Justin Lucas Wins MLF BPT Stage Seven - Lake Erie
Shop Justin's Winning Pattern, Baits & Gear
Six years ago, when Lucas won the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament out of Sandusky, he did it with a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm, which helped to make that bait almost impossible to find at the time. Fast forward to this week, and Lucas won again on these waters, besting Jacob Wheeler by a place just like the last visit. And he did it with the same exact bait.
His final day was very impressive, with a half dozen bass over 5 pounds - the six biggest bass caught by anyone on the final day. That included a tournament-best 6-11 smallmouth. All came on the drop-shot. While he caught some fish each day with forward-facing sonar, most of his fish came without it, as he fished around visible cover like channel markers. Lucas used a black Flat Worm in the mornings and then green pumpkin most of the time and also mixed in smoke black purple when it was really sunny and clear. Everything was with a 1/4-ounce to 1/2-ounce weight depending on the wind and how deep he was fishing.
14 Colors
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Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Flat Worm
Black 3.6"
$7.49$9.99*
Daily Special: Save Up To 69% Off
14 Colors
Sale -25%
Berkley Powerbait Maxscent Flat Worm
Green Pumpkin 3.6"
$7.49$9.99*
Daily Special: Save Up To 69% Off
Replay The Action
MLF Bass Pro Tour - Stage 7 - Top 10
2nd Place - Jacob Wheeler - 79lb - 7oz (27) - $45,000
Wheeler came up just a little short in both the event and AOY race, but it was still an incredible season for the reigning REDCREST champion. On Erie, he mixed it up with smallmouth and largemouth and caught them several different ways.
Wheeler caught quite a few largemouth on grass edges with a ChatterBait and a 4.5-inch CrushCity Mooch Minnow on the back, a good amount on a jig with a CrushCity Cleanup Craw on the back, and a Carolina rig with the smaller size of the CrushCity Bronco Bug in green pumpkin purple. When targeting smallmouth, the ChatterBait, jig, and Carolina rig produced some, but he also mixed in other baits, including a drop-shot rig with a green pumpkin CrushCity Salted Ned Roll on a #1 VMC Finesse Neko hook and a trio of crankbaits. A Rapala DT12, DT14, and DT16 in big shad, green gizzard shad, and citrus shad.
20 Colors
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Rapala Crush City Cleanup Craw
Green Pumpkin Red Flake
$5.00$7.99*
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13 Colors
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Rapala Crush City Salted Ned Roll
Goby
$5.99$6.99*
$1.00 Off Crush City Ned Roll & Ned BLT
13 Colors
Sale -14%
Rapala Crush City Salted Ned Roll
Green Pumpkin
$5.99$6.99*
$1.00 Off Crush City Ned Roll & Ned BLT
3rd Place - Michael Neal - 68lb - 7oz (24) - $35,000
In 2021, Michael Neal won the final event of the season on Lake St. Clair but did his damage after running into Erie. This time around, he ran the other way and used a similar approach in the same general area. His top approach was a drop-shot rig with a 3/8-ounce weight and #1 Gamakatsu Aaron Martens G-Finesse drop-shot hook. He used multiple baits, including a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm in natural shad.
4th Place - Cole Floyd - 64lb - 9oz (25) - $30,000
Cole Floyd came out of the gates with a fury to begin the event, posting a BPT record-breaking total for a period - 87-0. The Ohio pro had another great day the next day and went on to win the automatic qualification to the Championship Round, and he did it with nearly all largemouth. The lone smallmouth he caught all week was caught ultra-shallow around his largemouth areas. His top baits were a 3/8-ounce green pumpkin Strike King Thunder Cricket with a matching Strike King Rage Bug on the back as well as a Strike King Rage Thumper Worm in multiple different colors.
5th Place - Brent Ehrler - 53lb - 14oz (17) - $25,000
Brent Ehrler stayed in the mix all week with a simple approach targeting smallmouth exclusively near the mouth of the Detroit River. The drop-shot was his main weapon, but he did catch some with a crankbait as well as a Ned rig.
Brent fished for smallmouth the whole time, and most of it was on a drop-shot with a 3-inch Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm in natural shad and watermelon cream laminate. He also caught a few on a Yamamoto Fuzzy Nut, he fished them with a 1/4-ounce ARK Tungsten weight and switched to a #4 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger Wacky/Neko Hook. The areas he was targeting were where grass and rock mixed, and he would also crank the shallower sections with a Lucky Craft 1.5DD and 2.5DD.
6th Place - Jeff Sprague - 34lb - 0oz (11) - $24,000
Every one of Jeff Sprague's fish on Erie came from the Canadian side of the lake, and all of them came with a drop-shot rig. Sprague used a drop-shot with a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm all week and alternated weight size based on the winds, using everything from a 3/16-ounce weight when it was calm up to a 1/2-ounce for the big winds.
7th Place - Marshall Hughes - 33lb - 2oz (10) - $22,000
Fishing islands along the Canadian border, Marshall Hughes had a solid first two days and then made a massive rally in the final moments of the Knockout Round to make the final day. While a drop-shot was his primary weapon for catching smallmouth, a mid-depth crankbait proved to be an important search tool. His primary areas were 10 to 12 feet deep, and finding rock and sand mixed with grass proved to be the best recipe as long as the bank was slightly steeper. Hughes' best drop-shot bait for the week was a 3-inch Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm in natural shad.
8th Place - Ott DeFoe - 30lb - 0oz (9) - $21,000
Ott DeFoe largely flew under the radar this week. He was the last man to make the Knockout Round, and then he was the last angler to get into the Championship Round. The Tennessee pro did it with a varied approach, targeting largemouth and smallmouth and covering most of the tournament boundaries at some point. For Ott, It was a little bit of everything this week; he caught some on a drop-shot, some on a ChatterBait, a few on a jig, and some cranking a Rapala DT6 in green gizzard on a rock jetty. He also caught some deeper with a DT10 and DT12 in citrus shad one morning. A 1/0 VMC Redline drop-shot hook, was a key to his success - keeping all his fish pinned for the tournament.
9th Place - Jesse Wiggins - 22lb - 3oz (7) - $20,500
Jesse Wiggins also relied on some last-minute Knockout Round heroics to advance to the last day. He kept things simplified as he fished near Colchester on the Canadian side of the lake. Winnins caught some on the Jackall Crosstail Shad and the Berkley Flat Worm.
10th Place - Zack Birge - 20lb - 12oz (6) - $20,000
Zack Birge's main goal was the Angler of the Year title, and he prepared for the event with that in mind. A Top 10 finish was all that he needed to clinch it, as he came into Erie with a 12-point lead over Wheeler. His plan was to start for largemouth and then save his forward-facing sonar time for the last period each day, and it worked to perfection.The first day, he started out on the peninsula across from the takeoff and fished all the way along the south side of the lake for largemouth - he caught them on a green pumpkin, 3/8-ounce Hag's Hurricane bladed jig with a 4.5-inch trailer. Zack also threw a tube around when not using his Lowrance ActiveTarget 2, and when he turned it on, he caught them on a jighead minnow.
