By MLF Communications Staff

It was a blazing fast start Saturday on Day 1 of the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on Cayuga Lake out of Union Springs, N.Y. And the lake was the day’s brightest star.

Two anglers broke the century mark, both tallying more than 100 pounds. Justin Lucas of Guntersville, Ala., ended the day atop the leaderboard, catching 35 scorable bass (34 of which were largemouth) totaling 127 pounds, 1 ounce. Jacob Wheeler of Harrison, Tenn., also broke the 100-pound barrier, catching 37 scorable bass weighing 107-15 to finish the day in 2nd place.

Although Lucas and Wheeler seem to have a substantial lead on the rest of the field, numerous anglers held the top spot throughout the day, including Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., who finished the day in 3rd place with 23 bass totaling 88-05. Waco, Texas’ Alton Jones, Jr. caught 26 bass weighing 82-08 to end the day in 4th. Luke Clausen of Spokane, Washington rounds out the Top 5 with 25 bass weighing 78-09.

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition Sunday. Group A will resume competition on Monday.

Lucas caught his fish from just three spots Saturday, dropshotting a trio of Berkley baits. He caught plenty of fish on a PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm and a Havoc Bottom Hopper, but most of his damage was done with a PowerBait The General. If competing in a five-fish limit format event, Lucas’ best five largemouth would have tallied 27-14.

“Today was just an insane day,” Lucas said in his postgame interview. “I’m really, really stoked right now. I felt like I had two really good spots coming into the event, and I feel like I kind of found a third area today. Other than that, I caught some just junk-fishing around. But I feel really good with how my day went.

“As good as it was today, I do think it is only going to get tougher as the week goes on,” Lucas continued. “Catching all of these bass and not laying off of them – there is no way that this a fishery that can pump out the heavy weight like it did today for every day of the tournament. It will still be really good, but I think its going to slow down a little bit.”

Lucas credited his gear as being crucial to his success.

“The key today was my Fantasista X rod from Abu Garcia,” Lucas said. “The fish are biting really light. I’m shaking my dropshot bait just a little bit, and I can feel the slightest tick in the line – it almost feels like a bluegill bite. But this rod is so sensitive, I’m catching them and that really was the reason why I think I caught so many today.”

Wheeler opted for a bluegill-colored Rapala DT 16 crankbait to catch his keepers.

“Man, how much fun to come up here to Cayuga Lake and smash them on a dang crankbait,” said Wheeler, the reigning Angler of the Year and this year's points leader. “We never really got on them in the last period, and that was our downfall at the end. I was able to check out a few things, but it just wasn’t going down.

“I’m looking forward to the day off and getting a chance to regroup and put the full game plan together,” Wheeler went on to say. “I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to go about this one, yet, but I’ll have it figured out by Monday.”

Chris Lane of Guntersville, Ala., boated a 6-13 largemouth to earn the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award of the event. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. For the final day, weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Mark Rose of Wynne, Ark, who will be among the 40 anglers competing in Group B Sunday, has been penalized one hour of fishing time and will begin his tournament at 9 a.m. ET. Rose inadvertently fished one hour longer than allowed during the final day of the official practice period. When he returned to the launch ramp and realized his error, Rose immediately self-reported his violation to Tournament Director Aaron Beshears, who assessed the penalty.

Anglers launch each day at 7:30 a.m. ET from Frontenac Park, located at 15 Creamery Road in Union Springs. Each day’s takeout will be held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The tournament features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass 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.

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



Group A Qualifying Round – Day 1

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

1. Justin Lucas -- 127-01 (35) -- 6-03

2. Jacob Wheeler -- 107-15 (37) -- 5-06

3. Dustin Connell -- 88-05 (23) -- 5-15

4. Alton Jones Jr. -- 82-08 (26) -- 4-13

5. Luke Clausen -- 78-09 (25) -- 5-05

6. Zack Birge -- 76-12 (20) -- 5-10

7. Terry Scroggins -- 65-05 (23) -- 4-14

8. Fletcher Shryock -- 63-13 (22) -- 3-10

9. Adrian Avena -- 63-01 (18) -- 5-01

10. Cliff Pace -- 58-07 (20) -- 4-03

11. Dylan Hays -- 58-00 (18) -- 4-12

12. Casey Ashley -- 57-00 (16) -- 5-06

13. Ott DeFoe -- 52-14 (15) -- 6-11

14. Matt Lee -- 52-02 (16) -- 4-13

15. Todd Faircloth -- 49-07 (16) -- 3-09

16. Jonathon VanDam -- 46-01 (15) -- 5-02

17. Josh Bertrand -- 44-07 (15) -- 5-01

18. Roy Hawk -- 44-04 (12) -- 5-13

19. David Walker -- 43-00 (11) -- 5-06

20. Chris Lane -- 42-12 (12) -- 6-13

21. Gerald Spohrer -- 41-07 (12) -- 4-12

22. Jesse Wiggins -- 40-03 (13) -- 3-15

23. Dave Lefebre -- 40-03 (11) -- 6-00

24. Bradley Roy -- 39-04 (13) -- 4-10

25. Jeff Kriet -- 37-02 (13) -- 5-12

26. Brett Hite -- 34-08 (10) -- 5-06

27. Kelly Jordon -- 32-09 (11) -- 4-09

28. Bryan Thrift -- 32-02 (11) -- 4-00

29. Cole Floyd -- 31-15 (10) -- 4-02

30. Stephen Browning -- 31-06 (12) -- 3-14

31. Brent Chapman -- 30-13 (9) -- 4-02

32. Ish Monroe -- 29-01 (10) -- 3-13

33. Jeremy Lawyer -- 27-06 (8) -- 4-11

34. Jeff Sprague -- 24-14 (9) -- 4-12

35. Tommy Biffle -- 21-11 (6) -- 4-14

36. Skeet Reese -- 21-06 (7) -- 3-10

37. Jason Lambert -- 19-14 (6) -- 5-03

38. Scott Suggs -- 15-02 (5) -- 4-04

39. Russ Lane -- 14-02 (5) -- 3-05

40. Clabion Johns -- 10-11 (4) -- 4-01