Becker, Wheeler, Gill Lead The Way Into Finals

Saturday, March 8, 2025

Photo: MLF/Phoenix Moore

Matt Becker put more than 30 pounds on ScoreTracker during the first hour of the Knockout Round at Lake Murray.

By MLF Communications Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. – As the final period of the Qualifying Round of the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at Lake Murray ticked away, Matt Becker couldn’t buy a bite. Across the last three hours of competition Friday, Becker never landed a bass – although he still managed to hold on to the final spot above the Elimination Line, topping two competitors by less than a pound to secure a spot in Saturday’s Knockout Round.

A new day brought zeroed weights, and Becker took full advantage. He caught fire early on Saturday, sprinting to the top of ScoreTracker with 10 bass totaling 30 pounds, 13 ounces during the first hour of competition. He then maintained the top spot for nearly the entire rest of the day, finishing with 44-10 on 15 scorable bass. That was just 11 ounces ahead of Jacob Wheeler, while Drew Gill and Alton Jones Jr. also finished within 2-2 of Becker’s total.

That quartet – all former Bass Pro Tour winners – will be joined by Qualifying Round victor Jeff Sprague as well as the rest of the Top finishers from the Knockout Round in what’s shaping up to be a loaded Championship Round. Weights will once again zero, then the angler who can amass the most weight Sunday will take home $150,000.

Becker grew up in Pennsylvania, where he spent a lot of time on Lake Erie, and now lives on the Tennessee River. So, on paper, it doesn’t really make sense why he’s found so much success at Lake Murray. But the South Carolina impoundment has always treated him well.

Becker earned his first national win on the fishery at a Pro Circuit event in 2021, then finished a solid 27th when the BPT visited in 2023 en route to winning the Angler of the Year title as a rookie. Now, he’s back in the Top 10 again. Multiple times Saturday, he remarked that Lake Murray is his favorite tournament venue in the country.

“I really can’t explain it,” Becker said. “I love clean water, and I guess it’s a blueback herring thing. I’ve always done well on herring lakes. But yeah, from the very first day I launched my boat on Murray, I just clicked with it and loved it.”

That past success helped bolster Becker’s confidence entering the Knockout Round despite his slow finish Friday. Like most of the field has all week, he opted to use his one allotted period with forward-facing sonar during Period 1. He returned to the same pocket where he caught four scorable bass the morning prior, and this time, he found the fish positioned shallower and feeding aggressively.

Using a jighead minnow, he boated 12 scorable bass for 36-6 during the opening period – more weight than he caught during either of the first two days of competition.

“I had the opportunity to have a similar morning yesterday, but I just missed them,” Becker explained. “I lost them; they weren’t eating the bait right. So, I knew the potential was there. I didn’t expect that this morning, but I knew I had to go back to that same zone and see if I could trick a few into biting, and it was fast and furious this morning. They were biting instead of following.”

With his forward-facing sonar turned off, Becker spent the rest of the day skipping a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko around boat docks. That became the dominant pattern across the field on a warm, sunny afternoon.

Becker added three scorable bass with his transducers turned off, including the first one he’s landed during the third period all week. He knows he’s going to need to do a better job of keeping up the pace during the latter two periods of the Championship Round if he hopes to add another Lake Murray trophy to his collection. Sprague sailed through the Qualifying Round, amassing the heaviest total of the field on each of the first two days (although it will be interesting to see if he can continue to ride his crankbait bite after no one in the field found consistent success with moving baits Saturday). Plus, Wheeler and Gill admitted they stopped trying to catch fish Saturday afternoon once they’d put a safe distance between themselves and the elimination line.

“I feel okay about the first period; I feel like I can survive,” Becker said. “But I don’t really feel like I’m on anything for the afternoon. I’ve got maybe two or three stretches of docks that I feel like I may be able to get a bite on again, but other than that, I really don’t know what I’m going to do yet. So, I’m going to have to think about it and maybe make a gametime adjustment.

“There’s definitely a couple areas I feel like I could have went to this afternoon had I needed to catch one. I was just kind of trying to explore and look at new stuff. But still, I wish I would have caught a few more.”

While cooler, cloudier conditions could hurt the bite a bit, Becker expects it to take at least 50 pounds to earn the win, possibly more than 60. That might seem like a tall task, but the fact that he has a spot in the final-day field means he has a shot, especially on his favorite lake.

“The weather is going to be different, so I really don’t know what the fish are going to do tomorrow,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a little bit tougher than today just given the weather we have coming through – the clouds and the cooler temperatures. I think it’s going to take somewhere in the 50- to 60-pound range to win. We’re going to have to figure something out to make that happen.”

Marshall Robinson won Saturday’s Berkley Big Bass Award, boating a 5-13 largemouth in Period 3. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

final 10 anglers will launch at 7:15 a.m. ET Sunday from Dreher Island State Park, located at 3677 State Park Road in Prosperity. Sunday’s Championship festivities will be held at the State Park, beginning at 3 p.m.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

Knockout Round

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

1. Matt Becker -- 44-10 (15) -- 4-08

2. Jacob Wheeler -- 43-15 (13) -- 5-12

3. Drew Gill -- 42-12 (14) -- 4-06

4. Alton Jones Jr. -- 42-08 (13) -- 4-13

5. Marshall Robinson -- 40-05 (11) -- 5-13

6. Bryan Thrift -- 38-13 (14) -- 4-09

7. Brent Ehrler -- 38-08 (12) -- 4-10

8. Jake Lawrence -- 35-09 (12) -- 5-04

9. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 34-06 (11) -- 4-07

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