grab the early lead for Group B. Jones caught 18 bass weighing 80 pounds, 7 ounces to pace the 40-angler field.

Fellow Texan Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, fishing in just his second career Bass Pro Tour event, sits in second place, 14 pounds, 15 ounces back of Jones with 17 bass totaling 65-8. Pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, finished the day in third place with 17 bass for 61-5, while Shelby, North Carolina’s Bryan Thrift caught 10 bass totaling 42-13 to end the day in fourth place. Costa pro Casey Ashley of Donalds, South Carolina, rounds out the top five, as he caught 11 bass weighing 40 pounds, 15 ounces.

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day on Monday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Tuesday.

The six-day event, hosted by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wood County EDC, the Sabine River Authority and the Rains County Tourism Board, showcases 80 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner. The tournament is livestreamed each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MOTV app, and also filmed for broadcast later this fall on the Discovery Channel.

“Whew, what a great day today was, and my hats are off to the guys who got close to me,” Jones said as time expired. “Today couldn’t have been better – it was much better than my practice – and the rest of the field still kept up. I still can’t believe I caught an 11-2 today.”

Jones is satisfied with what he discovered Sunday and thinks his pattern will hold no matter what the weather does later in the event. Wednesday’s Knockout Round and Thursday’s Championship Round are forecasted to be substantially colder.

“I expanded my area and feel like I can still catch fish here if the weather gets bad,” Jones said. “I’m going to keep mixing it up, fishing slowly and fast, because I know how the fish are positioned and know what to look for, even if they move around in here.”

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, 18 bass, 80-7
2^nd:         Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 17 bass, 65-8
3^rd:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 17 bass, 61-5
4^th:         Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 42-13
5^th:         Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 11 bass, 40-15
6^th:         Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 11 bass, 38-4
7^th:         Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 11 bass, 33-6
8^th:         Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., eight bass, 31-8
9^th:         Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., seven bass, 30-14
10^th:       Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., nine bass, 30-5
11^th:       Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., six bass, 29-11
12^th:       Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., five bass, 29-2
13^th:       Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, eight bass, 28-15
14^th:       Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., seven bass, 25-0
15^th:       Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., six bass, 24-13
16^th:       Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., six bass, 23-10
17^th:       Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., six bass, 23-9
18^th:       Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., six bass, 22-12
19^th:       Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 19-5
20^th:       Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., seven bass, 19-1

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, on Sunday, there were 241 scorable bass weighing 904 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 39 pros.

Jones also caught the third-largest bass in MLF Bass Pro Tour history Sunday, weighing 11 pounds, 2 ounces, to earn the day’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’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 the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Oak Ridge Marina, located at 2949 TX-154 in Quitman, Texas. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the Marina, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2023 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 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Television coverage of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 17 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, BallyBet, Bass Cat, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Covercraft, Favorite Fishing, Garmin, General Tire, Googan Baits, Grundéns, Guaranteed Rate, Humminbird, Lowrance, Luminox, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Nitro Performance Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Power Stop, Rapala, Starbrite, Toro, Toyota, Wrangler, Yellowstone Bourbon and Zoom.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and 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.

Gross Earns Second Career Victory In Bassmaster Elite At Harris Chain

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February 21, 2022

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Gross Earns Second Career Victory In Bassmaster Elite At Harris Chain

Buddy Gross, of Chattanooga, Tenn., has won the 2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain with a four-day total of 77 pounds, 11 ounces.

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

February 20, 2022

Gross Earns Second Career Victory In Bassmaster Elite At Harris Chain

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LEESBURG, Fla. — A chance encounter on Day 1 directed Tennessee pro Buddy Gross to an unexpected finding that delivered four days of limit catches and propelled him to victory with a total weight of 77 pounds, 11 ounces at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain.

Gross, who also won the 2020 Elite event on Lake Eufaula, placed third on Day 1 with 22-12, then took over the Day 2 lead by adding 17-11. Semifinal Saturday tested Gross’ resolve, as he found only 14-14 and slipped to sixth, but a Championship Sunday limit of 22-6 pushed him across the finish line.

Edging Drew Benton of Blakely, Ga., by 2-10, Gross earned the $100,000 top prize.

