BAY CITY, Mich. (Aug. 4, 2023) – As time expired on the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard, Friday, there was a tie atop the leaderboard. Day 1 leader, pro Britt Myers of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, and pro Jeff Sprague of Point, Texas, both had caught 33 pounds, 10 ounces, over the two-day Group B Qualifying Round and were tied for first. Sprague, however, had a 4-pound, 12-ounce smallmouth in his limit on Friday. Myer’s biggest bass was a 4-3, so Sprague earned the Qualifying Round win via tiebreaker for Group B at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Tournament at Saginaw Bay.
After Sprague and Myers, pro Randall Tharp of Port Saint Joe, Florida, had the most weight of the day, catching a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 1 ounce to vault into third place with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33-2. Pro Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California , finished the round in fourth place with a two-day total of 10 bass for 32-10. Rounding out the top five was Jasper, Texas, pro Todd Faircloth, who caught a two-day total of 10 bass for 31-15 to advance in fifth place.
The remaining 40 anglers – the top 20 from each group – now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and the anglers compete to finish in the top 10 to advance to the Championship Round on Sunday. Weights will carry over from the Knockout Round into the Championship Round, which will feature the final 10 anglers competing for the heaviest two-day cumulative total and the top prize of $100,000.
“Today was an awesome day. We didn’t catch a whole lot of fish, but the ones we did catch today were the right ones,” said Sprague, who was the only angler inside the top 20 to weigh in all smallmouth bass. “Those fish are just a bigger class of fish out there, and I do feel like those are the fish that you have to be around to win this event. So, I laid off of them pretty quick, today, hopefully saving those them for the Knockout Round.”
Sprague said he has been catching his fish this week with a drop-shot rig, throwing three different baits. He said that if his smallmouth don’t cooperate over the weekend, he also has a largemouth area as a backup.
“There are a lot of fish where I’m fishing, but I don’t know if anyone else from Group A has also found that water and I’ll be sharing it or not, so we’ll find out tomorrow,” Sprague said. “If I’m not sharing it, then I feel really good about this area.
“If they don’t fire, I’ve got some really good largemouth that if I have to run to them, I can do that too,” Sprague continued. “I’d really rather catch those brown ones, though – they’re bigger. And there are a ton of them there – I’m seeing way more than I’m catching on my (Lowrance) Active Target. It’s just a matter of getting them to bite.”
Sprague said that he has two goal weights in mind for Saturday, which vary based on the conditions.
“If it’s calm, I think you’ll need at least 17 pounds to advance, and if it’s windy again, I think 16 will get you in the Championship Round,” he went on to say.
The top 20 pros from Group B that now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round on Saginaw Bay are:
1st: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 10 bass, 33-10
2nd: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 33-10
3rd: Randall Tharp, Port Saint Joe, Fla., 10 bass, 33-2
4th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 10 bass, 32-10
5th: Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 10 bass, 31-15
6th: Mark Daniels, Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 10 bass, 31-9
7th: Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, 10 bass, 30-10
8th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 30-9
9th: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 10 bass, 29-13
10th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 10 bass, 29-9
11th: Cody Meyer, Star, Idaho, 10 bass, 29-5
12th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 10 bass, 29-4
13th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 10 bass, 29-2
14th: Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., 10 bass, 28-15
15th: Cliff Pace, Petal, Miss., 10 bass, 28-9
16th: Mitch Crane, Columbus, Miss., 10 bass, 28-6
17th: Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., 10 bass, 28-4
18th: Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 10 bass, 28-3
19th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-15
20th: Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 10 bass, 27-5
Eliminated from competition are:
21st: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 10 bass, 27-5
22nd: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 10 bass, 27-3
23rd: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 10 bass, 27-1
24th: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 26-11
25th: Alton Jones, Sr., Lorena, Texas, 10 bass, 26-11
26th: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 10 bass, 26-0
27th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-11
28th: Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 10 bass, 25-4
29th: Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., 10 bass, 25-1
30th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 10 bass, 24-15
31st: Josh Butler, Hayden, Ala., 10 bass, 24-14
32nd: Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 10 bass, 24-1
33rd: Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 10 bass, 23-6
34th: Timmy Horton, Muscle Shoals, Ala., 10 bass, 23-0
35th: Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., 10 bass, 21-4
36th: Jeff Kriet, Ardmore, Okla., 10 bass, 20-11
37th: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 19-8
38th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., eight bass, 17-11
39th: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., eight bass, 16-1
40th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., four bass, 8-3
Overall, there were 456 scorable bass weighing 1,072 pounds, 9 ounces caught by the 40 pros Friday, which included 48 3-pounders, 12 4-pounders and one 5-pounder.
Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was awarded to pro Alton Jones, Jr., of Waco, Texas, who weighed in a 5-pound largemouth which bit his bladed swimjig early in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.