WACO, Texas — When the Knockout Round at Champion Teamwear Stage 3 Presented by MillerTech took the 24-angler field to Lake Waco, not many knew what to expect. The 8,000-acre fishery has never hosted tour-level competition before, and most of the Bass Pro Tour pros spent the majority, if not all, of their official practice scouting Lake Whitney, the site of the Qualifying Round.
The cover-studded fishery shone in its BPT debut. Lake Waco delivered a bevy of big bass and compelling races both for the top spot on SCORETRACKER® and the last few places above the Lucas Oil Cut Line.
Edwin Evers led the way with 44 pounds, 11 ounces on 18 scorable bass. Right behind him was Zack Birge with 44-3, also on 18 bass. Dustin Connell likewise cracked the 40-pound mark, and Mark Davis got to 38-13 before using the final two hours to practice for Sunday’s Championship Round. Meanwhile, three anglers who found themselves outside the top nine at various points during the third period fought their way back inside the cut line, with Spencer Shuffield rallying from 22nd place at the start of the final frame to claim the ninth and final spot with 33-8.
Qualifying Round winner Chris Lane will join the top nine finishers on Lake Waco Sunday for what figures to be another wide-open day. Weights will zero overnight, then the angler who amasses the biggest total during the Championship Round will claim the $125,000 top prize. Watch all the action on the MLFNOW! livestream at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble. The livestream begins at 7:30 a.m. and continues to 4 p.m. CT.
Full results can be found here.
Evers sticks in one area
Evers did use part of his official practice time on Lake Waco, albeit not much – only about half of one of the three allotted days. But that was all he needed to find a hard-to-reach backwater loaded with bass.
“I came over here in practice and stayed here until 1 o’clock and found that area, and I knew that was where I was going to go,” he said. “I didn’t need to look at any more of the lake.”
It took Evers a little bit to figure out exactly where the fish were positioned Saturday and how to get them to bite. He caught just three scorable bass for 7-0 in the first period, which had him outside the top nine and more than 22 pounds back of Davis at the first intermission. But once he dialed it in, he climbed SCORETRACKER® in a hurry. Evers stacked up 10 scorable bass totaling 26-3 in the second period.
At that point, he figured he’d safely distanced himself from the cut line, and he started shaking off some of the bass that bit. He added a few more fish to his total during the afternoon while further exploring the area and playing “defense,” as Birge fished the same water.
“I was just trying to keep pace with what everybody else was doing, truthfully,” Evers said. “I had a lot of bites, and I shook a lot of fish off. Then I had some company in there, and I was trying to defend it a little bit and hoping he wasn’t going to make the cut, but he did. It just is what it is.”
Evers never bothered to turn on his forward-facing sonar transducers Saturday. In fact, he spent much of the day fishing water so skinny that they were raised out of the water. That was just fine by the Oklahoma native, who’s at home picking apart cover in shallow, dirty water.
“I love it,” Evers said. “That’s how I made a career fishing. I know how to do that kind of fishing and have been successful at it in the past.”
Evers believes there are still plenty of bass in his area but said “they’ve been educated pretty good.” So, he’s not sure what to expect on Championship Sunday. He thinks it’ll take upwards of 50 pounds to earn the win.
While the ultra-competitive Evers would of course love to lift his first Bass Pro Tour trophy since 2019, he’s tickled just to be back in the Top 10 after an uncharacteristically slow start to the season that saw him finish 31st at Lake Guntersville and 48th at Lake Hartwell.
“It’s just a huge blessing,” he said. “I’m not trying to brag, but in my career, I’ve not had too many back-to-back events where I didn’t get paid. And it hurt bad. It’s just crazy how your confidence can swing so high and low in this, and it’s definitely good to have a successful event and to have things go in the right direction.”
Connell lands pair of 8s
Pre-tournament chatter suggested Lake Waco housed some hefty largemouth, and the fishery proved it Saturday. On the day, 17 bass of 5 pounds or bigger hit SCORETRACKER®.
Two of those bass topped 8 pounds – and both were caught by Connell. The three-time REDCREST champion won Berkley Big Bass honors with an 8-8 brute he caught during the third period. He one-upped himself, as he’d landed an 8-0 earlier in the day. Those two kickers powered Connell to a third-place finish with 40-2 on 10 scorable bass.
Shakeup atop AOY standings
After the two anglers who entered Stage 3 atop the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings missed the Knockout Round cut, we knew the points race would look a lot different at the conclusion of the event. Now, we have a bit more clarity as to who will occupy the top spots.
Jacob Wheeler, who entered the event in third, didn’t advance to the Championship Round. While his 12th-place finish is nothing to sneeze at, that’s rare for Wheeler. The four-time AOY winner had racked up 40 Championship Round appearances in his first 61 Bass Pro Tour events, including each of the first two tournaments this year.
However, Wheeler could still find himself atop the AOY standings once again depending on how Birge and Shuffield fare Sunday. Those three anglers will represent the top three in the standings in some order, and all of them have a chance to take over the lead.