By MLF Communications Staff

BAY CITY, Mich. – Despite strong winds and rainy weather making conditions less favorable for Group B anglers, Britt Myers of Lake Wylie, S.C. weighed in five scorable largemouth bass totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces to grab the early Group B lead at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on Saginaw Bay. Jeff Sprague of Wills Point, Texas finished the day in close contention, weighing in a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth totaling 15-15, good for second place.

“What an unexpected day,” said Myers. “After a horrible practice, I couldn’t have asked for a better day. I often hear tournament anglers talk about giving up and going home after a bad practice, but some of my best days of fishing have come after having bad days of practice.

“I didn’t catch a single 3-pounder during both practice days this week, but I came into today with an open mind, just looking for a sign,” Myers continued. “I caught my first 3-pounder within the first 15 minutes of competition and that showed me the depth where the fish were hanging out.”

Myers spent the day throwing a buzzbait and flipping a hollow-body topwater frog in five inches of water.

“That 3-pound, 6-ounce largemouth right out of the gate took a giant load off of me and got me into the General Tire Heavy Hitters event,” said Myers. “As the day went on, I caught several more 3-pounders that just sealed the deal for today and put me in a good place going into the next day of competition.”

While smallmouth were predicted to prevail at the final Bass Pro Tour event of the season, high winds and changing weather conditions seem to be challenging those expectations, with smallmouth being harder to come by and largemouth making an 11-percent jump on ScoreTracker during the second day of competition.

After spending the bulk of his practice searching for smallmouth and only finding less-than-stellar largemouth, Myers said he was thrilled to be able to generate some quality bites.

“Thankfully I found myself in a super fortunate situation toward the end of the day, with the weight I had, so I was able to look around and fish some other areas that may come into play later on in the event,” said Myers. “I feel super blessed and super happy and can’t wait to get back out there on Friday.”

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

Jordan Lee of Cullman, Ala. earned the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award after a 3-15 largemouth bit his frog in Period 1. 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.

Anglers launch at 7:30 a.m. ET each day from the Golson Boat Launch, located at 1598 N. Johnson St. in Bay City. Each day’s takeout is held at the launch location 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 MLFNOW! livestream and ScoreTracker coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The event features pros competing using the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, with each angler’s five heaviest bass tallied as their day’s weight. 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.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the Top 20 anglers from each group advance to Saturday’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 the Championship Round. Weight carries over from the Knockout Round to the Championship Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! 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 of the round)

1. Britt Myers -- 17-13 (5) -- 3-14

2. Jeff Sprague -- 15-15 (5) -- 3-14

3. Brent Ehrler -- 15-08 (5) -- 3-12

4. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 15-08 (5) -- 3-09

5. Keith Poche -- 15-02 (5) -- 3-14

6. Casey Ashley -- 15-01 (5) -- 3-03

7. Mark Rose -- 14-13 (5) -- 3-04

8. Brent Chapman -- 14-10 (5) -- 3-09

9. Jeremy Lawyer -- 14-09 (5) -- 3-05

10. Jordan Lee -- 14-07 (5) -- 3-15

11. Cody Meyer -- 14-07 (5) -- 3-09

12. Cliff Pace -- 14-06 (5) -- 3-09

13. James Elam -- 14-05 (5) -- 3-07

14. Jacob Wall -- 14-03 (5) -- 3-06

15. Jesse Wiggins -- 14-02 (5) -- 3-11

16. Randall Tharp -- 14-01 (5) -- 3-10

17. Mitch Crane -- 14-01 (5) -- 3-04

18. Stephen Browning -- 13-14 (5) -- 3-02

19. Todd Faircloth -- 13-11 (5) -- 3-08

20. Alton Jones Jr. -- 13-09 (5) -- 3-02

21. Kelly Jordon -- 13-02 (5) -- 2-14

22. Shin Fukae -- 13-01 (5) -- 3-01

23. Alton Jones -- 13-00 (5) -- 3-01

24. Cliff Crochet -- 12-14 (5) -- 2-13

25. Luke Clausen -- 12-14 (5) -- 2-11

26. Matt Becker -- 12-13 (5) -- 3-02

27. Josh Butler -- 12-12 (5) -- 3-00

28. Terry Scroggins -- 12-12 (5) -- 2-15

29. Scott Suggs -- 12-07 (5) -- 2-11

30. John Hunter -- 12-02 (5) -- 2-13

31. Wesley Strader -- 11-12 (5) -- 2-13

32. Gerald Spohrer -- 11-02 (5) -- 2-11

33. Jared Lintner -- 11-00 (5) -- 2-12

34. Dylan Hays -- 10-13 (5) -- 2-08

35. Jeff Kriet -- 10-02 (5) -- 2-03

36. Boyd Duckett -- 10-00 (5) -- 2-10

37. Timmy Horton -- 9-10 (5) -- 2-03

38. Jonathon VanDam -- 8-11 (4) -- 2-09

39. Adrian Avena -- 8-03 (4) -- 2-08

40. David Dudley -- 6-04 (3) -- 2-11