Day: May 2, 2019, The National Angler

SWINDLE, PALANIUK WITHSTAND FINAL-HOUR DRAMA TO ADVANCE IN PHOENIX BOATS STAGE FIVE PRESENTED BY MERCURY

CULLMAN, Ala. (May 2, 2019) – To date, there have been nine Elimination Rounds contested in the 2019 Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour, all nine of them filled with drama around the Elimination Line. Judging by the sight of Gerald Swindle flopped in exhaustion on the front deck of his Triton as the final seconds ticked off the clock on Thursday, Elimination Round 1 of the Bass Pro Tour Phoenix Boats Stage Five Presented by Mercury may have been the most dramatic yet. Swindle entered the final minute of competition on Smith Lake in 24th place, 1 pound, 4 ounces out of 20th place, and on the outside looking in for a spot in the Knockout Round. But on his last cast – after switching rods with under 60 seconds remaining because the line on the rod he was fishing was frayed – Swindle connected with a 1-12 that vaulted him past Brandon Palaniuk, Scott Suggs, Terry Scroggins and Bobby Lane into 19th place with 49-2, 8 ounces in front of Brandon Palaniuk. “You can’t fish on gut instincts if you’re playing defense, and I’ve been playing defense all year,” Swindle said. “I’m happy to make it (to the Knockout Round), but man, I’m tired of playing defense. I’m looking forward to leading one of these things so I can play some offense. But I’ll tell you one thing I know: I’m going to sleep really well tonight.”

Palaniuk Advances Via Tiebreaker Palaniuk’s entry into the Knockout Round was equally dramatic. After weighing only one scorable spotted bass in Period 1, the Idaho pro jabbed his way through a 12-fish day, connecting on a 2-3 largemouth with 17 minutes left in the round. Palaniuk then held on for dear life as both Chris and Bobby Lane chipped away at him before Swindle eventually leap-frogged him. Palaniuk and Scott Suggs finished the round with the same two-day weight (48-10), but Palaniuk earned the 20th spot on a tiebreaker: Palaniuk weighed 28 fish over two rounds to Suggs’ 27. “Unexpected,” Palaniuk said of his day. “The first day I caught a bunch of my fish in the morning, but I only caught one bass at the very end of the first period today. It was an intense day coming down to the wire. So intense that it’s a good thing my official was on top of his game or I wouldn’t have made it – the third-to-last fish I caught, the fish was bouncing around the scale wouldn’t lock. “It showed as 1-9 but wouldn’t settle, so he told me ‘Hold on, wait, remove your hands’ and then let the scale settle and lock. It came up as 1-10, and that was the difference-maker. I made it in because that official was careful about doing his job.”

Top 5 From Shotgun Looked for New Fish There was no drama at the top of SCORETRACKER®, where Phoenix Boats Daily Leader Jacob Wheeler (87-6), Wesley Strader (81-3), Ott DeFoe (76-9), Josh Bertrand (72-11) and Andy Morgan (70-13) cruised through productive days where they caught plenty of fish while also exploring new spots on Smith Lake for the Knockout Round. “I spent a lot of time looking for other fish today,” Morgan admitted. “Fish are in post-spawn right now, so they’re hungry, but they’re on the move. It’s all about the bait right now – all about the shad and where they are – so you have to keep up with that.”

Today’s Round By The Numbers Elimination Round 1 anglers caught 966-4 on 599 fish; Period 2 was the most productive with 336 fish.

Elimination Round 2 on Friday With the first half of the Knockout Round now set, the 40 anglers from Group B get their next shot at Smith Lake Friday for the second Elimination Round of Stage Five. The grouping around the Elimination Line is slightly looser in Group B than it was in Group A – five anglers are within a single scorable bass of the 20th spot versus eight in Group A – but the projected Elimination Line weight of 52 to 53 pounds on Friday is significantly higher than Thursday’s.

Knockout Round on Saturday The Top 20 anglers from each of the two Elimination groups will advance to a 40-angler Knockout Round on Saturday – weights will be zeroed, making the Knockout a one-day scramble. The Top 10 anglers in the Knockout Round will advance to the Championship Round on Sunday, May 5.

