By MLF Communications Staff

NEENAH, Wis. – Grae Buck, competing for Team Star Tron, caught the first two scorable bass of the day to jump out to the early lead Tuesday, and the Team Star Tron duo never relinquished the lead for the rest of the day. Buck and teammate Martin Villa boated 11 scorable bass weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces to win Match 3 of the Elimination Round and advance to the Knockout Round of competition at the Heritage Cup.

Also advancing to the Knockout Round is the Team Knighten Industries pairing of Kelly Jordon and Keith Poche, who caught 10 bass weighing 15-4, despite starting the day with a one-hour no-fishing penalty. The duo was assessed the penalty because Poche viewed ScoreTracker on Monday during Match 2. Viewing ScoreTracker on a day off from competition is allowed while competing on the Bass Pro Tour, but is not allowed during the Team Series. While competition began at 8:30 a.m. for the other three teams on the water, Team Knighten Industries was forced to wait until 9:30 to start its day.

It was the toughest fishing day of the event so far. For the third consecutive Elimination Round match, anglers competed on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne on the Fox River Chain. Despite teams catching 56 bass Sunday during Match 1 and 81 bass Monday during Match 2, the four teams caught just 33 bass total on Wednesday.

“It was tough, but it was an awesome day of fishing out here with Martin today,” said Buck, who caught six bass totaling 11-5. “I threw a (Z-Man) ChatterBait (Jack Hammer) today, all day. I paired it with a (Z-Man) RaZor ShadZ as a trailer – I put it on and only went through one trailer the rest the day. The ChatterBait is my confidence bait, so getting to chuck this around all day long and let Martin clean up behind me was a great 1-2 punch.”

Villa added five scorable bass throwing a stick worm, including a 2-3 smallmouth as time expired.

“We didn’t really need that one, but that was a great way to end the day,” Villa said. “We knew there was a group of fish there – we could see them on the (Lowrance) ActiveTarget. I was throwing a jerkbait at them, but they wouldn’t commit. Then I fired the worm in there and she bit. It kind of sealed the deal on a good day.”

“I enjoyed fishing with Martin, and I think we’re a strong team,” Buck went on to say. “We’re excited to see how it all plays out in the Knockout Round.”

The Team Knighten Industries duo of Poche and Jordon struggled for most of the day, but went on a furious rally in the final 45 minutes, catching seven scorable bass and adding 9-9 to secure their spot in the Knockout Round.

“What a day,” said Poche in his postgame interview. “To start out with a freaking hour penalty, which was my fault, and overcome that adversity… man.”

“It was just one more obstacle that we had to overcome,” Jordon said. “That’s all that penalty was for us. But we fished hard and made the right decisions today.”

The area where Knighten Industries went on their rally to finish the day was found by Poche, who casted his line over a man-made rock wall into a little area that was kind of blocked off – not restricted, but also not easily accessible. He caught one, and that clued them in to go inside that area – a little backwater marsh behind a rock wall to prevent erosion.

“I was frustrated until the end,” Poche said. “It’s a challenge fishing with somebody that you don’t normally fish with – not knowing what they’re thinking, or what side they want to throw on, or where. But despite that, we pulled it out and now we get to move on to the Knockout Round.”

Most of Team Knighten Industries’ catch came on a frog, although they did add a few bass with an unnamed stick worm and a swimjig.

Here are the final numbers from the match:

1st: Team Star Tron, 11 bass, 21-11
Grae Buck, Green Lane, Pa., six bass, 11-5
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., five bass, 10-6

2nd: Team Knighten Industries, 10 bass, 15-4
Kelly Jordon, Flint, Texas, three bass, 5-1
Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., seven bass, 10-3

Eliminated

3rd: Team Ferguson, seven bass, 14-7
Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., three bass, 4-3
Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., four bass, 10-4

4th: Team Coign, five bass, 8-10
Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, four bass, 7-10
Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., one bass, 1-0

Marty Robinson caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a largemouth weighing 3 pounds, 13 ounces.

Anglers depart the host hotel in Neenah each morning at 5:30 a.m. CT. They are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials and competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live every day of competition from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

The Challenge Cup features 12 two-man teams, divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the Top 2 teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 and 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6.

In Friday’s Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine the winners.