Lucas Wins Group A By 45-Pound Margin

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

As the winner of the Group A Qualifying Round, Justin Lucas won't launch his boat on Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin again until Wednesday. And despite the nomadic nature of Great Lakes smallmouth bass, he has no doubt that he'll find them – and hammer them – in the Championship Round of the Bass Pro Tour's 2020 season finale.

"My goal for Wednesday is 125 pounds," he said after catching 21 fish for 63-13 on Sunday to boost his two-day total to an eye-popping 205-06 and earning the right to skip Tuesday's Knockout Round. "I have a lot of stuff to fish and I love this type of fishing. I just understand what's going on right now."

He finished just shy of 45 pounds ahead of 2nd-place Scott Suggs, who tallied 41-03 on 12 fish while spending much of the day in practice mode due to Lucas' massive advantage. He concluded the round with a 160-07 total.

Josh Bertrand managed just three fish for 9-00, but dropped only one position to 3rd with 132-03. The guy right behind him, David Dudley, had a three-fish day on Friday, but boated 38 for 101-13 (both day-best numbers) in his second outing to skyrocket from 37th place to 4th. The eerily consistent Mark Rose (17 fish for 51-02 on the first day followed by 16 for 51-01) rounded out the top 5 with 102-03.

Randall Tharp led the lower half of the top 10 with 102-03, followed by Fred Roumbanis (102-00), James Elam (101-05), Jonathon VanDam (98-12) and Brent Chapman (97-00).

Mark Daniels Jr. grabbed the 20th-place cut position with 75-00 (34-14 on the day). First out was Casey Ashley after a 50-11 day left him with 71-13. Aaron Martens, returning to competition after two brain surgeries in the spring to remove cancerous tumors, ended up 24th after a four-fish, 12-16 effort.

There were some big developments in the Angler of the Year race, which is led by Jordan Lee (who's in 3rd place in Group B and will be back on the water Monday). Fletcher Shryock, who started the event as Lee's closest pursuer in the points, took himself out of AOY contention with a three-fish, 10-10 day that dropped him from 18th to 31st.

"It stinks, but after 15 or 16 days on the Bass Pro Tour this year, this was my first bad one," Shryock said. "I just think my overall plan for this tournament ended up not being a good one because I didn't put myself around enough 2- to 4-pound fish.

"It wasn't the first time this has happened to me and it won't be the last. At least I'll sleep pretty good compared to how I've been sleeping (while) worrying about this deal."

Meanwhile, Jacob Wheeler kept his AOY hopes alive by making the cut with a jump from 27th to 12th. Wheeler, who started the derby at No. 3 on the points list and 9 points behind Lee, more than tripled his day-1 output with 25 fish for 71-05. He did it all in the final two periods as he spent the first 2 1/2 hours graphing locations in a different part of the venue than he'd fished on Friday.

"I had to switch locations," he said. "I'd tried to force something a little too much on the first day and I knew I had to make an adjustment."

Instead of fishing the Lake Michigan side of the Door Peninsula, which is an option for competitors in this event, he relocated to the bay side.

"The big difference on the bay side is that all the fish are post-spawn and they're grouped up already and set up where you can catch them," he said. "I bet on the lake side for the majority of practice and I had very little to go off of. I was hoping to catch the last of the spawners and that the post-spawners would be all over the place on the flats.

"It was pretty good in practice, but not in the tournament. The only way to compete is to be on groups of fish, so that's what I had to do."

Lucas' 75 scoreable fish (2 pounds or heavier) for the round were 26 more than anybody else in Group A caught. His guaranteed top-10 finish will put him in the field for next February's Redcrest Championship at Grand Lake after a sluggish start to the campaign.

He's caught everything thus far on a Berkley MaxScent Flat Worm attached to a dropshot rig. He broke the 200-pound mark with 30 minutes remaining in the day and quit fishing with 15 minutes left after subduing a 4-pounder.

"These fish are just pulling out – they're on their first deep spots coming from the spawning grounds and they haven't been messed with," he said. "When you get around them, catching them is pretty easy.

"I'm totally fine with taking two days off. Obviously these are smallmouth and they could move but I still think it's a good thing for me because I won't be beating up fish. I can't wait for Wednesday."

Dudley, the four-time FLW Tour AOY who joined the BPT this year and is now 5-for-5 in making Knockout Rounds, said he experienced every emotion that pro fishing generates during his big comeback day. Considering his lackluster first day, he'd begun hashing out details of his journey home to Virginia on his morning drive to the ramp, figuring he was likely to miss the cut.

"I got on the water and made some adjustments and I caught one," he said. "I was like, okay, I've got one, and then it was bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam and all of a sudden I'm like, Oh my gosh!

"After a while I realized I was going to make the cut, so then I was feeling really good. It was definitely the roller-coaster I always talk about in fishing – every time you turn around it's a different emotion."

Unlike Lucas, he's not totally confident that he can put together another huge haul.

"This place is like a tidal fishery – the current raises and lowers depending on the wind. Add in the fact that they're smallmouth and they don't have a home base anywhere; they're like gypsies and they go all over the place.

"I'm happy about today, but I'm always scared of a smallmouth fishery. I don't trust those suckers."

