By MLF Communications Staff

EUFAULA, Okla. – After a week of erratic weather and fluctuating water levels and clarity, conditions are finally stabilizing on Oklahoma’s Lake Eufaula at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event. Judging by the numbers on ScoreTracker on Thursday, both the bass and competitors appear to be settling in.

Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. figured out the rapidly changing puzzle the best in Group A and leads the list of 10 anglers from the group who qualified for Saturday’s Knockout Round. Rojas finished with 16 bass for 44 pounds, 11 ounces over two days of qualifying competition.

The 26-year veteran has shown consistency throughout a week of fishing defined by massive swings on ScoreTracker from day to day. Rojas found himself in third place after Day 1 with seven bass for 20-8 and added nine more for 24-3 Thursday to clear second-place finisher Nick LeBrun of Bossier City, La. by more than 5 pounds, eventually spending a good portion of his day on Thursday looking for more areas on Oklahoma’s largest lake.

The top 10 anglers advancing from Group A will now have an off day from competition Friday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will complete their two-day Qualifying Round. The Top 10 anglers from each group advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round.

In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the Top 10 to advance to the Championship Round, where weights are again zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Although he’s never fished on the venue prior to this event, Rojas is relying on his years of tournament experience to combat the changing conditions.

“It’s my first time (at Lake Eufaula), but I’ve seen this scenario play out so many times,” Rojas said of the quickly changing water levels. “Going into the event, I had a good practice before the rains came and flooded everything out. That bite was done on the last day of practice, and I couldn’t get a bite. I started the tournament where I had the most bites in practice and had to change my approach based on how the fish were positioned with the changing water levels.”

With water levels now stabilizing, Rojas is confident that he knows what to look for when he returns to action in the Knockout Round.

“When the water first comes up that fast like it did, the fish are in shock. You don’t know where they’re at because they are spread out everywhere,” he said. "I’ve been checking the water every night, and it’s starting to come down a little. You can see gaps between the leaves with water on them on the first day. Now things are beginning to settle, and I feel like I know what’s going on.”

Rojas has been catching fish “doing a little bit of everything” and simply fishing what the lake gives him.

“I’m catching some in a foot of water and some as deep as 6 feet,” he said. “Some are super shallow, and some are out deeper; you just have to fish everything in front of you. As much as I’ve done this, I recognize when I have to ‘do this here’ and ‘do that there’ based on the cover and structure in front of me.”

Rojas is running the same pattern in several areas around the lake, and it appears to work everywhere he goes. Once he felt safe inside the cut on Thursday, he expanded areas and continued to fish.

“I wanted to make sure I had enough (weight) to get inside the Top 10 and then was able to look for more likely areas,” Rojas said. “I would get a bite and then roll out and try to find more stuff. Then I’d catch another and leave. That told me what to do the rest of the tournament.”

The one benefit of a challenging, changing fishery is that you’re never really out of it. That point was proven loudly Thursday as a handful of pros turned the tables on ScoreTracker and will move on to fish another day.

Five anglers started competition Thursday in 28th place or lower and rocketed to the Top 10 thanks to banner days. The quintet of Marty Robinson, LeBrun, Brent Chapman, Jacob Wheeler and Luke Clausen managed just six bass between them the first day of fishing and 58 today.

Robinson made one of the most dramatic moves with several clutch catches late in the day. He entered with zero and bagged 27-2 Thursday to leap into ninth place. LeBrun soared from 34th to second, Chapman jumped from 32nd to fifth, Wheeler sprang from 30th to 10th and Clausen rose from 28th to seventh.

LeBrun earned Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with a 5-12 largemouth that he caught on a jig 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.

It appeared that the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year standings would shift significantly after Wheeler’s struggles on the first day, but his rebound put him back up top. Wheeler holds a 10-point lead over Alton Jones Jr. in the race to claim the $100,000 payout. Both anglers made the Knockout Round and things could get tighter by the end of the event.

