By MLF Communications Staff

It turns out Brett Hite could have taken the day off.

After catching a whopping 34 bass weighing 83-05 Friday, the Phoenix, Arizona pro added eight more bass totaling 17-02 Sunday to coast to an easy victory in the Group A Qualifying Round of the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida, finishing with 42 fish for 100-07.

Hite earned the win by a 25-04 margin and now advances directly into the Championship Round of competition, set for Wednesday.

Brent Chapman of Lake Quivira, Kansas, caught a two-day total of 29 bass weighing 75-03 to start and end the day in 2nd place. Jasper, Texas pro Todd Faircloth, boated a two-day total of 28 bass weighing 70-07 to end the round in 3rd place.

After starting the day in 26th place, Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona , was the big mover of the day Sunday, catching 17 bass weighing 44-04 to vault into 4th with a two-day total of 24 bass for 57-13. Rounding out the Top 5 was Boyd Duckett of Guntersville, Alabama, who caught a two-day total of 22 bass weighing 54-10.

The Top 20 anglers from Group A will now enjoy an off day while the 40 anglers in Qualifying Group B complete their two-day Qualifying Round on Monday. The Knockout Round, featuring 38 anglers competing to finish in the Top 8, will take place on Tuesday. Wednesday’s Championship Round will feature Hite, Monday’s Group B winner and the Top 8 anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

“All of the hard work that we put in pays off every once in a while and it’s been a really good couple of days for me so far,” said Hite, who has five career wins and 33 Top-10 finishes in MLF competition. “Today, it was almost like those fish were kind of in shock because the wind had been blowing 20 to 30 (miles per hour) every day for the last week and today it was dead, slick calm. I guess if I am going to have a bad execution day, it’s nice to have a 40-pound lead when I do it. I’m looking forward to a couple of days off – my shoulder needs it after what seems like 1,000 casts a day.”

Like Friday, Hite relied mainly on a Z-Man JackHammer and an EverGreen Grass Ripper swimjig to catch his fish.

“The bread and butter bait for me today was the JackHammer StealthBlade (green-pumpkin shad) with a Yamamoto Zako trailer,” Hite said. “We designed this bait – EverGreen, myself and Morizo Shimizu – for days like this. In the slick calm conditions, those fish are just real finicky and the StealthBlade just doesn’t vibrate quite as hard as the regular JackHammer. I threw it with 14- or 16-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon line and that’s what I caught most of my fish on today.

“I also caught some key fish on an original 1/2-ounce JackHammer (green shad), also with a Yamamoto Zako (sight flash) with 20-pound Sunline FC Sniper fluorocarbon,” Hite continued. “I threw it on a 7-foot, 3-inch heavy-action EverGreen Combat Stick with a 6:3:1 Daiwa Tatula Elite reel. And I let the cat out of the bag this week on our new swimjig. I worked on this thing for about a year and it’s going to be coming out in a couple of weeks – the new EverGreen Grass Ripper swimjig. I fished that with a Yamamoto Zako Paddletail Swimbait (sight flash) with 20-pound Sunline fluorocarbon line and a Daiwa Tatula Elite with a 7:1 gear ratio.

“I’m super excited to advance into the Championship Round on Wednesday,” Hite went on to say. “I’ve got a good game plan and we’re going to let those fish rest and hopefully have a shot to win this thing.”

Tuskegee, Alabama pro Mark Daniels Jr. felt the pressure of the ScoreTracker leaderboard on Sunday. After starting the day in 10th place, Daniels found himself sitting in 21st, outside the cut line, with just six minutes left in the day. Luckily for Daniels, he caught a 1-08 largemouth as the clock ticked down to overtake Randy Howell by just 5 ounces and advance to the Knockout round in the final spot.

“Oh my gosh, that was one of the most stressful days of my entire career,” a relieved Daniels said in his post-game interview. “I don’t have any gray hairs yet, but I think I might have gotten a couple after today. I was trying to fish the conditions, but nothing was working. I had to fall back on what got me here, a Z-Man ChatterBait with a Z-Man RaZor ShadZ trailer. And golly, I can’t believe it was a 1-08. Literally the fish that I needed. He could have been a 1-07 and I wouldn’t be here. Unreal. I’m so, so happy that I’m going to get another opportunity in the Knockout Round.”

James Elam won Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in a 9-01 largemouth caught on a squarebill crankbait during Period 1. 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.

Anglers will take off from the Venetian Gardens Ski Beach Boat Ramp, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive, in Leesburg, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. The takeout will also be held at the Gardens beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend, but encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! will be live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Group B Qualifying Round – Day 2

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Brett Hite -- 83-05 (34) -- 17-02 (8) -- 100-07 (42) -- 8-08

2. Brent Chapman -- 42-12 (16) -- 32-07 (13) -- 75-03 (29) -- 5-00

3. Todd Faircloth -- 37-15 (15) -- 32-08 (13) -- 70-07 (28) -- 6-15

4. Dean Rojas -- 13-09 (7) -- 44-04 (17) -- 57-13 (24) -- 5-13

5. Boyd Duckett -- 39-12 (16) -- 14-14 (6) -- 54-10 (22) -- 5-06

6. Paul Elias -- 32-13 (13) -- 21-11 (10) -- 54-08 (23) -- 6-09

7. Alton Jones Jr. -- 32-14 (12) -- 21-03 (9) -- 54-01 (21) -- 7-10

8. Josh Bertrand -- 14-01 (6) -- 39-15 (19) -- 54-00 (25) -- 5-02

9. James Elam -- 32-07 (15) -- 20-14 (6) -- 53-05 (21) -- 9-01

10. Michael Neal -- 30-00 (13) -- 22-13 (12) -- 52-13 (25) -- 3-07

11. Greg Vinson -- 25-08 (11) -- 27-05 (11) -- 52-13 (22) -- 5-15

12. Jeff Sprague -- 24-00 (10) -- 28-01 (14) -- 52-01 (24) -- 4-02

13. Brent Ehrler -- 19-04 (9) -- 32-10 (14) -- 51-14 (23) -- 4-06

14. Stephen Browning -- 10-08 (5) -- 41-06 (16) -- 51-14 (21) -- 5-03

15. Randall Tharp -- 24-03 (8) -- 27-04 (11) -- 51-07 (19) -- 6-12

16. Kyle Hall -- 26-06 (13) -- 22-09 (11) -- 48-15 (24) -- 3-11

17. Jonathon VanDam -- 14-13 (6) -- 32-07 (16) -- 47-04 (22) -- 3-15

18. Dustin Connell -- 31-11 (13) -- 14-08 (5) -- 46-03 (18) -- 5-14

19. Britt Myers -- 25-00 (7) -- 16-03 (7) -- 41-03 (14) -- 9-08

20. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 28-12 (11) -- 10-11 (4) -- 39-07 (15) -- 5-04

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not compete in the Knockout Round

21. Randy Howell -- 14-10 (5) -- 24-08 (10) -- 39-02 (15) -- 4-04

22. Jeff Kriet -- 11-03 (6) -- 26-12 (8) -- 37-15 (14) -- 8-02

23. Kyle Cortiana -- 5-11 (3) -- 31-12 (12) -- 37-07 (15) -- 5-09

24. Takahiro Omori -- 6-07 (2) -- 30-07 (12) -- 36-14 (14) -- 4-03

25. Kevin VanDam -- 22-00 (10) -- 13-07 (7) -- 35-07 (17) -- 4-05

26. Jacob Wheeler -- 15-12 (7) -- 19-08 (8) -- 35-04 (15) -- 3-10

27. Casey Ashley -- 7-03 (3) -- 23-09 (10) -- 30-12 (13) -- 4-02

28. Shin Fukae -- 20-00 (10) -- 6-11 (3) -- 26-11 (13) -- 3-01

29. Cliff Crochet -- 9-01 (4) -- 14-13 (4) -- 23-14 (8) -- 6-11

30. David Dudley -- 14-05 (5) -- 6-15 (2) -- 21-04 (7) -- 7-03

31. Marty Robinson -- 5-15 (3) -- 14-01 (7) -- 20-00 (10) -- 3-00

32. Jared Lintner -- 17-05 (8) -- 1-10 (1) -- 18-15 (9) -- 3-01

33. Shaw Grigsby -- 13-12 (6) -- 5-02 (3) -- 18-14 (9) -- 3-03

34. Cody Meyer -- 9-02 (4) -- 9-10 (5) -- 18-12 (9) -- 3-00

35. Fred Roumbanis -- 7-07 (4) -- 11-00 (5) -- 18-07 (9) -- 2-10

36. Edwin Evers -- 7-12 (4) -- 6-07 (3) -- 14-03 (7) -- 2-15

37. Brandon Coulter -- 10-01 (4) -- 1-09 (1) -- 11-10 (5) -- 3-04

38. Dave Lefebre -- 10-11 (4) -- 0-00 (0) -- 10-11 (4) -- 4-01

39. Bradley Roy -- 0-00 (0) -- 8-07 (4) -- 8-07 (4) -- 2-13