MASSENA – The 20 anglers competing in the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Minn Kota Stage Seven Knockout Round presented by Humminbird got the full St. Lawrence River experience Saturday – gusty winds, turbulent water and masses of smallmouth bass.
On Sunday, August 11th, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., MLF welcomes fans of all ages to the MLF Watch Party at the Massena Intake Boat Launch.
Fans can watch the pros live on the big screen at MLFNOW!, enjoy free food, enter hourly prize draws and cheer on their favorite pros.
Live music starts at 4pm
The first 50 kids ages 14 and under will receive a free fishing rod and reel from Pure Fishing, and the final 10 Bass Pro Tour anglers competing in the championship round will be on hand to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.
With the vast majority of the field targeting the smallmouth bass that is synonymous with this fishery, and the bass readily cooperating, anglers turned on SCORETRACKER® early and often. After a handful of competitors changed top spots throughout the afternoon, Michael Neal came out on top of the leaderboard with 83 pounds, 11 ounces from 27 countable bass. He finished 15 ounces ahead of John Hunter, with Matt Becker just 1-6 behind.
Although Neal was at the SCORETRACKER® summit on Saturday, his day had already started disastrously long before he even thought about making a shot.
Shortly after midnight, a rescue crew knocked on the door of his rental home. Due to torrential rains from Hurricane Debby, the water level in a nearby river had risen by 6 to 15 feet and was lapping at the house’s porch. The rescue crew told Neal and his roommate, professional Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, that it might be wise to seek shelter elsewhere.
With nowhere else to stay, Neal drove to the Massena Intake Boat Launch, where anglers check in each morning and pick up their boaters before heading to their desired slip. He tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep in his truck.
“I slept maybe 30 minutes,” Neal said.
Although he couldn’t blame it on lack of sleep, Neal had a hard time getting going when his competition day finally began. However, he came back in the second period and caught fire. In 1 hour and 15 minutes, he threw nine smallmouth bass for a total score of 27-10 on SCORETRACKER®, taking the lead for the first time.
Neal’s most important adaptation was to focus more on the structures that caused current disruptions, as wind blowing in the same direction as the current magnified them.
“When I started focusing on the more current-intensive areas, I started getting bites much more frequently,” he said.
While many anglers have had success catching smallmouth bass in shallow water where you can see all the way to the bottom, Neal fishes deeper waters, fishing rocks in 30 to 60 feet. He swings a Big Bite Baits Quarantine Craw on 7-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon and says he rigs the soft-plastic bait “a little differently.”
“I’ll go into it a little more tomorrow, but it seems to be making a difference,” Neal said. “I’ve been fishing with several people this week and it seems like I’m getting a few more bites.”
As the wind picked up throughout the day, Neal said it actually helped his bites – to a degree. When it blows with the current, it positions the fish more predictably. However, it can also make for an uncomfortable day on the water and make it difficult to present a lure accurately, especially on a light line. With winds from the southwest again forecast for Championship Sunday, below 10 degrees, conditions should be similar.
Neal believes he could have continued fishing any of his spots in Saturday’s conditions, but after getting a safe lead over the cut line, he looked for more sheltered waters. It turns out he found just as good bites there.
“It was easy this afternoon,” Neal said. “I was able to time my cast. When I ran back to the American side, I think I caught four in the last 30 minutes, and it was the first drift every time.”
Neal will be competing in his fifth championship round in 2024, finishing third in as many events. He will finish in the top 10 for the 20th time in his Bass Pro Tour career – only Jacob Wheeler is better. He feels overdue to add a second career win. He believes he will be close to the fish to win, but given the number of strong smallmouth bass anglers in the remaining field and the number of bass in the fishery, he knows it will take a nearly flawless day to claim the trophy.
“I’ll definitely be there enough, 100 percent,” he said. “How many of them I’ll get to bite, I don’t know. Where I really started catching them in the second period, I think I just did two drifts there and caught them really well, and there are a lot more fish there than what I caught.”
“The whole top 10, anyone can win it. You just have to land on one section, one current seam, that’s so crowded you can go back and forth all day.”
The top 10 pros from Saturday’s knockout round, who now move into the final day of competition on the St. Lawrence River, are:
1.: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 27 bass, 83-11
2.: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Kentucky, 26 basses, 81-12
3.: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tennessee, 26 bass, 80-6
4.: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 24 bass, 74-5
5.: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 22 bass, 69-7
6th place: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Alabama, 23 bass, 66-12
7th place: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, California, 19 bass, 60-11
8th place: Marty Robinson, Lyman, SC, 19 basses, 59-5
9th place: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Arkansas, 18 bass, 57-14
10th place: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, NC, 19 basses, 55-10
For complete results, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
