Pro Jeff Sprague of Wills Point, Texas, will forfeit his fifth-place finish from the 2022 Stage One Bass Pro Tour event in West Monroe, Louisiana, for violating Bass Pro Tour rule No. 23-A. The disqualification was announced today by Don Rucks, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Major League Fishing. The rule states that Bass Pro Tour anglers are prohibited from intentionally soliciting or intentionally receiving any information pertaining to tournament waters from a non-competitor for the purpose of locating or catching bass. If any such information is unintentionally being received from a non-competitor, the MLF Bass Pro Tour angler must politely ask the non-competitor to cease from divulging the information.

Sprague issued a statement on the incident:

“I received information from a non-competitor regarding Lake D’Arbonne, which violated rule 23-A. I fully accept MLF’s penalty ruling of a disqualification for the Stage One event. I want to apologize for my mistake in this matter. I am ready to head north to finish the remainder of the 2022 season and I look forward to continuing my fishing career with MLF for many seasons to come.”

Bass Pro Tour point standings and payouts from Stage One will be adjusted accordingly.

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