By MLF Communications Staff
EARLY, Texas – The Team 7 Brew Coffee duo of Brent Ehrler and Justin Lucas caught 14 scorable largemouth bass on Lake Brownwood Monday, weighing 34 pounds even to win Match 2 of the Knockout Round at the Patriot Cup. The win secures the duo a spot in Tuesday’s finale. Also advancing, in second place, is the Team Lucas Oil squad of Dustin Connell and Jacob Wheeler, who caught 15 bass totaling 31-1.
Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches –Luke Clausen and Martin Villa – were eliminated from competition with 11 bass weighing 21-14.
The Championship Round field is now set for Tuesday in the third MLF Team Series event of the season. Ehrler/Lucas and Connell/Wheeler will compete against Team Builders FirstSource (Ott DeFoe/Alton Jones Jr.) and Team Coign (Jeff Sprague/Bryan Thrift), with the team that weighs in the highest one-day total declared the Patriot Cup champions.
Anglers spent the Elimination Round competing on O.H. Ivie Lake, then shifted to Lake Brownwood for the Knockout Round. All fisheries within a 60-mile radius of Early are in play for the Championship Round.
“We had a good day and it was a lot of fun. We are obviously happy with how everything went, but we had the bites to have more weight,” Ehrler said. “I think we could probably have had another 9 or 10 pounds in our total, but we missed a few. But when you’re throwing big swimbaits, that’s a part of it.”
The team caught their fish in a variety of ways. Ehrler boated scorables using four different baits – early on a topwater, a worm, and a jerkbait before settling in with the big swimbait, while Lucas landed keepers with a jighead minnow and a finesse jig before doing the heavy lifting with the big swimbait. The duo did most of their damage with the swimbait, targeting steep, wind-blown rocky banks.
“We tried to just cover as much water as possible, and it was a lot of fun,” Lucas said. “The bait that clued us in to what we were going to do the rest of the day was the 6-inch Berkley (PowerBait) CullShad in albino (color). Brent put on a similar swimbait in the afternoon and caught several on it, as well. I was throwing that thing on 17-pound (Berkley) Trilene (100%) Fluorocarbon with a 6:6:1 gear ratio reel and a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy rod.
“I had a good feeling about this week, and so far, it’s feeling pretty good,” Lucas went on to say. “You’ve got to get to the finals before you can win, so that’s the next goal.”
“I’ll take the win today, but I’d definitely rather have it tomorrow,” Ehrler added.
“At least we know we can do it,” Lucas responded.
Connell and Wheeler struggled early – they caught only one scorable bass in the first period. After starting the third period with a 1-12 deficit, they rallied and caught four of the final five bass of the day to overtake Clausen and Villa and claim the final Championship Round spot.
“It took us a little bit to figure out, but the wind was the key,” Connell said. “Jacob caught that 5-pounder on the ChatterBait. Then he had another bite and then it was like, alright. That was the clue we needed.”
Connell and Wheeler caught the majority of their bass in the afternoon using vibrating jigs.
“That was the key for us today, throwing the ChatterBait out on flat points,” Wheeler said. “We were using the (Z-Man) Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a (Rapala CrushCity) gizzard shad Freeloader, and a (Rapala CrushCity) green-pumpkin-disco Freeloader.”
“We punched our ticket to the Championship Round,” Connell said. “We’ve got an opportunity, and that’s all we need.”
“Heck yeah, I’m in, and I am ready,” Wheeler added.
Here are the final numbers for the day
1st: Team 7 Brew Coffee, 14 bass, 34-0
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., seven bass, 13-10
Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., seven bass, 20-6
2nd: Team Lucas Oil, 15 bass, 31-1
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., five bass, 8-6
Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Ark., 10 bass, 22-11
Eliminated
3rd: Team Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff & Pouches, 11 bass, 21-14
Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., seven bass, 10-0
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., four bass, 11-14
Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Wheeler caught a 5-7 largemouth that earned the Berkley Big Bass of the day honors.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live in the Championship Round from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