Weather Forecast

> Mon., July 13 – Mostly Sunny - 77°/65°
- Wind: From the NE at 6 mph

> Tues., July 14 – Cloudy - 81°/67°
- Wind: From the S at 13 mph

> Weds., July 15 – Scattered T-Storms - 80°/67°
- Wind: From the WSW at 8 mph

Group A Qualifying Round

(Figure at far right indicates angler's heaviest fish during the Qualifying Round)

1. Justin Lucas -- 50, 141-09 -- 21, 63-13 -- 71, 205-06 -- 4-06

2. Scott Suggs -- 33, 119-04 -- 12, 41-03 -- 45, 160-07 -- 5-06

3. Josh Bertrand -- 40, 123-03 -- 3, 9-00 -- 43, 132-03 -- 4-07

4. David Dudley -- 3, 9-11 -- 38, 101-13 -- 41, 111-08 -- 4-10

5. Mark Rose -- 17, 51-02 -- 16, 51-01 -- 33, 102-03 -- 4-11

6. Randall Tharp -- 21, 65-06 -- 10, 36-13 -- 31, 102-03 -- 5-02

7. Fred Roumbanis -- 12, 37-06 -- 19, 64-10 -- 31, 102-00 -- 4-15

8. James Elam -- 25, 76-15 -- 8, 24-06 -- 33, 101-05 -- 4-10

9. Jonathon VanDam -- 22, 64-15 -- 10, 33-13 -- 32, 98-12 -- 4-10

10. Brent Chapman -- 20, 56-09 -- 12, 40-07 -- 32, 97-00 -- 4-06

11. Dustin Connell -- 20, 58-06 -- 12, 37-14 -- 32, 96-04 -- 4-02

12. Jacob Wheeler -- 7, 21-15 -- 25, 71-05 -- 32, 93-04 -- 4-03

13. Andy Morgan -- 12, 40-00 -- 15, 52-13 -- 27, 92-13 -- 4-13

14. Takahiro Omori -- 17, 57-09 -- 9, 33-05 -- 26, 90-14 -- 4-14

15. Jeff Sprague -- 8, 26-14 -- 19, 63-13 -- 27, 90-11 -- 4-11

16. Justin Atkins -- 26, 64-08 -- 9, 26-02 -- 35, 90-10 -- 4-00

17. Brett Hite -- 35, 88-14 -- 0, 0-00 -- 35, 88-14 -- 4-05

18. Gary Klein -- 3, 8-04 -- 22, 69-12 -- 25, 78-00 -- 4-09

19. Mark Davis -- 6, 16-08 -- 19, 58-13 -- 25, 75-05 -- 4-05

20. Mark Daniels, Jr. -- 14, 40-02 -- 13, 34-14 -- 27, 75-00 -- 4-09

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

21. Casey Ashley -- 7, 21-02 -- 15, 50-11 -- 22, 71-13 -- 4-11

22. John Murray -- 4, 14-07 -- 20, 56-11 -- 24, 71-02 -- 4-11

23. Dave Lefebre -- 10, 25-04 -- 14, 42-03 -- 24, 67-07 -- 4-02

24. Aaron Martens -- 18, 52-02 -- 4, 12-16 -- 22, 65-02 -- 3-13

25. Kelly Jordon -- 9, 29-07 -- 11, 34-14 -- 20, 64-05 -- 4-03

26. Kevin VanDam -- 4, 11-13 -- 15, 49-11 -- 19, 61-08 -- 4-10

27. Anthony Gagliardi -- 8, 19-15 -- 14, 38-11 -- 22, 58-10 -- 4-09

28. Jacob Powroznik -- 4, 8-11 -- 17, 47-07 -- 21, 56-02 -- 4-11

29. Timmy Horton -- 7, 24-03 -- 11, 29-13 -- 18, 54-00 -- 5-02

30. Jesse Wiggins -- 15, 40-02 -- 5, 13-08 -- 20, 53-10 -- 4-08

31. Fletcher Shryock -- 14, 39-06 -- 3, 10-10 -- 17, 50-00 -- 4-07

32. Dean Rojas -- 16, 48-12 -- 0, 0-00 -- 16, 48-12 -- 4-12

33. David Walker -- 7, 21-10 -- 9, 25-09 -- 16, 47-03 -- 3-13

34. Paul Elias -- 8, 25-05 -- 5, 14-08 -- 13, 39-13 -- 3-15

35. Boyd Duckett -- 5, 15-15 -- 6, 21-00 -- 11, 36-15 -- 4-03

36. Brandon Coulter -- 7, 24-05 -- 4, 12-07 -- 11, 36-12 -- 4-10

37. Shin Fukae -- 9, 28-12 -- 2, 6-15 -- 11, 35-11 -- 4-09

38. Shaw Grigsby -- 5, 16-02 -- 2, 5-04 -- 7, 21-06 -- 3-13

39. Jason Lambert -- 4, 10-11 -- 1, 2-11 -- 5, 13-06 -- 2-12

40. Cliff Crochet -- 1, 2-02 -- 3, 10-04 -- 4, 12-06 -- 3-13