By MLF Communications Staff

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Jeff Sprague of Wills Point, Texas, caught 13 scorable bass Thursday, with his best five weighing 23 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the Knockout Round and advance to the final day of competition at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at Lake Murray.

Sprague holds a 1-pound advantage over James Watson of Lampe, Mo., who weighed in five bass totaling 22-08 to qualify for his first career Bass Pro Tour Championship Round and end the day in second place. BPT rookie John Hunter of Shelbyville, Ky., sits in third place with five bass weighing 22-07, while Qualifying Round winner Jonathon VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., weighed in five bass totaling 21-13 to finish the day in fourth. Local favorite, Prosperity, S.C.'s Anthony Gagliardi, caught five bass weighing 20-15 to round out the Top 5.

Weights are extremely tight – less than 4 pounds separates the entire Top 10 and the tournament can be won by any of the remaining anglers. Competition resumes Friday morning with the Championship Round, where weight carries over from the Knockout Round and the angler with the heaviest two-day total will win the top prize of $100,000.

“When everything goes right, everything goes right, and today it kind of came together and everything went right for me,” Sprague said in his post-game interview. “My practice was just so-so here. A lot of fish are coming up and they had been very skittish. But they had just gotten up there (on the spawning beds) and weren’t ready. Now we’ve had a couple of warm nights, and the fish are really starting to set up and lock down. And the big females are starting to show up.

“The lake really showed out today – nearly everyone in the Top 10 has 20 pounds,” Sprague continued. “It’s a tremendous fishery, but it hasn’t been as easy as it looks.”

Sprague started the third period in seventh place, then caught a 5-05 and 6-11 in a five-minute span at 1 p.m. to vault to the top of the leaderboard and remain there for the rest of the day. His first fish of the day came on a buzzbait and the remaining four keepers in his limit came on soft plastics.

“I’ve caught a lot of fish this week just throwing around a wacky worm,” Sprague said. “A couple of fish, including the big fish this morning, came on a prototype reel from Summit Fishing and custom-made rods that I bought and made through MHX Custom Rods. I made them myself, and they are great rods with great blanks. I used 20-pound fluorocarbon (line), and a little creature bait with a 3/8-ounce tungsten weight. It’s not a very pretty setup, but it really catches a lot of fish when they’re spawning. It’s basic, Fishing 101.

“I’ve said it so many times, I almost don’t want to say it again. But I want to bring that trophy back to Texas,” Sprague went on to say. “I just want go out tomorrow, fish clean, and put some big fish in the boat and have a good time. That’s what it’s all about. It’s going to be an exciting finale, no matter who wins this thing. I saw a lot today that gave me hope, so we’re going out tomorrow and going to give them heck.”

Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award went to Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla., who caught a 7-04 largemouth in Period 2 on a Berkley PowerBait Gilly to earn the payout. 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 Top 10 will launch at 7:30 a.m. ET from Dreher Island State Park, located at 3677 State Park Road in Prosperity. Takeout will held at the launch location beginning at 4 p.m.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live on all six days of competition from 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.



Knockout Round

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

1. Jeff Sprague -- 23-08 (5) -- 6-11

2. James Watson -- 22-08 (5) -- 5-12

3. John Hunter -- 22-07 (5) -- 5-08

4. Jonathon VanDam -- 21-13 (5) -- 5-15

5. Anthony Gagliardi -- 20-15 (5) -- 5-06

6. Brent Chapman -- 20-13 (5) -- 4-12

7. Bryan Thrift -- 20-06 (5) -- 5-02

8. Andy Montgomery -- 20-00 (5) -- 4-10

9. Chris Lane -- 20-00 (5) -- 4-10

10. Ott DeFoe -- 19-11 (5) -- 5-05

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

11. Alton Jones Jr. -- 19-09 (5) -- 4-10

12. Ryan Salzman -- 18-15 (5) -- 5-04

13. Nick LeBrun -- 18-15 (5) -- 4-08

14. Brandon Coulter -- 18-14 (5) -- 5-07

15. Alton Jones -- 18-13 (5) -- 4-06

16. Dakota Ebare -- 18-12 (5) -- 4-06

17. Edwin Evers -- 18-11 (5) -- 7-04

18. Andy Morgan -- 18-09 (5) -- 3-15

19. Takahiro Omori -- 17-13 (5) -- 4-06

20. Todd Faircloth -- 17-03 (5) -- 4-00

21. Kevin VanDam -- 17-02 (5) -- 5-08

22. Keith Poche -- 17-02 (5) -- 4-07

23. Matt Becker -- 17-01 (5) -- 3-11

24. Dave Lefebre -- 16-01 (5) -- 3-11

25. Marty Robinson -- 15-15 (5) -- 5-12

26. Cole Floyd -- 15-08 (5) -- 3-06

27. Michael Neal -- 15-03 (5) -- 4-05

28. Skeet Reese -- 15-03 (5) -- 4-02

29. Randy Howell -- 15-01 (5) -- 4-07

30. Jared Lintner -- 14-03 (5) -- 3-04

31. Gary Klein -- 14-02 (5) -- 3-07

32. Cliff Crochet -- 14-00 (5) -- 3-02

33. Mitch Crane -- 12-15 (5) -- 3-14

34. Dustin Connell -- 12-10 (5) -- 3-07

35. Terry Scroggins -- 12-09 (5) -- 2-10

36. Scott Suggs -- 12-02 (5) -- 2-15

37. John Murray -- 10-01 (3) -- 4-07

38. Dean Rojas -- 6-00 (3) -- 2-06

39. Stephen Browning -- 4-13 (2) -- 2-12

40. Jeff Kriet -- 4-09 (2) -- 2-07