Author: jcarrigan

MANY, La. (Feb. 4, 2024) – Despite a morning fog delay and a stacked field on Championship Sunday, pro Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama, weighed 36 scorable bass totaling 112 pounds, 4 ounces to earn his fifth Bass Pro Tour win and the top award of $100,000 at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole. Connell’s Championship Round total nearly doubled the rest of the 10-man field, earning the win by a whopping 44-pound, 2-ounce margin over Hot Springs, Arkansas’ Spencer Shuffield, who finished the day in second with 22 scorable bass weighing 68-2.

As the second period of the Championship Round ticked away, Connell felt his lead slowly slipping away. The Alabama native had gotten off to a hot start, catching nearly 40 pounds of Toledo Bend bass in the first period and claiming the top spot on SCORETRACKER®.

But around 1 p.m., his bite fizzled, and the field slowly chipped away. At one point, Zack Birge of Blanchard, Oklahoma, got within one scorable bass of the lead.

So, Connell ran to a new spot, one he hadn’t visited since the Qualifying Round. On his first cast of Period 3, he hooked into a 4-pounder. In that moment, the match met the proverbial fuse, sparking an epic display of fireworks.

During the two-hour final period, Connell boated a whopping 20 scorable bass weighing 58 pounds, 6 ounces, bringing his total for the day to 112-4 on 36 fish.

“I looked for something like this all week,” Connell said. “And I can’t believe that it happened.”

Connell’s total marked the biggest day for any angler during the event — despite the Championship Round being shortened by 30 minutes due to a one-hour, 45-minute fog delay. The win marks his fifth Bass Pro Tour victory – second most all-time – and his third straight in regular-season events contested with every-fish-counts scoring. He also won the final two tournaments of the 2022 season.

Ever since the BPT schedule was unveiled for 2024, Connell has had his eye on Toledo Bend. Given the late-winter timing of the event, he figured it would suit his strengths — namely, finding schools of fish with forward-facing sonar. And after failing to make a Championship Round during the 2023 regular season, he was hungry to get back in the Top 10.

“I do really well looking for schools of fish,” Connell said. “That’s how I grew up.”

So, Connell spent the months leading up to Stage One fishing three to four times per week on the lakes near his Clanton, Alabama, home. It didn’t matter that he primarily chased a different species (Alabama bass) a few hundred miles away from Toledo Bend. The practice was all about sharpening his skills with the hottest technique in tournament fishing: pinpointing suspended bass with electronics and using a soft-plastic minnow on a jighead to coax them into biting.

“I practiced for this tournament all fall,” Connell said. “I didn’t go deer hunting, I didn’t go golfing, I didn’t go sit on the couch. I’ve literally been fishing three or four days a week for four months, preparing for this, because I knew that this was going to be a tournament where I could have a really good shot.”

Despite the heavy rains that dumped muddy runoff into Toledo Bend prior to the event, Connell stayed committed to that strategy. He used a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader to catch most of his fish, especially in more stained water.

He affixed the bait to various jigheads but said he leaned on a 5/16-ounce version Sunday. He also mixed in a smaller, prototype CrushCity plastic called a Mooch Minnow. Connell wouldn’t divulge many details about the bait, which will debut this summer at ICAST, but said it accounted for three fish over 5 pounds during the Championship Round, including the aforementioned 7-4.

He found all his fish, of course, with Lowrance ActiveTarget. Given the dingy water and fishing pressure, making precise presentations — the result of his offseason practice — proved pivotal.

Connell’s technique was no secret. Everyone else in the Championship Round chased fish offshore using forward-facing sonar, most with a jighead minnow.

The difference came down to finding large schools of actively feeding bass, which moved each day. Key to doing so, Connell said, was covering as much of the massive, 185,000-acre playing field as possible during the week. After a strong first day of qualifying put him well ahead of the rest of the anglers in Group B, Connell used his second day of competition solely to practice. Then, after stacking more than 45 pounds on SCORETRACKER® in Period 1 of the Knockout Round, he once again set out in search of new water.

“The biggest key was decision making this week and trying to adapt to the water,” he said. “The water came up three feet, the water was muddy, the water started to clean.”

All that practicing paid off when Connell pulled the plug on his starting spot during the Championship Round. His first move took him to an area that was too muddy. Seeing how the water clarity had fluctuated led him to think of a spot he’d visited during the Qualifying Round. Connell described it as a pocket located between two major creeks.

It featured a ditch, or “drain,” where bass could corral shad.

During his initial visit, the area didn’t seem special — he caught a 3-pounder and a 2½-pounder there — but with clearer water, he knew it had the ingredients to attract baitfish (and thus bass) in large numbers. Boy did it.

