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Edwin Evers Paces Group B at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour Stage Four at Lake Chickamauga

by jay | Jun 5, 2021 | BPT | 0 Comments

DAYTON, Tenn. (June 5, 2021) – General Tire pro Edwin Evers of Talala, Oklahoma, caught 22 largemouth bass Saturday totaling 72 pounds, 14 ounces, to jump out to the early lead for Group B’s Day 1 Qualifying Round at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four Presented by ATG by Wrangler at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. Evers will bring an 18-pound, 3-ounce lead over second-place pro Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, who boated 22 bass worth 56-11.

The 40 anglers in Group B will have the day off on Sunday, while the 40 anglers in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Monday. The six-day event, hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council, features 80 of the top professional anglers from around the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.

“Man, what a day. I just love offshore fishing,” said Evers, who finished in seventh place when the Bass Pro Tour last visited Lake Chickamauga in 2019. “I just kept bouncing around and covering water. We worked hard, today, and it worked out good. I’m not married to one particular spot. I feel like there are fish everywhere and they are constantly moving, so you just have to keep moving around until you find a school that’s active.”

Evers caught all of his bass offshore, between 14 and 20 feet of water. He credited his Lowrance electronics as being the key to his success, and said he caught his fish on two baits.

“The two main baits for me today were a (Berkley) Dredger 20.5 crankbait – I threw it on a 7-foot, 6-inc Bass Pro Shops Mag-Heavy Cranking rod with a 6:8:1 (Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris) Platinum (Signature) reel with 12-pound Bass Pro fluorocarbon line and just really blistered them on that,” Evers said. “A lot of fish this morning came on a 7-inch (Berkley PowerBait) MaxScent Hit Worm. I fished it on a Profound Outdoors Stand Up head, on a 7-foot, 3-inch, heavy-action (Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris) CarbonLite rod with a high-speed reel.

“I’m super excited about my start today. I just need to do it one more day, catch all that I can catch and put them on that SCORETRACKER. I’m looking forward to getting back out here on Monday,” Evers went on to say.

Also having a great day on the water Saturday was bass-fishing superstar Kevin VanDam, who had his best day of the season so far weighing in 56 pounds, 11 ounces to end the day in second place.

“For the kind of year that I’ve had up to now, it was a pretty solid day,” VanDam said. “I’ve had some really close calls this season – I’ve missed two cuts that I should have been in. This sport is all about decision-making, so it feels good to have a good start to this one. I’m going to try to not blow this opportunity.

“This tournament is setting up to be an incredible event. I think it’s going to be a really, really fun week. If you’re a fan of professional bass fishing, you’re going to see some fireworks at Lake Chickamauga this week. These fish are just coming out to the right areas, and it’s going to be a shootout come Championship Wednesday. I just hope I can make it there, because if I do, I will have a good chance,” VanDam said.

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Lake Chickamauga are:

1^st:           Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 23 bass, 74-14
2^nd:          Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 22 bass, 56-11
3^rd:          Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 15 bass, 53-14
4^th:           Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Ark., 15 bass, 41-10
5^th:           Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 13 bass, 34-12
6^th:           Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., 11 bass, 32-14
7^th:           Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 11 bass, 31-8
8^th:           Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 12 bass, 29-7
9^th:           Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 11 bass, 27-3
10^th:        Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., nine bass, 26-7
11^th:        Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., eight bass, 23-2
12^th:        Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, seven bass, 20-3
13^th:        Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., seven bass, 19-14
14^th:        Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 17-8
15^th:        Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, six bass, 17-7
16^th:        Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, six bass, 16-15
17^th:        Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, five bass, 16-5
18^th:        Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., six bass, 14-3
19^th:        Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, six bass, 13-15
20^th:        Shaw Grigsby, Gainesville, Fla., four bass, 13-15

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 264 bass weighing 745 pounds, 11 ounces caught by the 40 pros on Saturday.

Evers won Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in an 8-pound, 9-ounce largemouth on the Berkley Dredger crankbait during Period 1. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.

The MLF Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four at Lake Chickamauga Presented by ATG by Wrangler is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Lake Chickamauga on Friday and Sunday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Saturday and Monday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will take off from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 76 of the top professional anglers in the world – joined at each event by 4 pros that qualify from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit – competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2022 championship.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW!® will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four Presented by Wrangler at Lake Chickamauga will be showcased across two two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, Oct. 9 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

For complete details and updated information on the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, the Sportsman Channel and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019 MLF acquired FLW and rebranded it as MLF BIG5, which expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh and immediately release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.

Major League Fishing – WE ARE Bass Fishing

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Tennessee’s Grimm Earns Win at 2021 Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American Championship at Douglas

by jay | Jun 5, 2021 | Other-MLF | 0 Comments

DANDRIDGE, Tenn. (June 5, 2021) – Fishing in his first All-American Championship, boater Brant Grimm of Church Hill, Tennessee, won the 38^th annual Phoenix Bass Fishing League presented by T-H Marine All-American at Douglas Lake presented by TINCUP after bringing five bass weighing 14 pounds, 4 ounces to the scale Saturday. Grimm’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46-9 bested second-place boater Leslie Brandenburg of Springfield, Missouri, by 1 pound, 15 ounces. Grimm took home $100,000 for his victory and earned a spot in the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake, Oct. 28-30.

