By MLF Communications Staff
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. – Florida's 10,000-acre manmade Headwaters Lake was the playing field Sunday for Match 1 of the Elimination Round at the fourth and final MLF Team Series event of the 2024 season. The four two-man teams competing at the Summit Cup were greeted by near optimal conditions – light wind, slightly overcast skies and temperatures in the upper 70s.
The beautiful day set the stage for an extremely competitive matchup – the closest Team Series event so far this season. At one point in the third period, with just under two hours remaining in the competition, less than 1 pound separated first place from last place. But, as time expired at 2:15 p.m. ET, it was Team Knighten Industries that sat alone atop the leaderboard.
The duo of Brandon Coulter and John Hunter caught 22 scorable bass weighing 44 pounds, 11 ounces, to win the first Elimination Round match and become the first team to advance to the Knockout Round. Also advancing, in second place, was Team Kubota – Bradley Roy and Jason Vance – who boated 16 scorables weighing 37 pounds even.
The B&W Trailer Hitches team of Matt Becker and Spencer Shuffield and Team U.S. Air Force – Stephen Browning and Cliff Crochet – were eliminated from the competition.
“Man, that was a fun afternoon,” said Hunter, who caught seven bass for 20-12. “We got into an area in the second period that seemed really promising. We got some bites and then were able to slow down, and then in the third (period) we just expanded on it.”
“We talked about it for the whole first and second periods, and if you ever fish in Florida just remember it,” Coulter said. “You just gotta keep moving. When you find where they are, in Florida, you catch them. But there is a lot of water that you have to cover where the fish are not grouped up. You can go all day and only catch three fish. But when you get in an area that’s got fish moving in, or fish setting up, you can have a third period like we had today.”
The Knighten Industries duo started the final period in third place, but the bite turned on and got better in the third period – for all teams. Coulter boated 10 of his 15 scorable keepers in the third to lift Team Knighten to the top, and all told 36 of the 74 bass caught by the four teams came in the third period.
“Every bass that I caught today came on a little (Berkley) Slobberknocker – the vibrating jig did all the work for me,” Coulter said. “I had confidence that it would work today, and it did. It is a fish-catcher, simple as that. It was a great day today and we are excited we get to stick around in Florida for a little while.”
Team Knighten Industries’ dramatic final period was shared with Team Kubota, who also had a high-octane finale. With just four minutes remaining in competition, Team U.S. Air Force was in second place and Team Kubota was in third, 2-9 below the elimination line.
Then things got exciting.
“It was like someone turned on a switch. Earlier they had just been swiping at the bait, but all of a sudden they just started eating,” Vance said. “We came down the same path we had been. We figured if we were going to get one at the end, it would be down that stretch. So, we turned around and hit it again, and they just started committing.”
Vance landed a chunky 3-11 largemouth – their biggest bass of the day – to overtake Team U.S. Air Force and vault Team Kubota into second place and the final qualifying spot.
“No kidding, we should have had another 20 pounds today,” Vance continued. “I’m grateful that big one bit at the end though. You can’t script that.”
To add insult to injury for Team U.S. Air Force, Team B&W Trailer Hitches then added two scorable bass of their own in the final two minutes – both by Shuffield – to overtake Browning and Crochet for the third-place finish and push Team U.S. Air Force down to fourth place.
Here are the final numbers for the match:
1st: Team Knighten Industries, 22 bass, 44-11
Brandon Coulter, Knoxville, Tenn., 15 bass, 23-15
John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., seven bass, 20-12
2nd: Team Kubota, 16 bass, 37-0
Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., eight bass, 19-7
Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., eight bass, 17-9
Eliminated
3rd: Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 16 bass, 36-8
Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., five bass, 14-10
Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 11 bass, 21-14
4th: Team U.S. Air Force, 20 bass, 35-13
Stephen Browning, Hot Springs, Ark., 12 bass, 23-10
Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., eight bass, 12-3
Becker caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a largemouth weighing 4-9.
The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. 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. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
The Summit Cup features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three matches will feature four new teams, with the top two 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 2 teams from each Knockout Round 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 which team will win the Summit Cup.