“I ran in that area earlier in the week, and the fish weren’t in there as good,” he said. “And then the water cleared up, and they just flooded in there.”

The spot didn’t just have bass in numbers, but big ones, too. On the day, Connell boated nine bass of 4 pounds or bigger.

Connell, who didn’t catch a single 4-pounder during the Knockout Round, attributed his Sunday smashfest to his mindset — the biggest key to his win. Given how rapidly the conditions changed, he refused to commit to one area at any point in the week. And when the pressure mounted as his Championship Round lead shrunk, he avoided spinning out, ultimately making the winning decision.

“I did not want to get stuck into a one-track mind on this lake, because it’s so big, the fish move, the wind blows,” Connell said. “I just kept an open mind all week and was not afraid to run to a new area.”

The top 10 pros from the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole finished:

1st:          Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 36 bass, 112-4, $100,000
2nd:        Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 22 bass, 68-2, $45,000
3rd:         Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 19 bass, 66-8, $38,000
4th:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 18 bass, 60-15, $32,000
5th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 19 bass, 60-3, $30,000
6th:         Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 21 bass, 60-3, $26,000
7th:         Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, 19 bass, 50-10, $23,000
8th:         Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 48-6, $21,000
9th:         Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 15 bass, 42-11, $19,000
10th:       Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-11, $16,000

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

Overall, there were 194 scorable bass weighing 598 pounds, 9 ounces caught by the 10 pros Sunday, which included one 7-pounder, three 6-pounders, four 5-pounders and 24 4-pounders.

Connell also won Championship Sunday’s Berkley Big Bass Award, with a largemouth totaling 7 pounds, 4 ounces, in the first period. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament. Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part, Louisiana, earned the $3,000 Berkley Big Bass award for the overall largest bass of the event with his 11-pound, 1-ounce largemouth that was weighed on Day 1 of competition.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole featured the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers caught as much weight as they could each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament featured anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcased 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000, and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

The 2024 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

MANY, La. (Feb. 3, 2024) – After hovering near the top of the leaderboard in the two-day Qualifying Round, pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas, finished Day 5 of competition on top, catching 30 scorable bass weighing 101-14 to pace the Knockout Round and advance to the final day of competition at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole.

The Arkansas pro took over the lead mid-day, rising to the top of a stacked field going into Sunday’s Championship Round. In addition to Shuffield, a star-studded field of pros will compete in the final day of competition, including REDCREST 2021 Champion Dustin Connell of Clanton, Arkansas, two-time Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) winner Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, reigning Fishing Clash AOY Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, along with three Bass Pro Tour rookies, Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, local favorite Justin Cooper of Zwolle, Louisiana, and Martin Villa of Charlottesville, Virginia.

The final 10 anglers are now set, and competition resumes Sunday morning with the Championship Round. In the Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Shuffield joined an exclusive club of Bass Pro Tour anglers by stacking more than 100 pounds of bass on SCORETRACKER® in a single day. A handful of anglers have put up 100-pound days during the first six Bass Pro Tour seasons, but Shuffield is the first to do so with all largemouth. Perhaps even more impressive than hitting the century mark is that he did so while keeping some fish in reserve for Sunday’s Championship Round. While weights will zero when the Top 10 anglers return to the water, Shuffield is optimistic that he can put up even bigger numbers and claim his first career BPT win.

“Tomorrow it’s all going to get left out there on the table, so I’m looking forward to it,” Shuffield said. “I haven’t been able to truly lean on these fish yet this week. Tomorrow, we get to – and, man, it would be sweet to break 200 pounds, because it’s definitely possible.”

Shuffield finished the Knockout Round 21-14 ahead of second-place Connell, who racked up more than 45 pounds in the first period before switching to practice mode. Wheeler finished third with 72-12. Those three have looked to be the most in tune with Toledo Bend’s bass all week, but the race for the first trophy of the 2024 season will be wide open.

Shuffield said he’d never fished Toledo Bend prior to December, when he spent a few days on the massive reservoir to pre-practice for Stage One. Ever since that visit, he’s had his sights set on taking home the first trophy of the year.

One of the best on tour at using forward-facing sonar to target suspended fish, Shuffield figured Toledo Bend’s shad-hungry bass would set up to his liking. A successful practice only bolstered his confidence.

While Shuffield racked up more than 130 pounds across the two-day Qualifying Round, easily earning a spot in the Knockout Round, he emerged a bit disappointed. Saturday was more like the success he experienced during practice.

