RICHMOND, Va. (June 18, 2022) – Fresh off the first Pro Circuit victory of his career last month at Lake Guntersville, pro Nick LeBrun certainly has momentum on his side. After starting Saturday in 10th place, the Bossier City, Louisiana, pro brought a five-bass limit to the stage weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard and lead the final 10 anglers that now advance to Championship Sunday at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Pro Circuit Tournament on the James River in Richmond, Virginia. The four-day event features a field of 154 bass fishing professionals competing for a total purse of more than $850,000.
Green Lane, Pennsylvania’s Grae Buck, who led the event for the first two days of competition, struggled on Saturday and only managed to scratch up a 8-pound, 14-ounce limit. Buck narrowly missed the Championship Sunday cut, finishing the event in 11th place and earning $11,000.
The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition on the James River are:
1st: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., 15 bass, 47-11
2nd: Braxton Setzer, Wetumpka, Ala., 15 bass, 46-14
3rd: Mitch Crane, Columbus, Miss., 15 bass, 46-9
4th: Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 46-7
5th: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 46-3
6th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 46-1
7th: Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, 15 bass, 45-14
8th: Robby Lefere, Jackson, Mich., 15 bass, 45-13
9th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 45-10
10th: Cole Hewett, Orange Park, Fla., 15 bass, 45-9
Competition will resume Sunday morning with the Championship Round. Weights are zeroed, and the angler that catches the heaviest five bass will take home top prize of up to $135,000
“Today started off great,” said LeBrun, who entered this event ranked No. 24 in the Angler of the Year race and season earnings of $126,000. “I made the 45-minute run down to the Chickahominy, and there wasn’t anyone near my spot. I got in there, got set up, Power-Poled down, made one cast with a crankbait and caught a 2½- and a 3½-pounder at the same time – each fish had one of the Hayabusa TBL930 hooks – and that was a really good way to start the day.
“I’ve never caught two fish on one cast in a tournament before,” LeBrun continued. “Normally when that happens, they’re little peanuts, but those were two good fish so that was very cool.”
LeBrun said that his main area that he has been catching fish in is a current seam, throwing a V&M Chopstick. He thinks it is replenishing each day with quality, fresh “tournament” fish.
“It seems to be a hang-up spot,” LeBrun said. “I really don’t know where they’re coming from, but I think it is replenishing and when you get there at daylight, they’re fresh. But, I haven’t hit it past 10:30 (a.m.) each day. I’ve only been hitting it once or twice, and then I’ve been getting off it and trying to conserve. I’m excited to get back out there tomorrow, because I can sit there and not worry about being conservative and catch every fish that is there. I haven’t caught a 4-pounder there, yet, but there are definitely some 3-pounders there and we’re going to give it all we’ve got.”
With LeBrun’s victory last month at Lake Guntersville, LeBrun now has the opportunity to add his name to a small list of anglers that have won back-to-back events. General Tire pro Mark Rose and Phoenix, Arizona’s Brett Hite are the only two pros that have ever won back-to-back pro-level events in MLF history before.
“To go back-to-back would be mind-blowing,” the Louisiana pro went on to say. “I can’t even imagine. I think the weights might go down just a little bit, but if a guy can catch 16 to 17 pounds tomorrow, he’ll have a real good shot at it. This is such a fun place to fish, and it’s an honor to just make the top 10 with this group of guys on this tour. Tomorrow we’re going to go out and catch every single one that we can, and I’m excited to see what happens.”
Finishing in 11th through 50th are:
11th: Grae Buck, Green Lane, Pa., 15 bass, 45-3, $11,000
12th: Jeff Reynolds, Calera, Okla., 15 bass, 45-0, $11,000
13th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 44-9, $11,000
14th: Jacopo Gallelli, Florence, Italy, 15 bass, 44-5, $11,000
15th: Chad Warren, Sand Springs, Okla., 15 bass, 44-1, $11,000
16th: Kyle Weisenburger, Columbus Grove, Ohio, 15 bass, 43-1, $11,000
17th: Cody Pike, Powhatan, Va., 15 bass, 42-7, $11,000
18th: Barron Adams, Mineral Bluff, Ga., 15 bass, 42-5, $11,000
19th: Clabion Johns, Social Circle, Ga., 15 bass, 41-12, $11,000
20th: Tyler Woolcott, Port Orange, Fla., 15 bass, 41-9, $11,000
21st: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 15 bass, 41-4, $10,500
22nd: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 40-15, $10,500
23rd: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 15 bass, 40-14, $10,500
24th: Phillip Dutra, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 40-8, $10,500
25th: Josh Butler, Hayden, Ala., 15 bass, 40-6, $10,500
26th: Chad Grigsby, Maple Grove, Minn., 15 bass, 40-3, $10,500
27th: Josh Bragg, Fayetteville, Ga., 15 bass, 40-1, $10,500
28th: Evan Barnes, Dardanelle, Ark., 15 bass, 40-1, $10,500
29th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 15 bass, 40-1, $10,500
30th: Stephen Albertson, Stuart, Fla., 15 bass, 40-0, $10,500
31st: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 15 bass, 39-9, $10,000
32nd: Tyler Stewart, Dubach, La., 15 bass, 39-8, $10,000
33rd: Brett Hite, Phoenix, Ariz., 15 bass, 39-8, $10,000
34th: Jason Lieblong, Conway, Ark., 15 bass, 39-1, $10,000
35th: Tai Au, Glendale, Ariz., 15 bass, 38-15, $10,000
36th: Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 15 bass, 38-14, $10,000
37th: Joey Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., 15 bass, 38-14, $10,000
38th: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 38-12, $10,000
39th: Chris Groh, Spring Grove, Ill., 15 bass, 38-3, $10,000
40th: Kyle Hall, Granbury, Texas, 15 bass, 37-7, $10,000
41st: Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 15 bass, 37-5, $10,000
42nd: Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 15 bass, 37-4, $10,000
43rd: Grant Galloway, Houlka, Miss., 15 bass, 36-12, $10,000
44th: David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 15 bass, 36-2, $10,000
45th: Miles Howe, San Juan Capistrano, Calif., 15 bass, 36-1, $10,000
46th: Cal Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 12 bass, 34-12, $10,000
47th: J. Todd Tucker, Moultrie, Ga., 15 bass, 34-9, $10,000
48th: Richard Lowitzki, Hampshire, Ill., 13 bass, 34-2, $10,000
49th: Jim Moynagh, Shakopee, Minn., 15 bass, 33-3, $10,000
50th: Cole Harris, Raleigh, N.C., 12 bass, 33-0, $10,000
Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 242 bass weighing 573 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the 50 pros Saturday. The catch included 47 five-bass limits.