By MLF Communications Staff

Although he didn’t have as quite of good of a day as he did Sunday, Jared Lintner had enough of a cushion that it really was never close. Lintner weighed in a two-day total of 11 scorable bass on Lake D’Arbonne totaling 47 pounds, 5 ounces, to cruise to a Qualifying Round win for Group B at the Bass Pro Tour season opener in West Monroe, Louisiana, and advance straight into the Championship Round.

Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, caught a two-day total of 11 bass weighing 30-05 to end the round in 2nd place, while David Dudley finished the round in 3rd place with a two-day total of 11 bass weighing 29-10. Jeff Sprague caught 10 bass weighing 26-13 to finish in 4th, while Kevin VanDam advanced to the Knockout Round in 5th place with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 25 pounds even.

The remaining 38 anglers – 19 from each group – now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, where weights are zeroed and the anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round on Thursday. The Championship Round will feature Lintner, Group A winner Mark Daniels Jr., and the eight survivors from the Knockout Round competing in a final-day shootout for the top prize of $100,000.

“You can’t win it if you’re not in it, and I am thrilled to know that we are in it,” Lintner said in his post-game interview. “It has been a grind this week – very few bites to be had. When the fishing is tough, you have to go with what you have confidence in and that’s what I've done this week fishing the Bubba Shot.

“It wasn’t a pretty day today,” Lintner continued. “I didn’t catch any big ones. And I really started feeling some heat from Bradley Roy in the third period, but luckily I caught enough to hold him off.”

Like Sunday, Lintner spent the day targeting boat docks with his Bubba Shot rig – a Martens Madness-colored Roboworm, dipped in Pautzke Fire Gel bait scent, rigged on 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line with a 3/0 Trokar hook and 1 1/4-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten Full Contact Drop Shot weight,

“The Pautzke’s is making a difference,” Lintner said. “Several times throughout this first round I’d have a moment where I thought I’d feel a bite, or I’d miss one. I’d re-lather that worm up in the Fire Gel and they’d choke it.

“I’ve come close to winning several times before – and I’ve also been the guy knocked out at the last minute – so I am so happy to finally win my round,” Lintner went on to say. “I know things are going to be very different on Bussey Brake, so I’ll go back to the house and revamp everything and I’ll be ready to go.”

After not having a scorable bass well into the third period on Sunday, VanDam caught four bass in the final 10 minutes of the day to start Tuesday in 7th place, He added four more bass Tuesday weighing 11-12 to comfortably advance to the Knockout Round.

“The only thing that I had left was the upper end of the lake, fishing the river points and tree lines up the river,” VanDam said. “I was throwing a Strike King KVD 300 jerkbait and a Strike King Series 3 crankbait – crawfish, or baby carp, or Denny Brauer craw – any kind of brownish crawfish color.

“I’m moving on to Caney Lake, and that was my main goal – I wanted to start the season off strong,” VanDam went on to say. “Hopefully tomorrow we can get into that Top 8 and move on to the Championship Round.

Fletcher Shryock and Randall Tharp split the day’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award, taking home $500 apiece as each weighed in a bass that registered 5-07. 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.

The 38 anglers competing in the Knockout Round will launch Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. from Caney Creek Hooks Marina, located at 400 Spillway Road in Chatham, Louisiana. Thursday’s Championship Round on Bussey Brake will launch at 8:30 a.m. from Bonner Ferry Road, five miles northwest of Bastrop off of Hwy 593.

Takouts are held at the respective launch ramps 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 event features anglers competing with a 1 1/2-pound minimum weight requirement on Lake D’Arbonne, and a 2-pound minimum weight requirement on Caney Creek and Bussey Brake for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney breaks down the extended action on each day of of competition from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW! is live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Group B Qualifying Round – Day 2

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

1. Jared Lintner -- 33-02 (11) -- 14-03 (7) -- 47-05 (18) -- 3-01

2. Bradley Roy -- 16-06 (7) -- 13-15 (4) -- 30-05 (11) -- 4-13

3. David Dudley -- 16-06 (7) -- 13-04 (4) -- 29-10 (11) -- 4-05

4. Jeff Sprague -- 12-04 (5) -- 14-09 (5) -- 26-13 (10) -- 4-03

5. Kevin VanDam -- 13-04 (5) -- 11-12 (4) -- 25-00 (9) -- 4-10

6. Jonathon VanDam -- 16-01 (8) -- 8-14 (5) -- 24-15 (13) -- 2-06

7. Keith Poche -- 14-09 (6) -- 8-14 (4) -- 23-07 (10) -- 2-14

8. Josh Bertrand -- 2-02 (1) -- 20-00 (7) -- 22-02 (8) -- 4-13

9. Andy Montgomery -- 12-03 (3) -- 9-01 (4) -- 21-04 (7) -- 3-06

10. Jacob Wheeler -- 12-04 (6) -- 8-01 (3) -- 20-05 (9) -- 4-02

11. Fletcher Shryock -- 5-02 (1) -- 15-02 (4) -- 20-04 (5) -- 5-07

12. Mark Davis -- 1-12 (1) -- 17-12 (7) -- 19-08 (8) -- 5-01

13. Gerald Spohrer -- 18-11 (6) -- 0-00 (0) -- 18-11 (6)

14. Jordan Lee -- 11-03 (5) -- 7-07 (3) -- 18-10 (8) -- 2-10

15. Michael Neal -- 3-15 (2) -- 14-05 (6) -- 18-04 (8) -- 4-10

16. Britt Myers -- 3-15 (2) -- 14-03 (7) -- 18-02 (9) -- 3-02

17. Randy Howell -- 7-07 (4) -- 9-05 (3) -- 16-12 (7) -- 4-09

18. James Elam -- 6-07 (2) -- 8-13 (3) -- 15-04 (5) -- 4-01

19. Anthony Gagliardi -- 3-06 (2) -- 10-12 (5) -- 14-02 (7) -- 3-05

20. Randall Tharp -- 3-05 (1) -- 10-10 (2) -- 13-15 (3) -- 5-07

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

21. Todd Faircloth -- 6-00 (3) -- 7-03 (2) -- 13-03 (5) -- 4-07

22. Brandon Coulter -- 0-00 (0) -- 11-06 (4) -- 11-06 (4) -- 4-06

23. Marty Robinson -- 1-12 (1) -- 9-09 (4) -- 11-05 (5) -- 3-10

24. Matt Lee -- 0-00 (0) -- 10-10 (5) -- 10-10 (5) -- 2-13

25. Paul Elias -- 4-10 (1) -- 5-02 (1) -- 9-12 (2) -- 5-02

26. Fred Roumbanis -- 1-13 (1) -- 7-09 (3) -- 9-06 (4) -- 3-06

27. Brent Chapman -- 8-07 (4) -- 0-00 (0) -- 8-07 (4)

28. Ish Monroe -- 2-07 (1) -- 5-15 (2) -- 8-06 (3) -- 4-06

29. Tommy Biffle -- 0-00 (0) -- 6-15 (3) -- 6-15 (3) -- 3-08

30. Zack Birge -- 0-00 (0) -- 6-02 (2) -- 6-02 (2) -- 4-00

31. Wesley Strader -- 1-09 (1) -- 3-15 (1) -- 5-08 (2) -- 3-15

32. Shaw Grigsby -- 2-14 (1) -- 2-07 (1) -- 5-05 (2) -- 2-07

33. Cliff Crochet -- 4-03 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 4-03 (1)

34. Jason Lambert -- 0-00 (0) -- 3-14 (2) -- 3-14 (2) -- 2-06

35. Takahiro Omori -- 0-00 (0) -- 3-13 (2) -- 3-13 (2) -- 2-05

36. Brett Hite -- 0-00 (0) -- 3-11 (2) -- 3-11 (2) -- 2-02

37. Cole Floyd -- 2-06 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 2-06 (1)

38. Dylan Hays -- 2-05 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 2-05 (1)

39. Justin Lucas -- 1-11 (1) -- 0-00 (0) -- 1-11 (1)

40. Clabion Johns -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00 (0)