“I kind of lost contact with these bigger fish after practice for some reason,” Shuffield explained. “I had ‘em dialed in really good in practice, and then got out here first day of the tournament; they had really changed on me. The water went from 48 to 52 (degrees), and it was warming up a lot this morning and they had moved again, back out to kind of where they were in practice. I think a lot of that had to do with cloud cover, and the water was back to 50 degrees this morning.”

Like just about everyone else in the Top 10, Shuffield has caught the majority of his fish this week with a soft-plastic minnow affixed to a jighead. The key, he said, has been locating groups of bigger-than-average bass. He certainly found them Saturday, boating 10 fish of 4 pounds or bigger.

“It’s the type of bait that I’m looking for,” Shuffield said. “It’s all threadfin shad, of course, but when you find the bait set up correctly on the right type of area and place, you find the bigger quality fish.”

The scariest part for the rest of the field: Shuffield didn’t even visit his most promising spots during the Knockout Round. He ran all new water, adding a few more areas to his arsenal that he could turn to on Sunday. He also thinks he’ll have his fish to himself, saying he didn’t see another competitor all day.

“I said coming into the day that if I could make it to tomorrow without fishing through my best stuff, then I felt like I could win,” Shuffield said. “Today was brand new water, every bit of it.”

With the forecast calling for lighter winds during the Championship Round and the likes of Connell and Wheeler sure to keep the pedal to the metal all day, prepare for fireworks. While he brought up the possibility of hitting the 200-pound mark, Shuffield realistically thinks it will take about 120 pounds to claim the $100,000 first place prize.

“I’ve got four, five, six areas that really, really got ‘em, so I’m really excited about tomorrow, getting to come out here — it’s going to be no wind — so I’m looking forward to putting the pedal to the gas,” Shuffield said.

The top 10 pros from Saturday’s Knockout Round that now advance to Sunday’s Championship Round on Toledo Bend are:

1st:          Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 30 bass, 101-14
2nd:        Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 30 bass, 80-1
3rd:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 22 bass, 72-12
4th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 20 bass, 65-13
5th:         Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 18 bass, 60-13
6th:         Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 18 bass, 55-12
7th:         Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 20 bass, 52-7
8th:         Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, 17 bass, 50-13
9th:         Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 14 bass, 43-0
10th:       Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 14 bass, 38-15

Finishing in 11th through 20th place are:

11th:      Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 14 bass, 38-7
12th:      Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 14 bass, 37-12
13th:      Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 14 bass, 36-11
14th:      Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 10 bass, 32-1
15th:      Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., six bass, 23-2
16th:      Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., eight bass, 22-12
17th:      Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., six bass, 17-10
18th:      James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., six bass, 14-0
19th:      Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., four bass, 11-9
20th:      Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., four bass, 9-4

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

Overall, there were 289 scorable bass weighing 865 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the 20 pros Saturday, which included one 8-pounder, one 7-pounder, 10 5-pounders and 27 4-pounders.

Mark Daniels, Jr., of Tuskegee, Alabama, caught an 8-pound, 15-ounce largemouth on a jerkbait in the first period to claim Saturday’s Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000, and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Rounds were complete, the anglers that finished first through 10th from both groups advanced to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights were zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers competed to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. Tomorrow, in the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

The final 10 anglers competing in Sunday’s Championship Round will launch at 7:30 a.m. CT from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. The General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com .

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on Championship Sunday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Sunday, Feb. 4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party and Trophy Celebration. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Bass Pro Tour anglers will also compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

MANY, La. (Feb. 2, 2024) – Pro Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama, wrecked them again on Day 2 for Group B, maintaining his position atop the leaderboard, with a two-day total of 40 bass weighing 121 pounds, 7 ounces, to win Thursday’s Qualifying Round at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole.

Reigning Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) pro Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, finished the round in second place with a two-day total of 30 bass weighing 100-2, while pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee , finished in third, with 27 bass weighing 95-6. Leesburg, Ohio’s Cole Floyd caught 29 bass weighing 95-5 to end in fourth, while General Tire pro Alton Jones, Jr,. of Waco, Texas, also advanced to the Knockout Round in fifth place with a two-day total of 30 bass weighing 94-14.

The remaining 20 anglers – the top 10 from each group – now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to the Championship Round on Sunday. In Sunday’s final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Connell and the other anglers leading the pack in Group B got their work done early during their second day of competition. Connell boated 13 bass for 39 pounds, 9 ounces, Friday — 31-12 of that coming before noon — to bring his two-day total to 121-7. That easily led the group, 21-6 ahead of Becker.

Yet despite the likes of Connell, Becker and Jones Jr. devoting much of the day to exploring new water, SCORETRACKER® lit up early and often with quality Toledo Bend bass, foreshadowing a no-holds-barred slugfest when the Top 10 finishers in Group B meet the 10 best from Group A in Saturday’s Knockout Round. Meanwhile, a tightly bunched battle around the elimination line delivered drama throughout the third period, with pro Jesse Wiggins ultimately claiming the final spot thanks to a pair of catches in the final minutes.

