By MLF Communications Staff

CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. – For the first two hours of Group B’s second day on the water Friday at Santee Cooper Lakes, Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona struggled to recapture his Day-1 success. Rojas had stacked 16 bass weighing 48 pounds, 14 ounces on ScoreTracker during his first day, but he went more than two hours Friday morning without boating a scorable fish.

Once Rojas relocated a population of fish, though, the action heated up in a hurry. He got on the board with a 5-pounder, then caught another 11 bass, bringing his two-day total to 76-1. He finished atop the leaderboard for Group B, a mere 10 ounces ahead of Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California.

Rojas’ day summed up the action across lakes Marion and Moultrie. A morning that started slow ended with two bass over 9 pounds and 20 over 6 pounds hitting the scales. Despite many of the top anglers using the afternoon to scout new water, the field combined to catch 249 scorable bass for 824 pounds, 14 ounces – easily the biggest totals of any day so far.

The remaining 20 anglers – the Top 10 from each group – now advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed, and anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round on Sunday. Then weights will be zeroed again and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Having put plenty of distance between himself and the cut line on Wednesday, Rojas, too, used his second day of competition to explore new water on the massive 170,000-acre playing field that is Santee Cooper. He never returned to the area where he caught his Day-1 bag, instead scouting a few other spots where he’d gotten bit during practice.

“The stuff I fished today was just secondary stuff that I had,” he explained. “It’s not my main stuff. I caught ‘em really good the first day, so there was no sense in working on those fish anymore.”

Rojas is doing something a bit different than the majority of anglers, not spending much time around the fishery’s many cypress trees. He didn’t want to reveal much about his tactics but said he’s focusing on areas where bass are moving up to stage.

“There’s probably a few that are up there (spawning), and there’s some that are coming,” Rojas said. “It’s still the very first beginnings of it.”

While he found plenty of fish, Rojas didn’t catch the same quality on Friday, boating just one bass bigger than 3 pounds. As a result, he still plans to return to his Day-1 area during what figures to be an explosive Knockout Round.

Still, he sees the day as a success, having eliminated some water and added more to his arsenal should he have to veer from Plan A.

“I have lots of options,” he said. “I feel very comfortable. The stuff that I fished today I can fish again tomorrow, and the stuff that I didn’t fish today, I can still go back again tomorrow.”

As for what it will take to make the Championship Round, Rojas speculated that the cut will fall around 45 pounds – although he admitted that could be way off. Santee Cooper has proven fickle this week, with lots of anglers putting together impressive bags but few doing so on consecutive days. The only safe bet seems to be that whoever does unlock the bite will have a chance to land some big ones.

“I have no idea,” Rojas said. “I’m going to try and catch every single bass I can tomorrow.”

David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, won the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award Friday with a fat 9-11 largemouth that he caught on a Dudley’s Digger Blade from Treeshaker Tackle during Period 3. 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.

Anglers launch at 7:30 a.m. ET each day from the John C. Land III Landing, located at 4404 Greenall Road in Summerton. Each day’s takeout is held at the park, beginning at 4 p.m.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney breaks down the extended action live on the final four 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.

The tournament features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the ScoreTracker leaderboard. Anglers are competing with a 1 1/2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the BPT visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.