“I’m usually a really talkative person, but today at noon I hadn’t said more than three words,” Grimm said after earning the victory. “It was kind of tough, today. I only managed seven keeper bites. But thankfully they were the right ones and it all worked out.

“It really hasn’t sunk in for me, yet,” Grimm continued. “It’s a lot of money. I’ll probably do something boring with it – stick it into a retirement account or buy a rental property or something like that. I’m not going to go buy a yacht, or anything like that.”

Grimm said he caught his fish this week fishing a narrow section below the Nolichucky River, targeting offshore river drops where the fish gang up with a shad-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait.

“I love fishing shallow – I consider myself a shallow-water angler. But I fished shallow here for two weeks prior to the off-limits period and I couldn’t catch anything more than 3 pounds. I didn’t feel like I could win on the bank, so I committed my time offshore.”

Grimm considers Douglas Lake and Cherokee Lake his home waters, and when asked if he had any aspirations of moving up to the Toyota Series or Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit, he said he’s happy to stay around home.

“I fished the (FLW) Tour one year – I’ve been there, done that,” Grimm said. “I don’t know that I’m good enough to compete. I’m not on that level. I’m good around here on a couple of lakes, and I’m going to stay here on these couple of lakes and just keep trying to catch them.”

With his victory, Grimm now automatically earns entry into the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in October.

“I’ll definitely be giving that tournament my all, and I’ll prepare for that event just like I did this one. Hopefully that one will work out just as well.”

The top 10 boaters on Douglas Lake finished:

1^st:          Brant Grimm, Church Hill, Tenn., 15 bass, 46-9, $100,000
2^nd:         Leslie Brandenburg, Springfield, Mo., 15 bass, 44-10, $20,000
3^rd:         Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C., 15 bass, 43-6, $15,000
4^th:         Blake Tomlin, Greenville, Ga., 15 bass, 40-8, $14,000
5^th:         Chris Baldwin, Lexington, N.C., 15 bass, 40-1, $13,000
6^th:         Chris Nelson, Social Circle, Ga., 15 bass, 39-15, $12,000
7^th:         Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 39-11, $11,000
8^th:         Harmon Davis, Marlow, Okla., 15 bass, 38-14, $10,000
9^th:         Dale Pelfrey, Rockwood, Tenn., 15 bass, 37-10, $9,700
10^th:       Austin Culbertson, Moberly, Mo., 15 bass, 35-13, $8,000

Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 50 bass weighing 121 pounds, 10 ounces, caught by the final 10 boaters Saturday. All of the final 10 boaters brought a five-bass limit to the scales.

Daniel Buswell Jr. of Fayetteville, Georgia, won the Strike King Co-angler Division at the All-American Championship and $50,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces. Rod MacKinnon III of Middletown, New York, finished in second place with 14 bass weighing 31-3, good for $10,000.

Buswell became the first co-angler to ever win the All-American Championship twice – he previously won the title in 2013 on Nickajack Lake in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The final 10 Strike King co-anglers finished:

1^st:          Daniel Buswell Jr., Fayetteville, Ga., 15 bass, 34-2, $50,000
2^nd:         Rod MacKinnon III, Middletown, N.Y., 14 bass, 31-3, $10,000
3^rd:         Rex Henry, Knoxville, Tenn., 12 bass, 30-7, $6,000
4^th:         Melinda Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 14 bass, 30-6, $5,000
5^th:         James Jarvis, West Frankfort, Ill., 15 bass, 29-4, $4,700
6^th:         Chase Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 29-2, $4,000
7^th:         Andrew Starnes, Chapin, S.C., 15 bass, 28-15, $3,500
8^th:         Dustin Elrod, Jasper, Ga.., 14 bass, 26-9, $3,000
9^th:         Travis Garrett, Little Rock, Ark., 13 bass, 25-14, $2,500
10^th:       Ken Coats, Greenup, Ill., 13 bass, 24-14, $2,000

Overall, there were 46 bass weighing 76 pounds, 1 ounce, caught by the final 10 Strike King co-anglers Saturday. The catch included five five-bass limits.

In addition to the cash payouts, the highest-finishing boater and Strike King co-angler from each of the seven Regional Championships (including the Wild Card) and the TBF National Championship at the All-American will advance to the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake in Counce, Tennessee, Oct. 28-30, for a shot at winning $235,000 and $33,500, respectively.

The eight boaters and Strike King co-anglers that now advance to the 2021 Toyota Series Championship on Pickwick Lake are:

Region 1 (Lake Chickamauga) Boater Champion: Blake Tomlin, Greenville, Ga.
Region 2 (James River) Boater Champion: Chris Baldwin, Lexington, N.C.
Region 3 (Mississippi River at La Crosse) Boater Champion: Leslie Brandenburg, Springfield, Mo.
Region 4 (Cherokee Lake) Boater Champion: Brant Grimm, Church Hill, Tenn.
Region 5 (Table Rock Lake) Boater Champion: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo.
Region 6 (Lake Lanier) Boater Champion: Cody Hoyle, Rutherfordton, N.C.
WildCard (Lake of the Ozarks) Boater Champion: Harmon Davis, Marlow, Okla.
TBF (Red River) Boater Champion: Jason Crone, Kalispell, Mont.