For Connell, Friday was less about how much weight he could add to his total and more about how much of Toledo Bend’s massive surface area he could explore. He burned 30 gallons of gas running new water, focusing on areas that might not have produced during practice but could now hold baitfish and bass based on changing water clarity and wind direction.

He found plenty of fish in the process, as evidenced by his 13 keepers, including one new area he has “high hopes in.”

“I burned a lot of gas, and I ran all over the place just trying to find a new, fresh area that’s good now that the water’s starting to clean up,” Connell explained. “I was trying to play the wind direction and really find the bait, because the bait is moving around a lot. So I just went practicing all day, and I just caught what I caught practicing. It was a fun day.”

Connell’s technique isn’t a secret. Like most of the field, he’s using forward-facing sonar to find groups of suspended bass offshore, then casting to them with a soft plastic minnow on a jighead. Eight of the 10 anglers who advanced out of Group B have caught most of their weight doing something similar.

Connell’s plastic of choice has been the Rapala CrushCity Freeloader, the same bait Jacob Wheeler leaned on to win Group A. He said the pintail minnow is particularly effective in off-color water and when targeting bigger bass, making it perfect for Toledo Bend.

“I’m throwing it around some dingy water, and I think that bait has a lot of drawing power,” he said. “It has a great action, also. I mean, that’s one of the hottest techniques on the market, and that bait is really, really good.”

With so many anglers beaming offshore, Connell said Toledo Bend’s bass are showing signs of pressure. That’s one reason getting an entire day to scope out fresh schools should benefit him during the Knockout Round. He also believes the pressure and stained water have put a premium on presenting the bait accurately — something he spent the offseason perfecting.

“The fish are getting smart,” Connell said. “They’re getting used to seeing that kind of stuff, they’re getting used to hearing the transducers. The biggest key with this whole deal is being able to make a really good cast and know where your bait is at. It’s just all mechanics. … I’ve been doing it all fall for literally three days a week and just practicing this technique, because I came into this tournament anticipating it to be this way. So that’s what I’ve been doing, and practice makes perfect.”

With weights zeroing overnight, Connell knows he’ll have to come out swinging during the Knockout Round. But he’s optimistic that he can catch enough weight to earn a spot in the 10-angler Championship Round without playing all his cards.

“I want to finish in like fifth place, just enough to be alright,” he said. “And you never know, may get to practice some tomorrow. I just want to finish in the Top 10, I don’t care if it’s 10th.”

Toledo Bend’s big bass proved a bit more elusive Friday. For the first time all week, no fish over 7 pounds hit the scales. But Group B’s anglers made up for it with quantity.

The 40-angler field combined to catch 347 scorable bass for a total weight of more than 1,000 pounds. Both of those marks were the highest since the opening day of Stage One. Seventeen anglers racked up more than 30 pounds, the most of any day so far, with five eclipsing the 50-pound mark. As a result, the cut line climbed all the way from 30-13 at the start of the day to 70-10 at the end.

That should portend even more explosive action during the Knockout Round. With the forecast calling for overcast, rainy conditions, Connell predicted Saturday will bring the best bite yet.

“They’re going to bite really, really good,” he said.

The top 10 pros from Group B that now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round on Toledo Bend are:

1st:          Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 40 bass, 121-7
2nd:        Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 30 bass, 100-2
3rd:         Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 27 bass, 95-6
4th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 29 bass, 95-5
5th:         Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 30 bass, 94-14
6th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 30 bass, 81-1
7th:         Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 27 bass, 79-1
8th:         Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 22 bass, 75-4
9th:         Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 27 bass, 73-7
10th:       Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 23 bass, 70-10

Eliminated from competition are:

11th:      Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 21 bass, 66-14
12th:      Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 24 bass, 66-10
13th:      Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 22 bass, 66-9
14th:      Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 20 bass, 65-3
15th:      David Walker, Huntingdon, Tenn., 22 bass, 63-8
16th:      Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 20 bass, 59-5
17th:      Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 18 bass, 50-14
18th:      Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 18 bass, 49-1
19th:      Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 17 bass, 47-12
20th:      Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 12 bass, 45-14
21st:      Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 16 bass, 43-14
22nd:     Dave Lefebre, Erie, Penn., 13 bass, 40-8
23rd:      Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 14 bass, 39-11
24th:      Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 13 bass, 37-12
25th:      Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 11 bass, 34-7
26th:      Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., 13 bass, 33-0
27th:      Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., 13 bass, 32-12
28th:      Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., 11 bass, 31-5
29th:      Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 10 bass, 29-8
30th:      Grae Buck, Green Lane, Penn., six bass, 28-7
31st:      Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 11 bass, 27-0
32nd:     Matt Lee, Cullman, Ala., eight bass, 25-9
33rd:      Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., seven bass, 24-5
34th:      Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., eight bass, 20-11
35th:      Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, five bass, 14-8
36th:      Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., two bass, 7-8
37th:      Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., two bass, 6-14
38th:      James Watson, Lampe, Mo., three bass, 6-11
39th:      Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., two bass, 5-2
40th:      John Murray, Spring City, Tenn., zero bass, 0-0

