Author: jcarrigan

MLF pro Aaron Martens connected with 50 fish for 86 pounds, 4 ounces today, claiming the Championship trophy at the Bass Pro Tour Stage Six on Missouri’s Table Rock Lake

BRANSON, Mo. (May 22, 2019) – If you ask Major League Fishing® (MLF) pro Aaron Martens what his least-favorite technique is, he’ll giggle and tell you “Drop-shotting, bro.” It’s a running joke that the West Coast native has maintained for several years, claiming that he’d much rather be flipping a creature bait swimming jig, all the while racking up win after win using a technique he helped pioneer.
Martens can now add 100,000 more reasons to love the drop-shot.
Methodically plinking his way around a series of offshore brushpiles and flooded cedar trees in the main stem White River on Table Rock Lake, Martens connected with 50 fish for 86 pounds, 4 ounces, running away with the Championship Round of the Bass Pro Tour Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber and claiming a $100,000 paycheck (plus his first MLF championship trophy).
And he did it in true “A-Mart” fashion. While first-period leader Andy Montgomery watched his shad-spawn bite flame out in the second period, Martens kept a steady fish-catching pace from lines in to lines out, starting the morning connecting with multiple fish on a spinnerbait and swimbait between Moonshine Beach and Indian Point before picking up the drop-shot rod in the second period. 

Martens stayed in the same area throughout the rest of the day, battling the wind and current while repeatedly dropping a Roboworm to fish he was seeing on his electronics and putting 34-14 on SCORETERACKER® in Period 1, adding 33-12 in Period 2 and holding on to the lead through the final period with 14 fish for 14-7.
“I spent my whole practice graphing,” Martens admitted. “I figured if I could find more waypoints and schools, that’s how I should spend my time. I knew every day the fish were going to change, but I had my graphs pretty dialed in where I can see fish in the trees, and see if they’re a bass, a white bass or shad. I know the bluff walls were a big deal, but I just felt better about what I had deeper.” 

Montgomery Bet on Shad Spawn
Montgomery came out of the gate like he would run away with the trophy, thanks to the same morning shad spawn he had exploited all week long. Montgomery piled up 49-13 in the first period to open up a 15-pound lead on Martens and the rest of the field. But Period 2 proved to be the difference-maker of the day: Montgomery put only 8-11 on SCORETRACKER in 2 ½ hours, and could only keep working his docks as Martens overtook him with 30 minutes left in the period.

The South Carolina pro finally gave up on his dock pattern as the third period started, picking up a flipping stick and locating better-quality fish: five of his 10 fish in the final 2 ½ hours were 2 pounds or more, allowing Montgomery to stay within distant striking distance of Martens.
“There were a lot of signs that told me (I should’ve changed), but I just couldn’t quite pull the trigger soon enough,” Montgomery admitted. “I caught them so good (in the Knockout Round), but most of that was largemouth. Today, it was all spotted bass on those docks. I didn’t think that those largemouth could’ve moved out that fast, but I guess they did. I had a good third period flipping, but I wish I’d done it in the second period.”

Table Rock Showed Out
Although Table Rock is one of the most well-known tournament venues in the country, the six days of Bass Pro Tour competition showed this impoundment of the White River in a whole different – record breaking – light. Some of the most notable numbers from the week:
*    6,078 fish were put on SCORETRACKER
*    Total weight on SCORETRACKER for the field for the event was 9,815-2
*    Martens’ total weight for four rounds was a record 283-4
*    Cliff Pace weighed in a record 179 fish

Championship Notes
Martens’ victory is his 11th tour-level win. It’s also Martens’ first win in the MLF catch/weigh/immediate-release format.
Jeff Sprague took over the Points Championship lead with another strong event: Sprague has 417 points, followed by Edwin Evers with 414. 

Stage Six Results

To see final results for Stage Six, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com and click “results.” 

(Left to right) MLF pros Alton Jones Jr. (fifth place), Josh Bertrand (second), Ott DeFoe (first), and Cody Meyer (third) wrapped up their Elimination Round in style and will be heading to Tuesday’s Knockout Round. 

BRANSON, Mo., (May 20, 2019) – Another day, another record at the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber on Table Rock Lake.

