Day: February 23, 2020, The National Angler

February 23, 2020 (Okeechobee, Fla.) The Bass Pro Tour continued on Lake Okeechobee Sunday for the third day of the Favorite Fishing Stage Two presented by Bass Cat. Anglers in Group A found some relief with less wind and warmer temperatures when compared to Friday’s start to the Qualifying Round. Takahiro Omori rose seven places to win the Qualifying Round for Group A securing an automatic berth in the Championship Round. Wesley Strader doubled his Friday catch to secure second place with a two-day total of 28 pounds even. Zach Birge rose 31 places after a scoreless first day by catching 27 pounds, three ounces today. Group B, currently led by Dean Rojas with 20 pounds, five ounces, will return to the water on Monday to determine the remaining 20 anglers to advance.

Ranger Boats Pro Omori opened his day with an eight-pound-four-ounce bass in the second half of the first period. He then sealed his first-place position throughout the day with a steady pace of two-pound catches. By winning “Group A” of the Qualifying Round with a two-day total of 33 pounds, nine ounces, Omori skips the Knockout Round and advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. This guarantees him a minimum payout of $12,000.

Tennessee-resident Strader moved from 14^th place on Friday to 2^nd place today. He caught six of seven before noon and said he found a rhythm that didn’t necessarily align with his original plan.

“Today was about having an open mind,” said Strader. “I had to go into today doing things that are not usual to Florida fishing but rather getting back to how I like to fish. I found an area that wasn’t exactly my original plan, but I stayed and figured a few more things out.”

Zack Birge credits fellow MLF Pro Mike Iaconelli with inspiring him to go into today with a winning attitude despite a scoreless first day on Friday. Iaconelli ended his first day of the 2020 Bass Pro Tour without a catch and then surged forward in day two of the B&W Hitches Stage One presented by Power-Pole Qualifying Round with a one-day total of 23 pounds, three ounces to make the Knockout Round.

“You’re never out of it in this game,” said Birge. “I thought about how Ike caught nothing on the first day in Eufaula and then came back with a ‘big bag’ on the second day. I got a little momentum this morning and then (Ike’s success) kept me motivated.”

After finishing 78^th out of 80 anglers in 2019 – the first season with the Bass Pro Tour, Mike McClelland continued his 2020 renaissance today by earning a second top-twenty finish. He caught 19 pounds, three ounces Sunday – the third highest weight of the day behind Strader and Omori. McClelland finished seventh overall with a two-day total of 25 pounds, two ounces. One of the first anglers to join MLF, McClelland expressed his enthusiasm for both the MLF format and the variable minimum weight rule change in 2020 as energizing to him as well as the sport of competitive bass fishing.

“This is the most stressful, intense, and exciting format I’ve ever fished,” said McClelland. “When we started MLF where every fish counts and no limits, we raised the bar for competitive fishing and now with a two-pound minimum on Lake Okeechobee our fans get to see the best pros in the world compete at the highest level in the history of bass fishing.”

Pennsylvania native Dave Lefebre landed today’s big bass weighing in at nine pounds. He ended the day in 11^th place and will advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round. This catch will also improve his position to qualify for Heavy Hitters when added with the four-pound-nine-ounce bass from Stage One in Eufaula. MLF Heavy Hitters presented by Venmo brings together the 30 anglers with the heaviest “virtual bags” after five Stages of the Bass Pro Tour. Anglers will compete for over $750,000 in prizes including a Berkley Big Bass payout ranging from $25,000 to $100,000 per day. Heavy Hitters takes place on the Kissimmee Chain (Fla.) May 16-20, 2020.

The Top Ten of the Qualifying Round, Group A finished day two as follows:

SHOP – THE NATIONAL ANGLER

Place	Angler	Total 2-Day Weight	Day Two Weight Total	Largest Fish over Qualifying Round
1	Takahiro Omori	33-09	19-13	8-04
2	Wesley Strader	28-00	18-11	3-09
3	Zack Birge	27-03	27-03	5-13
4	Ott DeFoe	25-13	5-09	5-07
5	Cody Meyer	25-13	4-14	6-03
6	Michael Neal	25-09	0-00	4-09
7	Mike McClelland	25-02	19-03	3-11
8	Ish Monroe	23-02	18-15	3-01
9	Shaw Grigsby	23-00	15-13	4-10
10	Dustin Connell	23-00	10-11	3-03

For complete results, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com, Bass Pro Tour, Results.
Group B will return to the water Monday morning for their second day of the Qualifying Round. Take-off begins at C. Scott Driver Park in Okeechobee, Fla. at 7-7:30 a.m. ET with lines-in at 8:00 a.m. ET. Forecasts indicate the weather will continue to improve after the group’s dismal first day on Saturday when high winds and rough conditions resulted in nine anglers ending Day One scoreless.