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

Overall, there were 347 scorable bass weighing 1,020 pounds, 12 ounces caught by 38 pros Friday, which included 35 4-pounders, 9 5-pounders and three 6-pounders.

Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was awarded to pro Jacob Wall of New Hope, Alabama, who weighed in a 6-pound, 14-ounce largemouth that bit his swimjig early in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000, and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. Now that each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s 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 launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Due to forecasted high winds, MLF has enacted the MLF Trailering Policy for Saturday, February 3, meaning pros can trailer their boats and drive them to any ramp on the fishery closer to where they plan to start fishing. Pros taking advantage of the MLF Trailering Policy will leave Cypress Bend Park at 7 a.m. CT and will begin fishing at 8 a.m. CT (Lines In) with the full field.

Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Bass Pro Tour anglers will also compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

MANY, La. (Feb. 1, 2024) – Group A pros faced a stingier Toledo Bend Thursday as conditions began to change across the fishery, with many of the pros weighing considerably less scorable bass on their second day of competition. But less was still good enough for Harrison, Tennessee’s Jacob Wheeler – the two-time Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) winner – who maintained his spot atop the leaderboard to win the Qualifying Round for Group A at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole. Wheeler caught 91 pounds of scorable bass on Day 1 for Group A, and added 60 pounds, 7 ounces on Thursday for a two-day total of 47 bass weighing 151-7.

Bass Pro Tour rookie Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, finished the round in second place with a two-day total of 42 bass weighing 139-12. Pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas, boated a two-day total of 44 bass weighing 130-3 to end the round in third place, while local favorite rookie Justin Cooper of Zwolle, Louisiana , finished the day in fourth place with a two-day total of 27 bass weighing 80-9. Spring City, Tennessee’s Wesley Strader rounded out the top five with a two-day total of 31 bass weighing 80 pounds even.

The top 10 anglers advancing from Group A will now have an off day from competition Friday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will complete their two-day Qualifying Round. The top 10 anglers from each group advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to the Championship Round. In Sunday’s final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Wheeler’s objective during Group A’s second day of qualifying on Toledo Bend wasn’t really to catch bass. The Tennessee pro had already secured a spot in Saturday’s Knockout Round by catching 91 pounds on Day 1. Thursday was all about exploring new water in preparation for the weekend.

Still, no one caught more weight on the day than Wheeler. He added 19 bass for 60 pounds, 7 ounces to SCORETRACKER®, bringing his two-day total to 151-7. That topped Gill by 11-12 on the day to lead the way in Group A.

Wheeler said he wasn’t necessarily trying to stay atop the leaderboard. He fished only water that he hadn’t visited on Day 1, and his 19 scorable catches were simply a product of sampling each new area.

“There’s a lot of junk fish out there, catfish and everything else, or they’re smaller bass,” Wheeler explained. “If I was going to pull into a new area, I wanted to catch one or two to know, okay, yes, this is 2½– or 3-pounders, or this is all catfish.”

On a day when both total numbers and weights dipped across the board, that should be a scary thought for the rest of the field.

While Wheeler estimated about a third of his Day 2 weight came from areas he won’t revisit this week, he felt like he achieved his goal of expanding his pattern and identifying some options he can turn to if conditions change in the coming days.

“I feel like I definitely can catch ‘em, and I feel like I found a couple areas that I definitely would like to fish a little bit more,” he said. “A lot of stuff I was just fortunate to catch a fish or two on, and I won’t be going back, so it just depends on what’s really going down and how those fish are acting come Saturday.”

Wheeler said he caught virtually all his fish on a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader after pinpointing them on forward-facing sonar. While it’s been on the market for less than a year, the minnow-style soft plastic should be familiar to Bass Pro Tour fans, as Wheeler used it to dominate on Lake Guntersville last season. Key this week, he said, has been experimenting with jighead size. He’s affixed the bait to ball heads ranging from 1/8 ounce to 1/2 ounce.

SHOP CRUSH CITY NOW!

