Lefebre, Dudley top first day of Elimination Round in Heritage Cup
Father/son duo of Alton Jones and Alton Jones Jr. pull off last-minute heroics to advance
NEENAH, Wis. – Although the majority of the 24 anglers competing this week in the second event of the 2024 General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops from the Fox Cities in Wisconsin have some experience fishing the waters around the town of Neenah, the sheer volume of multi-species fisheries in the area makes guesswork moot.
However, when boats arrived at the ramp on the south end of Lake Winneconne Sunday morning and the four competing teams were shown the map of Winneconne and adjoining Lake Poygan – the competition waters for the first day of Elimination at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley – it was “game on” for the six pros who had competed on these Fox River Chain lakes in 2019 on the Bass Pro Tour and in an MLF Cup event in 2020.
The Team WIX Filters duo of David Dudley and Dave Lefebre led the way on Sunday, catching 17 bass totaling 38 pounds, 14 ounces to win the first day of Elimination Round competition by a 10-pound, 7-ounce margin. Also advancing was the Team Builders FirstSource father-son duo of Alton Jones and Alton Jones Jr., who caught 16 bass weighing 28-7 to move on in competition.
The majority of the teams spent the day fishing boat docks, with the lead interchanging multiple times at different points of the day in the close competition. Dudley and Lefebre got on the dock pattern in the beginning of the second period and never looked back, Lefebre working with a small jig while Dudley cleaned up behind him with a Dudley’s Wacky rig.
“We started off on some deeper docks in the morning, then as the weather got hotter and the sun got higher, they started moving shallower and shallower and we started catching them in what we would call dirt – just inches of water up underneath those docks,” said Dudley, who caught nine scorable bass totaling 20-12. “That’s why this wacky rig became dominant in the latter part of the day.
“The key today, for me, was definitely my setup. I caught them on a 7-foot, 2-inch medium-heavy ProFishiency Krazy Spinning Combo, throwing a (Perfection Lures) Dudley Wacky Worm. I paired it up with 15-pound braided line attached to 8-pound fluorocarbon, and I used a 2/0 round bend hook. That was the key for me, today.”
As competition wrapped and Dudley and Lefebre began to prepare to return to the launch ramp, Dudley tried to goad Lefebre into a victory dance on the front deck of the boat. Lefebre, however, didn’t bite.
“David, my wife and kids watch these things,” Lefebre laughed. “However, I’ll make you a deal. If we win $20,000 this week, I will do something. I’ll get something happening and get jiggy with it.”
“Deal,” Dudley responded.
Team WIX now moves on to Knockout Round competition on Wednesday.
Joneses pull off late-day heroics
It was a mad race to the second Knockout spot. The Team B&W Trailer Hitches duo of Nick Hatfield and Justin Lucas held the No. 2 spot for most of the third period, but a key decision by Team Builders FirstSource late in the day turned out to be the difference-maker.
As the final minutes ticked down in the third period, the Builders FirstSource duo threw a Hail Mary, running three miles to fish a lone boat dock that they had boated a couple of scorable bass on earlier in the day. With just 2 minutes remaining in competition, behind by 9 ounces, Alton Jones connected with a 1-pound, 2-ounce bass to overtake the Hatfield/Lucas duo and seize the final qualifying spot from Match 1.
“Man, we had to make a decision right there in the last little bit, and we decided to fish this one dock,” Jones said. “And there was nothing else back here for us to fish. It was either going to work or it wasn’t. And it paid off. I almost missed that fish. I saw him spit it, then right back in he ate it again. It was a pretty lucky catch.”
Like most of the field, the Jones/Jones father-son duo caught all of its fish throwing soft plastics around grass and boat docks.
“We had to play from behind all day, so we just kept our head down and kept working,” Jones Jr. said. “We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but we ended up scrapping up enough.”
“I’m just glad we get to do this again for another day,” Jones Sr. responded. “I hope I performed well enough to make it where you might actually want to draw me again.”
“Maybe so,” Jones Jr. joked. “We’ll see how it goes in the Knockout Round on Thursday.”
The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 1 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley that now advance to the Knockout Round are:
1st: Team WIX Filters, 17 bass, 38-14
David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., nine bass, 20-12
Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., eight bass, 18-2
2nd: Team Builders FirstSource, 16 bass, 28-7
Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, four bass, 5-15
Alton Jones, Sr., Lorena, Texas, 12 bass, 22-8
Eliminated from competition are:
3rd: Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 12 bass, 27-14
Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., four bass, 10-7
Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 17-7
4th: Team Kubota, 11 bass, 23-14
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., five bass, 10-11
Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., six bass, 13-3
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 56 bass weighing 119 pounds, 1 ounce caught by the four teams. Team B&W Trailer Hitches pro Justin Lucas caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a largemouth weighing 4 pounds, 1 ounce.