By MLF Communications Staff

It was a sight-fishing seminar for fishing fans Saturday, and after the final bass had been tallied on ScoreTracker, two of the best of all-time sat atop the leaderboard after Day 1 of the MLF Bass Pro Tour event on Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. Bass Fishing Hall-of-Famer Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida , sight-fished his way to 14 scorable largemouth totaling 37 pounds, 15 ounces, to grab the early lead in the Qualifying Round for Group A.

Grigsby will bring a slim 11-ounce lead into Monday’s second day of competition for Group A, with fellow sight-fishing guru Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas, right behind him in second place with 11 bass weighing 37-04. Redlands, California pro Brent Ehrler also spent the day targeting bedding fish and boated 11 bass totaling 34-10, as did current Angler of the Year leader Jordan Lee of Cullman, Alabama, who caught 10 bass totaling 32-13. Alton Jones, Jr., of Waco, Texas, rounds out the Top 5 with 12 bass weighing 32-03.

Grigsby was in his element, catching all of his 14 keepers sight-fishing with several different baits. His key bait was a 4-inch Strike King KVD Ocho, in bubble gum and sweet potato pie colors.

“I’m pretty pleased to finally catch them in a Bass Pro Tour event,” he said. “Today was such a fun day. But it wasn’t easy – especially this afternoon. I’ve done this a long time and usually when we’re sight-fishing and the sun comes out and it gets warm, the fish start biting. That really didn’t happen this afternoon.

“We had 20-plus mile-per-hour winds blowing and we’ve had all that rain, so the water is pretty stained up,” Grigsby continued. “My biggest two fish that I found, I couldn’t even fish – the water went to chocolate milk from the rain run-off. I know it’s only Day 1, but every fish matters here, and the good thing is that I only lost one scorable fish. Execution-wise, I had pretty much a flawless today so I can’t complain.”

Despite the challenging day on the water, Grigsby is still very much looking forward to finishing out the Qualifying Round on Monday.

“I’m excited about getting back out and going fishing on Monday – I sure hope that I can do it again,” Grigsby said. “I’m looking forward to my off-day tomorrow – I need it. I tore up every one of my spinning rods today. I’ll be tying FG knots all over and getting my new Triton XRT gassed up and ready to get after them again on Monday.”

The 40 anglers in Group A will now have an off day from competition, while the 40 anglers competing in Group B will begin their first day of competition Sunday.

Pro Dakota Ebare of Brookeland, Texas, boated a 6-14 largemouth that earned him the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award of the event. 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.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Thursday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are again zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers launch each day at 7:30 a.m. from the Grand Glaize Marina Recreation Area, located at 711 Public Beach Road in Osage Beach. Each day’s takeiout is held at the Marina beginning at 4 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events 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 2-pound minimum weight requirement 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 break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Group A Qualifying Round – Day 1

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

1. Shaw Grigsby -- 37-15 (14) -- 4-13

2. Alton Jones -- 37-04 (11) -- 5-07

3. Brent Ehrler -- 34-10 (11) -- 4-03

4. Jordan Lee -- 32-13 (10) -- 4-15

5. Alton Jones Jr. -- 32-03 (12) -- 3-12

6. Jonathon VanDam -- 30-03 (9) -- 5-11

7. Jesse Wiggins -- 29-04 (11) -- 4-05

8. Greg Vinson -- 28-01 (8) -- 4-09

9. Matt Lee -- 22-04 (8) -- 4-01

10. Takahiro Omori -- 22-00 (7) -- 4-04

11. Skeet Reese -- 20-06 (7) -- 3-08

12. Fred Roumbanis -- 20-02 (6) -- 4-05

13. Dylan Hays -- 19-11 (7) -- 4-10

14. Clabion Johns -- 17-09 (4) -- 6-05

15. Ryan Salzman -- 17-01 (4) -- 6-12

16. Dakota Ebare -- 16-14 (4) -- 6-14

17. Boyd Duckett -- 16-03 (6) -- 4-08

18. Chris Lane -- 15-08 (6) -- 3-06

19. Cole Floyd -- 15-05 (6) -- 3-11

20. Jeff Kriet -- 14-12 (5) -- 4-06

21. David Walker -- 14-01 (5) -- 3-14

22. Mark Davis -- 13-10 (6) -- 2-10

23. Fletcher Shryock -- 13-09 (5) -- 4-02

24. Anthony Gagliardi -- 13-04 (5) -- 3-05

25. James Elam -- 12-00 (5) -- 2-11

26. Timmy Horton -- 11-11 (3) -- 4-04

27. Bryan Thrift -- 10-15 (4) -- 3-13

28. Marty Robinson -- 10-11 (4) -- 3-01

29. Roy Hawk -- 9-07 (3) -- 4-06

30. Michael Neal -- 9-03 (4) -- 2-09

31. Todd Faircloth -- 8-10 (3) -- 3-15

32. Tommy Biffle -- 8-07 (3) -- 4-06

33. Shin Fukae -- 8-03 (3) -- 4-00

34. Ott DeFoe -- 6-10 (3) -- 2-06

35. Britt Myers -- 6-08 (2) -- 4-06

36. Terry Scroggins -- 5-01 (2) -- 2-10

37. Dustin Connell -- 4-04 (2) -- 2-03

38. Bobby Lane -- 2-10 (1) -- 2-10

39. Cliff Pace -- 2-02 (1) -- 2-02

40. Gerald Spohrer -- 0-00 (0) -- 0-00