Wheeler is far from alone in his approach – each of the top five finishers in Group A caught the bulk of their weight using a jighead minnow and forward-facing sonar. At this point, he feels confident that “there’s a good chance the tournament is going to be won doing what I’m doing.”

But while it might look like it to viewers on MLFNOW!, the technique isn’t as simple as scanning the depths until you see a bass, then casting to it and reeling it in – especially given the number of anglers that will likely be doing the same thing during the Knockout and Championship Rounds. Wheeler believes his day of exploration allowed him to further dial in the subtleties that could make the difference down the stretch.

“That’s literally the goal to start the week,” Wheeler said. “If you can make a Top 10 cut in one day, you better dang well do it, because that’s going to give you the time and opportunity to go check some other stuff out.”

The top 10 pros from Group A that now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round on Toledo Bend are:

1st:          Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 47 bass, 151-7
2nd:        Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 42 bass, 139-12
3rd:         Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 44 bass, 130-3
4th:         Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 27 bass, 80-9
5th:         Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 31 bass, 80-0
6th:         James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 26 bass, 76-14
7th:         Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 23 bass, 73-2
8th:         Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 23 bass, 72-3
9th:         Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 25 bass, 69-6
10th:       Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 26 bass, 67-3

Eliminated from competition are:

11th:      Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 21 bass, 66-2
12th:      Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 16 bass, 58-12
13th:      Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 21 bass, 57-15
14th:      Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 16 bass, 57-4
15th:      Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 19 bass, 54-14
16th:      Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 17 bass, 51-0
17th:      John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 15 bass, 49-2
18th:      Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 47-9
19th:      Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 16 bass, 47-8
20th:      Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., 18 bass, 46-5
21st:      Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 20 bass, 45-14
22nd:     Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 13 bass, 43-0
23rd:      Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., nine bass, 40-0
24th:      Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 14 bass, 37-5
25th:      Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 11 bass, 29-6
26th:      Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., nine bass, 26-15
27th:      Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas, 10 bass, 26-12
28th:      Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., nine bass, 26-5
29th:      Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 10 bass, 26-5
30th:      Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 26-5
31st:      Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, eight bass, 26-4
32nd:     David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., eight bass, 26-4
33rd:      Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 10 bass, 26-0
34th:      Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., nine bass, 24-5
35th:      Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark., five bass, 22-13
36th:      Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., eight bass, 21-5
37th:      Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 16-5
38th:      Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., four bass, 10-6
39th:      Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., four bass, 9-4
40th:      Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., zero bass, 0-0

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

Overall, there were 312 scorable bass weighing 931 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the 39 pros Thursday, which included one 8-pounder, four 6-pounders and 13 5-pounders.

Pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California earned Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with an 8-pound, 9-ounce largemouth bass that he caught on a jerkbait during Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000, and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10^th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s 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 launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Friday, Feb. 2, Toledo Bend Lake Country will host an Education Day in conjunction with the tournament at Cypress Bend Park, where 260 eighth-grade students from local area schools will have the opportunity to learn about lake ecology, casting techniques and the Toledo Bend fishery. Bass Pro Tour pros will be onsite throughout the event providing instruction and working with students.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Bass Pro Tour anglers will also compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

MANY, La. (Jan. 31, 2024) – After dancing around the top spot throughout the day, pro Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama , went on an afternoon flurry to pull away from the pack and grab the early lead for Group B after Day 1 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole. Connell and pro Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, set the pace for Group B, both slipping in and out of the number one spot throughout the morning, as each had tallied more than 50 pounds of bass by the end of the second period. Connell pulled ahead during Period 3 to finish the day with 27 bass weighing 81 pounds, 14 ounces. Becker ended the day in second, with 18 bass weighing 61-12.

Link to Hi-Res Photo of Qualifying Group B Leader Dustin Connell
Link to Photo Gallery of Group B’s Day 1 Qualifying Round Highlights

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000, and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

If Connell didn’t have enough motivation when he took to the water for Group B’s first day of competition on Toledo Bend — wanting to start the 2024 season strong, to get back in the Championship Round after making just one Top 10 last year — all he had to do was look at the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard for the event.

Jacob Wheeler, who has roomed with Connell throughout their Bass Pro Tour careers, rocketed to the Day 1 lead in Group A when he landed 28 bass for 91 pounds on Tuesday. Though the two pros won’t compete head-to-head until the Knockout Round, Connell wanted to one-up his close friend – and he nearly pulled it off.

“I always try to beat Jacob,” Connell said. “It’s very hard to do. He’s on another level, and he motivates me to become better every day. It’s just cool to see me and him on top.”