Qualifying Group B – Day 2

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

1. Dean Rojas -- 48-14 (16) -- 27-03 (12) -- 76-01 (28) -- 5-00

2. Brent Ehrler -- 39-00 (11) -- 36-07 (10) -- 75-07 (21) -- 9-10

3. Nick LeBrun -- 37-00 (10) -- 38-02 (11) -- 75-02 (21) -- 5-00

4. Casey Ashley -- 38-09 (12) -- 35-09 (9) -- 74-02 (21) -- 8-08

5. Justin Lucas -- 28-14 (10) -- 36-03 (8) -- 65-01 (18) -- 7-15

6. Jacob Wheeler -- 53-08 (13) -- 7-04 (2) -- 60-12 (15) -- 3-13

7. Marshall Robinson -- 27-03 (8) -- 31-06 (9) -- 58-09 (17) -- 6-13

8. Zack Birge -- 29-04 (6) -- 26-07 (7) -- 55-11 (13) -- 7-01

9. David Dudley -- 11-12 (5) -- 42-01 (13) -- 53-13 (18) -- 9-11

10. Bobby Lane -- 25-02 (7) -- 26-00 (7) -- 51-02 (14) -- 5-04

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

11. Fred Roumbanis -- 26-01 (5) -- 23-01 (5) -- 49-02 (10) -- 6-14

12. Fletcher Shryock -- 22-04 (8) -- 26-05 (9) -- 48-09 (17) -- 4-15

13. Luke Clausen -- 24-12 (8) -- 23-08 (6) -- 48-04 (14) -- 6-00

14. Edwin Evers -- 5-01 (2) -- 41-03 (10) -- 46-04 (12) -- 6-02

15. Keith Poche -- 4-11 (3) -- 40-10 (16) -- 45-05 (19) -- 5-02

16. Mark Davis -- 9-05 (2) -- 34-02 (10) -- 43-07 (12) -- 5-07

17. Bradley Roy -- 4-07 (2) -- 38-11 (12) -- 43-02 (14) -- 6-05

18. Ott DeFoe -- 19-04 (7) -- 23-02 (7) -- 42-06 (14) -- 5-05

19. Wesley Strader -- 14-04 (6) -- 24-06 (8) -- 38-10 (14) -- 4-12

20. Spencer Shuffield -- 25-10 (7) -- 11-03 (4) -- 36-13 (11) -- 3-13

21. Jeremy Lawyer -- 20-00 (6) -- 16-04 (6) -- 36-04 (12) -- 3-11

22. Todd Faircloth -- 14-03 (4) -- 22-00 (6) -- 36-03 (10) -- 5-05

23. Drew Gill -- 12-14 (5) -- 23-04 (9) -- 36-02 (14) -- 4-02

24. Justin Cooper -- 4-02 (2) -- 30-13 (8) -- 34-15 (10) -- 7-03

25. Joshua Weaver -- 21-05 (7) -- 11-04 (3) -- 32-09 (10) -- 6-11

26. Martin Villa -- 13-03 (5) -- 18-15 (8) -- 32-02 (13) -- 3-02

27. Alton Jones -- 14-05 (4) -- 15-15 (5) -- 30-04 (9) -- 5-07

28. Stephen Browning -- 22-08 (6) -- 5-11 (2) -- 28-03 (8) -- 3-00

29. James Elam -- 11-04 (3) -- 10-06 (3) -- 21-10 (6) -- 4-03

30. Keith Carson -- 11-10 (4) -- 7-13 (3) -- 19-07 (7) -- 3-03

31. Jonathon VanDam -- 12-12 (5) -- 6-08 (1) -- 19-04 (6) -- 6-08

32. Boyd Duckett -- 8-09 (4) -- 10-02 (3) -- 18-11 (7) -- 4-02

33. Scott Suggs -- 5-14 (2) -- 12-02 (4) -- 18-00 (6) -- 4-06

34. Ryan Salzman -- 7-03 (3) -- 10-08 (3) -- 17-11 (6) -- 5-02

35. Gary Klein -- 9-09 (4) -- 5-12 (2) -- 15-05 (6) -- 3-03

36. Kelly Jordon -- 14-09 (6) -- 0-00 (0) -- 14-09 (6) -- 0-00

37. Cliff Crochet -- 6-00 (2) -- 8-03 (3) -- 14-03 (5) -- 3-01

38. John Hunter -- 1-10 (1) -- 11-07 (3) -- 13-01 (4) -- 6-08

39. Bryan Thrift -- 7-11 (2) -- 5-02 (2) -- 12-13 (4) -- 3-02

40. Andy Montgomery -- 7-13 (3) -- 0-00 (0) -- 7-13 (3) -- 0-00