Today we watched the first-ever Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour Knockout Round, and the competition certainly lived up to its name. The MLF officials called “lines out” at the end of an intense Period 3. Before officials could confirm the Top 10 anglers who will compete in tomorrow’s Championship Round, we all had to wait for one final SCORETRACKER update.

Mike Iaconelli thought he was in 10th place, but a late update confirmed that he was indeed “knocked out” of the Stage One Top 10.

It turns out that Michael Neal caught three fish at the very end of Period 3: a 1-1, a 1-12 and finally a 2-pounder. All within a span of 5 minutes, with just a few moments left in the competition.

“It’s an indescribable feeling,” Neal said. “I had a terrible first two periods. I only got like 7 or 8 pounds and went back to the area I caught three fish this morning, and just put the trolling motor down and grinded, and finally figured out how to catch ‘em.”

Neal says he went searching for hydrilla today, and when the wind picked up in the afternoon, that strategy paid off just in the nick of time. He caught his final bass with just two minutes left in the round.

“Early in the week I was catching my fish cranking the canals, and today it seemed like the current was pretty much cut in half,” Neal said. “So, I had to go to plan A, B, C, D, E and F I think. But I wound up throwing a little quarter-ounce lipless crankbait.”

The MLF pro from Tennessee returned to the Midway at Big Toho Marina with a huge smile on his face. After fishing the MLF Selects for two years, Neal says he loves the MLF format, despite the fact that the SCORETRACKER can make for a stressful day on the lake.

“Definitely sweating bullets,” Neal admitted. “But, I mean, SCORETRACKER, Major League Fishing, it’s an indescribable feeling. It’s just totally different than anything else.”

Tomorrow, he’ll compete on Lake Garcia for the MLF Bass Pro Tour Stage One Championship. Neal says he’s excited to get off of Toho and search for monster bass on a new lake. MLF pros had the option to ride around on Garcia earlier this week, strictly to look at the lake. They were not allowed to fish on Lake Garcia. However, Neal decided he didn’t need that ride through.

“I’m just totally going blind,” Neal said, “I have never seen that lake before, and that’s really the way I want it for the final day.”