Region 1 (Lake Chickamauga) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Allen Neal, Whitley City, Ky.
Region 2 (James River) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Rod MacKinnon III, Middletown, N.Y.
Region 3 (Mississippi River at La Crosse) Strike King Co-angler Champion: James Jarvis, W. Frankfort, Ill.
Region 4 (Cherokee Lake) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Daniel Buswell Jr., Fayetteville, Ga.
Region 5 (Table Rock Lake) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Melinda Hays, Hot Springs, Ark.
Region 6 (Lake Lanier) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Dustin Elrod, Jasper, Ga.
WildCard (Lake of the Ozarks) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Chris Gebhardt, Columbia, Mo.
TBF (Red River) Strike King Co-angler Champion: Matt Felty, Sykesville, Md.

Get more details here!

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Russ Lane Dominates Opening Day at Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four at Lake Chickamauga Presented by ATG by Wrangler

by jay | Jun 4, 2021 | BPT | 0 Comments

DAYTON, Tenn. (June 4, 2021) – It was the best opening day of the season at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage Four Presented by ATG by Wrangler at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tennessee. The 40 pros in Group A caught a single-day total of 271 bass weighing 806 pounds, 10 ounces, Thursday – the heaviest weight caught on any Day 1 so far this season.

B&W Trailer Hitches pro Russ Lane of Prattville, Alabama, was firmly in control of the Group A leaderboard after Day 1 concluded, catching 23 bass totaling 70 pounds,12 ounces, to grab the early lead in the two-day Group A Qualifying Round. The six-day event, hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council, features 80 of the top professional anglers from around the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.

Lane will bring a 21-pound, 6-ounce, lead into Sunday’s second day of competition for Group A. Berkley pro Jordan Lee of Cullman, Alabama, the reigning Bass Pro Tour Angler of the Year (AOY), caught 13 bass weighing 49-6 to end the day in second place. Michie, Tennessee’s Jason Lambert sits in third place after a 34-pound third period rally, just 1-ounce behind Lee with at total of 17 bass weighing 49-5.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now enjoy a day off Saturday, while the 40 anglers in Group B will begin their first day of competition. Group A resumes competition on Sunday.

“Man, what a day,” said Lane in his post-game interview from the water. “It is so much fun out here when things go right, and they really did today. I’ve got around a 20-pound lead and that is rare territory for me. I’m just enjoying the moment right now and I cannot wait to get back out here again for Day 2.”

Lane said that he mainly targeted Chickamauga’s offshore hydrilla beds and grass flats.

“I’m around them. There are a lot of good ones under the hydrilla, I just have to cover a lot of water,” Lane continued. “I caught them on a ¾-ounce ChatterBait with a little Big Bite (Baits) (Kamikaze) Swimon trailer with the tails cut down to make it have a little less action so the bait would get down deeper. I had 16-pound-test Sunline Sniper line spooled on a 7:1 (Shimano) Curado reel, and that setup has been doing some work today.”

Reigning AOY Jordan Lee has struggled so far this season and has not made it out of the Qualifying Rounds. But, after a productive day Thursday, it looks like the 30-year-old Alabamian may have broken out of his slump.

“It was a really good day for me,” Lee said. “I made some good decisions and things were just going right for me this morning. I haven’t made a cut yet this year, so to get off to a good start today feels really good.

“I caught some nice ones early and then just kept the ball rolling, picking up a few here and there all day. I mixed in a lot of different summertime, Tennessee River, ledge baits – cranking, a hair jig, and a Berkley (Havoc) Bottom Hopper. These fish here get a lot of pressure, so it was important to get off to a good start. Now, we’ll regroup and get after them again on Sunday.”

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Lake Chickamauga are:

1^st:           Russ Lane, Prattville, Ala., 23 bass, 70-12
2^nd:          Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 13 bass, 49-6
3^rd:          Jason Lambert, Michie, Tenn., 17 bass, 49-5
4^th:           Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 17 bass, 44-8
5^th:           Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 11 bass, 38-14
6^th:           Matt Becker, Finleyville, Pa., eight bass, 31-11
7^th:           Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 29-12
8^th:           Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., nine bass, 27-5
9^th:           Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 26-2
10^th:        Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, nine bass, 23-5
11^th:        Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., eight bass, 22-13
12^th:        Cliff Pace, Petal, Miss., eight bass, 21-10
13^th:        Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., seven bass, 21-4
14^th:        Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., eight bass, 20-8
15^th:        Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., seven bass, 20-4
16^th:        Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., five bass, 20-4
17^th:        Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., seven bass, 19-5
18^th:        Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., six bass, 19-4
19^th:        Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., five bass, 18-13
20^th:        Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., seven bass, 18-12

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Oklahoma, won Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in an 8-pound, 7-ounce largemouth on a Carolina rig during Period 1. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.