COLUMBIA, S.C. — During Day 1 of PowerStop Brakes Stage 3 Presented by Strike King on Lake Murray, Jeff Sprague grabbed the lead early and finished nearly 9 pounds clear of the rest of the field. A day later, despite what should have been less favorable conditions and the fact that he didn’t really try to catch fish during the final period, he amassed even more weight.
That sums up just how special Sprague’s bite has been so far. The Texas pro added 18 scorable bass for 62 pounds, 3 ounces on Friday, bringing his total to 122 pounds even. That earned him the Qualifying Round win with ease, topping his nearest pursuer, Terry Scroggins, by more than 30 pounds.
“This is what hooks people on bass fishing,” Sprague said. “This is what bass fishing is all about. It really has been a special bite no matter how it turns out, just being able to find what I found. … Genuinely, these are the type of conditions and events that come around only so very often, and it’s just a lot of fun.”
As a result, Sprague will skip Saturday’s Knockout Round and advance directly to the Championship Round. The rest of the Top 20 will advance to Saturday and compete for the remaining nine Championship Round berths.
Full results can be found here.
Sprague stalking first tour-level victory
Despite his strong performance on Day 1, Sprague was nervous as he took the water on Friday. Slick, calm conditions greeted the field rather than the strong wind that blew all day Thursday, and he worried that might hurt his shallow cranking bite while helping those anglers who started the day using forward-facing sonar.
It didn’t take long to assuage his concerns. Sprague returned to the area where he’d done most of his damage a day prior and boated nine bass totaling 33-11 in the first period. That included a 6-11, a 5-0 and a 4-9. By the end of the period, his lead had expanded to more than 13 pounds, discouraging anyone else from trying to track him down.
That confirmed the spots where Sprague has already caught fish are reloading. Just as important, he’s figured out a pattern for the type of habitat bass are using to stage, and as he found more areas that set up the same way, he continued to reel them in.
“I was really nervous this morning, to be honest with you, about whether or not they were going to bite with no wind at all,” Sprague said. “It was very glass calm. Had a few bites pretty quick, and that really set my lightbulb off, so I continued to kind of expand a little bit in the area where I was at. It’s a big area, but the fish aren’t everywhere. They’re pretty specific about what they want to be on. And when I find it, man, it’s special. They’re there, and they’re coming.”
Some of the fish Sprague landed in the afternoon essentially came by accident while he was checking out new water, including one that ate his crankbait as he was trying to pull it out of the water after time expired at the end of Period 2.
“I don’t know what I could have caught today had I continued, because I really laid up for the last 3, 3 1/2 hours and just looked,” he said. “But even then, I was able to catch some fish. So, I got a lot of things out of my mind today, and I got a lot of things in my mind today. It was a good learning day for both where (they are) and where they are not.”
Sprague is generally fishing fast, but one key to his success has been staying patient once he hooks a fish. He’s willing to play the bass for a minute or more rather than horsing them, a lesson he learned the hard way after losing several big ones on Day 1.
“Those fish are so heavy, and they’re so green right now,” Sprague explained. “Bigger fish have a harder mouth, and I’ve lost so many bass this week – and I’ve lost so many bass in my career, especially the bigger ones. And I’ve got them on light line, even though it’s a baitcaster, because the water is really clear. You just need to make every one count, so patience is your friend. You have to just do your thing and let the fish play itself out, and eventually they’ll get winded and just kind of come to you. It makes your life a lot easier, and you’re not getting hooks in your hand, either.”
Sprague isn’t worried about spending a day off the water. He’s committed to his pattern no matter what, and he thinks the upper-70s temperatures forecast for Saturday will only push more bass shallow.
His 14th career Bass Pro Tour Top 10 secured, his focus now is on finally landing his first tour-level win. Only Brent Ehrler has more Top-10 finishes in BPT competition without a victory. After so many close calls, Sprague didn’t want to get ahead of himself and talk too much about what it would mean to finally hoist a trophy, but he thinks this could be one of his best opportunities yet.
“I feel like I’ve been cursed for the past five years from getting one of these things closed out, if you want to know the truth,” he said. “I legitimately feel like I have an opportunity to make it happen here. I really do. Either way, it’s been an amazing week, and it’s just a lot of fun to catch these fish. But I do feel like I’m on the winning way to catch them.”
Knockout Round roster finalized
It took 58-14 to earn a spot in the Knockout Round, with Matt Becker narrowly claiming the last spot above the elimination line by less than 1 pound ahead of both Ron Nelson and Dean Rojas. Becker and the rest of the Top 20 (excluding Sprague) will take the water with weights zeroed for Saturday’s Knockout Round. The top nine finishers there will join Sprague in the Championship Round with $150,000 on the line.
Stream all the action live on MLFNOW! from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET each day at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble.
Other notes:
Dave Lefebre caught the Berkley Big Bass and set a new mark for the biggest fish of the event so far with a 7-8 he caught during Period 2.
When he took the water Friday, Jacob Wheeler appeared in danger of a rare stumble. The eight-time winner on the Bass Pro Tour sat in 27th place after Day 1, positioned to miss the Knockout Round for just the sixth time in 53 career BPT events. He didn’t exactly have history on his side, either, having finished 75th the last time he competed on Murray in 2023. But Wheeler quickly erased any concern about missing the cut. He boated 12 scorable bass for 38-10 in the first 90 minutes of competition en route to totaling 53-14 in Period 1 – the best period by any angler all week. Wheeler never caught another scorable bass after that, but it didn’t matter, as he finished the Qualifying Round in sixth.
Wheeler’s rally combined with a tough outing for Jacob Wall, who finished 66th, assured that there will be a new leader in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race following Stage 3. That will either be Wheeler, who’s taken home the title three of the past four years, or Drew Gill, who finished runner-up to Wheeler as a rookie in 2024.