Team YETI throws drop-shot rigs to pace final Knockout Round match with 24 smallmouth totaling 50 pounds, final four teams set for Tuesday’s Championship Round

PORT HURON, Mich. (Aug. 28, 2025) – Team YETI’s Adrian Avena and Dustin Connell left little doubt on Thursday, posting a wire-to-wire performance on the northern stretch of the St. Clair River to win Knockout Round Match 2 at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® . The duo landed 24 scorable smallmouth bass weighing 50 pounds even, securing their spot in the first Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops Championship Round of the season alongside Team B&W Trailer Hitches’ Mark Davis and Gary Klein.

The day belonged to smallmouth, as all three teams targeted the deep current seams and breaks that dominate the northern river near Lake Huron. Team YETI set the pace early, stacking up 18 pounds in the opening period and steadily building their total with another 21-5 in the second. Connell’s 5-pound, 8-ounce bruiser – the biggest bass of the week so far – anchored their catch and earned Berkley Big Bass of the Day honors.

Team B&W Trailer Hitches, meanwhile, overcame a slow start to rally into second place. After posting just one scorable bass in the first period, Davis and Klein found their groove in the second, weighing eight scorable fish before adding another eight in the final frame. Davis carried much of the load, boating 13 of the team’s 17 total bass to lock up the second advancing spot with 35-0. It was the kind of veteran adjustment that showed why the Arkansas and Texas Hall-of-Fame legends have more than 80 years of combined tour-level experience between them.

For Team Star Tron, Thursday’s Knockout Round was a tale of two halves. Bobby Lane and Jacob Wall jumped out quickly with nine fish in the first period but faltered as conditions shifted, adding only three more bass the rest of the day to finish third and were eliminated from the competition with 22-5.

“It was a fun day,” said Avena. “We knew it was going to come down to smallmouth and current, and that’s exactly what we leaned into. For us it was all about drop-shots – I threw a (Berkley MaxScent) Flat Worm in black most of the day. Anytime you’re up north, MaxScent is an absolute killer, and it came through for us again today.”

Connell paired up with a different look to keep the smallmouth biting.

“I caught them on the (Rapala) Crush City BLT in green pumpkin goby, just threading it on a VMC hook,” Connell said. “It was the perfect profile for these current-driven smallmouth, and it let me stay confident every cast. We had a great 1-2 punch.”

With the Knockout Round complete, the Championship Round field of four is now set – but no one knows where they’ll be fishing. As is Cup tradition, the competition waters remain a secret until the anglers arrive at the ramp Friday morning, leaving Connell, Avena and the other finalists preparing for anything from the St. Clair River to Lake Huron or one of the dozens of nearby lakes.

“We advanced on, and that was the goal,” Connell added. “Now it’s a one-in-four shot, and we’ll be ready for whatever they throw at us tomorrow.”

The top two teams from Knockout Round Match 2 at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® that now advance to Friday’s Championship Round are:

1st:        Team YETI, 24 bass, 50-0
Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 12 bass, 24-14
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 12 bass, 25-2
2nd:       Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 17 bass, 35-0
Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 13 bass, 26-9
Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas, four bass, 8-7

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:       Team Star Tron, nine bass, 22-2
Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., four bass, 10-3
Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., five bass, 11-15

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

Overall, there were 50 bass weighing 107 pounds, 2 ounces caught by the three teams in Knockout Round Match 2 Thursday on the northern half of the St. Clair River. Team YETI pro Dustin Connell caught a 5-pound, 8-ounce smallmouth to earn the Berkley Big Bass of the day.

The final four teams that will compete in Friday’s final-day Championship Round at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® are:

Team 7Brew Coffee:
Alton Jones Sr., Lorena, Texas
Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas

Team B&W Trailer Hitches:
Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark.
Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas

Team O’Reilly Auto Parts:
Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich.
Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va.

Team YETI:
Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J.
Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® is hosted by Discover the Blue Michigan’s Thumbcoast and takes place over six days in Port Huron, Michigan. 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 are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 10:15 a.m. ET.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on Championship Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® is live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps, RFD-TV Now, Game & Fish TV and Rumble. The final period of every day of competition of the 2025 Fishing Clash Team Series is broadcast live on RFD-TV, from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

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 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY®.

The MLF Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2025 – the Challenge, Heritage, Patriot, and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of  $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2025.

Television coverage of the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting January 3, 2026. The complete television schedule for the Fishing Clash Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Fishing Clash, Knighten Industries, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, NITRO Boats, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Smokey Mountain Caffeinated Pouches, Star brite, Toyota, YETI and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series, 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, Discovery+, Discovery GO, Animal Planet, Outdoor Channel, VICE, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV and Game & Fish TV, 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 20 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.