Buck, Villa lead wire to wire in final Heritage Cup Elimination Match
NEENAH, Wis. — Tuesday’s third of three Elimination Round matches at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley also marked the third day in a row that the two-man teams competed on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne. Anyone who missed the live coverage on MLFNOW!, however, wouldn’t have known it.
After a pair of teams surpassed 50 pounds on Monday, the two Fox River Chain fisheries proved stingy. The four duos combined to place just 14 scorable bass on SCORETRACKER® across the first two periods of the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops event. But what the day lacked in fast-paced action, it made up for with drama.
Even though Grae Buck and Martin Villa of Team Star Tron led throughout the day, weights remained close enough that they could never quite relax — as evidenced by Villa boating a 2-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth as time expired. Meanwhile, Keith Poche and Kelly Jordon of Team Knighten Industries leapfrogged the father-son duo of Marty and Marshall Robinson (representing Team Ferguson) in the final 10 minutes to claim the final spot in the Knockout Round by less than 1 pound.
Those two duos will join four other teams in the two-day Knockout Round, which starts Wednesday. Team Ferguson and Team Coign (Jeff Sprague and Bryan Thrift) were eliminated.
ChatterBait, Senko the winning combo for Star Tron
Not long after lines in, Buck started the scoring with a 2-12 smallmouth. A few minutes later, he added a 1-14 largemouth.
Those bass, the first of the day, gave Team Star Tron a lead it would never relinquish. They went on to total 21-11 on 11 scorable bass, putting them 6-7 clear of Poche and Jordon.
“It was tough, but it was an awesome day of fishing out here with Martin today,” said Buck, who caught six bass totaling 11-5. “I threw a (Z-Man) ChatterBait (JackHammer) all day. I paired it with a (Z-Man) RaZor ShadZ as a trailer – I put it on and only went through one trailer the rest the day. The ChatterBait is my confidence bait, so getting to chuck this around all day long and let Martin clean up behind me was a great 1-2 punch.”
While Buck spent most of the day throwing the ChatterBait, Villa added five scorable bass of his own throwing a stick worm, including the buzzer-beating smallmouth.
“We didn’t really need that one, but that was a great way to end the day,” Villa said. “We knew there was a group of fish there – we could see them on the (Lowrance) ActiveTarget. I was throwing a jerkbait at them, but they wouldn’t commit. Then I fired the worm in there and she bit. It kind of sealed the deal on a good day.”
Buck and Villa will get a day off before taking the water during Thursday’s Knockout Round match, where two berths in the Championship Round will be on the line.
“I enjoyed fishing with Martin, and I think we’re a strong team,” Buck said. “We’re excited to see how it all plays out in the Knockout Round.”
Poche, Jordon overcome penalty
As Team Star Tron jumped out to an early lead, Team Knighten Industries could only watch. Poche and Jordon didn’t get to begin their competition day until 9:30 a.m. due to a one-hour penalty assessed to Poche for viewing SCORETRACKER® on Monday. Viewing SCORETRACKER® on a day off from competition is allowed while competing on the Bass Pro Tour but is not allowed during the General Tire Team Series.
It took them a while, but the pair made up for it. After catching just three bass for 5-11 to that point, Poche and Jordon put together a furious rally in the final 40 minutes, during which they added 9-9 to their total on seven scorable bass. The last of those fish, a 1-1 caught by Poche, lifted them ahead of the Robinsons and the elimination line by a mere 13 ounces.
“What a day,” said Poche in his postgame interview. “To start out with a freaking hour penalty, which was my fault, and overcome that adversity – man.”
“It was just one more obstacle that we had to overcome,” Jordon said. “That’s all that penalty was for us. But we fished hard and made the right decisions today.”
Poche found the area that produced the team’s late flurry when he cast over a man-made rock wall into a little area that was kind of blocked off – not restricted, but also not easily accessible. He caught one, and that prompted them to go inside that area – a little backwater marsh behind a rock wall to prevent erosion.
Most of Team Knighten Industries’ catch came on a frog, although they did add a few bass with an unnamed stick worm and a swim jig.
“I was frustrated until the end,” Poche said. “It’s a challenge fishing with somebody that you don’t normally fish with – not knowing what they’re thinking, or what side they want to throw on, or where. But despite that, we pulled it out, and now we get to move on to the Knockout Round.”
Team Knighten Industries will compete in the first Knockout Match Wednesday. Catch all the action on the MLFNOW! livestream from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble.com.