“This snuck up on me; I had a terrible practice, but I stuck to my guns and stuck to my strengths,” Gross said.

Except for brief Day 2 visits to lakes Beauclair and Eustis, Gross spent the majority of his tournament on the east side of Lake Harris. He did most of his work in Banana Cove, but also fished a point across from the cove on Day 4.

“The first day of the tournament, I went over to this spot where I thought I could catch a couple of keepers just to get me going and then I’d go to the grass and weed through them,” Gross said. “When I stopped that morning, I caught 30 or 40 — I had some other anglers around me so I didn’t stop.”

Gross said that once he’d tallied 20 pounds on that initial spot, he started seeking similar scenarios. With opportunity blossoming, he realized he’d found a pattern with winning potential.

“As I was looking for new spots, I started catching more fish,” he said. “Some of those spots started turning into bigger fish and then they turned into bigger schools.

“Every day I’ve caught them in different places. I could never relocate a school. I just got blessed enough to find enough of them on different places. The fish just kept coming. If I busted them up, I could come back and catch them again.”

The key scenario was a shore break with deeper water close and vacant shellcracker beds. Watching the target zones on his Humminbird 360, Gross saw bass continuously traversing the area and feeding on baitfish.

“I could watch these fish and it was almost like they were running the break parallel, they would go down and a little while later, they’d come back,” he said. “I’m not saying it was the same fish, but the fish I saw were actively looking for bait and they were riding that ledge.

“It was just like being at home and it fished just like a Tennessee River (ledge). I got very blessed to catch what I caught.”

Gross caught his fish on a 5-inch Scottsboro Tackle swimbait on a 3/4-ounce swimbait head and a Zoom Z-Craw Worm. He fished the latter on a Carolina rig and a Texas rig. With each of those baits, Gross found a slow presentation most productive.

With Wednesday’s full moon coinciding with a warming trend, the stage seemed set for a full-on spawning event. Some of that did occur, but despite the big-bite potential, Gross said he formulated a different game plan.

“These (bed fishermen) catching these 9-, 10-, 11-pounders — man, that makes you want to go to the bank,” Gross said. “I went for a little while on Day 3 and didn’t have a great day. I thought I blew my chances, but the Lord blessed us today with a great limit and that gave me the confidence to stick with it.”

A slow Day 1 start found Benton with a 47th-place catch of 13-11, but he rebounded on Day 2 by catching 19-1 and rising to 23rd. Adding 21-5 on Semifinal Saturday earned him a final-round spot in eighth place. He rose six spots with a Championship Sunday limit of 21 pounds that lifted his final weight to 75-1.

Devoting most of his tournament to bedding fish, Benton caught all of his weight on a Bagley Pro Sunny B prop bait and a Texas-rigged Big Bite Baits Fighting frog.

“After Day 1, I didn’t know what to do, I had done everything I knew to do when you come to Florida and you have a full moon and a warming trend,” Benton said. “I didn’t see them coming and I just changed up areas of the lake and found a good batch of spawners to bump me up on Day 2.

“On Day 3, I was struggling again and with 30 minutes to go, I caught an 8-pounder and a 5 3/4 that got me into the final day. I caught everything that I thought I could catch.”

Day 3 leader Ray Hanselman Jr., of Del Rio, Texas, finished third with 71-8. After placing fourth on Day 1 with 22 pounds, he added 17-4 on Day 2 and climbed two spots. Hanselman moved into the top spot on Semifinal Saturday with a limit of 18-13 and concluded his run with 13-7.

Hanselman committed his week to the 3- to 7-foot grass flats of Banana Cove. Targeting pre- and postspawn bass, he caught most of his fish on a Strike King Hybrid Hunter, a rattling crankbait with a unique L-shaped bill that displaces grass.

“I just ran out of fish over there; it got pounded pretty hard this week,” Hanselman said. “Today’s (sunny skies) weren’t the ideal conditions for what I was doing, but I just ground it out. I was just two big fish away.”

Hanselman said his 8-foot Power Tackle moderate swimbait rod allowed him to launch his bait and set the hook at the end of long casts. Retrofitting his bait with oversized hooks helped him catch whatever bit.

