RALEIGH, N.C. – There are almost too many things to report on as we enter the noon hour on Knocktout Round Saturday.
Those of you who have been glued to the MLF NOW! live stream for the past couple of hours have witnessed some fascinating interplay between Jacob Wheeler and Edwin Evers. As you’ll see from the photos that we’ll put up shortly, the two are fishing a VERY small area that both of them located during their Elimination Round competition.
Wheeler put on a clinic in the morning, catching over 30 pounds before 11 a.m. Evers has hovered in the Top 5 all day as well, and currently sits in fifth place with 18-8.
More on Wheeler and Evers’ “deal” later today.
3:30 p.m. ET – Wow. Just wow. With only three minutes remaining in the Knockout Round, Takahiro Omori landed a 7-pounder to jump up SCORETRACKER and finish in 7th place. He is on to the Championship Round. Another later bloomer, Mark Daniels, Jr. He started the third period in 29th place. Thanks to five bass for 16-10 in the final two-and-a-half hours allows him to finish in 8th place and he is on to Championship Sunday.
2:27 p.m. ET – One hour remains in this final period and the log jam near the Elimination Line is only getting tighter and tighter. Greg Hackney landed a 6-4 bass to jump up into the Top 10 at ninth place, knocking Justin Atkins into 11th. Atkins is only 1-2 behind Tommy Biffle for the 10th and final spot. Takahiro Omori and Mark Daniels, Jr. are both within 3 pounds of overtaking Biffle as well.
1:25 p.m. ET – Jacob Powroznik just alerted everybody down to 24th place “One fish is all you need”. Poworzik just put the biggest fish of the day on SCORETRACKER, an 8-4 behemoth that catapulted the Virginia pro into 8th place. As reported by MLF writer Dave Landahl early this morning, Powroznik was betting on big fish showing up this afternoon. So far, he’s the first one to stray into the 8-pound territoty.
12:45 p.m. ET – That is the end of Period 2 and here’s a current look at the standings:
Tommy Biffle (5th) and Alton Jones (2nd) came on strong in the second period and were both able to crack the Top 10 for the first time today. Both Biffle and Jones have not made it to a Championship Round so far on the Bass Pro Tour.
12:33 p.m. – Marty Stone just made a bold prediction: “Knowing that Todd Faircloth has caught a 9-4 today, I’m predicting that we’ll see our biggest fish of the week on Shearon Harris.”
But back to the final 15 minutes of Period 2: One angler we haven’t talked about much is Andy Morgan. The Tennessee pro has hovered just below the critical 10 spot (currently in 12th with 13-5), but he’s stayed within one fair-to-average bite of Atkins, Monroe, Hackney and Tharp in the Top 10. He’s doing it with baits that will probably surprise longtime students of the tournament-bass game: a crankbait and vibrating jig. Morgan being one of the most prolific flippers in history, it won’t be a shock if he eventually flips up a fish bigger than his current big of 4-5.
12:18 p.m. ET – After a slow Period 1, here comes Ish Monroe. A 6-10 followed quickly by a 2-3 has put Monroe into the Top 10 in ninth place. The California native only has four fish caught on the day (the fewest in the Top 10), however he has made them count. He is averaging 3-14 per fish, which is the highest multiple-fish average in the field.
11:40 a.m. ET – Sometimes it’s just your day. On his way to a new area, Jared Lintner made a pit stop along broken rock on a bank, a pattern he’s developed over the past couple of rounds on Falls Lake. He said he was only going to make about 10 casts along the bank, and he made it pay off. A 4-11 put him back into 2nd place, 10-15 above the current Elimination Line.
11:15 a.m. ET – Keep an eye on Alton Jones. The Texas pro has only caught three fish (4-2, 2-2, and 4-14) on the day but he is currently holding the 10th and final spot.
Jacob Wheeler is choosing to relocate from the spot that has given him a sizable lead due to a conversation he had off the water with Edwin Evers. The two knew they were going to be heading to the same area before the day started. According to the MLF NOW! analysts, there were some grumblings that if one of the anglers caught over 30 pounds in their honey hole, the leading angler would relocate.
