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NEENAH, Wis. (June 30, 2019) – Out of all of the well-known bass factories that the Bass  Pro Tour visited this year, who would have guessed that Green Lake, Wisconsin, would be one of the top producers? It proved to be an excellent venue for the 2019 regular-season finale and Championship Round of the Evinrude Stage Eight Presented by Tracker Off Road.

Sunday’s championship battle required a hefty total to win (more than 81 pounds) and easily outdistanced the winning weight for Lakes Toho, Conroe, Smith, and Chickamauga. 

MLF pro Cliff Pace caught 47 bass for 81-9 in today’s Championship Round to claim the trophy at the Bass Pro Tour Evinrude Stage Eight Presented by Tracker Off Road at Neenah, Wis.

Major League Fishing

That’s because the day was defined mostly by non-stop action on SCORETRACKER®, except for the midday weather delay due to a strong band of rain, thunder, and lightning that covered the entirety of the nearly 8,000-acre lake.

Once fishing resumed, Cliff Pace took over and ran away with the title. Bobby Lane made a late charge, but in the end, Pace was the pace-setter, winning by over 12 pounds.

Pace Races Away With It

Pace grabbed the lead in the second period and never looked back. The windy and cloudy conditions played a significant role in his victory, and how he was able to catch 47 bass for 81-9. 

Pace keyed on a mix of rock and sand, with most of his fishing coming on a Jackall Rerange Jerkbait, but he also caught some on a Jackall Crosstail Shad fished on a drop-shot rig.

The majority of Pace’s fish fell for a Jackall Rerange Jerkbait, but he started the day plucking them off with a Jackall Crosstail Shad fished on a drop-shot rig.

“After the delay, the wind was still blowing, and when we went back out, I caught one on the jerkbait on the first cast,” Pace said. “I never put it down after that. It was all about the conditions. I was looking for areas with rock since there was so much sand everywhere. The main thing on natural lakes is to find where there is a mix of rock and sand.”
For his win, he takes home $100,000 and the title of Stage Eight Champion.

Lane’s Rally Falls Short

Once Pace got on a roll, he proved to be too far out of reach for Lane and the rest of the field.

“I just couldn’t keep pace with Cliff Pace today,” Lane admitted. “Every time I would get on a little roll, he would start catching them again. He was just too far ahead.”

Lane mixed in a jerkbait and drop-shot to finish a distant second. His key drop-shot baits were a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent 4-inch The General in black and green pumpkin.

Ehrler Finishes Third

Brent Ehrler started slow, but he rose toward the top of standings midday. Part of his ascension was thanks to quality smallmouths over 3 pounds at the start of Period 3.

“I got on one little deal with a jerkbait, topwater, Neko rig, drop-shot, and a spybait – it was all typical smallmouth stuff, I just didn’t have enough areas to do it,” said the California pro, who finished the Championship Round with 29 bass for 56-8. His catch included a smallmouth weighing 4-2.

Ashley Rallies Late for Fourth Place

With so many willing smallmouth biting, Ashley spent most of the day chasing brown bass before heading to the bank late in the day. He put on a largemouth clinic for those watching the MLF NOW! live stream. 

Smallmouth have a reputation for vanishing in moments, and Ashley admitted that they’re not his favorite target species. But going into the day, he thought he needed them to have a chance.

“After the storms moved through there were hardly any boats on the lake and the rest of our guys were out chasing smallmouth,” said Ashley, who ended the day with 26 fish for 55-12. “I wish I would have gone for largemouth sooner because they were not as pressured.” 

The Wheels Fell Off for Wheeler

Out of the 10 anglers fishing today, only Wheeler took the time for the four-hour ride around on Green Lake during the off day earlier this week. 

Early on, it appeared that his homework was going to pay off as he came out of the gates swinging. After the first period, he had 11 bass for 27-14 including several nice smallmouth. At this point, he held a commanding seven-pound lead over Bobby Lane.

From there, the conditions changed, and he only mustered four bass the rest of the day. He continued to fall down the standings and finished up in sixth place with 15 bass for 35-14.

Daily Winners

Shotgun Round daily awards were:
* The Berkley Big Bass of the day was Andy Morgan’s 4-14 largemouth.* Cliff Pace won the Berkley Catch Count award with 47 bass on the day.* Pace also earned the Phoenix Boats Daily Leader award with 81-09.

Looking Ahead

For the 30 anglers who qualified for the REDCREST, they are rewarded with a return trip to Wisconsin in August. The event will be held on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse on August 21-25. 

Final Results

To see all results for today’s Championship Round, as well as all results for each competition day, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com and click “Results.”

DAYTON, Tenn. (April 10, 2019) – In the five-decade history of organized bass-fishing competition, there have been very few 2 ½-hour displays of fish-catching proficiency the likes of which Major League Fishing® (MLF) pro Cliff Crochet put on this morning on Lake Chickamauga. Fishing in the Group B Shotgun Round of the Bass Pro Tour Econo Lodge Stage Four Presented by Winn Grips, Crochet caught his first scorable bass – a 5-plus-pounder – 12 minutes into the competition, and then went on a spree that saw the Louisiana pro stack 65 pounds, 11 ounces of Tennessee River largemouth onto SCORETRACKER by the end of Period 1. Crochet’s 31-fish, 65-plus-pound maelstrom of hookups in Period 1 was more than the daily total weights of 18 of the 19 round winners so far in the 2019 Bass Pro Tour schedule. “I didn’t know that was going to happen,” Crochet joked as he waited for the Berkley Postgame Show to start. “I caught four fish in the first little flurry, and I thought that was a good start to the day. Worst-case scenario, I could grind and have a decent day. I hit the second flurry and had enough sense to realize what was going on. “I really tried to focus on good technique: from casting to hookset to fighting them to weighing them. I didn’t know how long it was going to last, but I knew I needed to cover as much ground (on SCORETRACKER™) as I could.” Crochet finished the day with 34 fish for 69-6, at one time opening up a 30-pound lead before backing off and spending most of the second and third periods scouting for new water for his Elimination Round on Friday. 