When, Where & How to Watch Competition begins daily at 6:30 a.m. CT, with live, official scoring available via SCORETRACKER on MajorLeagueFishing.com and on the MLF app. The MLF NOW! Live Stream starts at 9 a.m. CT, with live, on-the-water coverage and analysis provided by Chad McKee, JT Kenney, Marty Stone and Natalie Dillon until lines out at 2:30 p.m. The Berkley Postgame Show – hosted by Steven “Lurch” Scott – will start at 4 p.m. daily.

ELIMINATION ROUND 1 FINAL RESULTS

Angler	Total Weight	Day 1	Day 2	Total # Fish	Day 1	Day 2	Largest Fish
1st	Jacob Wheeler	87 – 06	61 – 15	25 – 07	51	38	13	5 – 02
2nd	Wesley Strader	81 – 03	43 – 01	38 – 02	45	21	24	2 – 07
3rd	Ott DeFoe	76 – 09	42 – 12	33 – 13	44	24	20	4 – 02
4th	Josh Bertrand	72 – 11	38 – 13	33 – 14	46	25	21	3 – 01
5th	Andy Morgan	70 – 13	46 – 12	24 – 01	46	29	17	2 – 14
6th	Edwin Evers	67 – 09	41 – 11	25 – 14	43	26	17	2 – 06
7th	Boyd Duckett	64 – 01	28 – 07	35 – 10	37	17	20	4 – 06
8th	Matt Lee	62 – 09	30 – 07	32 – 02	38	20	18	4 – 03
9th	Stephen Browning	59 – 03	36 – 11	22 – 08	41	25	16	2 – 06
10th	Luke Clausen	56 – 07	32 – 05	24 – 02	40	23	17	2 – 06
11th	Cody Meyer	55 – 02	27 – 01	28 – 01	29	14	15	2 – 15
12th	Mark Davis	53 – 07	26 – 11	26 – 12	36	19	17	4 – 04
13th	Dustin Connell	53 – 05	25 – 01	28 – 04	33	16	17	2 – 11
14th	Jordan Lee	52 – 10	28 – 13	23 – 13	35	18	17	2 – 02
15th	Marty Robinson	52 – 07	19 – 08	32 – 15	37	16	21	5 – 03
16th	Alton Jones	51 – 10	25 – 05	26 – 05	36	17	19	2 – 05
17th	Shaw Grigsby	50 – 03	26 – 08	23 – 11	28	15	13	3 – 08
18th	Brent Ehrler	50 – 02	24 – 06	25 – 12	30	15	15	3 – 00
19th	Gerald Swindle	49 – 02	25 – 11	23 – 07	29	15	14	2 – 10
20th	Brandon Palaniuk	48 – 10	27 – 10	21 – 00	28	16	12	2 – 03
21st	Scott Suggs	48 – 10	14 – 07	34 – 03	27	9	18	2 – 13
22nd	Terry Scroggins	48 – 08	12 – 15	35 – 09	27	8	19	3 – 11
23rd	Bobby Lane	48 – 04	25 – 15	22 – 05	29	15	14	2 – 14
24th	Chris Lane	47 – 13	16 – 11	31 – 02	25	10	15	3 – 07
25th	Cliff Crochet	46 – 04	24 – 06	21 – 14	27	12	15	2 – 06
26th	James Elam	44 – 06	20 – 13	23 – 09	27	12	15	2 – 12
27th	Kevin VanDam	43 – 12	21 – 04	22 – 08	30	14	16	2 – 06
28th	Gerald Spohrer	42 – 11	24 – 13	17 – 14	28	18	10	4 – 05
29th	Keith Poche	41 – 15	23 – 13	18 – 02	30	17	13	2 – 08
30th	Tommy Biffle	40 – 15	20 – 06	20 – 09	23	12	11	3 – 07
31st	Greg Hackney	38 – 01	22 – 13	15 – 04	27	16	11	1 – 14
32nd	Justin Atkins	37 – 04	20 – 00	17 – 04	25	13	12	2 – 04
33rd	Kelly Jordon	35 – 09	11 – 05	24 – 04	23	8	15	3 – 00
34th	Alton Jones Jr.	33 – 10	14 – 10	19 – 00	22	9	13	2 – 07
35th	Takahiro Omori	32 – 08	16 – 00	16 – 08	23	11	12	2 – 05
36th	Brandon Coulter	30 – 01	9 – 00	21 – 01	18	5	13	3 – 00
37th	David Walker	29 – 04	19 – 01	10 – 03	22	13	9	1 – 12
38th	Jason Lambert	29 – 04	14 – 14	14 – 06	17	8	9	2 – 12
39th	Mike McClelland	27 – 04	11 – 11	15 – 09	19	8	11	2 – 10
40th	Jonathon VanDam	19 – 08	11 – 09	7 – 15	12	8	4	2 – 06