Ott DeFoe pushed his two-day weight total to 133 pounds thanks to 54-14 in today’s Group B Elimination Round, and while that fell just short of Cliff Pace’s record of 134-11 from the day before, DeFoe was still able to mint a new record with 91 bass caught during his Shotgun and Elimination rounds.

MLF NOW! live stream analyst Marty Stone summed up the week perfectly in the waning moments of the broadcast: “It wouldn’t be a day at Table Rock if we didn’t break a record.”
It has become the story during the Shotgun and Elimination Rounds, and both the Knockout and Championship Round records are likely to fall in the next two days if the weather cooperates.

The fishing today slowed down for many in the field, but it was still excellent. It seems Table Rock Lake has set the bar high and even 951 scoreable bass seems like a downturn, which sounds absurd.

It was the first day that the field brought in less than 1,000 bass. That’s how good Table Rock has been this week.

Jones Jr. and Browning Make Moves

Overall, the Top 20 remained largely the same from the start of the day to when competition wrapped up this afternoon. Dustin Connell and Chris Lane were the only two anglers to fall out of the Top 20 (19th to 27th, and 20th to 31st respectively), with Alton Jones Jr. and Stephen Browning replacing them. 

Both Jones and Browning had stellar days, Browning boating a day’s-best 37 bass and Jones racking up the most weight on SCORETRACKER® today. His 67-5 ounces catapulted him up 20 spots as he rose from 26th to fifth place in Group B.

One of the keys to Jones’ success was the quality of fish he caught. While he still counted 31 scoreable bass, his weight total was helped by six bass over three pounds, including a 5-2 bass that earned him the Berkley Big Bass of the Day award.

“I’m on an early bite, and most of my weight has been coming before 10 a.m.,” Jones said. “The sun also helped, so I don’t know the changing weather for tomorrow is going to affect me.”

Browning’s stout day boosted him from 23rd to 14th and advanced him to Tuesday’s Knockout Round.

“I started the day strong and was able to ride the momentum throughout the day,” Browning recounted. “I was fishing the same areas as I did in the Shotgun Round, but I made two bait changes, and it worked. We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow. It could take 30, 40, 50, or 70-pounds to make the Top 10; you never know with the way this place is fishing.”

Evers Falls Short, Clausen Holds On

The ever-dangerous Edwin Evers slowly crept up the leaderboard from starting the day in 25th. He threatened for the final advancing spot and briefly held 20th place with one hour to go. In the end, he finished just short and is the first angler on the outside looking in, at 21st.

Clausen started the day in 16th and briefly fell below the cutline before rallying up a few spots. Catches in the final moments by Jordan Lee and Greg Hackney lowered his placement to 20th, but he was able to hang on.

Weather Changes Loom

The Branson area has been very welcoming to the Bass Pro Tour, but the weather has been in a state of constant change this week. The evening is under a flash flood warning and Tuesday calls for a 100-percent chance of precipitation with possible lightning to go with a predicted 20 mph wind in the afternoon.

Group Comparison

Group A had an eye-popping 15 anglers yesterday with over 100-pounds, and Group B posted slightly less today with 11 hitting the century mark. The 20th place was considerably different between the groups. In Group A, Randall Tharp’s 94-12 total put him in the final qualifying spot while Luke Clausen wrapped up 20th with 83-06 in Group B.

Looking Ahead

The Top 20 anglers from each of the Elimination Rounds advanced to the 40-angler Knockout Round to be held Tuesday – weights will be zeroed, making the Knockout a one-day scramble. 

The Top 10 anglers in the Knockout Round will advance to the Championship Round on Wednesday, May 22.

Daily Winners

Elimination Round 2 daily awards were:
*    The Berkley Big Bass of the Day was a 5-2 largemouth caught by Alton Jones Jr.
*    Jones also earned the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with 67-0
*    Browning was the Berkley Catch Count winner with 37 bass

How, When, Where to Watch

Knockout Round competition begins Tuesday, May 21 at 6:30 a.m. CT with live, official scoring available at “lines in” via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. 

The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m. 

Elimination Round 2 Results

To see Elimination Round 2 final results for all Group B anglers, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com and click ” results.” 