Tuesday’s Knockout Round begins with launch 7-7:30 a.m. before lines-in at 8:00 a.m. Period 1 ends at 10:30 a.m. Period 2 spans 10:45 a.m. until 1:15 p.m. Period 3 begins at 1:30 p.m. and lasts until day’s end at 4:00 p.m. The General Tire Takeout show airs approximately 4:15 – 5:15 p.m. as anglers return to the ramp.

Local Rookie Strickland Wins Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers

LEESBURG, Fla. (Feb. 23, 2020) – Pro Laramy Strickland of Bushnell, Florida, brought five bass to the scale weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers Sunday. Strickland’s three-day total of 15 bass totaling 61 pounds, 4 ounces gave him the win by a 4-pound, 6-ounce margin over second place angler Jimmy Washam of Covington, Tennessee. For his victory, Strickland took home a top prize of $100,000.

A person standing in front of a crowd

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The tournament, originally scheduled for four days, was shortened to three after strong winds forced a postponement of competition on Friday. The full field of 154 anglers competed on Thursday and Saturday and only the top 30 anglers advanced to Championship Sunday.

“This is unbelievable – just as awesome as I always dreamed it was going to be,” said Strickland, a former FLW/TBF High School Fishing Florida State Champion fishing in just his second event as a professional on the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit. “If I was going to win just one, ever, in my whole career, I would have wanted it to be right here. There was so much family and friends here, the crowd was humongous. This still doesn’t even feel real.”

Strickland caught his fish this week fishing an area in Lake Griffin called the marsh. He described the marsh as “a 500- to 600-acre duck marsh, with hydrilla everywhere and full of cattails and hyacinth mats.” As a local angler he knew that big fish had been in there for months, and when he went there during the official practice period the big fish were still there.

“I caught them this week flipping mats with a Reaction Innovations Spicy Beaver (Tramp Stamp), but also added two big ones on a (Reaction Innovations) Machete Worm,” Strickland said. “Those were the only two baits I used all week – just flipped and threw that worm. I caught 12 fish on the first day. On the second day, I caught 8. Today I caught around 8 as well – they were just the right bites.”

Strickland said he threw the Spicy Beaver on a 7-foot, 6-inch Fitzgerald Rods hydrilla rod with a Shimano reel and 70-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa braided line. He threw the worm on a new all-purpose 7-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy Fitzgerald rod, with 17-pound-test Fitzgerald Vursa fluorocarbon line and pegged with a 1/16-ounce weight.

“I fished fairly clean all week. I lost a couple that I really thought were going to haunt me, but my fish held up,” Strickland said. “I just kind of stuck in that area and luckily I had it all to myself this week.

“Two years ago, when the Pro Circuit was here, the boat that I won out of today was sitting in the parking lot as the demo boat for Ranger,” Strickland went on to say. “I bought that boat and here we are two years later. I’m on the big stage, and I won. I don’t even know what else to say. This has been surreal.”

The top 10 pros on the Harris Chain of Lakes finished:

1^st:       Laramy Strickland of Bushnell, Fla., 15 bass, 61-4, $100,000
2^nd:      Jimmy Washam of Covington, Tenn., 15 bass, 56-14, $30,000
3^rd:       Hunter Freeman of Monroe, La., 13 bass, 54-6, $25,000
4^th:       Kyle Gelles of Pingree, Idaho, 14 bass, 52-11, $20,000
5^th:       Matthew Stefan of Junction City, Wis., 15 bass, 51-15, $19,000
6^th:       Miles Burghoff of Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., 15 bass, 51-5, $18,000
7^th:       Jared McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., 15 bass, 50-5, $17,000
8^th:       Chad Warren of Sand Springs, Okla., 15 bass, 50-0, $16,000
9^th:       Casey Scanlon of Lake Ozark, Mo., 15 bass, 49-7, $15,000
10^th:     Brandon McMillan of Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 49-7, $14,000

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Overall there were 145 bass weighing 366 pounds, 9 ounces, caught by the pros Sunday. Of the final 30 pros, 27 of them were able to bring a five-bass limit to the scale.

Television coverage of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes will premiere in 2020. The 2020 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit will have 156 two-hour airings on network television, including 26 consecutive weeks of Friday night primetime airing on Outdoor Channel and 130 airings on Sportsman Channel for a total of 312 hours of Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit programming.

The Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at the Harris Chain of Lakes presented by Bad Boy Mowers was hosted by Lake County, Florida. The next event for Pro Circuit anglers will be the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit at Lake Martin, March 19-22, in Alexander City, Alabama. The tournament will be hosted by the Alexander City Chamber.

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In normal Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit competition, the full field of 154 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced 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. After Friday’s weather postponement the format was changed to a three-day event, the full field fished the first two days of competition (Thursday and Saturday) and the top 30 pros advanced to Sunday, the final day of competition.

Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2020 FLW TITLE, the Pro Circuit Championship. The 2020 FLW TITLE will be on the St. Lawrence River in Massena, New York, Aug. 8-13 and is hosted by the Town of Massena.