By Sean Ostruszka
Special to BassFan


It’s not how you start, but how you finish. The final day (and minutes) of the Qualifying Rounds of the FLW Pro Circuit TITLE Championship sure showcased that.

With 10 tickets punched Wednesday to the Knockout Round from Group A, 10 more from Group B were hoping to join them on Sturgeon Bay. Joey Cifuentes said after Tuesday he wanted to win Group B, and he did that with ease to the tune of 109-10 with 32 bass for the win. Of course, the weights won’t matter Friday, as all will will be zeroed, with the 10 best from the Knockout Round going on to Saturday’s Championship Round.

Behind Cifuentes, Spencer Shuffield (94-02), Wade Strelic (87-04), opening-round group leader John Cox (86-10), Dylan Hays (81-01) and Matt Becker (81-00) all cruised with relative ease. Mitch Crane (7th with 73-05) and Christopher Brasher (9th with 70-05) also had little trouble, but Bradford Beavers had the comeback of the tournament, putting together the day’s largest haul (56-01) to climb from 24th to 8th with 71-08.

And then there was Kyle Hall. The Rookie of the Year started fast and got up to 62-14 by 12:15 p.m. Then he proceeded to sweat out the “most stressful 10 tournament minutes of my life” by not catching another fish the rest of the day.

That left the door open for a number of competitors to overtake him, with none having a better opportunity than Alex Davis. And Davis had two of them.

With 7 minutes to go in Period 3 and only trailing by 1-02, Davis hooked two fish that would’ve put him above Hall, only to watch both “do triple lindies” and jump off.

“I fished the entire [Pro Circuit] event at Erie and didn’t lose a fish,” said Davis. “I never lost a fish in practice or the first day. I fished 1,000-percent clean until the last 7 minutes of the tournament. It just wasn’t meant to be.”

Meanwhile, Hall could only shake his head in disbelief that he made it, especially once he found out how close Davis had come to bumping him.

“I knew all afternoon I needed one more bite,” said Hall, who was in 18th after the first day. “I guess the guys on [FLW LIVE] were saying I was practicing. I wasn’t. I was trying to catch one more fish so I wasn’t the bubble boy. I never got it, but I guess I got lucky.

“I’m super-stoked to be fishing tomorrow, though. I did everything backwards on day 1, so today I reversed it and started where I ended. They definitely eat better on that spot when it’s cloudy. It’s supposed to be cloudy tomorrow and I’m super-excited to see what I can do.”

As big and lucky a comeback as Hall had, no one was more surprised to make the cut than Beavers. Admittedly thrown off by the format on the first day, he only caught five fish for 15-07. His only hope to make the cut was a plan and some luck.

“I did the math and figured I needed to catch 17 fish today to have a shot,” said Beavers. “And on a fishery like this, you can luck into a place and catch 20 or 30. So I knew it was possible. I didn’t think it would happen, but I knew it was possible.”

After catching a few off his starting spot again, Beavers began running around “fishing everything that looked good, hoping to luck into them.” In Period 2, he stopped on a spot where he’d caught one in practice, and suddenly his luck turned around. It wasn’t fast and furious, but roughly every 20 minutes, Beavers would pick off a lone fish he’d see on his electronics. And when it was lines-out, he’d met his 17-fish goal.

“It’s crazy,” said Beavers. “You know, I’m just going to go fishing again tomorrow like I did today. I don’t have anything to lose and I like fishing that way, so who knows?”



Weather Forecast

> Fri., August 28 – Scattered T-Storms – 72°/60°
- Wind: From the SE at 11 mph

> Sat., August 29 – Mostly Sunny – 75°/55°
- Wind: From the NW at 15 mph

Group B Qualifying Round 2

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

1. Joey Cifuentes -- 18, 60-05 -- 14, 49-05 -- 32, 109-10 -- 4-15

2. Spencer Shuffield -- 19, 61-01 -- 10, 33-01 -- 29, 94-02 -- 4-11

3. Wade Strelic -- 15, 43-08 -- 14, 43-12 -- 29, 87-04 -- 4-11

4. John Cox -- 18, 66-05 -- 7, 20-05 -- 25, 86-10 -- 5-02

5. Dylan Hays -- 16, 49-13 -- 10, 31-04 -- 26, 81-01 -- 4-06

6. Matt Becker -- 15, 51-01 -- 9, 29-15 -- 24, 81-00 -- 5-07

7. Mitch Crane -- 11, 32-15 -- 11, 40-06 -- 22, 73-05 -- 5-05

8. Bradford Beavers -- 5, 15-07 -- 17, 56-01 -- 22, 71-08 -- 5-01

9. Christopher Brasher -- 11, 31-14 -- 11, 38-07 -- 22, 70-05 -- 4-14

10. Kyle Hall -- 6, 20-15 -- 11, 41-15 -- 17, 62-14 -- 4-12

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Knockout Round

11. Alex Davis -- 8, 29-09 -- 10, 32-03 -- 18, 61-12 -- 5-05

12. Dakota Ebare -- 8, 26-13 -- 10, 33-02 -- 18, 59-15 -- 3-15

13. Joseph Webster -- 10, 29-11 -- 9, 28-05 -- 19, 58-00 -- 4-06

14. Jacob Wall -- 10, 32-14 -- 7, 24-04 -- 17, 57-02 -- 4-10

15. Clark Reehm -- 11, 39-14 -- 4, 16-09 -- 15, 56-07 -- 5-11

16. Chad Warren -- 5, 16-01 -- 13, 38-00 -- 18, 54-01 -- 4-10

17. Jason Reyes -- 6, 18-12 -- 11, 31-12 -- 17, 50-08 -- 4-08

18. Bill McDonald -- 8, 23-13 -- 7, 23-01 -- 15, 46-14 -- 5-06

19. Tyler Woolcott -- 7, 24-10 -- 8, 22-01 -- 15, 46-11 -- 5-00

20. Tommy Dickerson -- 7, 22-03 -- 6, 21-04 -- 13, 43-07 -- 4-00

21. Jordan Osborne -- 7, 18-12 -- 5, 16-11 -- 12, 35-07 -- 4-13

22. Jimmy Washam -- 6, 18-07 -- 4, 14-05 -- 10, 32-12 -- 4-08

23. Jared McMillan -- 7, 23-04 -- 2, 9-04 -- 9, 32-08 -- 5-06

24. Darrell Davis -- 2, 6-02 -- 4, 15-07 -- 6, 21-09 -- 5-00

25. Cole Floyd -- 7, 20-03 -- 0, 0-00 -- 7, 20-03 -- 4-00