Stage Five Title Bout on Sturgeon Bay Should be a Slugfest
STURGEON BAY, Wis – There’s no way around it: it’s going to be a Sturgeon Bay slugfest during the Championship Round of the Covercraft Stage Five Presented by Abu Garcia.
No matter how you look at it, entertainment will be provided. The field is stacked, and there will be plenty of big smallmouth piled onto SCORETRACKER®.
All Eyes on Lee
The big name entering the final day of competition is Jordan Lee. He’s received tons of attention over the past couple of years, and deservedly so. That attention has only been amplified this year as he has already taken home more than $230,000 in total winnings, including a Heavy Hitters championship.
Lee has accomplished this year what Edwin Evers did last season: win a Bass Pro Tour event and also win the Points Championship.
The Alabama pro will be taking part in his fourth Championship Round of the season, the most in the field of 80 anglers. Lee caught 55 bass for 155 pounds, 4 ounces in his first two days of competition and followed that up with an impressive 34 bass for 94 pounds in the Knockout Round.
With his Points Championship already secured, Lee has the opportunity to become the first angler in Bass Pro Tour history to win two regular season events in the same season and three events total. There’s no doubt that the young star will do everything he can to continue to make MLF and bass fishing history.
MDJ’s Second Shot
Mark Daniels Jr. will be entering his second Championship Round of the season, coming off of a Knockout Round victory. Daniels was the only angler in the Knockout Round to surpass 100 pounds of bass.
That Knockout Round performance is made all the more impressive by Daniels’ journey there. The California native was the last man to qualify for the Knockout Round from Group A, only edging out Casey Ashley by 3-3 for the final spot.
Daniels is trying to win his first Bass Pro Tour event of his career after collecting a third-place finish on Lake Athens in Stage Three.
Lucas and Pace Try to Pull a Wheeler
There have been eight anglers who have earned a trip straight to the Championship Round thanks to winning their Qualifying Rounds this season, but only one of those pros won their event. Jacob Wheeler took home the title during Stage One on Lake Eufaula after earning a trip straight to the final round, but he’s the only one to ever do so.
Justin Lucas and Cliff Pace will try to become the second pro to do it this season. After not earning a spot in any Championship Rounds over his first 11 events on the Bass Pro Tour, Lucas will now be taking part in his second-straight Championship Round. Lucas took home a fourth-place finish during Heavy Hitters on the Kissimmee Chain about a month ago.
A Championship Round in Wisconsin is a very familiar place for Cliff Pace. The Mississippi angler won the 2019 Stage Eight championship just down the road in Winnebago, Wisconsin a little over a year ago. Pace has a chance to be the fourth angler of the year to win his second Bass Pro Tour event, joining Wheeler, Jacob Powroznik and Lee.
Ish and Ike Bring the Drama
You’d be hard-pressed to find a more exciting finish than the one that took place on Tuesday evening. Ish Monroe and Mike Iaconelli both landed scorable bass in the final two minutes of Period 3 to knock out Ott DeFoe and Bobby Lane. Iaconelli’s 2-2 smallmouth put him just 1 ounce in front of ninth-place DeFoe as time expired.
Monroe has a win in the state of Wisconsin back in 2018, but that was in La Crosse while he was fishing on the B.A.S.S. Elite Series. This will be Monroe’s first-ever Championship Round on the Bass Pro Tour.
Iaconelli has Championship Round experience while fishing the Bass Pro Tour, his most recent was a sixth-place finish during REDCREST in La Crosse less than a year ago. However, both Ike and Ish will need to get the smallmouth to bite this time around as opposed to the largemouth that lurk in La Crosse.
Impressive Numbers by the Top 10
During their Qualifying Rounds, the Top 10 produced staggering fish-catching numbers. The 10 anglers brought in 445 bass weighing in at 1,300-4. That is an average bass of nearly 3 pounds. Cliff Pace owns the biggest bass in the Top 10 with a 4-14 he reeled in during his second day of competition.
In the Knockout Round, the Top 8 added 217 more bass for 666-9. That average increased to over 3 pounds per bass. Although Mark Daniels Jr. was the only angler who caught more than 100 pounds on Tuesday, Andy Morgan and Jordan Lee brought in more than 90 pounds each. Each angler in the Top 8 registered more than 61 pounds of bass during the Knockout Round.
How, When and Where to Watch
The Championship Round begins at 8 a.m. CT from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Justin Lucas, Cliff Pace, Jordan Lee, Andy Morgan, Mark Daniels Jr., Alton Jones, Bradley Roy, Josh Bertrand, Ish Monroe and Mike Iaconelli will all compete for three periods to be the angler at the top of SCORETRACKER® at the end of the day. You can stream the Championship Round in its entirety starting at 7:45 a.m. CT at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF app and on My Outdoor TV.