While dynamic conditions on Toledo Bend have made the bite tricky for much of the field, Connell made it look easy, boating seven scorable bass for 20-6 in the first hour, then putting together an even stronger surge across the second and third periods. Between 10:53 a.m. and 1:58 p.m. (which included a 15-minute period break), Connell stacked 14 bass on SCORETRACKER®, including his biggest of the day, a 6-11. The flurry added 45-13 to his total and gave him some breathing room over Becker.

While Connell was pleased by his performance, he said his total could have been significantly larger. He lost several fish, including the biggest one he hooked.

“I had a good start,” he said. “I told myself before the day started, if I can catch 10 pounds per period, I’ll probably be leading, and I was right there on track. And I lost several fish today. I lost one probably 8 pounds. I lost a 5-pounder, two more 4-pounders. I don’t know what was going on. I think it was just the first day jitters.”

Connell did his damage in an area that he identified a few months ago, during pre-practice. However, he had to move around throughout the day to stay on the fish. With dirty runoff from recent rains continuing to flow through Toledo Bend and water temperatures on the rise, the bite is constantly changing.

“I came over here and pre-practiced, found a certain area that I really liked, and I just milled around and caught what I could,” he explained. “Things are changing, though. The water has come up – it’s dirty in some areas, and it’s clearing up in others – and there’s so many different variables right now. I had to move around a decent amount.”

Connell expects that change to continue. While finesse tactics paired with forward-facing sonar have dominated so far — that’s how Connell caught all his fish Wednesday, and per SCORETRACKER® Insider, Becker employed similar tactics — Connell isn’t willing to guarantee that’s how the first trophy of the year will be won.
 
“I think there’s going to be a lot of fish moving, and I wouldn’t doubt this tournament gets won shallow,” Connell said. “That water temperature really gets fish wanting to move up. So, I don’t know. I mean, I would think that my pattern would hold, but you just can’t ever tell.”

The good news for Connell is, with a buffer of more than 50 pounds over the elimination line, he can use the second day of qualifying to explore new water. He said he plans to spend all day Friday practicing.

“I’m going to be able to expand my area on Friday,” he said. “I’ll move around a lot, and I’ll have a whole day to look for fish for the Knockout and Championship Rounds. So, I feel really good about it.”

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day from competition Thursday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will wrap up their two-day Qualifying Round. Group B will finish their Qualifying Round on Friday.

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Toledo Bend are:

1st:          Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 27 bass, 81-14
2nd:        Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Penn., 18 bass, 61-12
3rd:        Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 16 bass, 54-2
4th:         Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 19 bass, 52-14
5th:         Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 12 bass, 46-14
6th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburgh, Ohio, 14 bass, 45-4
7th:         Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 15 bass, 39-12
8th:         Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 12 bass, 35-1
9th:         David Walker, Huntingdon, Tenn., 10 bass, 31-8
10th:      Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 10 bass, 30-13
11th:      Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., eight bass, 29-12
12th:      Dave Lefebre, Erie, Penn., nine bass, 29-5
13th:      Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., eight bass, 24-13
14th:      Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., seven bass, 24-11
15th:      Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., seven bass, 24-6
16th:      Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., nine bass, 23-15
17th:      Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., six bass, 21-15
18th:      Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, eight bass, 21-5
19th:      Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., four bass, 20-15
20th:      Grae Buck, Green Lane, Penn., four bass, 19-5

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

Pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee, earned the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award after a 9-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bit his jig in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10^th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s 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 launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at  MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com  and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Friday, Feb. 2, Toledo Bend Lake Country will host an Education Day in conjunction with the tournament at Cypress Bend Park, where 260 eighth-grade students from local area schools will have the opportunity to learn about lake ecology, casting techniques and the Toledo Bend fishery. Bass Pro Tour pros will be onsite throughout the event providing instruction and working with students.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Bass Pro Tour anglers will also compete throughout the 2024 season for the prestigious Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) award and its $100,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.

MANY, La. (Jan. 30, 2024) – Despite a three-way battle atop the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard Tuesday, pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee , weighed in 28 scorable bass totaling 91 pounds even to jump to the early lead for Group A after Day 1 of the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole. Pro Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Arkansas, ended the day just 2 pounds, 15 ounces behind Wheeler with 29 scorable bass totaling 88-1, good for second place. Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois , began his rookie season on the Bass Pro Tour with a bang, weighing 26 scorable bass totaling 81-13 to round out the top three.

The six-day tournament, hosted by Toledo Bend Lake Country and the Louisiana Office of Tourism, showcases 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing for a purse of $659,000, including a top payout of $100,000 and valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition Wednesday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition. Group A will resume competition on Thursday.

It’s no secret that the past three years on the Bass Pro Tour have been defined by Wheeler’s dominance. During that span, the Tennessee pro has racked up 20 Championship Round appearances (in 27 total events) and four wins. He took home the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title in 2021 and 2022 before finishing second to Matt Becker last season.

