'Little Alton' Pockets $50,000 With An 8-03

By MLF Communications Staff

At least year's Heavy Hitters event, Alton Jones Sr. put on a Championship Round sight-fishing clinic en route to winning the title and the $100,000 top prize. This year, Alton Jr. wants a crack at the belt.

The younger Jones, of Waco, Texas, caught an 8-03 largemouth Wednesday afternoon on Lake Palestine in his home state– the heaviest bass of the day – to win the $50,000 Berkley Big Bass Bonus. He finished the day in sixth place and earned his way into Thursday’s Championship Round and a shot at the $100,000 top prize, along with the $100,000 Big Bass Bonus.

“I finished in sixth place, but I feel like I won,” he said. “Man, 50 grand isn’t too bad for one bite. You always hope you’re going to get that bite, and with big fish it can be a little bit of luck. But I caught the biggest and the second-biggest today, and it was just a really fun day.”

His father won the Heavy Hitters title last year despite not earning a Big Bass Bonus during the event. Jones said his strategy tomorrow will be a little different.

“It would be cool to win that belt, but I’ve got one goal on my mind tomorrow and that’s catching the biggest bass of the day for $100,000,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to catch a bunch of 3-pounders, but if you can catch an 8 or a 9, you’ll be sitting in a really good position. I’m going to treat this event like a big-bass tournament – but it would be very cool to get back-to-back Heavy Hitters titles for the Joneses.

“Tomorrow we’re going have bluebird skies, light winds, and it’s going to be the best sight-fishing day we’ve had all week,” he went on to say. “It’s going to be hard for me to keep up numbers-wise, but I’m going to really try hard to put myself in front of the biggest bass on this lake and make her bite.”

Joining Jones,in the Championship Round Thursday will be Zack Birge of Blanchard, Oklahoma, who won Wednesday’s Knockout Round with 10 scorable bass weighing 37-14, including an 18-pound third period.

“It was a good day. Frustrating, but good,” Birge said. “I ended up with 37 pounds, but I should have had 37 pounds this morning in the first couple of couple of hours if I just could have got them stuck. I’m just thankful I finally got a few of them pegged and got enough bites to fish tomorrow.

“Tomorrow I’ll come back out and start fresh, and hopefully we’ll stick a few more of those early in the day bites,” Birge continued. “It would be nice to get up 20 to 30 pounds before lunch and then continue to do what we did this afternoon. That would be perfect. If any day is going to go perfect, tomorrow is the day. I’ve got my fingers crossed – tomorrow will be better.”

The other eight competitors who advanced from the Knockout Round were Justin Lucas (seven bass, 29-07), Takahiro Omori (nine, 29-06), Fletcher Shryock (nine, 29-04), Ish Monroe (nine, 28-06), Russ Lane (eight, 25-06) and Dustin Connell (six, 24-12). They'll be joined by Qualifying Round group winners Ott DeFoe and Stephen Browning.

The final 10 anglers competing in Thursday’s Championship Round will depart at 7 a.m. from the Villages Marina, located at Big Eddy Road in Flint, Texas. Anglers are allowed to trailer to any boat ramp of their choosing on Lake Palestine, but competition begins with “lines in” at 8 a.m.

Fans are encouraged to come out and celebrate with the professional anglers from the Bass Pro Tour on starting at 3:30 p.m. at the Villages Marina as the champion is crowned. The first 50 children at the event will receive a free Dora the Explorer rod and reel, and the first 50 High School Fishing anglers will receive a free Abu Garcia rod and reel combo, valued at $100. Free food will be provided for all, and the BPT anglers will be on hand to meet and greet fans, sign autographs, take selfies and participate in tackle giveaways.

The event features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable in the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds, but for the final day Championship Round a bass must weigh at least 3 pounds to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

To qualify for Heavy Hitters, the weight of an angler’s single-largest bass from each of the seven 2021 Bass Pro Tour events was recorded. The 32 anglers with the heaviest five big-fish totals from those events qualified.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action from the Championship Round on Thursday from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. MLF NOW! will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Knockout Round

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

1. Zack Birge -- 37-14 (10) -- 5-11

2. Justin Lucas -- 29-07 (9) -- 4-12

3. Takahiro Omori -- 29-06 (9) -- 6-08

4. Fletcher Shryock -- 29-04 (9) -- 6-06

5. Ish Monroe -- 28-06 (9) -- 4-08

6. Alton Jones Jr. -- 27-10 (5) -- 8-03

7. Russ Lane -- 25-06 (8) -- 4-04

8. Dustin Connell -- 24-12 (6) -- 6-00

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

9. Jordan Lee -- 18-07 (7) -- 3-10

10. Michael Neal -- 15-10 (6) -- 3-06

11. Bobby Lane -- 13-01 (5) -- 3-01

12. Bradley Roy -- 7-15 (2) -- 4-02

13. Brent Ehrler -- 7-08 (3) -- 2-11

14. Jeff Kriet -- 6-11 (2) -- 4-06