John Cox of DeBary, Fla., won the $1,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass award for the 11-0 largemouth he landed on Day 3.

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., won the $2,000 VMC Monster Bag award for the event’s heaviest limit with his Day 2 catch of 23-14.

Gross also took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Brandon Lester of Fayetteville, Tenn., also earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Hanselman earned an additional $2,500 as the highest-placing entrant and Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Mark Menendez of Paducah, Ky., won the $1,000 BassTrakk Contingency award for the most accurate weight reporting.

David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., leads the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 193 points. Cox is second with 191, followed by Frazier with 179, Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., with 177 and Gross with 172.

Jay Przekurat of Stevens Point, Wis., leads the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year standings with 155 points

The tournament was hosted by Visit Lake, FL.

2022 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes 2/17-2/20
Harris Chain Of Lakes, Leesburg FL.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 4

Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$

1. Buddy Gross Chattanooga, TN 20 77-11 100 $100,000.00
Day 1: 5 22-12 Day 2: 5 17-11 Day 3: 5 14-14 Day 4: 5 22-06
2. Drew Benton Blakely, GA 20 75-01 99 $36,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-11 Day 2: 5 19-01 Day 3: 5 21-05 Day 4: 5 21-00
3. Ray Hanselman Jr Del Rio, TX 20 71-08 98 $30,000.00
Day 1: 5 22-00 Day 2: 5 17-04 Day 3: 5 18-13 Day 4: 5 13-07
4. David Mullins Mt Carmel, TN 20 70-01 97 $25,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-02 Day 2: 5 18-13 Day 3: 5 17-03 Day 4: 5 13-15
5. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 20 69-09 96 $20,000.00
Day 1: 5 23-00 Day 2: 5 11-01 Day 3: 5 20-02 Day 4: 5 15-06
6. Bryan Schmitt Deale, MD 20 67-12 95 $19,000.00
Day 1: 5 21-13 Day 2: 5 13-02 Day 3: 5 17-14 Day 4: 5 14-15
7. John Cox DeBary, FL 20 67-08 94 $20,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-07 Day 2: 5 14-08 Day 3: 5 23-01 Day 4: 5 11-08
8. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 20 67-07 93 $18,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-06 Day 2: 5 17-00 Day 3: 5 22-09 Day 4: 5 13-08
9. Kenta Kimura Osaka JAPAN 20 66-15 92 $16,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 18-02 Day 3: 5 23-01 Day 4: 5 09-05
10. Scott Martin Clewiston, FL 20 65-12 91 $15,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-01 Day 2: 5 17-03 Day 3: 5 21-05 Day 4: 5 10-03
———————————————————————–

PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
Day
1 Jamie Hartman Newport, NY 08-10 $1,000.00
2 Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 08-13 $1,000.00
3 John Cox DeBary, FL 11-00 $1,000.00
4 Drew Benton Blakely, GA 07-03 $1,000.00

———————————————————————–
PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS
John Cox DeBary, FL 11-00 $1,000.00
VMC MONSTER BAG
Micah Frazier Newnan, GA 23-14 $2,000.00

———————————————————————–
Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 89 457 1312-14
2 93 468 1338-09
3 47 235 714-09
4 10 50 145-09
———————————-
239 1210 3511-09

Greg Chesnut & Brian Harlow Win ClaytorMafia on Smith Mountain Lake

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February 20, 2022

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Greg Chesnut & Brian Harlow Win ClaytorMafia on Smith Mountain Lake

1st 21lbs Greg Chesnut & Brian Harlow $1200
2nd 20.4lbs Fielding Fochtman $490
3rd 20.075 Chad Green & Johnny Martin $150
4th 19lbs Rick & Brody Tilley $100
Big Largemouth 7.6lb Mario Jones & Cliffton Hamilton $195
Big smallmouth 4.02 Darrel Wright $195

Wheeler Leads Early at MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns

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February 20, 2022

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Tennessee Pro Boats 14 Bass Totaling 56 Pounds, 7 Ounces to Comfortably Lead Day 1 for Group A – Group B to Compete Sunday

Link to Video Highlights of Group A Qualifying Round Day 1

QUITMAN, Texas (Feb. 19, 2022) – Academy Sports + Outdoors pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, boated a 7-pound, 3-ounce kicker just four minutes into the start of competition Saturday and never looked back. Wheeler caught 14 scorable bass totaling 56 pounds, 7 ounces to grab the early lead for Group A on Day 1 of the Toro Stage Two on Lake Fork Presented by Grundéns in Quitman, Texas.

