LIVE BLOG: Period 3 Begins for Tight Knockout Round on Lake Fork

Bryan Thrift lands a 6-5 to move into third place in Period 2.

March 17, 2020 • MLF Field Crew • Bass Pro Tour

LAKE FORK, Texas – The 38 anglers competing in the Knockout Round of the General Tire Stage Three Presented by TrueTimber head out to Lake Fork for the final time this week. With the Championship Round lake being on Lake Athens, expect the pros to throw everything they have at Lake Fork to make the Top 8, leaving no bush or bed un-flipped.

Mark Daniels, Jr. and Brandon Coulter have already secured their spots in the Championship Round thanks to their first-place finishes in their respective groups in the Qualifying Rounds. After a full day of fishing today, the Top Eight will round out the Top 10 and we will have our Championship Round field.

6:00 p.m CT – Lines are out on Lake Fork. Here are the 10 pros who will compete on Lake Athens during Wednesday’s Championship Round.

Mark Daniels, Jr.
Brandon Coulter
Andy Montgomery
Alton Jones, Jr.
Keith Poche
Justin Atkins
Bryan Thrift
Brent Chapman
Jeff Sprague
Ott DeFoe

5:06 p.m. CT — Bobby Lane has made a run into the Top Eight, knocking Greg Hackney below the Elimination Line. Jeff Sprague is the last man in at the moment with 29 pounds, 2 ounces. Seven anglers are within 5.5 pounds of jumping Sprague for eighth place.

4:48 p.m. CT — We are approaching one hour remaining in the Knockout Round and it is as close as it could possibly be. Ott DeFoe is in sixth place with 29 pounds, 13 ounces. The 17th-place angler Aaron Martens is less than 10 pounds below DeFoe. Plenty of anglers still have a shot at cracking the Top Eight, and I’m sure we will see multiple anglers move in and out of the Top Eight before all is said and done.

4:00 p.m. CT — We have a new Berkley Big Bass of the Day and a new angler inside the Top Eight. Justin Atkins just hooked into an 8-pound, 6-ounce hog that moved him into second place behind Andy Montgomery. Atkins holds the MLF record for largest bass that he caught on Qualifying Day 2, weighing in a 10-8.

Wesley Strader holds up a 4-pounder he caught in Period 3.

Anthony Gagliardi shows off a 6-6 he caught in Period 3.

3:15 p.m. CT — Period 2 is wrapped up and there have been a lot of changes in the Top Eight.

Andy Montgomery 32-2
Keith Poche 31-6
Jeff Sprague 25-4
Brent Chapman 24-12
Bryan Thrift 24-5
Alton Jones, Jr. 24-2
Ott DeFoe 23-14
Greg Hackney 23-3

Andy Montgomery, Ott DeFoe and Alton Jones, Jr. are the only three pros that have remained in the Top Eight from the end of the first period. Hackney holds the final spot in the Top Eight but there are 12 anglers within 10 pounds of catching up to him. We will definitely continue to see some shifting on SCORETRACKER as this one begins to wind down.

Brent Chapman brings in a 7-4, the biggest of the day so far.

2:47 p.m. CT — There’s still a logjam from about third place down to 22nd place. Only 10 pounds separate Bryan Thrift in third from Edwin Evers in 22nd. One fish could be the difference between jumping up 10 spots or getting getting passed by other anglers.

2:04 p.m. CT — This is how close it is right now. The difference in weight between second-place Ott DeFoe and 17th-place Mark Rose is less than 10 pounds. Only two anglers have yet to post a scorable bass: Michael Neal and Terry Scroggins.

Mark Rose lands a 6-2 to move just 1-4 back of the Top Eight.

Alton Jones, Jr. catches another 5-pounder.

Bobby Lane caught this 4-pounder to move into 22nd place and 6-13 back of the Elimination Line.

1:23 p.m. CT — Jeff Sprague has made a run towards the top of the leaderboard. He has landed three scorable bass in Period 2 for 10-6. He is in second place and only 2 ounces behind Andy Montgomery for the lead.

Keith Poche lands a 4-14 to move into ninth place.

Jared Lintner adds his second 5-pounder of the day.

12:30 p.m. CT — That’s the end of Period 1 and here’s where we sit with the Top Eight:

James Watson 17-11
Ott DeFoe 17-7
Andy Montgomery 14-11
Alton Jones, Jr. 13-13
Shin Fukae 11-13
Greg Vinson 11-10
Fletcher Shryock 10-12
Jared Lintner 10-10

Andy Montgomery shows off the Berkley Big Bass of the Day with a 6-7.

12:25 p.m. CT — We’ve seen a few 5-pounders today, but we just got our first couple of 6-pounders courtesy of Andy Montgomery and Josh Bertrand. Montgomery just landed a 6-7 for the Berkley Big Bass of the Day while Bertrand had a 6-3 just a little before that. Montgomery is in third place while Bertrand is fighting to crack the Top Eight.

11:55 a.m. CT — There are 34 anglers on SCORETRACKER not even two hours into Period 1. The crazy part is that there are 18 anglers within 5 pounds of catching eighth-place angler Bryan Thrift. With more than 170 bass caught this week on Lake Fork that have weighed 5 pounds or more, we’re in for an interesting day near the Elimination Line.

Jared Lintner lands a 5-7 to move into 10th place, just outside the Top Eight.

Edwin Evers gets a 4-12 on SCORETRACKER.

11:25 a.m. CT — There’s a new leader at the top of SCORETRACKER and it is Ott DeFoe. He is 1-4 ahead of James Watson, who has also foudn some fish sight fishing in pockets. Shin Fukae is the last angler in the Top Eight right now with three bass for 6-15.

10:45 a.m. CT — Mike Iaconelli was one of the last anglers inside the Top 20 in Group B yesterday thanks to a 7-pounder that brought out a massive scream. Today, he’s on the bubble again to start the day as he is in eighth place with one bass for 4-4.

Ott DeFoe holds up a 5-1 that put him into the Top Eight.

10:23 a.m. CT — Just a little over 20 minutes into Period 1 and we have 18 pros on SCORETRACKER to start the day. Greg Hackney just landed a 5-11 for the biggest bass of the day and he takes the lead over Alton Jones, Jr.

Alton Jones, Jr. jumped out to an early lead thanks to this 5-8.

10:04 a.m. CT — The family Jones are the first two pros on SCORETRACKER®. Alton Jones, Jr. just landed a 5-8 while his dad brought in a 3-pounder.