By MLF Communications Staff

After Friday’s record-setting pace, Sunday’s Group A Qualifying Round finale was a much tougher, more grueling day on the water for the 40 anglers in Group A at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at the St. Lawrence River in Massena, N.Y. After battling the windy conditions, Jacob Wheeler coasted to the group victory with a two-day total of 66 bass totaling 222-01 – a new Bass Pro Tour record for the heaviest Qualifying Round weight.

Brent Ehrler boated a two-day total of 59 bass totaling 190-13 to end the round in 2nd place after starting in 3rd. Justin Lucas caught 52 bass weighing 177-09 over two days to finish the round in 3rd place.

Jeff Sprague ended up in 4th place with a two-day total of 59 bass for 172-04. Rounding out the Top 5 was Jonathon VanDam, who caught the heaviest weight of the day (25 bass for 77-15) to finish with a two-day total of 54 bass for 172-04.

The Top 20 anglers from Group A will now enjoy an off day Monday while the 40 anglers in Qualifying Group B complete their two-day Qualifying Round. The Knockout Round, featuring 38 anglers competing to finish in the Top 8, will take place on Tuesday. Wednesday’s Championship Round will feature Wheeler, Monday’s Group B winner and the eight anglers from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

“To break another record just feels unbelievable,” said Wheeler, who's sat atop the BassFan World Rankings for nearly 2 years. “I’ve been catching fish in all three phases of the spawn this week. Some of the fish were set up and cruising – those are post-spawners. Some of them were actually sitting on the edges of those points, and those were pre-spawners. And then there are bass spawning on top of the points around the islands, and I’m just rotating through them.

“I rotated between a drop-shot rig, using a Rattlin’ Ned from Googan Baits called a Blue Penny, and then throwing the same bait but actually on a Ned rig,” Wheeler continued. “I threw them on my 7-foot medium action Signature Series Duckett rod on one and my 7-foot, 2-inch medium-heavy Signature Series Duckett rod on the other.

“I’m excited to qualify for the Championship Round and to have another chance to take home a W,” Wheeler went on to say. “In the last event at Chickamauga I finished 2nd, and I want nothing more than to tie my buddy Otter (Defoe) and win two events in one year.”

Ehrler also used the dropshot rig Sunday, but credited his Daiwa Tatula LT reel and its faster gear ratio as being the key to his day.

“I caught them very similar today to how I did the first day – pitching and casting to light and dark spots on some of these main-river reefs,” Ehrler said. “I’ve been dropshotting a Roboworm with a Gamakatsu G Finesse Drop Shot hook and a 3/8-ounce Ark Tungsten sinker. The key was really my Daiwa Tatula LT reel, though.

“A lot of times today I would pitch into these light spots in the current and when the fish would bite they would move off and swim down the current very fast,” Ehrler continued. “My line would go slack, but luckily I was able to pick up a lot of line quickly with the LT and its faster gear ratio. That was really important in getting these fish in the boat today.”

Jeff Kriet won Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in a 6-10 smallmouth caught on a drop-shot rig during Period 3. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.

The MLF Bass Pro Tour General Tire Stage Five at the St. Lawrence River Presented by Berkley is hosted by the Town of Massena and Fish Massena.

Anglers will take off from the Massena Intake Boat Launch Ramp, located on Route 13 in Massena, at 9 a.m. ET each day of competition. Takeous are held in the same location beginning at 5:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW! livestream and SCORETRACKER coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 9:15 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET. MLF NOW! is live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Group A Qualifying Round – Day 2

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Jacob Wheeler -- 165-01 (47) -- 57-00 (19) -- 222-01 (66) -- 6-06

2. Brent Ehrler -- 141-12 (43) -- 49-01 (16) -- 190-13 (59) -- 5-13

3. Justin Lucas -- 125-08 (36) -- 52-01 (16) -- 177-09 (52) -- 6-13

4. Jeff Sprague -- 132-09 (45) -- 39-11 (14) -- 172-04 (59) -- 4-08

5. Jonathon VanDam -- 94-04 (29) -- 77-15 (25) -- 172-03 (54) -- 5-07

6. Alton Jones Jr. -- 147-10 (49) -- 21-02 (7) -- 168-12 (56) -- 5-01

7. Josh Bertrand -- 135-03 (41) -- 26-01 (8) -- 161-04 (49) -- 5-02

8. Cody Meyer -- 121-11 (40) -- 36-13 (13) -- 158-08 (53) -- 4-10

9. Bradley Roy -- 115-12 (37) -- 30-00 (9) -- 145-12 (46) -- 5-03

10. Adrian Avena -- 115-00 (34) -- 23-10 (7) -- 138-10 (41) -- 5-06

11. Dean Rojas -- 86-06 (30) -- 49-10 (17) -- 136-00 (47) -- 4-09

12. Jordan Lee -- 84-04 (25) -- 44-06 (12) -- 128-10 (37) -- 5-11

13. Skeet Reese -- 81-12 (28) -- 41-11 (15) -- 123-07 (43) -- 4-10

14. Stephen Browning -- 70-15 (25) -- 49-09 (16) -- 120-08 (41) -- 5-00

15. Wesley Strader -- 67-03 (22) -- 49-12 (16) -- 116-15 (38) -- 5-00

16. Ish Monroe -- 62-06 (17) -- 53-01 (16) -- 115-07 (33) -- 5-00

17. David Dudley -- 85-02 (26) -- 28-12 (9) -- 113-14 (35) -- 5-13

18. Alton Jones -- 62-08 (20) -- 50-14 (15) -- 113-06 (35) -- 5-03

19. Marty Robinson -- 59-05 (20) -- 48-05 (15) -- 107-10 (35) -- 5-05

20. Brandon Coulter -- 72-11 (21) -- 33-13 (12) -- 106-08 (33) -- 5-03

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

21. Kevin VanDam -- 78-07 (23) -- 25-02 (10) -- 103-09 (33) -- 5-12

22. Mark Davis -- 49-14 (19) -- 53-05 (19) -- 103-03 (38) -- 4-05

23. Roy Hawk -- 66-11 (22) -- 33-13 (11) -- 100-08 (33) -- 5-00

24. Shaw Grigsby -- 62-09 (18) -- 34-09 (10) -- 97-02 (28) -- 5-01

25. Greg Vinson -- 66-10 (23) -- 25-11 (10) -- 92-05 (33) -- 4-11

26. Jesse Wiggins -- 63-13 (19) -- 23-00 (9) -- 86-13 (28) -- 4-15

27. Casey Ashley -- 59-01 (17) -- 25-07 (8) -- 84-08 (25) -- 5-04

28. Cliff Crochet -- 52-15 (16) -- 23-10 (9) -- 76-09 (25) -- 4-13

29. Randy Howell -- 43-13 (16) -- 31-03 (9) -- 75-00 (25) -- 5-03

30. Trevor Fitzgerald -- 34-01 (12) -- 40-03 (11) -- 74-04 (23) -- 5-05

31. Ryan Davidson -- 40-11 (16) -- 30-13 (13) -- 71-08 (29) -- 4-06

32. Russ Lane -- 38-13 (13) -- 31-06 (10) -- 70-03 (23) -- 5-09

33. Boyd Duckett -- 20-04 (6) -- 43-09 (14) -- 63-13 (20) -- 4-10

34. Jeff Kriet -- 36-15 (11) -- 20-03 (6) -- 57-02 (17) -- 6-10

35. Keith Poche -- 34-15 (11) -- 19-08 (8) -- 54-07 (19) -- 4-09

36. Todd Faircloth -- 27-02 (9) -- 27-05 (10) -- 54-07 (19) -- 3-12

37. Kelly Jordon -- 29-04 (7) -- 21-03 (7) -- 50-07 (14) -- 5-06

38. Andy Morgan -- 25-13 (10) -- 24-05 (9) -- 50-02 (19) -- 4-14

39. Mark Rose -- 27-10 (10) -- 20-13 (8) -- 48-07 (18) -- 3-08

40. Paul Elias -- 12-05 (5) -- 35-05 (11) -- 47-10 (16) -- 4-03