PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE |
PHOTO BY PHOENIX MOORE PHOTO BY ROB MATSUURA
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4 . GENERAL TIRE TEAM SERIES PRESENTED BY BASS PRO SHOPS B & W TRAILER HITCHES CHALLENGE CUP PRESENTED BY TOYOTA Erie , PA August 25-30
The Team B & W Trailer Hitches duo of Matt Becker and Spencer Shuffield earned the distinction of winning the first top-level team tournament with pairs of pros fishing out of the same boat . Thanks in part to Becker ’ s knowledge of the area having grown up in Pennsylvania , the pair finished second in their Elimination match on Presque Isle Bay to advance to the Knockout Round . There , they jumped out to a quick start on Lake Chautauqua , easily punching their tickets to the single-day Championship Round .
With the four-team field returning to Presque Isle Bay , Becker and
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Shuffield found a group of offshore largemouth during the second period and used the one-two punch of a ChatterBait and a flipping tube to get bit and pull away from their competitors . Their final-day total of 64 bass for 113-5 marked the best day for any team all week and topped Anthony Gagliardi and Stephen Browning by nearly 35 pounds .
5 . TOYOTA SERIES PRESENTED BY PHOENIX BOATS SOUTHERN DIVISION
Santee Cooper Lakes Presented by Suzuki Marine September 12-14
Taking on the Santee Cooper lakes at an unusual time of year , South Carolina native Bennett Lawshe used his knowledge of the system to claim his first MLF win . Recognizing that bass were feeding on hatching mayflies , Lawshe caught most his weight during Days 1 and 2
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— when he sacked up 19-11 and 25-7 , respectively — on a Spro Bronzeye popping frog around cypress trees . He then ran offshore and used a jerkbait to fill out his limit .
While Lawshe led by about 6 1 / 2 pounds entering Day 3 , high winds made for some stress , as his trolling motor batteries died before noon . Still , he was able to bring 13-8 to the scales , which boosted his total to 58- 10 . Winning by nearly 7 pounds , he earned $ 32,142 .
6 . GENERAL TIRE TEAM SERIES PRESENTED BY BASS PRO SHOPS KNIGHTEN INDUSTRIES HERITAGE CUP PRESENTED BY BERKLEY Fox Cities and Neenah , WI
September 15-20
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Longtime friends and traveling companions Ott DeFoe and Andy Montgomery used their team chemistry |
and shallow-water prowess to win three rounds on three different fisheries en route to claiming the Heritage Cup trophies .
Representing Team REDCON1 , DeFoe and Montgomery had to rally to stay alive during their Elimination Round match , climbing from third place to the top of SCORETRACKER ® in the final 45 minutes before lines out . A steady day during the Knockout Round on Lake Butte des Morts then advanced the pair to the Championship Round on Green Lake . While several other teams tried to make the deep smallmouth bite work there , DeFoe and Montgomery committed to skipping docks all day . With Montgomery utilizing a jig and DeFoe throwing a wacky worm behind him , the duo boated 29 bass for 55-8 — just enough to edge the father-son duo of Alton Jones and Alton Jones Jr . by 5-7 and earn $ 20,000 apiece .
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