By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Jordan Lee won back to back Bassmaster Classics in 2017 and '18. Now he's looking to win consecutive season openers on the MLF Bass Pro Tour.
Lee, who 13 months ago prevailed in the inaugural BPT event at Florida's Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, had what he termed his "best day of fishing ever" in the Knockout Round at Lake Eufaula. He boated only six scoreable bass, but they combined to weigh 36 pounds.
Lee didn't win the round – that honor went to Dustin Connell, who tallied 40-06 on nine fish. But boating half a dozen pre-spawn largemouths that averaged 6 pounds apiece provided a huge thrill for the 28-year-old who's competing in his home state of Alabama.
He caught an 8-pounder and another fish that was just 2 ounces shy of that mark. He also had a 6-04, a 6-00, a 4-13 and a 3-11.
They came from a spawning pocket on the north end of the lake that he'd visited while competing as a co-angler about 8 years ago. They were enticed by an orange ChatterBait with a green-pumpkin Berkley Chigger Craw trailer.
"I went up there on a gut feeling and it paid off," he said. "Just the sheer size of the fish – it was a magical day that I'll never forget.
"I know I'm around some big fish. I'll go out tomorrow and try to get six, seven eight bites, and hopefully they're big."
Connell and Lee were among the eight anglers who advanced to Wednesday's Championship Round. The others were Ott DeFoe (35-13 in the Knockout Round), Takahiro Omori (32-04), Brent Chapman (29-01), Adrian Avena (28-07), Alton Jones Jr. (25-02) and Brett Hite (23-07).
They'll be joined by Bryan Thrift and Jacob Wheeler, who gained early advancement by winning their respective qualifying groups.
Dustin Connell's day started out kind of slow, but his action heated up big-time and he went on to win the Knockout Round.
The Knockout Round saw perhaps the best overall bite of any of the five competition days to this point as the lake continues to stabilize and clear in the wake of heavy rain last week. There were some bruisers chomping – Chapman caught a tournament-best 8-15 specimen, Britt Myers had a 6-13, Connell a 6-12 and Avena a 6-03.
Jones was the final angler to move into the top 8 when he caught a 5-04 with about 12 minutes remaining in the day to bump out Mike McClelland. The latter nearly got back in when he hooked up with two minutes to go, but the fish registered 2 ounces shy of the 2-pound minimum.
Jones had gone about 6 hours without a bite before catching the 5 1/4 and a 2-pounder in the final hour.
Avena took a swim in the 60-degree water to free a 4-pound-plus fish that had gotten hung up in a bush. He'd have made the top 8 without that one, but he had no way of knowing that at the time and the margin would've been pretty slim.
Connell caught three fish in the 6-pound class, plus a 5-pounder.
"It started out slow, but I eventually started putting the puzzle together and it ended up being an awesome day," he said. "Tomorrow I'll try to expand on what I found today and not run around a whole lot. It changes out here every day.
"I'm running a pattern – it's not just a one-place deal. I burned some fish today, but there's more coming, you can tell. I'd roll up to a place and wouldn't get a bite, then come back an hour later and catch a big one. Tomorrow could be unbelievable; you might see a 10-pounder caught."
Weather Forecast
> Weds., Feb. 12 – Cloudy - 77°/65°
- Wind: From the S at 10 mph
Knockout Round
1. Dustin Connell -- 9, 40-06
2. Jordan Lee -- 6, 36-00
3. Ott DeFoe -- 11, 35-13
4. Takahiro Omori -- 9, 32-04
5. Brent Chapman -- 8, 29-01
6. Adrian Avena -- 7, 28-07
7. Alton Jones Jr. -- 7, 25-02
8. Brett Hite -- 8, 23-07
The following anglers did not make the cut and did not advance to the Championship Round.
9. Mike McClelland -- 9, 22-03
10. Britt Myers -- 6, 21-06
11. Andy Montgomery -- 6, 21-05
12. Chris Lane -- 6, 19-06
13. Kevin VanDam -- 6, 18-15
14. Edwin Evers -- 5, 17-06
15. Randall Tharp -- 6, 17-03
16. Bobby Lane -- 6, 16-00
17. Jacob Powroznik -- 5, 15-10
18. Aaron Martens -- 6, 15-04
19. Fletcher Shryock -- 4, 15-02
20. David Dudley -- 4, 14-05
21. Andy Morgan -- 4, 12-12
22. Justin Atkins -- 4, 12-10
23. Brent Ehrler -- 4, 10-14
24. Scott Suggs -- 4, 9-15
25. Brandon Coulter -- 2, 9-10
26. Mark Rose -- 2, 9-07
27. Greg Hackney -- 2, 8-10
28. Anthony Gagliardi -- 3, 8-08
29. Michael Neal -- 3, 8-07
30. Wesley Strader -- 3, 7-15
31. James Watson -- 3, 6-09
32. Luke Clausen -- 2, 6-08
33. Jeff Sprague -- 2, 5-06
34. Todd Faircloth -- 2, 4-15
35. Greg Vinson -- 2, 4-05
36. Jesse Wiggins -- 1, 3-14
37. Josh Bertrand -- 1, 2-06
38. Mike Iaconelli -- 1, 2-04
