EUFAULA, Ala. – Here are the names that’ll be in the mix for the final 90 minutes of the final qualifying day for Group A: Alton Jones, Jr., Terry Scroggins, Scott Suggs, Stephen Browning and Boyd Duckett. Those five anglers are within 1-10 of one another, with Suggs currently in the last-man-in 20th spot.
3:21 p.m. CST – Josh Bertrand has only one scorable fish for the day, but it’s the right one: a 4-14 that has the Arizona pro comfortably in the Top 10.
3:05 p.m. CST – Jordan Lee just lot one on a spinnerbait trying to get it in the boat – definitely would’ve been a scorable fish. Lee is still comfortably above the Elimination Line, but he would’ve clearly loved to add that one to his total.
2:30 p.m. CST – And just like that, we have a new leader. Bryan Thrift just loaded his biggest fish of the day on SCORETRACKER®, a 6-3 that pushed him into first place. Chris Lane started the final period with a 5-pound, 14-ounce lead over Thrift for first place in the round, and an automatic spot in the Championship Round.
“I’d like to finish the day in the lead, ’cause then I’d get two days off,” Thrift joked in reference to the new automatic-qualification rule.
On the other end of the spectrum, Stephen Browning is in 20th place, just 6 ounces above Mark Daniels, Jr., and the Elimination Line.
1:29 p.m. CST – We’re starting to hear the words “Elimination Line” more and more frequently as the second period winds down. Stephen Browning finds himself in the most uncomfortable of positions: the Arkansas pro hasn’t landed a scorable fish all day, and has plunged to 19th place (just 1-1 above the 20th and final spot in the Knockout Round).
1:18 p.m. CST – Ehrler is working near some cypress trees with a spinnerbait, alternating with a few flips here and there. You can tell that Ehrler is just sniping for one more big bite: he’s fishing very meticulously. Ehrler just moved to a different stand of cypress trees, an area that Jeff Sprague left about 45 minutes ago.
1:05 p.m. CST – You probably won’t hear Chris Lane’s “Boom!” on many 2-pound fish, but the Florida pro just put his first scorable bass on the board just shy of five hours into the day. That 2-6 opened Lane’s lead over Vinson to just under 7 pounds.
12:45 p.m. CST – The 5-pounders have yet to show up in numbers so far today – Ehrler and Bryan Thrift are the only anglers with 5-pounders on the board at this point – but several largemouth in the high-4s have shown up on SCORETRACKER ® : Jeff Sprague with a 4-10, Jacob Powroznik with a 4-7, Mark Rose with a 4-8, Vinson with his pair of 4s, etc.
11:18 .m. CST – Mark Rose is having a strong morning: the General Tire pro has stacked 14-2 on the board over the first 90 minutes of competition: 4-8, 3-10, 3-9, 2-7. That morning has catapulted Rose into third place, bringing him within 7-2 of the lead.
11:08 a.m. CST – Aaron Martens is fishing an island, targeting flooded timber. He’s added 6-1 to his total this morning: a 3-11 and a 2-6. He caught his second fish flipping to one of those flooded trees – we can’t tell what bait he’s using. Martens is currently 5 pounds above the Elimination Line.
10:35 a.m. CST – Morgan switched to a light-colored spinnerbait, working near steep banks with laydowns. Morgan is moving fast … and even as on-water reporter Mason Prince was typing that, Morgan found a laydown that he thought looked better for a jig. “The GOAT” made one pitch to that laydown and connected with a fish. Pro note: Morgan touched up his hook with a file after he caught that fish. Keep those hooks sharp!
9:52 a.m. CST – Andy Morgan is flipping a jig, targeting deep docks. Morgan just added his first fish of the day, a 3-7.
9:35 a.m. CST – MLF NOW! roving reporter Rob Newell just gave a great show-and-tell description of the falling water level on Lake Eufaula. Falling water = good for dock specialist Andy Montgomery, who just admitted: “This falling water is good for these docks, but, man, the water is muddy.”
9:22 a.m. CST – Jared Lintner is the second angler on SCORETRACKER® this morning with a 2-3. Here’s what we’re seeing so far: Seems like the bulk of the field is reassessing what they fished in practice, and in their first Qualifying Round. One angler who’s staying put is Bryan Thrift, who just loaded a 5-2 onto SCORETRACKER®.
9:12 a.m. CST – Bertrand has moved away from the bridge to work some riprap, and then on to flip some grass. Lots of movement so far this morning as Day 1 leader Chris Lane just left “The Pipe” where he stacked ’em up early on his first day.
9:07 a.m. CST – Josh Bertrand started near a bridge in Cheneyhatchee Creek south of the town of Eufaula. Water here is still muddy.