Ehrler Leads Major League Fishing Tournament on Caney Creek Reservoir

MONROE-WEST MONROE, La. (April 27, 2023) – Brent Ehrler caught five scorable bass totaling 27 pounds, 14 ounces, to win the Qualifying Round for Group B and advance straight to the Championship Round tournament on Caney Creek Reservoir at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Heavy Hitters. Ehrler’s two-day total of 11 bass weighing 47 pounds, 5 ounces, earned him the win by a slim 7-ounce margin over Day 1 leader pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, who finished the round in second place with 46-14.

The six-day all-star event showcases the top 30 pros that qualified via the Bass Pro Tour competing in a no-entry fee tournament for a purse of more than $500,000, including numerous massive Big Bass Bonuses and a payout of $100,000 to the winner.

Pro Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama, finished the day in third place with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 36-11, while pro Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, who started day in second place, fell to fourth with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 12 ounces. Alabama pro Randy Howell rounds out the top five with nine bass weighing 33 pounds, 9 ounces.

With the Qualifying Round now complete, the anglers that finished in 2nd through 8th place from each group advance to Friday’s Knockout Round. The Knockout Round will feature 14 anglers competing to finish in the top eight. Saturday’s Championship Round will feature Group A Qualifying Round winner Bryan Thrift, Ehrler and the top eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000 along with the $100,000 Berkley Big Bass Bonus.

“Oh my goodness, what a day,” Ehrler said in his post-game interview. “I guess I just made the right decisions. I can’t believe that I was able to hold on today, though, I can’t believe Andy (Morgan) stumbled like that. He is such a good fisherman and my hat is off to him. This is not what I thought was going to happen today. I thought that if I had a good day I could go out and catch just enough to make the Knockout Round and fish here again. But man, to do what I did today and have Andy stumble, it had to take both of those things to happen. I’m truly blessed to have this happen today.”

A Yamamoto Senko has been the key bait for Ehrler so far, this week.

“The week, for me, was really all about the Yamamoto Senko,” Ehrler said. “I caught a few on a drop-shot, but most everything came on that Senko. Mainly a neko-rig, with a Gamakatsu Weedless Stinger hook that I designed specifically for throwing on a wacky rig and a neko rig. with an Ark Tungsten nail weight.

“My bread and butter for any kind of spinning stuff is my Daiwa Tatula Elite drop-shot rod,” Ehrler continued. “It’s a medium-action rod, but it’s multi-purpose – I use it for everything. I use it for a wacky rig, I use it for a shaky-head rig. I use it for a drop-shot rig. It does everything. I use it with a (Daiwa) Tatula LT 4000 reel, with 12-pound Sunline braided line and an 8-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon (leader). I caught every fish that I weighed in this tournament on this setup."

Pro Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Alabama, struggled for most of the day and did not advance to the Knockout Round, but still walked away from the event a big winner. Lucas caught an 8-pound, 5-ounce largemouth in Period 3 – the largest bass of the two-day Group B Qualifying Round – and won the $25,000 Qualifying Round Group B Big Bass Bonus. Another prize of $50,000 will be awarded to the heaviest fish landed Friday in the Knockout Round, and $100,000 will be awarded for the single biggest fish in Saturday’s Championship Round.

“I’ve never been this happy missing a cut before, I can tell you that,” Lucas joked in his post-game interview. “I only caught one fish today, but it was a big one. I caught it on a drop-shot in 8 feet of water, in some standing timber. I couldn’t see it on the graph – I just threw out into the timber and picked up (my line) and she was taking off. It was a fight. She was dogging it pretty good through the wood, but the Berkley Trilene came through.

“I’ve never caught one bass that was worth that much, so this is really cool,” Lucas went on to say.  

The top eight pros from Qualifying Group B that now advance to Friday’s Knockout Round on Caney Creek Reservoir are:

1st:          Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 11 bass, 47-5 – ADVANCES TO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
2nd:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 14 bass, 46-14
3rd:         Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., nine bass, 36-11
4th:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 35-12
5th:         Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., nine bass, 33-9
6th:         Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 10 bass, 31-9
7th:         Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., eight bass, 31-7
8th:         Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., six bass, 29-15

Finishing the event in 9th through 15th place are:

9th:         Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 21-15
10th:       Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, six bass, 17-14
11th:       Randall Tharp, Port Saint Joe, Fla., four bass, 16-7
12th:       Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 15-11
13th:       Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., four bass, 12-8
14th:       Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., one bass, 7-12
15th:       Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., three bass, 7-10

Overall, there were 48 bass weighing 181 pounds, 9 ounces even caught by 14 pros on Thursday, which included one 8-pounder, three 7-pounders and one six 6-pounder caught from Caney Creek Reservoir.