Another Heavy Day on Chickamauga While Crochet’s cushion on the rest of the field was virtually insurmountable after the first period, a large percentage of the other 39 Group B anglers competing had strong days as well: Edwin Evers finished second with 55-2, Zack Birge was third with 51-4. In all, 17 anglers put 37 pounds or more on SCORETRACKER during the day. The field accounted for 1,312 pounds on the day, including six fish over 7 pounds.

On to Elimination Rounds The 40 anglers from Group A return to Chickamauga Thursday for the first Elimination Round of Stage Four. The leading edge of a storm front will bring 10- to 20-mph winds out of the south, which will create some change from the nice conditions of the first two days of fishing. Dave Lefebre heads into that round with the comfort of the 59-14 he caught in his Shotgun Round, followed by five other anglers who landed 50 pounds or more. But unlike some previous Elimination Rounds – where the Top 10 could take their foot off the gas and “practice” during the day – the proliferation of fish catches (combined with the simmering potential for more 8-plus-pound giants to show up on beds) will likely keep most of the field focused on the task at hand.  “These guys flat need to catch fish in the Elimination Round, there’s not much room to cruise,” said MLF NOW! analyst Marty Stone. 

Looking Ahead Group B will fish the second Elimination Round on Friday. The Top 20 anglers from each of the two Elimination groups will advance to a 40-angler Knockout Round on Saturday – 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 Sunday, April 14. 

Where, When, How to Watch Competition begins daily at 7:30 a.m. ET, with live, official scoring available via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 10 a.m. ET, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 3:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 5 p.m. daily. 

Final Standings – Shotgun Round 2

Place	Angler	Total Weight	Total # Fish	Avg Weight	Largest Fish
	1st	Cliff Crochet	69 – 06	34	2 – 01	5 – 01
	2nd	Edwin Evers	55 – 02	28	1 – 16	3 – 14
	3rd	Zack Birge	51 – 04	23	2 – 04	4 – 15
	4th	Fletcher Shryock	47 – 12	25	1 – 15	5 – 09
	5th	Michael Neal	47 – 10	22	2 – 03	6 – 01
	6th	Gary Klein	47 – 00	25	1 – 14	3 – 11
	7th	Brent Ehrler	44 – 08	21	2 – 02	6 – 02
	8th	Jared Lintner	44 – 07	24	1 – 14	3 – 03
	9th	Todd Faircloth	43 – 14	21	2 – 01	5 – 02
	10th	Luke Clausen	41 – 15	25	1 – 11	2 – 10
	11th	Mike Iaconelli	39 – 14	23	1 – 12	4 – 04
	12th	Cody Meyer	38 – 12	17	2 – 04	7 – 11
	13th	Alton Jones	37 – 15	16	2 – 06	7 – 08
	14th	John Murray	37 – 11	20	1 – 14	3 – 13
	15th	Tommy Biffle	37 – 08	19	1 – 16	6 – 03
	16th	Adrian Avena	36 – 13	17	2 – 03	5 – 04
	17th	Fred Roumbanis	36 – 01	18	2 – 00	4 – 04
	18th	Greg Vinson	32 – 05	20	1 – 10	3 – 01
	19th	Josh Bertrand	32 – 04	14	2 – 05	5 – 15
	20th	Jacob Wheeler	32 – 01	15	2 – 02	4 – 12
	21st	Andy Morgan	31 – 08	17	1 – 14	3 – 07
	22nd	Andy Montgomery	31 – 06	17	1 – 14	3 – 14
	23rd	Mark Davis	28 – 08	17	1 – 11	3 – 00
	24th	Paul Elias	28 – 04	18	1 – 09	2 – 14
	25th	Mark Daniels, Jr.	27 – 00	10	2 – 11	7 – 13
	26th	Alton Jones Jr.	26 – 14	9	2 – 16	8 – 06
	27th	Boyd Duckett	26 – 13	12	2 – 04	4 – 03
	28th	Jason Christie	25 – 14	11	2 – 06	3 – 05
	29th	Kevin VanDam	24 – 14	15	1 – 11	2 – 12
	30th	Brandon Coulter	22 – 09	11	2 – 01	7 – 11
	31st	Wesley Strader	20 – 13	12	1 – 12	3 – 06
	32nd	Gerald Swindle	20 – 10	11	1 – 14	2 – 09
	33rd	Shin Fukae	20 – 08	12	1 – 11	2 – 09
	34th	Jacob Powroznik	20 – 01	11	1 – 13	2 – 12
	35th	Anthony Gagliardi	19 – 01	10	1 – 15	2 – 15
	36th	James Watson	18 – 01	7	2 – 09	7 – 02
	37th	Kelly Jordon	18 – 00	9	2 – 00	2 – 13
	38th	Jason Lambert	17 – 01	8	2 – 02	4 – 08
	39th	Randall Tharp	17 – 00	10	1 – 11	2 – 12
	40th	Justin Atkins	13 – 10	9	1 – 08	2 – 04