10:45 a.m. ET – Fresh off of his Bassmaster Classic win, Ott DeFoe is making a run at the Stage Three title as well. DeFoe landed a 6-8 to rocket him up SCORETRACKER into 10th place. Jeff Sprague and Justin Atkins continue to land quality bass. Atkins hooked a 5-7 that Sprague soon followed up with a 5-6. Both anglers are comfortably inside the Top 10, for now.
10:37 a.m. ET – Here comes Tommy Biffle. He has figured something out because the Oklahoma pro has reeled in a 4-7, 4-9, and 4-13 over a span of 11 minutes. He has used a spinnerbait to land those bass and currently sits in 4th place with 15 total pounds.
10:15 a.m. ET – As Period 2 is about to get underway, here’s a look at the current top 10:
Shaw Grigsby now owns the biggest bass of the day thanks to his 6-11 lunker. He is in 15th place as the second period begins. You can follow all the anglers on SCORETRACKER.
10:01 a.m. ET – Making the right adjustment is the key to a changing spring fishery like Falls Lake, and one of the anglers who’s getting it right is Jeff Sprague. The Texas pro struggled through a lackluster Knockout Round with 7-15, but then poured it on in the Elimination Round with 33-7.
And Sprague was matter-of-fact about his first day: “Literally it was just a bad decision on my part where I started. Then ultimately seeing the changes in the water level, it hurt me and I wasn’t mentally prepared to deal with that.”
Sprague is on the right track again today, with 11-10 (in the Top 5), including a 4-13 as his biggest fish.
9:32 a.m. ET – If there is one angler on the Bass Pro Tour who is always stressed out come elimination time it is Jared Lintner. Sometimes he is one of the last few guys in, other times he coasts to the next round. Today, it looks like he might be able to manage some of that stress. Lintner just reeled in a 6-7 followed immediately by a 2-1 that puts him squarely into 2nd place, 8-15 above the current Elimination Line. It seems Lintner has found a spot that has been clicking for him, working a crankbait in his favor on those last two catches.
9:20 a.m. ET – A little weather update for you from Falls Lake: air temperatures are in the low 60s right now with highs expected in the low 70s this afternoon. There is some cloud cover, more than what we have seen the past two days of competition. The wind gusts should range today from 7 to 12 MPH.
Ish Monroe has just moved into the 10th and final spot. He has two fish for 6-10 including a 4-15.
9:11 a.m. ET – We have already began to see our fair share of big bass on SCORETRACKER in Period 1. Edwin Evers got off to that hot start with his 6-4 but has yet to reel in another scoreable bass. Timmy Horton just landed the biggest bass of the morning with a 6-10 that catapulted him into the Top 10 at ninth place. Leader Jacob Wheeler, Jeff Kriet, Justin Atkins and Todd Faircloth have all boated bass over 5 pounds this morning.
8:39 a.m. ET – Now that action is underway, we can let a couple of cats out of the bag:
1). Jacob Wheeler and Edwin Evers are fishing within sight of each other in a small backwater area in the rugged upper, upper end of the lake. As MLF NOW! analyst Marty Stone said this morning, “It could go down BIG up there.” Both Wheeler and Evers took advantage of strong Knockout Round weights to go scouting in their Elimination Round; as luck would have it, they both found the same area.
2). Stone has his eye on a handful of spots above Rollingview Marina, where he took our MLF Films camera crew to shoot a lake preview before the event got underway.
8:01 a.m. ET – Jeff Kriet joked onstage yesterday that “I was 48 years old when I started the day, now I’m 72”, referring to the stress of the Elimination Round. Kriet was the last angler in, finishing in 20th place, but he’s already making the most of it: “The Squirrel’s” first fish was a 5-1.
7:46 a.m. ET – If the first seven minutes are any indication, what Mark Rose said above is true: Edwin Evers started the morning with a 6-4 just three minutes in, Jacob Wheeler answered with a 5-2 just two minutes later, and Jacob Powroznik added a 4-5 two minutes after that.