Anglers launch at 7:30 a.m. CT each day from the Peter’s Point-Nichols Point Boat Ramp, located on Dabbs Road in Eufaula. Each day’s takeout is held at the boat ramp 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 MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

The event 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 1-8 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 Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

Qualifying Group A – Day 2

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler’s heaviest fish for the day)

1. Dean Rojas -- 20-08 (7) -- 24-03 (9) -- 44-11 (16) -- 3-10

2. Nick LeBrun -- 2-09 (1) -- 36-14 (12) -- 39-07 (13) -- 5-12

3. Dave Lefebre -- 22-07 (10) -- 15-05 (7) -- 37-12 (17) -- 3-03

4. Jason Vance -- 28-01 (13) -- 8-02 (4) -- 36-03 (17) -- 2-10

5. Brent Chapman -- 3-09 (1) -- 30-06 (14) -- 33-15 (15) -- 3-02

6. Alton Jones Jr. -- 17-10 (6) -- 13-10 (5) -- 31-04 (11) -- 4-05

7. Luke Clausen -- 4-11 (2) -- 25-01 (11) -- 29-12 (13) -- 4-03

8. Anthony Gagliardi -- 18-14 (9) -- 10-00 (3) -- 28-14 (12) -- 4-08

9. Marty Robinson -- 0-00 (0) -- 27-02 (10) -- 27-02 (10) -- 4-13

10. Jacob Wheeler -- 3-14 (2) -- 21-11 (8) -- 25-09 (10) -- 5-05

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

11. Brent Ehrler -- 8-09 (3) -- 16-14 (8) -- 25-07 (11) -- 3-01

12. Bradley Roy -- 14-15 (5) -- 9-05 (4) -- 24-04 (9) -- 4-00

13. Dustin Connell -- 12-05 (5) -- 11-14 (6) -- 24-03 (11) -- 3-08

14. Marshall Robinson -- 13-10 (5) -- 10-08 (6) -- 24-02 (11) -- 2-03

15. Chris Lane -- 9-01 (3) -- 12-05 (5) -- 21-06 (8) -- 3-11

16. Jonathon VanDam -- 10-07 (3) -- 10-12 (5) -- 21-03 (8) -- 2-14

17. Keith Carson -- 7-07 (3) -- 12-12 (5) -- 20-03 (8) -- 3-00

18. Todd Faircloth -- 6-09 (2) -- 13-04 (7) -- 19-13 (9) -- 2-11

19. Andy Morgan -- 13-05 (4) -- 6-07 (2) -- 19-12 (6) -- 4-13

20. Justin Lucas -- 10-12 (5) -- 9-00 (5) -- 19-12 (10) -- 2-10

21. Bryan Thrift -- 13-10 (6) -- 5-02 (3) -- 18-12 (9) -- 1-13

22. Brandon Coulter -- 3-13 (1) -- 13-15 (6) -- 17-12 (7) -- 4-06

23. Matthew Stefan -- 11-05 (5) -- 5-15 (2) -- 17-04 (7) -- 4-02

24. Jeremy Lawyer -- 8-14 (4) -- 7-12 (4) -- 16-10 (8) -- 2-03

25. Alton Jones -- 6-06 (3) -- 9-09 (4) -- 15-15 (7) -- 3-02

26. Justin Cooper -- 9-03 (5) -- 6-07 (2) -- 15-10 (7) -- 4-15

27. Mark Rose -- 7-10 (4) -- 7-11 (4) -- 15-05 (8) -- 2-13

28. Andy Montgomery -- 5-14 (2) -- 9-02 (3) -- 15-00 (5) -- 4-00

29. Casey Ashley -- 2-03 (1) -- 11-09 (5) -- 13-12 (6) -- 3-01

30. Wesley Strader -- 8-11 (3) -- 4-04 (2) -- 12-15 (5) -- 2-03

31. Boyd Duckett -- 9-15 (5) -- 3-00 (1) -- 12-15 (6) -- 3-00

32. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 9-07 (3) -- 3-07 (2) -- 12-14 (5) -- 1-12

33. Jared Lintner -- 3-13 (2) -- 8-12 (4) -- 12-09 (6) -- 3-04

34. Mark Davis -- 4-04 (2) -- 7-10 (4) -- 11-14 (6) -- 1-15

35. Shin Fukae -- 7-00 (2) -- 4-03 (2) -- 11-03 (4) -- 2-06

36. Grae Buck -- 5-05 (2) -- 5-11 (2) -- 11-00 (4) -- 2-14

37. Dylan Hays -- 0-00 (0) -- 9-11 (4) -- 9-11 (4) -- 4-11

38. Cliff Crochet -- 0-00 (0) -- 8-11 (3) -- 8-11 (3) -- 3-11

39. Kelly Jordon -- 2-07 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 2-07 (1) -- 0-00