By MLF Communications Staff

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn.– It was an even colder start to the day for the professional anglers in Group B on Sunday at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on Douglas Lake, with anglers de-icing their rods and guides well into the afternoon. Battling through the frigid temperatures, Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, managed to put together a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 7 ounces to take the lead in Period 2 and narrowly maintain that lead through the end of the competition day.

Despite never weighing a fish in the third period, Faircloth will bring a slim lead into Group B’s second day of competition Tuesday, with a 3-ounce advantage over Josh Butler of Hayden, Ala., who went on a third-period flurry to finish the day in second place with a five-bass limit totaling 14-04. Mitch Crane of Columbus, Miss., caught a 4-11 kicker fish in Period 3 to end the day in third place, also with a limit weighing 14-04, while Mark Rose of Wynne, Ark., ended the day in fourth place with a limit totaling 13-15. Texan Alton Jones, Sr. rounded out the Top 5 with a 13-14.

Kicker fish were key on Douglas Lake on Sunday, as every competitor in the Top 5 scored a fish well over 4 pounds.

“Today has exceeded my expectations, that’s for sure,” said Faircloth. “We started down the lake a little ways, in an area where I had some bites in practice, around some bait out in the middle of the pocket, but there just wasn’t much bait there this morning. I ended up catching one fish in there, then moved around a little bit and tried a couple spots.

“I ran to my second spot to fish a stretch I’d found in practice, and the guy that was leading at the time was sitting on that spot,” continued Faircloth. “So, I made another little move and started catching some fish. I caught one 5-pounder and a 3-pound smallmouth in the second period that pushed me to the top of the leaderboard.”

Despite a difficult practice and battling ice and snow flurries throughout the day, Faircloth said he was able to figure out a pattern that worked for him.

“Practice was tough for me here and it wasn’t like you could just go down the bank and catch them,” said Faircloth. “They were on key spots, but they are so hard to get to bite right now. For some reason, I cannot catch anything dragging a bait on the bottom. They want something above them, and particularly either cranking or throwing a jerkbait.

“It was a little aggravating because I can see them with my Lowrance Active Target, but they are so hard to catch,” Faircloth continued. “I noticed the start of the shad die-off in practice, and whenever that happens it gets especially hard to catch fish because they basically have a buffet in front of them all the time.”

Shad die-off generally happens because water temps have gone up, then dropped dramatically. In this case, water temps had been pushing the 60s on Douglas Lake, so the extreme 10- to 12-degree plunge over the last several days threw the shad into shock. Largemouth and smallmouth can adjust to the sharp downward swing, but smaller baitfish typically cannot handle that extreme change in water temperatures.

“I caught the majority of my fish on a sexy shad-colored Strike King KVD Elite 300 jerkbait,” said Faircloth. “The water is a little stained on Douglas this week, so the white shows up real good in the water, and that coupled with the shad die-off made this a key bait for me today.”

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day from competition Monday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will wrap up their two-day Qualifying Round. Group B will resume competition on Tuesday.

Butler caught a 5-01 largemouth on a jerkbait in Period 2 that was the biggest fish of the day, earning him the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award for the day. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day and another $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the Top 20 anglers from each group advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 40 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will launch Monday and Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. ET from Dandridge Ramp, located at 100 Public Drive in Dandridge, and Wednesday and Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET from the TVA Boat Launch on Renfro Road in Jefferson City. Each day’s takeout will be held at the respective launch locations above, beginning at 5 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 event features anglers competing with a 1-06 minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable on Douglas Lake and a 1-pound, 12-ounce minimum weight for scorable bass on Cherokee Lake. 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 live each day from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Group B Qualifying Round – Day 1

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

1. Todd Faircloth -- 14-07 (5) -- 5-00

2. Josh Butler -- 14-04 (5) -- 5-01

3. Mitch Crane -- 14-04 (5) -- 4-11

4. Mark Rose -- 13-15 (5) -- 4-11

5. Alton Jones -- 13-14 (5) -- 4-15

6. Michael Neal -- 13-02 (5) -- 3-06

7. Jonathon VanDam -- 13-01 (5) -- 3-08

8. Greg Vinson -- 12-15 (5) -- 3-00

9. David Dudley -- 12-06 (5) -- 3-08

10. Jesse Wiggins -- 12-04 (5) -- 3-06

11. Andy Morgan -- 12-04 (5) -- 2-15

12. Jeremy Lawyer -- 11-15 (5) -- 3-06

13. Fletcher Shryock -- 11-13 (5) -- 2-11

14. Jordan Lee -- 11-12 (5) -- 2-13

15. Brett Hite -- 11-09 (5) -- 3-10

16. Spencer Shuffield -- 11-08 (5) -- 3-06

17. Jeff Sprague -- 11-01 (4) -- 5-00

18. James Elam -- 10-13 (5) -- 2-10

19. Josh Bertrand -- 10-04 (5) -- 3-01

20. Ott DeFoe -- 9-05 (5) -- 2-09

21. John Hunter -- 9-04 (5) -- 2-06

22. Zack Birge -- 8-08 (5) -- 2-05

23. Luke Clausen -- 8-06 (3) -- 3-00

24. Dave Lefebre -- 8-06 (5) -- 2-05

25. Gerald Spohrer -- 7-14 (3) -- 4-14

26. Randall Tharp -- 7-09 (4) -- 2-04

27. Bryan Thrift -- 6-15 (3) -- 3-01

28. Scott Suggs -- 6-06 (2) -- 3-08

29. Gary Klein -- 6-00 (3) -- 2-03

30. Shin Fukae -- 5-11 (3) -- 2-02

31. Cody Meyer -- 5-11 (3) -- 2-00

32. Dean Rojas -- 5-10 (3) -- 2-12

33. Britt Myers -- 4-08 (2) -- 2-05

34. Ryan Salzman -- 4-00 (2) -- 2-05

35. James Watson -- 3-05 (2) -- 1-12

36. John Murray -- 2-01 (1) -- 2-01

37. David Walker -- 1-13 (1) -- 1-13

37. Skeet Reese -- 1-13 (1) -- 1-13

39. Kelly Jordon -- 1-08 (1) -- 1-08

39. Marty Robinson -- 1-08 (1) -- 1-08