PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Aug. 8, 2021) – It was a back-and-forth battle at the top for pretty much the entire third period Sunday between pros Brandon Coulter of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Alabama, at the Stage Six at Lake Champlain tournament in Plattsburgh, New York. The duo traded the lead back and forth five times during Period 3, before Lucas boated a 3-pound, 13-ounce smallmouth with 60 minutes left in the round to pull away and win the two-day Qualifying Round for Group B. Lucas’ two-day total of 31 bass weighing 101 pounds, 10 ounces earned him the victory by a slim 9-ounce margin over Coulter and advances him directly into Tuesday’s final-day Championship Round of competition.
Coulter caught a two-day total of 41 bass weighing 101 pounds, 1 ounce to finish the day in second place. In third place on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard is Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tennessee, who caught 32 bass weighing 89-14. Hot Springs, Arkansas’ Stephen Browning, who caught a two-day total of 29 bass totaling 82-13, and David Dudley of Lynchburg Virginia , who boated 28 bass weighing 79-6 rounded out the top five finishers in the round.
The remaining 35 anglers – 16 from Group A and 19 from Group B – will now compete Monday in the Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and the anglers compete to finish in the top eight to advance to Championship Wednesday. Tuesday’s Championship Round will feature Group A winner Matt Lee, Group B winner Justin Lucas, and the top eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.
“That was a hard fight and was a lot of fun. I can’t believe we won it, honestly,” Lucas said in his post-game interview. “I felt like things weren’t really going our way, today, but I ended up catching more fish than the first day. And to win by just 9 ounces – that was insane.”
Like Friday, the majority of Lucas’ catch on Sunday came from drop-shotting deep-water smallmouth.
“I caught two key fish on a swimbait today, and 16 more on a Berkley (PowerBait Max Scent) Flat Worm,” Lucas said. “I worked my fricking butt off. I am beat bad, and I am really looking to a day off. I’ve got to get my stuff together, it’s a disaster right now.”
The top 19 pros from Qualifying Group A that now advance to Monday’s Knockout Round on Lake Champlain are:
1st: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 31 bass, 101-10 – ADVANCES DIRECTLY TO CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
2nd: Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., 41 bass, 101-1
3th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 32 bass, 89-14
4th: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 29 bass, 82-13
5th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 28 bass, 79-6
6rd: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 28 bass, 77-9
7th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 24 bass, 76-3
8th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 23 bass, 73-1
9th: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 23 bass, 66-8
10th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 20 bass, 64-1
11th: Josh Bertrand, Queen Creek, Ariz., 21 bass, 62-5
12th: Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, 21 bass, 60-12
13th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 18 bass, 58-10
14th: Russ Lane, Prattville, Ala., 20 bass, 58-1
15th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 21 bass, 55-13
16th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 18 bass, 54-5
17th: Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., 18 bass, 50-12
18th: Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 18 bass, 50-3
19th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 18 bass, 49-9
20th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 17 bass, 49-1
Finishing in 21st through 39th in the Group B Qualifying Round were:
21st: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 17 bass, 49-0
22nd: Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 16 bass, 46-2
23rd: Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 42-6
24th: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 14 bass, 42-0
25th: Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, 13 bass, 38-10
26th: Shaw Grigsby, Gainesville, Fla., 14 bass, 38-4
27th: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 13 bass, 38-2
28th: Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 11 bass, 34-12
29th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 13 bass, 34-8
30th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 12 bass, 33-8
31st: Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., 12 bass, 32-5
32nd: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 13 bass, 31-3
33rd: Ricky Robinson, Greenback, Tenn., 11 bass, 31-3
34th: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 11 bass, 29-14
35th: Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., 10 bass, 29-12
36th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 10 bass, 27-6
37th: Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., 10 bass, 26-2
38th: Ish Monroe, Oakdale, Calif., 10 bass, 25-0
39th: Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., seven bass, 24-12
Overall, there were 380 bass weighing 1,097 pounds, 10 ounces caught by the 39 pros on Sunday.
Kelly Jordon won Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with a 5-pound, 9-ounce bass that came on a frog during Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler that weighs the biggest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.
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Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive