Four teams compete on Fox River’s Lakes Poygan and Winneconne, Team WIX Filters (Dudley/Lefebre) boats 17 bass totaling 38 pounds, 14 ounces to earn Elimination Round victory

NEENAH, Wis. (Sept. 15, 2024) – Kicking off the second event of the 2024 General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops from the Fox Cities in Wisconsin meant it was impossible for the first group of anglers to guess where there’d fish during Match 1 of the Elimination Round at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley . Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, the Fox River, and Lake Michigan were all on the table as options that might be the day’s competition fishery.

Anglers learned this morning at the boat ramp that they would compete on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne on the Fox River Chain, and it didn’t take long before the bass were biting as the teams found their honey holes and SCORETRACKER® lit up on Sunday morning.

The Team WIX Filters duo of David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, and Erie, Pennsylvania’s Dave Lefebre led the way, catching 17 bass totaling 38 pounds, 14 ounces, to win Match 1 of the Elimination round by a 10-pound, 7-ounce margin. Also advancing is the Team Builders FirstSource father-son duo of Alton Jones, Sr ., and Alton Jones, Jr ., who caught 16 bass weighing 28-7 to move on in competition.

The majority of the teams spent the day fishing boat docks, with the lead interchanging multiple times at different points of the day in the close competition. Team WIX Filters got on the dock pattern in the beginning of the second period and never looked back. Lefebre fished from the front of the boat with a small jig, while Dudley cleaned up behind him with a Dudley’s Wacky rig.

“We started off on some deeper docks in the morning, then as the weather got hotter and the sun got higher, they started moving shallower and shallower and we started catching them in what we would call dirt – just inches of water up underneath those docks,” said Dudley, who caught nine scorables totaling 20-12. “That’s why this wacky rig became dominant in the latter part of the day.

“The key today, for me, was definitely my setup. I caught them on a 7-foot, 2-inch medium-heavy Profishiency Krazy Spinning Combo, throwing a (Perfection Lures) Dudley Wacky Worm. I paired it up with 15-pound braided line attached to 8-pound fluorocarbon, and I used a 2/0 round bend hook. That was the key for me, today.”

As competition wrapped and Dudley and Lefebre began to prepare to return to the launch ramp, Dudley tried to goad Lefebre into a victory dance on the front deck of the boat. Lefebre, however, didn’t bite.

“David, my wife and kids watch these things,” Lefebre laughed. “However, I’ll make you a deal. If we win $20,000 this week, I will do something. I’ll get something happening and get jiggy with it.”

“Deal,” Dudley responded.

Team WIX Filters now moves on to Knockout Round competition on Wednesday.

It was a mad race to the second qualifying spot on Sunday. The Team B&W Trailer Hitches duo of Nick Hatfield and Justin Lucas held the No. 2 spot for most of the third period, but a key decision by Team Builders FirstSource late in the day turned out to be the difference maker.

As the final minutes ticked down in the third period, the Builders FirstSource duo threw a Hail Mary, running three miles to fish a lone boat dock that they had boated a couple of scorable bass on earlier in the day. With just 2 minutes remaining in competition, behind by 9 ounces, Lorena, Texas pro Alton Jones connected with a 1-pound, 2-ounce bass to overtake the Hatfield/Lucas duo and seize the final qualifying spot from Match 1.

“Man, we had to make a decision right there in the last little bit, and we decided to fish this one dock,” Jones Sr. said. “And there was nothing else back here for us to fish. It was either going to work or it wasn’t. And it paid off. I almost missed that fish. I saw him spit it, then right back in he ate it again. It was a pretty lucky catch.”

Like most of the field, the Team Builders FirstSource father-son duo caught all of its fish throwing soft plastics around grass and boat docks.

“We had to play from behind all day, so we just kept our head down and kept working,” said Alton Jones Jr. of Waco, Texas. “We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but we ended up scrapping up enough.”

“I’m just glad we get to do this again for another day,” Jones Sr. went on to say. “I hope I performed well enough to make it where you might actually want to draw me again.”

“Maybe so,” Jones Jr. joked. “We’ll see how it goes in the Knockout Round on Thursday.”

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 1 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:        Team WIX Filters, 17 bass, 38-14
David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., nine bass, 20-12
Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., eight bass, 18-2
2nd:       Team Builders FirstSource, 16 bass, 28-7
Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, four bass, 5-15
Alton Jones, Sr., Lorena, Texas, 12 bass, 22-8

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:       Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 12 bass, 27-14
Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., four bass, 10-7
Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 17-7
4th:        Team Kubota, 11 bass, 23-14
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., five bass, 10-11
Skeet Reese, Auburn, Calif., six bass, 13-3

Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 56 bass weighing 119 pounds, 1 ounce caught by the four teams during Elimination Round Match 1 on Lakes Poygan and Winneconne on the Fox River Chain. Team B&W Trailer Hitches pro Justin Lucas caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a largemouth weighing 4 pounds, 1 ounce.

The Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley is hosted by the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau and takes place over six days in the Fox Cities in Wisconsin. The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning.

Anglers depart the host hotel in Neenah each morning at 5:30 a.m. CT. They are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

The Challenge Cup features 12 two-man teams, divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2024 Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley.

The 2024 General Tire Team Series is comprised of four events – Challenge Cup, Heritage Cup, Patriot Cup and Summit Cup – featuring two-man teams of MLF Bass Pro Tour pros competing from the same boat. Each event features a roster of 24 anglers, teamed up and working together to claim part of a season purse of more than $720,000. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2024 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2024.

Television coverage of the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour episodes in February 2025. New MLF General Tire Team Series episodes will premiere each Saturday morning on Outdoor Channel and posted to MOTV.

Proud sponsors of the MLF General Tire Team Series include: 7 Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Builders FirstSource, C-MAP, Coign, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Fishing Clash, General Tire, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Nitro Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala Baits, REDCON1, Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff, Star brite, Toyota, USAA, WIX Filters and YETI.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the General Tire Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X,  Instagram and  YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.