PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Aug. 6, 2021) – Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Alabama, caught 15 scorable bass Friday weighing 50 pounds, 2 ounces, to grab the early lead in Group B after their Day 1 Qualifying Round at the Stage Six tournament at Lake Champlain in Plattburgh, New York. Lucas will bring a 5-pound, 15-ounce lead into Group B’s Qualifying Round finale on Sunday.
Right behind Lucas in second place is Knoxville, Tennessee pro Brandon Coulter, who held the lead for most of the day before Lucas overtook him in the third period. Coulter boated 18 bass totaling 47-15. Rounding out the top three was Jeff Sprague of Point, Texas, who caught 17 bass for 44-1 to end the day in third.
The 39 anglers in Group B will now have a day off on Saturday, while the 34 anglers in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Sunday. The six-day event features top professional anglers competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.
“It was a good day today, especially considering that I didn’t catch anything in the first hour and a half,” Lucas said in his post-game interview. “We’ve got a lot of work left to do, though. We’re only halfway done to win this round. If I can win on Sunday and advance straight to the Championship Round, well, you never know what can happen there.”
Lucas said that he drop-shotted throughout the day, targeting smallmouth in 20 to 35 feet of water.
“It’s no real secret what I’m doing,” Lucas said. “I’m drop-shotting on these big smallmouth with a Berkley (PowerBait) MaxScent Flat Worm, of course. I’m fishing a bunch of different mixture-type spots – some have gravel, some have rock, some have sand, and some even have a little bit of grass. But the key is the bait. And they’re not far from where they spawn.
“When you get in those areas, if you can hit those little windows when they’re in there biting, you can put a bunch of weight up quick, like we did today,” Lucas went on to say. “Hopefully these spots can get some rest, and not get pounded too hard tomorrow. There really wasn’t that many guys fishing them today, so that kind of has me excited. Hopefully the sun will warm that water up and keep moving these fish out. That’d be really, really nice.”
While Lucas gained the lead late in the day with his afternoon smallmouth bite, pro Brandon Coulter had held the lead for most of the day on the strength of largemouth.
“I had a good day, I just came out of the gate really hot,” Coulter said. “I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I think I led early on most of the days at St. Lawrence. I’m just having trouble closing it out and I’m frustrated right now. I had the chance to really put some distance on second place today, and instead I let Justin come in and take the lead. And kudos to Justin. I mean, that kid is phenomenal. But a lot is going to come into play in these next two days.
“The good news is, despite my frustrations I was blessed today, and I love this place. This is my favorite place in the world to fish. I guess we’ll just have to see how things play out on Sunday morning. I had elbow surgery last year, and it ended my season early. To be able to come back and be hammering them now on a 7-foot, 11-inch Savage Gear Black Ops Heavy Flipping Stick, not on a spinning rod, is awesome. The elbow is good, it’s healthy and it sure feels good to set the hook on a few.”
The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Lake Champlain are:
1st: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 50-2
2nd: Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., 17 bass, 44-3
3rd: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 16 bass, 44-1
4th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 15 bass, 38-0
5th: Russ Lane, Prattville, Ala., 13 bass, 37-9
6th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 13 bass, 37-0
7th: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 13 bass, 36-3
8th: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 13 bass, 33-11
9th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 32-0
10th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 11 bass, 31-4
11th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 29-4
12th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., nine bass, 28-11
13th: Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 10 bass, 28-3
14th: Shaw Grigsby, Gainesville, Fla., 10 bass, 27-12
15th: Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., 10 bass, 27-11
16th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., eight bass, 27-7
17th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., eight bass, 26-4
18th: Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, eight bass, 23-11
19th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, eight bass, 22-14
20th: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., seven bass, 21-6
Overall, there were 320 bass weighing 920 pounds, 12 ounces caught by the 39 pros on Friday.
Shaw Grigsby won the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award Friday, weighing in a 5-pound, 14-ounce largemouth bass on a worm during Period 3. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.
MLF announced earlier this week that the normal 80-angler Bass Pro Tour field would be reduced to 73 for this event, as seven anglers withdrew from competition due to Covid. After consulting with the MLF Angler Advisory Board, a slight change was made to the Qualifying Round Toro Cut Lines due to the unbalanced angler groupings.
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Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive