2:45 p.m. – There is a new angler inside the Top 20. Dustin Connell just knocked fellow Alabaman Gerald Swindle out of the Top 20 with 1-14 bass, putting him 1 pound ahead of Swindle. Bradley Roy and Wesley Strader are still in the hunt and within 4 pounds of Connell.
1:45 p.m. ET – The pressure is starting to rise in the Elimination Round. The race to jump above the elimination line is down to its final two hours.
Gerald Swindle is in the No. 20 spot with four anglers right on his tail. Bradley Roy, Wesley Strader, Dustin Connell and Cliff Crochet are all within 5 pounds of Swindle.
Terry Scroggins continues to roll through the Elimination Round catching 41 pounds, 7 ounces on the day, nearly 14 pounds more than the next closest angler.
1:01 p.m. ET – The Knockout Round is starting to shape up.
With two hours left in today’s Elimination Round, here are a couple of projections we can make: 1). The current Top 10 are pretty safe, with roughly 14 pounds between No. 10 and No. 20; 2). Terry Scroggins will be a handful tomorrow – “Big Show” has piled up 36-6 today, more than double that of the next biggest weight.
12:55 p.m. ET – Lines are out after Period 2 of the Elimination Round for Group B. Brandon Palaniuk currently holds the last spot in the Top 20 with Wesley Strader, Bradley Roy and Dustin Connell all within a pound of his 24-9 total weight.
-Mason Prince
11:45 a.m. ET – Todd Faircloth owns the final spot but there are four anglers within 5 pounds of the elimination line.
No surprise to anyone that Terry Scroggins is having a good showing on Lake Toho, a place that he’s won before. He’s reeled in 14 fish for 27 pounds, 6 ounces, the most weight on the day so far.
-Mason Prince
10:59 a.m. ET – Little-known fact about veteran Paul Elias: he’s playing through the pain at this event.
As he detailed to MLF writer Dave Landahl for a feature coming soon, Elias is fresh off of surgery to repair a rotator cuff. And by “fresh” we mean “FRESH fresh”: Elias had surgery in October, and then had to go back in on Dec. 18 for a cleanup.
“I’m in an awful lot of pain, but I’ll have to manage,” Elias said.
Elias is currently 10 pounds out of the Top 20, but there’s still plenty of time left to make up ground.
-Joel Shangle
10:32 a.m. ET – Brent Ehrler just summed up the urgency of an Elimination Round: “I can’t afford ANY lull today.”
Ehrler seems comfortably inside the elimination line in 13th place – his 29-13 is more than 8 pounds better than the 20th-place weight – but Ehrler of all people knows how quickly things can happen in the “every scorable bass” format: He’s had one of the most prolific periods in MLF Cup history in an event in Maine in 2015.
-Joel Shangle
10:15 a.m. – Jacob Powroznik is on bigger fish today. The Virginia pro caught plenty of fish in his Shotgun Round, but his biggest was 3-6. In the first period this morning, Powroznik’s first three fish were 4-4, 3-0 and 4-1.
The question now is “How long will he stay?” When we chatted with him this morning before launch, Powroznik planned to “Whack on a few and then hopefully go practice a little.”
-Joel Shangle
8:30 a.m. – A Florida warming trend and 40 of the best anglers in the world. That’s a recipe for the first 7-plus-pounder of the week at the MLF Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole.
Group B is one hour in on the Kissimmee Chain this morning. With 20 spots up for grabs and the elimination line hovering around 19 pounds, it’ll be interesting to see who makes the first moves on SCORETRACKER.
If yesterday’s first Elimination Round is any indication, expect BIG changes to the official live scoring, and frequent ones.
Today we’ll keep our eyes on two spots: the Top 5, and the 10 or so anglers hovering around that crucial 20th place. For the time being, Marty Robinson, Anthony Gagliardi and Jacob Powroznik still hold down the top three spots, but the first big mover is Terry Scroggins with 13-4.
The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 10 a.m. ET.
-Joel Shangle