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PHOTO BY KYLE WOOD |
PHOTO BY KORY SAVAGE |
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The Arkansas pro won his Elimination Round on Lewisville Lake with 13 fish for 23-4 and finished atop his Sudden Death Round on Eagle Mountain Lake with 17-14 . It was more of the same in the Championship Round on Lavon Lake , where Browning put 17 fish on SCORETRACKER ® for 44-5 to earn his first MLF Cup trophy .
And he did it with the bait that Browning has become synonymous with : a 3 / 8-ounce Z-man / Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer with a straight-tail trailer , which he threw around the abundant East Texas standing timber in Lavon .
8 . TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT LITHIUM PROS STOP 3 PRESENTED BY COVERCRAFT Pickwick Lake April 21 – 24
Jon Canada notched his first MLF win and a $ 101,000 payday
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thanks to some smart decision-making and a lot of preparation for Pickwick Lake . On Day 1 , the Helena , Alabama , pro employed a swim jig to catch 12 pounds , 13 ounces fishing around shallow grass and stumps . Finding little success with that same pattern early on Day 2 , Canada quickly turned his attention to a stretch he idled and marked in pre-practice , and where he ’ d caught several quality bass in previous tournaments .
There , Canada caught one fish on a shaky head and decided a drop-shot might be the golden ticket from there on out . The stretch – an area near the Natchez Trace bridge containing several shallow bars full of stumps – was indeed money for Canada , who used Humminbird MEGA 360 and forward-facing sonar to pick fish off stumps with his Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm to total 50-4 over three days and eventually edge out Justin Lucas by 1 pound , 2 ounces .
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9 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY A . R . E . PLAINS DIVISION Grand Lake
April 28 – 30
Eleven ounces is all that separated Jeff Reynolds from secondplace finisher Cade Alsbury – something Reynolds knows all about after having finished second to Rick Harris at Texoma just a few weeks prior . It was meant to be this time , though , as Reynolds rallied from sixth to first on the final day with an 18-pound , 3-ounce limit caught entirely from beds .
Reynolds , in earning his second Toyota Series win and fourth win of his MLF career , got off to a hot start to the tournament with 21-8 on Day 1 before stubbing his toe on Day 2 ( 14- 7 ). Championship Saturday seemed like it might be more the same ( Reynolds had an empty livewell at 10:30 ), but he landed on all the right beds from there on out , eventually
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catching a 4 1 / 2-pounder with about 30 minutes left to seal the deal .
To earn his $ 76,500 payday , Reynolds used his sharp eyesight and Texas-rigged Strike King Game Hawgs and Reaction Innovation Sweet Beavers to catch his winning fish .
10 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY A . R . E . WESTERN DIVISION Clear Lake April 28 – 30
Bryan Grier went against the grain in tallying 58-5 for the win at Clear Lake , opting to target deep prespawn fish in 10 to 14 feet of water while most of the rest of the field beat the bank to pick off spawning and postspawn fish . Ultimately , it was his consistency in the final two days that mattered most as Grier sacked limits of 20-plus-pounds both days ( the only angler in the field to do so ).
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