Wheeler wasted no time on Day 1 showing that his game remains as sharp as ever, boating a Toledo Bend giant less than 10 minutes into the first period. By the time Wheeler trailered his boat, other anglers had already peppered him with questions about the 8-pounder, asking whether he’d marked the fish during practice and run to his starting spot to find it. He insisted the giant caught him by surprise.

“I just happened to pull into a little area that I caught some fish (during practice), and my first bite just happened to be an 8-pounder,” Wheeler said. “And if that’s any telltale sign for how the year is going to go, I’m all about 8-pounders.”

While the longterm implications remain to be seen, his early success proved indicative of the pattern Wheeler ran throughout the day. He didn’t divulge many details but did say that once he found a spot with the right ingredients, he generally caught fish quickly and in bunches.

“It’s definitely a pattern where if I see what I’m looking for, it’s pretty quick to generate a bite,” he explained. “I’m hoping to have enough of that stuff because that’s really what it comes down to.”

With an advantage of more than 55 pounds over 11^th place, Wheeler plans to use most of Day 2 for Group A exploring new water in hopes of finding more productive areas. That could prove key, as conditions are changing rapidly on Toledo Bend.

The region was hit hard by storms prior to practice, and swaths of muddy water are moving through the reservoir as a result. Wheeler said the lake fished differently than even a day or two ago — which might explain why the Day 1 weights were a bit top-heavy, with 19 of the 40 anglers falling short of 20 pounds. With more dirty water expected to reach the main lake and temperatures likely to warm in the coming days, Wheeler said he doesn’t believe he’ll be able to ride the areas he fished Tuesday through Sunday’s Championship Round.

“A lot of water is going to continue to move down the system,” Wheeler predicted. “So I think that’s definitely going to continue to be the trend, water continuing to dirty up and things continuing to change. It’s prespawn, spring fishing. When you have that kind of rain, it’s definitely going to change some things, and every day is going to be different.”

While Wheeler held the top spot on SCORETRACKER® for most of the day, both Shuffield and Gill challenged his lead at times. Those three have separated themselves from the rest of the pack; they each cleared 80 pounds on the day while no one else reached 50.

Gill wasn’t the only newcomer to get off to a strong start. Rookie Martin Villa sits sixth with 40-7, while fellow rookie Justin Cooper — who lives in nearby Zwolle, Louisiana, and guides on Toledo Bend — finished ninth with 36-14.

The top 20 pros in Group A after Day 1 on Toledo Bend are:

1st:          Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 28 bass, 91-0
2nd:       Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 29 bass, 88-1
3rd:        Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 26 bass, 81-14
4th:         James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 17 bass, 49-15
5th:         Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 19 bass, 49-13
6th:         Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 12 bass, 40-7
7th:         Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 15 bass, 39-2
8th:         Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 14 bass, 39-1
9th:         Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 12 bass, 36-14
10th:      Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 36-5
11th:      Ryan Salzman, Huntsville, Ala., 11 bass, 35-14
12th:      Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 11 bass, 35-3
13th:      Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 11 bass, 32-0
14th:      John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 10 bass, 30-0
15th:      Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., nine bass, 29-15
16th:      Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., nine bass, 29-4
17th:      Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 11 bass, 28-9
18th:      Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 28-0
19th:      Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., eight bass, 24-5
20th:      Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 10 bass, 23-7

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

Local favorite “Cajun Baby” Cliff Crochet of Pierre Part, Louisiana , earned Tuesday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award after an 11-pound, 1-ounce largemouth bit his crankbait in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day Qualifying Round on Tuesday and Thursday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Wednesday and Friday. After each two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the anglers that finish first through 10^th from both groups advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to Sunday’s 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 launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from Cypress Bend Park, located at 3462 Cypress Bend Drive in Many. Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard and event coverage at  MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on the final four days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com  and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

On Friday, Feb. 2, Toledo Bend Lake Country will host an Education Day in conjunction with the tournament at Cypress Bend Park, where 260 eighth-grade students from local area schools will have the opportunity to learn about lake ecology, casting techniques and the Toledo Bend fishery. Bass Pro Tour pros will be onsite throughout the event providing instruction and working with students.

On Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 3-4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF invites fans of all ages to visit Cypress Bend Park for the MLF Watch Party. Fans can watch the action from the water live on the MLFNOW! big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel from Pure Fishing each day. The final 10 Championship Round Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand at the trophy celebration on Championship Sunday to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2025 championship.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One at Toledo Bend Presented by Power-Pole Knockout Round will air as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 20 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on July 27. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Rapala, StarBrite, Suzuki, Toyota and U.S. Air Force.