By MLF Communications Staff

Zack Birge boated 15 scorable that combined to weigh 25-02 on his way to winning the two-day Qualifying Group B round at the Lake Travis MLF Bass Pro Tour in Austin, Texas. Birge’s two-day total of 33 bass weighing 67-04 earned him the victory by more than 9 pounds and advanced him directly into Wednesday’s Championship Round.

Day-1 leader Jacob Wheeler caught a two-day total of 18 bass weighing 58-03 to end the round in 2nd place, and Andy Montgomery finished the round in 3rd place with a two-day total of 15 bass weighing 34-00.

The remaining 38 anglers – 19 from Group A and 19 from Group B – will now compete Tuesday in the Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed and the anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the finals. The Championship Round will also feature Birge and Group A winner Brent Chapman competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

“The goal coming into today was to win the round,” Birge said. “I had a near 10-pound deficit to Wheeler, but fortunately we were able to make that up. I was a little worried throughout the first period, but I slowly caught up and we ended up pulling ahead in the third period. I made some good decisions and ended up catching a few more at the end of the day that gave us a little bit of a margin.”

On a tough day where the majority of the field struggled, Birge excelled using an Omega Custom Tackle finesse jig.

“Basically, all I’ve done the past two days is thrown a small finesse Omega Custom jig,” Birge said. “It’s a green-pumpkin and purple jig, and I’m throwing it with a small trailer, a Googan Krackin’ Craw Junior. I’m throwing the jig on my 7-foot, 3-inch Signature Series Favorite rod with 12-pound Yo-Zuri T7 fluorocarbon line . I’ve been downsizing my line to try to get more bites – this water is gin-clear and I definitely think that has helped me get more bites throughout the day. That little jig gets a lot of bites and catches a lot of fish.”

Despite finishing the round in 2nd place, Wheeler was definitely one of the anglers who struggled Monday. After catching 16 scorable bass for 52-11 on the group's first day, he managed to add two fish to his tally.

“Although I came up short of winning, at the end of the day I’m trying to look at this more as a positive because the key to winning this tournament is going to be finding groups of fish,” Wheeler said. “Things are changing here constantly. My pattern completely died today. The water temperature is rising – it’s up to 80 degrees right now – and I really think that to do well I’m going to have to get on a current-based pattern. I’m looking forward to getting back out here tomorrow and trying to see if we can’t catch them again.”

Dave Lefebre (20th) caught a 7-04 largemouth on a finesse jig in Period 3 to win Monday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. Berkley awards $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 take off at 6:30 a.m. CT each day of competition from Mansfield Dam Park, located at 4370 Mansfield Dam Park Road in Austin. The take-out is also held at the park daily beginning at 3:15 p.m.

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 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! is 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. Zack Birge -- 42-02 (18) -- 25-02 (15) -- 67-04 (33) -- 4-08

2. Jacob Wheeler -- 52-11 (16) -- 5-08 (2) -- 58-03 (18) -- 5-02

3. Andy Montgomery -- 20-03 (10) -- 13-13 (5) -- 34-00 (15) -- 4-09

4. Fletcher Shryock -- 22-12 (8) -- 8-04 (3) -- 31-00 (11) -- 8-04

5. Ish Monroe -- 28-05 (13) -- 1-13 (1) -- 30-02 (14) -- 2-14

6. Jesse Wiggins -- 17-12 (9) -- 12-02 (6) -- 29-14 (15) -- 3-00

7. Dustin Connell -- 14-04 (6) -- 15-07 (6) -- 29-11 (12) -- 4-03

8. Anthony Gagliardi -- 18-09 (9) -- 9-10 (5) -- 28-03 (14) -- 2-11

9. David Walker -- 19-11 (7) -- 7-05 (3) -- 27-00 (10) -- 5-04

10. Gary Klein -- 13-15 (6) -- 12-10 (6) -- 26-09 (12) -- 4-04

11. Michael Neal -- 12-13 (6) -- 12-11 (5) -- 25-08 (11) -- 3-07

12. Fred Roumbanis -- 20-00 (10) -- 4-13 (3) -- 24-13 (13) -- 3-01

13. Edwin Evers -- 8-15 (4) -- 15-11 (10) -- 24-10 (14) -- 2-11

14. Ott DeFoe -- 18-15 (9) -- 5-06 (3) -- 24-05 (12) -- 3-13

15. Alton Jones -- 11-12 (6) -- 11-12 (7) -- 23-08 (13) -- 2-10

16. Jared Lintner -- 12-03 (7) -- 10-10 (5) -- 22-13 (12) -- 2-13

17. Roy Hawk -- 14-01 (4) -- 8-07 (5) -- 22-08 (9) -- 6-10

18. Luke Clausen -- 9-09 (6) -- 12-06 (6) -- 21-15 (12) -- 2-11

19. Mike McClelland -- 6-01 (3) -- 15-12 (9) -- 21-13 (12) -- 2-10

20. Dave Lefebre -- 4-15 (3) -- 16-07 (4) -- 21-06 (7) -- 7-04

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

21. Jonathon VanDam -- 14-06 (8) -- 6-14 (4) -- 21-04 (12) -- 2-02

22. Dean Rojas -- 7-02 (4) -- 13-14 (6) -- 21-00 (10) -- 4-02

23. Wesley Strader -- 8-05 (5) -- 11-04 (4) -- 19-09 (9) -- 6-03

24. Adrian Avena -- 7-01 (4) -- 12-07 (7) -- 19-08 (11) -- 2-06

25. Bradley Roy -- 8-06 (5) -- 10-12 (4) -- 19-02 (9) -- 4-07

26. Cliff Pace -- 10-06 (6) -- 6-07 (3) -- 16-13 (9) -- 3-02

27. Cliff Crochet -- 14-02 (6) -- 1-14 (1) -- 16-00 (7) -- 3-11

28. Scott Suggs -- 9-06 (6) -- 6-02 (4) -- 15-08 (10) -- 1-10

29. Shaw Grigsby -- 6-05 (3) -- 8-11 (4) -- 15-00 (7) -- 3-14

30. Kevin VanDam -- 9-12 (5) -- 1-10 (1) -- 11-06 (6) -- 2-13

31. Andy Morgan -- 7-14 (3) -- 2-12 (1) -- 10-10 (4) -- 3-07

32. Bryan Thrift -- 1-11 (1) -- 8-11 (4) -- 10-06 (5) -- 2-10

33. Dicky Newberry -- 8-05 (4) -- 2-01 (1) -- 10-06 (5) -- 2-08

34. Brett Hite -- 3-00 (2) -- 6-14 (4) -- 9-14 (6) -- 2-05

35. Marty Robinson -- 7-11 (4) -- 1-11 (1) -- 9-06 (5) -- 2-04

36. Jason Lambert -- 5-10 (3) -- 3-09 (2) -- 9-03 (5) -- 2-10

37. Paul Elias -- 4-15 (2) -- 1-13 (1) -- 6-12 (3) -- 3-07

38. Aaron Martens -- 3-12 (2) -- 1-13 (1) -- 5-09 (3) -- 1-15

39. Bill McDonald -- 4-11 (2) -- 0-00 (0) -- 4-11 (2) -- 2-09

40. Kelly Jordon -- 2-00 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 2-00 (1) -- 2-00