BRANSON, Mo., (May 19, 2019) – Three days into competition at the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Berkley Stage Six presented by TrueTimber, we’re starting to run out of superlatives to describe the bite at Table Rock Lake. Choose your favorite – “stellar” and “outstanding” fit – but “record-breaking” is still the most accurate.
Cliff Pace became the most recent record breaker, putting 38 fish on SCORETRACKER® for 60 pounds, 1 ounce on the day, giving the Mississippi pro a two-day total of 134-13 and obliterating the existing Elimination Round record of 105-6 held by Zack Birge. Pace’s two-day fish total of 89 is another record. The field combined to catch 407 fish in the first period and weighed 684-9 (both records).
And while all of the above numbers are impressive, the fact that 15 of the 20 anglers advancing out of the round surpassed the 100-pound mark tells the story of just how prolific this impoundment of the White River has been.

“Of all the years I’ve been around fishing, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anything like this as far as sheer volume of fish,” said MLF NOW! analyst Marty Stone. “I knew when we came here that this lake was in good shape, but I’ve never seen a like that’s so good from one end to the next. We’re looking at where guys are catching fish, and we’re seeing anglers who are literally 50 miles apart catching them. It’s harder right now to find a place where there’s not a fish than a place there is.”

Pace was followed by Gary Klein (130-2), Birge (129-11), Greg Vinson (125-12), Aaron Martens (121-15) and Jacob Powroznik (116-15). Jesse Wiggins, Michael Neal, Mark Rose, Fletcher Shryock, Russ Lane, Jeff Sprague, Anthony Gagliardi, Casey Ashley, Dave Lefebre, Andy Montgomery, Fred Roumbanis, Brent Chapman, Randy Howell and Randall Tharp qualified for Tuesday’s Knockout Round.

Tharp Escapes Elimination
As has become the daily storyline during Elimination Round competition, the race around the Elimination Line came down to a difference of a single fish. Trailing Jason Christie by 7 ounces entering the final 10 minutes of official competition time, Randall Tharp caught two fish for 2-13 in the final seven minutes, finishing with 94-12 and moving past Jason Christie into 20th. 

“It was extremely intense,” Tharp admitted. “I struggled at times in the second period – dropped all the way to 25th or 26th – so to get on something that late and catch one with 5 to go to get to 20th, and then hook one with 15 seconds left … it was a stressful afternoon for me. I’m glad it worked out the way it did.”

“It’s crazy that you can catch 92 pounds and not make it,” said Christie, who finished with 92-6 on 48 fish. 

Elimination Round 2 Set for Monday
The Bass Pro Tour will see its first Monday action of the season when Group B returns to Table Rock tomorrow for the second Elimination Round of the event. Viewers tuning in on the MLF NOW! live stream will likely see 5 ½ hours of fish catches: 16 Group B anglers put 50-plus pounds on SCORETRACKER in their Shotgun Round on Saturday, led by Josh Bertrand’s 89-5. The biggest X-factor, though, is the water level, which sits at 917.54 as of this writing (just over 1 foot lower than when practice began on May 16). 

“This lake was way up when we got here, but water has been dropping: instead of there being a fish on every bush, there’s a fish on every 10th bush,” Stone said. “These anglers are having to cover more water to get the number of bites they need. As the week goes on, the 45-degree banks will become more relevant, and the guys fishing offshore will become more relevant. But the challenge for these Group B guys on Monday is that whatever they found in the first day of practice is five days old now – they might as well just go ahead and start practicing again. Group B has a big challenge in front of them.”

Today’s Round By The Numbers
The 40 pros caught 1,023 fish in Elimination Round 1, the third day in a row with over 1,000 fish making it into SCORETRACKER.

Daily Winners
Elimination Round 1 daily awards were:
*    The Berkley Big Bass of the day was a 5-9 largemouth caught by Mark Rose
*    Andy Montgomery was the Berkley Catch Count winner with 42 fish
*    Birge earned the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with 69-14            

When, Where & How to Watch
Elimination Round 2 competition begins at 6:30 a.m. CT, with live, official scoring available from “lines in” via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m. daily.