COX GRABS LEAD AT DAY ONE OF FLW TOUR AT LAKE CHICKAMAUGA PRESENTED BY EVINRUDE

DAYTON, Tenn. (May 2, 2019) – A field of 165 of the best bass-fishing professionals in the world began their four-day competition for a top award of $125,000 at theFLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by EvinrudeThursday in Dayton, Tennessee.

Berkley pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, weighed a five-bass limit of Lake Chickamauga largemouth totaling 24 pounds, 11 ounces to take the early lead after Day One. Cox holds a slim 5-ounce lead over Tour rookie Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, who caught five bass weighing 24-6, good for second place.

“This place is just awesome,” said Cox, a six-time FLW Cup qualifier. “I started out on a real big fish that I had marked in practice – she’s at least a 10 (pounder) – but I couldn’t catch her. I got frustrated and bailed and went and caught a few decent males that I had marked, then came back to her. I caught the male with her, which was a 4-pounder, so I kept it at the time. Then she left.

“I came back an hour later, and she was with another one,” Cox continued. “I accidently caught that male, and she left again. I came back at the end of the day and she was with another male. So I told her to just finish up and that I’d come back tomorrow.”

Cox said he caught six keepers– all sight fishing – but marked 10 more while looking for beds this afternoon. He said he caught his bass using a selection of Berkley PowerBait MaxScent plastics.

“It was not easy today,” Cox said. “The water is coming up and a lot of the banks are getting really stirred up. The visibility is gone on almost every spot that I stopped at. I was guessing as to where they were.

“I’m going to go out tomorrow and try to catch five more decent males and hope I can get lucky and catch a 9- or 10-pounder,” Cox went on to say. “I will stop in and see if the big female I have marked is ready, then after that I really don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

The top 10 pros after day one on Lake Chickamauga are:

1^st: Berkley pro John Cox, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 24-11
2^nd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 24-6
3^rd: Yamamoto Baits pro Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., five bass, 23-5
4^th: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 23-2
5^th: Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., five bass, 23-0
5^th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., five bass, 23-0
7^th: Randy Allen, Gilliam, La., five bass, 22-14
8^th: Strike King pro Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 22-7
9^th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 22-2
10^th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., five bass, 21-0

For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.

McCaghren earned Thursday’s $500 Big Bass award in the pro division after bringing a 9-pound, 13-ounce largemouth to the scale – the largest fish of the day.

Overall there were 766 bass weighing 2,190 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 164 pros Thursday. The catch included 134 five-bass limits.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 165 pro anglers compete in the two-day opening round Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advance to Saturday. Only the top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude is more than $860,000. The tournament is hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic Tourism Council.

Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 FLW Cup, the world championship of professional bass fishing. The 2019 FLW Cup will be on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Aug. 9-11 and is hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs.

Anglers will take off at 7 a.m. ET Thursday through Sunday from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock, but will begin at 4 p.m.

In conjunction with the weigh-ins, FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at the Dayton Boat Dock from 2 to 6 p.m. each day. The Expo is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by FLW sponsors, and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities.

Also for youth, the FLW Foundation’s Unified Fishing Derby will be held at the Dayton Boat Dock on Saturday, May 4, from Noon-2 p.m. The event is hosted by FLW Foundation pro Cody Kelley along with other FLW Tour anglers, and is free and open to anyone under the age of 18 and Special Olympics athletes. Rods and reels are available for use, but youth are encouraged to bring their own if they own one. The 1^st and 2^nd place anglers that catch the biggest fish will be recognized Saturday on the FLW Tour stage, just prior to the pros weighing in.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Evinrude will premiere in 2019. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs each Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST and is broadcast to more than 63 million cable, satellite and telecommunications households in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean on the World Fishing Network (WFN), the leading entertainment destination and digital resource for anglers throughout North America. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The popular FLW Live on-the-water program will air on Saturday and Sunday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by FLW Tour veteran Peter Thliveros to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.