The six-day event, hosted by the Lake Fork Area Chamber of Commerce, the Wood County EDC, the Sabine River Authority and the Rains County Tourism Board, showcases 80 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner. The tournament is livestreamed each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MOTV app, and also filmed for broadcast later this fall on the Discovery Channel.

Wheeler will bring a comfortable lead into Monday’s second day of competition for Group A, with an 8-pound, 2-ounce cushion over second place angler pro Ish Monroe of Oakdale, California, who caught 13 bass totaling 48-5. In third place on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard is Bass Pro Shops angler Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who caught 13 bass totaling 44-14. B&W Trailer Hitches pro Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas , sits in fourth place with 13 bass weighing 33-14. Rounding out the top five is pro Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, South Carolina, who weighed in eight bass totaling 32-3.

Fresh off his victory two weeks ago at Stage One in Louisiana, Covercraft pro Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, boated the biggest bass of his career Saturday – and the second-biggest bass ever weighed in Bass Pro Tour history – an 11-pound, 11-ounce giant that earned Roy the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition Sunday. Group A will resume competition on Monday.

“Today has been a lot of fun,” Wheeler said in his post-game interview. “They’re not easy to catch, but when you do find some, it’s a lot of fun. This event is going to end up being all about decision-making.”

Wheeler spent the day throwing multiple different jerkbaits around the isolated timber.

“The jerkbait was the name of the game for me, today,” Wheeler continued. “I was throwing them on a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-heavy action rod, using 12-to-14-pound line, depending on the cover I was fishing. I threw a various amount of jerkbaits, but my biggest bass this morning came on a (Rapala) Shadow Rap, deep. It was first thing – my third cast of the day.”

Saturday marks the seventh time that Wheeler has “won” Day 1 of his Qualifying Round of competition. The next closest anglers to that mark are Zack Birge and Michael Neal, who each have won three times. If Wheeler can hang on and win his Qualifying Round on Monday, it will mark the sixth time that Wheeler has won his two-day Qualifying Round.

“We’ll see how it all ends up. Today was nice, but the rest of the week is a little different,” Wheeler said. “I’m going to take my day off tomorrow and regroup to come up with a gameplan on how we can win the round. The biggest thing this week is going to be about making adjustments, and I’m going to need to make some adjustments for Monday if I want to take it down.

Unlike Wheeler, who did his damage today on a jerkbait, California pro Ish Monroe caught his 13 scorable bass on a lipless crankbait.

“Congratulations to Jacob on a great day, but I’m right behind him – eight pounds on this lake is nothing,” Monroe said. “I fished hard, today, throwing a River2Sea Ruckus lipless (crankbait).

“Bradley (Roy) got an 11-pounder, which is awesome. Zack Birge got a 10, and that is awesome. But I plan on catching me a double-digit as well, so get ready.”

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Lake Fork are:

1^st:          Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 14 bass, 56-7
2^nd:         Ish Monroe, Oakdale, Calif., 13 bass, 48-5
3^rd:         Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 13 bass, 44-14
4^th:         Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 13 bass, 33-14
5^th:         Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., eight bass, 32-3
6^th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, eight bass, 32-2
7^th:         Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 28-14
8^th:         Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 28-6
9^th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., five bass, 28-3
10^th:       Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., eight bass, 27-11
11^th:       Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, six bass, 26-14
12^th:       Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 26-1
13^th:       Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., eight bass, 25-10
14^th:       Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 23-12
15^th:       Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., six bass, 23-10
16^th:       Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., six bass, 23-7
17^th:       Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, six bass, 22-10
18^th:       James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., six bass, 22-1
19^th:       Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., five bass, 21-7
20^th:       Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., seven bass, 20-12

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 218 scorable bass weighing 810 pounds, 3 ounces caught by 39 pros Saturday.