Texas pro catches 31 bass weighing 108 pounds, 15 ounces to grab early lead, three anglers cross 100-pound mark

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (Jan. 15, 2025) – A cold front arrived with the start of the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season, with sub-freezing temperatures and wind chills in the single digits greeting the field as it launched on Lake Guntersville Thursday morning. But the legendary fishery’s bass didn’t seem to mind.

The bite started hot and stayed that way all the way until lines out on the opening day of the Qualifying Round at B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 Presented by Mercury. Three anglers – Jeff Sprague, Brent Ehrler and Jacob Walker – topped 100 pounds, and it took nearly 44 pounds to claim a spot inside the Top 25. Twenty-nine bass over 5 pounds hit SCORETRACKER®, highlighted by Walker’s 7-pound, 10-ounce brute, which earned Berkley Big Bass honors.

Sprague provided a fitting end to the day when he caught a 5-8 in the final minute of the third period (his 11th bass over 4 pounds) to take the top spot from Ehrler. He finished the day with 108-15 on 31 scorable bass compared to 108-1 for Ehrler.

“This place is literally full of 4- and 5-pounders,” Sprague said. “That’s the going rate at this place. It was an extremely fun day to be on a fishery like this catching the quality and the amount of them that we did. Just a great all-around day of fishing.”

Unfortunately, the thrill of his last-minute 5-pounder didn’t last long for Sprague. Shortly after lines out, he got word that his father passed away suddenly on Thursday.

“The one thing that he gave me was the love of fishing, and I thank him so much for that,” an emotional Sprague said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Sprague planned to continue to compete with an eye on winning his first national event for his dad. If Day 1 is any indication, he’s found the fish to do it.

Sprague knew he’d found an area holding some bass during practice, but he had no idea it would be this productive.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” he admitted. “The area that I caught these fish in, I made a quick pass through in practice and had a handful of bites that were quality bites. But it was a really fast pass. And when I got there and started expanding, the more I expanded, the more bites I got. So, that’s when I really realized how many fish were in the area.”

Notably, Sprague caught all 31 of his scorable bass winding reaction baits around shallow vegetation. He started Period 1 planning to utilize forward-facing sonar to target suspended bass but quickly punted on that strategy.

“I started with a minnow in my hand this morning for about 20, 30 minutes,” he said, “and when my braided line froze solid as a rock and it was stiff as I was trying to throw it, I put it up and I said, ‘let’s go bass fishing.’”

Sprague was one of several anglers to stack up serious weight without the aid of forward-facing sonar. That was perhaps the biggest surprise of Day 1. Given the time of year and the weather, many expected jighead minnows to dominate, even if anglers were only allowed to utilize modern technology for one period per day. But according to SCORETRACKER Insiderä, just 32.5% of the weight caught by the field came while using forward-facing sonar, meaning it wasn’t any more productive than fishing without it.

“That is pure roots bass fishing, in my opinion,” Sprague said of his winding bite. “To be able to still have fisheries like Guntersville to put out those numbers and that quality of fish, that just speaks to how healthy this fishery is.”

Sprague’s 15 career Top 10s are the second most among any Bass Pro Tour angler without a win – behind only Ehrler, interestingly enough. To break through and claim his first BPT trophy, Sprague believes he needs to locate more productive water. But he’s optimistic he’s found an area that has more untapped fish.

“I’ll go look tomorrow for more water,” he said. “That last 5-pounder was somewhere I never made a cast in practice, and so now I know I just need to keep looking. I think the area I’m in is just special at this particular moment.”

Sprague’s top priority on Day 2 will be locating more fish. He’s not sure yet how many he’ll try to catch in an effort to maintain the top spot on SCORETRACKER® and claim the automatic berth to Sunday’s Championship Round awarded to the Qualifying Round winner.

“I’m going to watch the SCORETRACKER® in the morning and make a decision based off of that,” he said. “I don’t want to burn up 80 more pounds of bass for somebody to come in behind me and one-up me. So, it’s a strategy; I’ll have to think that through.”

The top 25 pros after Day 1 on Lake Guntersville are:

1st:        Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 31 bass, 108-15
2nd:      Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 38 bass, 108-1
3rd:       Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 26 bass, 103-14
4th:        Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 27 bass, 88-9
5th:        Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 29 bass, 83-13
6th:        Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 29 bass, 81-8
7th:        Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 29 bass, 81-7
8th:        Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 25 bass, 75-7
9th:        Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 23 bass, 70-14
10th:     Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 22 bass, 67-0
11th:     Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 19 bass, 61-11
12th:     Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 17 bass, 56-14
13th:     Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 20 bass, 56-12
14th:     Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 18 bass, 55-7
15th:     Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 17 bass, 54-13
16th:     Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 17 bass, 51-12
17th:     Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 19 bass, 51-6
18th:     Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 15 bass, 49-6
19th:     Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 18 bass, 49-3
20th:     Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 18 bass, 48-0
21st:      Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 15 bass, 47-6
22nd:    Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 18 bass, 47-4
23rd:     Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 17 bass, 46-8
24th:     Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 15 bass, 45-13
25th:     Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 12 bass, 43-15

A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 818 bass caught weighing 2,471 pounds, 1 ounce, caught by the 51 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Thursday.

Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was earned by Bass Pro Tour rookie Jacob Walker of Springville, Alabama, who caught a 7-pound, 10-ounce largemouth in the third period throwing a bladed swimjig. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

Hosted by Marshall County Tourism & Sports, the four-day event will feature a roster of 51 of the top professional anglers in the world competing for a $125,000 top prize and their share of the $600,000 purse, along with valuable Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for the MLF Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2027, the Bass Pro Tour championship.

The full field of 51 anglers compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the pro with the heaviest two-day total will advance directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers that finish 2nd through 25th will advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the top nine to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $125,000.

Anglers will arrive each morning at 5:30 a.m. CT to the Civitan Park Boat Launch, located at 1130 Sunset Drive in Guntersville, Alabama. The Bass Pro Tour trailering policy has been enacted for this event, so anglers will depart Civitan Park each morning at 6 a.m. to launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to the Civitan Park Boat Launch each evening following the end of competition at 3:45 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to watch the event live online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!® livestream and follow along with SCORETRACKER® coverage at  MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

On Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17–18, from 3–6 p.m., MLF invites fans of all ages to Nash’s at City Harbor, located at 299 Scott St., in Guntersville, for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. Fans can watch the Bass Pro Tour pros live on the MLFNOW!® big screen, enjoy free food for the first 100 fans each day, enter hourly giveaways, browse MLF merchandise and the bargain bait bin, and cheer on their favorite anglers. Youth of all ages can take part in a fishing derby (gear and bait provided, weather permitting) and a casting contest. Live music from Jackson Cannon begins at 4 p.m., followed by Top 10 angler interviews and the trophy presentation at 5 p.m., including autographs and photos with Bass Pro Tour finalists. The first 50 kids ages 14 and under will receive a free rod and reel each day.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 at Lake Guntersville Presented by Mercury will feature anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The 2026 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 51 of the best professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2027 championship.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage 1 at Lake Guntersville Presented by Mercury will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, July 4, on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing Co., Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Cigars International, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine, Toyota, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, 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, 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.