Anglers Get Group Assignments for Stage Four

A bird's eye view of Lake Chickamauga. Photo by Garrick Dixon

April 8, 2019 • Mason Prince • Bass Pro Tour

DAYTON, Tenn. — The Econo Lodge Stage Four Presented by Winn Grips gets started on Tuesday morning when lines go in at 7:30 a.m. ET. The two groups of 40 anglers (Group A and Group B) will compete in the Shotgun Round and then the Elimination Round for a Top 20 spot in their respective groups for the right to move on to the Knockout Round.

Group A

The order the groups hit the water has flip-flopped from Stage Three. Group A will be the first to fish Lake Chickamauga on Tuesday. Stage One winner Jordan Lee and 2019 Bassmaster Classic champion Ott DeFoe are two big names to look out for in Group A. Takahiro Omori, Ott DeFoe, Jeff Sprague and Russ Lane notched top-10 finishes in Stage Three and they will look to have a similar showing this time in Tennessee.

“A big factor this week is going to be familiarity with TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) lakes,” MLF NOW! analyst Marty Stone said. “Randy Howell, Timmy Horton and Mark Rose fish these types of lakes well. We will see fish in all three stages of spawn, and that makes me think Dean Rojas and Ish Monroe could be some guys to look out for as well. You also can’t forget about Ott DeFoe and Jeff Sprague, those guys are really hot right now.”

Group B

Group B is filled with heavy hitters that had stellar showings in Stage Three. The Group is headlined by two stage champions: Edwin Evers (Stage Two) and Jacob Powroznik (Stage Three). Out of the 10 anglers in Stage Three’s Championship Round, six came from this group of 40 anglers (Jacob Powroznik, Jacob Wheeler, Edwin Evers, Mark Daniels, Jr., Alton Jones and Jared Lintner). A few anglers from Group B–Andy Morgan, Wesley Strader, Jacob Wheeler, John Murray, Brandon Coulter, Jason Lambert and Michael Neal–call Tennessee home.

“About 20 percent of this group are really good anglers, and oh by the way, this is a home game for them,” Stone detailed. “I wouldn’t want to have to be in the Top 20 coming out of this group to compete with these guys who know these types of lakes well.”

Group A gets Stage Four started on Tuesday, April 9 and Group B begins competition on Wednesday, April 10. The MLF NOW! live stream will begin at 10 a.m. ET daily, while the SCORETRACKER™ will be viewable starting at “lines in” (7:30 a.m. ET) every day from April 9-14 for free on MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Group A

Jordan Lee
Jeff Sprague
Randy Howell
Bobby Lane
Gerald Spohrer
Greg Hackney
Dave Lefebre
Jonathon VanDam
Stephen Browning
Takahiro Omori
David Walker
Dustin Connell
Brett Hite
Matt Lee
Mark Rose
Chris Lane
Ott DeFoe
Bradley Roy
Marty Robinson
Aaron Martens
Skeet Reese
Keith Poche
Terry Scroggins
Dean Rojas
Ish Monroe
Casey Ashley
Tim Horton
Cliff Pace
Jeff Kriet
Mike McClelland
Shaw Grigsby
Brandon Palaniuk
Russ Lane
Justin Lucas
James Elam
Roy Hawk
Scott Suggs
Jesse Wiggins
Britt Myers
Brent Chapman

Group B

Edwin Evers
Brent Ehrler
Andy Montgomery
Alton Jones, Jr.
Randall Tharp
Adrian Avena
Jared Lintner
Jason Christie
Mike Iaconelli
Mark Davis
Wesley Strader
Anthony Gagliardi
Alton Jones
Michael Neal
Fletcher Shryock
Todd Faircloth
Mark Daniels, Jr.
Gary Klein
Zack Birge
Boyd Duckett
Gerald Swindle
Jacob Wheeler
Shin Fukae
Greg Vinson
John Murray
Jacob Powroznik
Andy Morgan
Kevin VanDam
Cliff Crochet
Justin Atkins
Cody Meyer
Kelly Jordon
Brandon Coulter
Josh Bertrand
Luke Clausen
Fred Roumbanis
James Watson
Paul Elias
Jason Lambert
Tommy Biffle