MASSENA, N.Y. (Aug. 8, 2024) – When he returned to the water Thursday for Group A’s second day of a qualifying tournament at the St. Lawrence River, pro Matt Becker of Ten Mile, Tennessee, never visited a single one of the spots that produced his 100-plus pounds of smallmouth bass on Day 1, instead running all new water on the St. Lawrence River. The result was more of the same. Becker stacked another 17 scorable bass for 57 pounds, 4 ounces onto SCORETRACKER® — despite making a clear effort not to catch too many fish from any one spot. That brought his two-day total to 163-11 and kept him atop the leaderboard, 18-14 ahead of Greeneville, Tennessee, pro Nick Hatfield.
“I definitely feel like I narrowed down the section (of the river) that I want to be in,” Becker said. “I probably added 12, 15 spots to my rotation now, and then eliminated some water as well. So, it was a very productive day.”
It’s no surprise to see Becker’s name atop the standings at an event on northern smallmouth waters. Almost exactly one year ago, he closed his rookie season on the Bass Pro Tour with a win and came from behind to claim the Angler of the Year title on Saginaw Bay. He’s won before on the St. Lawrence, too. But Becker admitted he’s surprised himself a bit through two days on the water with how he’s catching his bass.
Becker has caught all his smallmouth on casting gear and 15-pound fluorocarbon, primarily wielding a couple of different types of jerkbaits. That’s a stark departure from the norm on clear-water smallmouth fisheries, where spinning gear and light leaders typically dominate.
“I did not see that coming when this tournament was announced,” Becker said.
While Becker didn’t anticipate running the pattern that produced his Qualifying Round win, he did note that he was hoping to utilize heavier line. Doing so allows him to spend less time fighting fish and make more casts throughout the day, which is important in the BPT’s every-fish-counts format.
“I really wanted to catch them on heavier line, whether it was spinning gear with 10- or 12-pound line or baitcasting gear with heavier equipment that I could really fight them a lot harder than with 6- or 8-pound line – you waste a lot of time fighting fish,” Becker explained. “So, I definitely looked for that in practice and kind of came with the game plan of trying to find them on a technique that I could use that heavier line. But I really didn’t expect it to be as good as it is.”
Becker wasn’t shy about saying that, if his bite holds up, he thinks he’s on the fish to win. The problem is that change feels inevitable. For one thing, smallmouth are known for moving from one day to the next. Plus, with rain from Hurricane Debby arriving Thursday afternoon and forecast to continue through Friday, Becker knows different conditions are likely to greet him when he returns to the water on Saturday.
“There’s no telling what could happen,” Becker said. “Surely it’s going to change things. I hope I have enough experience on the river, and in those sections, I have a lot of other things if that pattern goes away. I feel like I know where the fish would go in those areas. But you just never know.”
That’s part of why Becker believes it was important to add to his repertoire of spots on Thursday. He described himself as “cautiously optimistic” entering the weekend.
“I know that I’m on the deal to win it as of today, but I don’t know if that will change going into the weekend,” he said. “I’ve got no shortage of areas to fish, that’s for sure. But again, you just never know with smallmouth. They could very easily totally change everything by Saturday.”
The top 10 pros in Group A that now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round on the St. Lawrence River are:
1st: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 47 bass, 163-11
2nd: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 49 bass, 144-13
3rd: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 42 bass, 132-10
4th: Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 41 bass, 123-14
5th: Jesse Wiggins, Addison, Ala., 42 bass, 122-3
6th: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 36 bass, 121-3
7th: Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., 36 bass, 120-14
8th: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 40 bass, 117-1
9th: Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., 35 bass, 115-1
10th: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 36 bass, 113-1
Eliminated from competition are:
11th: James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 33 bass, 107-6
12th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 34 bass, 104-15
13th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 32 bass, 101-11
14th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 35 bass, 101-4
15th: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 36 bass, 99-9
16th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 31 bass, 97-0
17th: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 34 bass, 93-1
18th: Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, 33 bass, 91-14
19th: Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 31 bass, 87-8
20th: Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan, 27 bass, 82-4
21st: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 27 bass, 80-11
22nd: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 29 bass, 80-4
23rd: Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, 26 bass, 74-2
24th: Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., 22 bass, 70-10
25th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 24 bass, 69-3
26th: Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 21 bass, 66-8
27th: Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 21 bass, 64-0
28th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 19 bass, 63-4
29th: Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 16 bass, 62-1
30th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 21 bass, 60-3
31st: Boyd Duckett, Guntersville, Ala., 19 bass, 59-2
32nd: Grae Buck, Green Lane, Pa., 19 bass, 58-2
33rd: Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 21 bass, 58-2
34th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 18 bass, 52-13
35th: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 18 bass, 52-4
36th: Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas, 16 bass, 50-9
37th: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 18 bass, 49-15
38th: Scott Suggs, Alexander, Ark., 13 bass, 35-9
39th: Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark., eight bass, 22-8
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 528 scorable bass weighing 1,607 pounds, 12 ounces caught by the 39 pros on Thursday.
Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award went to Pierre Part, Louisiana, pro Cliff Crochet, who weighed in a 6-pound, 7-ounce largemouth bass – the biggest bass of the week so far – that caught in Period 2. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.
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Major League Fishing (MLF)