Elimination Round 1 Final Results

https://majorleaguefishing.com/event/bass-pro-tour-stage-six-table-rock-lake-branson-mo/results/

BRANSON, Mo. (May 18, 2019) – Well, that didn’t last long. Greg Vinson’s record-setting performance on Table Rock Lake in Friday’s Shotgun Round was short-lived and then one-upped by Josh Bertrand. 

The Arizona pro claimed the record for the total number of fish caught, and the single-day total weight for the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour just 24 hours after Vinson laid claim to both. When all was said and done, Bertrand had racked up 59 bass and 89 pounds, 5 ounces on SCORETRACKER® in today’s Shotgun Round 2 at the Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber. 

Bertrand will enter the Elimination Round with an 11-pound, 3-ounce lead over second-place angler Ott DeFoe.

Period 3 Was Key for Bertrand

The top of the leaderboard was in flux throughout the day. After Period 1, Jacob Wheeler held the lead. At the close of Period 2, Ott DeFoe was leading before Andy Morgan briefly overtook him. All of those anglers had banner days, but nobody could catch Bertrand.

The final period was Bertrand’s to own, and he went on a tear. Midway through the period, he landed 10 bass in fifteen minutes and continued catching them until time expired. 

His Period 3 numbers were impressive: He caught 31 bass for 47-6. To put that into perspective, his Period 3 weight would have been enough for 18th place on the day. 

“Periods 1 and 2 were good, but not great. I think they just started to bite late in the day and I have to give credit to the weather,” Bertrand said. “We had a big storm coming, and those pre-frontal conditions helped to get them active.”

With a considerable lead, Bertrand may not need to catch a bass in the Elimination Round to move on, but he plans to expand on what he learned. 

“I expect it to be different when I get back there because of the weather and water levels,” he said. “The fish want to move towards their summer pattern, and I am going to try to figure out what their next move is.”

DeFoe Stands in Second

To catch 55 bass for 78-2 and finish the day in second place is a testament to how well Table Rock is fishing right now. DeFoe’s 55 scoreable bass is the second most bass caught in the young history of the Bass Pro Tour, but he’s still over 11 pounds behind Bertrand.

His total weight was great despite going over an hour without catching a scoreable bass. 

“I had a really good start and slow start to Period 2. It picked up from there and was fairly consistent the rest of the day,” said DeFoe. “The good news is I have a good gap over 20th place and am not in a position where I have to catch one every 20-minutes to keep pace.”

Group Comparison

During Friday’s Shotgun Round 1, four anglers topped the 70-pound mark. Today, six anglers crossed that threshold. The 50-fish target was hit by four anglers today as compared to just two yesterday.

Each day’s numbers were fairly similar overall. Group A scored 1,894 pounds of bass on 1,173 fish whereas Group B had 1,800 pounds with 1,132 fish. Casey Ashley holds down 20th with 47 pounds, 1 ounce for Group A, while Gerald Spohrer has 41 pounds, 11 ounces for 20th in Group B.

Weather Holds, but Forces Cancellations

An approaching storm was part of the story today and likely helped the fishing for some anglers, but it did affect plans at the event. While anglers were able to complete the entire day without any weather delays, it did force the cancellation of fan events at the MLF Midway as well as the Postgame Show Presented by Berkley.

How this will affect the rest of the week is still to be determined, but post-frontal conditions tomorrow could make for more challenging fishing for Group A anglers during the Elimination Round.

Looking Ahead

The field will carry their Shotgun Round weights into Elimination Rounds on Sunday and Monday. The Top 20 anglers from each of those Elimination groups will advance to a 40-angler Knockout Round on Tuesday – weights will be zeroed, making the Knockout a one-day scramble. The Top 10 anglers in the Knockout Round will advance to the Championship Round on Wednesday, May 22.

Daily Winners

Shotgun Round 2 daily awards were:
*    The Berkley Big Bass of the day was a 4 -06 bass caught by Matt Lee
*    Bertrand was the Berkley Catch Count winner with a new record 59 fish
*    Bertrand also won the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with record-breaking 89-5

How, When and Where to Watch

Elimination Round 1 (Group A) competition begins Sunday at 6:30 a.m. CT with live, official scoring available at “lines in” via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m. 

