Team Builders FirstSource ( Zack Birge , Mark Rose and Cliff Pace ) worked up a gameplan for Match 3 on Muskegon / Bear Lake . The plan succeeded : Team BFS won the match by 8-2 .
2 total . The team of Chris Lane , Jared Lintner and John Hunter was eliminated as a result .
Shuffield led the way for Team B & W , catching 16 scorable bass for 28-1 . Salzman was right behind him with 24-4 on 11 fish . For Team Builders FirstSouce , Pace racked up 41-8 on 25 bass . Birge added 16 for 24-11 , while Rose chipped in seven for 11-9 .
SEMIFINAL MATCH 1
Grand River
The first semifinal match of the year brought red-hot fishing on the Grand River , with all three teams topping the 120-pound mark . Team Knighten Industries ultimately prevailed , with Matt Becker , Wesley Strader and Scott Suggs punching their tickets to Florida for the Team Series Championship by boating 91 scorable bass for 146 pounds , 10 ounces .
Finding a little bit better quality fish proved key , as Team B & W Trailer Hitches actually boated more bass ( 94 ) but weighed in 14 less pounds with 132-10 . However , the trio of Adrian Avena , Ryan Salzman and Spencer Shuffield did just enough to stave off elimination , topping Team Kubota by 8 pounds . They earned a shot at redemption in the Wild Card round , while Team Kubota — which included defending Team Series champions Jacob Wheeler and Dylan Hays — was eliminated .
Avena led the charge to keep Team B & W alive . He caught a whopping 51 scorable bass for 71-5 . Meanwhile , all three members of Team Knighten Industries put forth strong showings . Becker caught 31 fish for 52-4 , Suggs also landed 31 for 50-14 and Strader sacked up 43- 8 on 29 fish .
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
Wesley Strader connected with 29 largemouth ( almost all on a buzzbait or spinnerbait ) to help Team Knighten pile up 146-10 in winning Semifinal Match 1 .
James Elam ’ s red-hot frog bite during Semifinal Match 2 carried Team Crockett Creek to the Team Series Championship .
Dustin Connell and Adrian Avena do a little pre-game jawing before the Wild Card round on White Lake .
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
SEMIFINAL MATCH 2
Grand River
James Elam found an epic topwater frog bite and used it to carry Team Crockett Creek to the Team Series Championship . Elam sacked up 75 pounds , 9 ounces on 38 bass , which represented more than half his team ’ s winning total of 132-13 on 74 fish . Most of those catches came on a frog around emergent vegetation , making for some exciting action .
Jonathon VanDam and Matt Lee will join Elam in the Team Series Championship . They topped Team Sqwincher by 11-3 . Dustin Connell , Cole Floyd and Roy Hawk stayed alive , though . Their total of 121-1 on 70 scorable bass put them 10-7 clear of Team Builders FirstSource ( Zack Birge , Cliff Pace , Mark Rose ), which was eliminated .
Floyd nearly kept pace with Elam , catching 38 bass for 67-1 , almost all of them eating a swim jig . Connell chipped in 38-5 on 22 fish , while Hawk caught 10 for 15-11 . That set up a showdown between Team Sqwincher and Team B & W in the Wild Card round with a trip to Florida for the championship on the line .
WILD CARD
White Lake
Team B & W Trailer Hitches jumped out to an early lead on White Lake and never let up , earning a berth to the Team Series Championship in dominant fashion . The trio of Adrian Avena , Ryan Salzman and Spencer Shuffield caught 54 scorable bass for 94 pounds , 11 ounces . That nearly doubled Team Sqwincher ’ s total of 48- 13 on 26 fish .
Avena almost could ’ ve won the round by himself . He led the way for Team B & W , catching 27 scorable bass that weighed 44-4 . Twenty of those came in the first period , nearly all of them falling for a jerkbait . Shuffield added 25-9 on 13 fish , while Salzman caught 14 that weighed 24-14 .
Team B & W will join Team Crockett Creek and Team Knighten Industries in the Team Series Championship , which will air on Outdoor Channel this summer . Dustin Connell , Cole Floyd and Roy Hawk , meanwhile , were eliminated .
66 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2024