Group B Standings Shotgun Round 2

BRANSON, Mo. (May 17, 2019) – There’s an old saying about records being made to be broken. Greg Vinson got that memo. Twice.
The Alabama pro staked a claim to the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour record books Thursday in the first Shotgun Round of the Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber, stacking a record 52 bass from Table Rock Lake onto SCORETRACKER® for 83 pounds, 6 ounces (also a record). Vinson was one of seven anglers who weighed 60 pounds on the day (yet another Bass Pro Tour record). 

Vinson’s performance was part of the most prolific day of fish-catching in the young history of the Bass Pro Tour. 

Vinson Voracious
After a slow start to the morning, Vinson staked a claim to the top of SCORETRACKER® midway through the first period. After moving to the lower end of the White River arm, he weighed 18 fish in the first period for 28-5, and followed that up with 25 pounds in Period 2. Over the course of the 7 ½ hours of official competition time, the Mercury pro averaged a fish every 8.6 minutes.
“That was the most unbelievable day of fishing I ever had,” Vinson admitted. “I got off to a slow start, but once I made a move to something new, everything I did seemed like it was right. Everywhere I went, I caught fish, and I didn’t see another angler all day long. To be on something that good and not see another competitor in this field is pretty rare.”

Shotgun Round 1 Loaded with Heavyweights
If professional bass fishing doesn’t work out for Jeff Sprague, he has a future in fortune telling. As reported in the live blog, Sprague’s assessment of the Table Rock bite was that “Somebody is going to wreck ’em today.”
Sprague was absolutely correct, if a little understated. SCORETRACKER® was loaded with anglers who indeed wrecked ’em in Group A: 26 anglers weighed 40 pounds or more, 17 connected with 50 pounds or more, and four surpassed the 70-pound mark. 

The overall catch weight for the field of 40 anglers was 1,894 pounds of bass on 1,173 fish (both Bass Pro Tour records).
“This place has just been pelted with tournaments and locals, and it’s putting out numbers and fish like it did today,” said Sprague, who finished fourth on the day with 70-4. “This is just an amazing fishery. I actually expected to catch bigger fish than I caught today, so I know there are some bigger ones that aren’t being caught. And we’re going to catch those fish. There are going to be some more phenomenal numbers ahead.”

Group B Takes Its Shot at the Rock
Now that the Elimination Line has been established above the 50-pound mark, the 40 anglers in Group B will take their turn on Table Rock on Saturday for Shotgun Round 2. Unlike the anglers in the first round – who fished in mostly sunny, sometimes-breezy conditions – Group B heads into Saturday morning just ahead of a storm system that will bring 20- to 30-mph winds and possible thunderstorms.
As outlandish as it sounds, that could make the bite even better.
“I’m looking at a forecast for south wind, seeing 10 to 20 (mph),” said MLF NOW! analyst Marty Stone. “The harder the wind blows on these Ozarks Mountains lakes, the more the fish bite, and the bigger they are. Our grade of 3- to 5 pounders could go up if it blows 20. This lake is slam-full of 3- to 5-pounders, and they didn’t really show on Friday. 

“Group B now knows that they have to go out and catch 50 pounds, so they’re going to be a lot less patient with marginal water, and they’ll get more aggressive. Our total weight could be more. I won’t say something crazy like we’ll catch more scoreable bass, but I’m not going to rule it out, either.” 

Looking Ahead to the Weekend
The field will carry their Shotgun Round weights into the Elimination Rounds on Sunday and Monday. The Top 20 anglers from each of those Elimination groups will advance to a 40-angler Knockout Round on Tuesday – weights will be zeroed, making the Knockout a one-day scramble. The Top 10 anglers in the Knockout Round will advance to the Championship Round on Wednesday, May 22.

Daily Winners
Shotgun Round 1 daily awards were:
* The Berkley Big Bass of the day was a 5-2 largemouth caught by Jeff Kriet
* Vinson was the Berkley Catch Count winner with 52 fish
* Vinson also earned the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with record-breaking 83-6

How, When and Where to Watch
Shotgun Round 2 competition begins Saturday at 6:30 a.m. CT with live, official scoring available at “lines in” via SCORETRACKER® on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone, and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m. 

Group A Standings Shotgun Round 1