Tennessee pro advances directly to Championship Round with two-day total of 50 bass weighing 154-9, 2nd through 25th advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round

GROVE, Okla. (June 19, 2026) – Jake Lawrence took to Grand Lake for the second day of qualifying at Zenni Stage 6 Presented by Toyota torn about whether to catch all the weight he could in an effort to win the Qualifying Round, or scout for new spots in preparation for the weekend.

Turns out, he was able to do both.

After he built a big Day 1 lead, no one ever really challenged Lawrence’s spot atop SCORETRACKER®. He added 15 scorable bass weighing 42 pounds, 2 ounces on Friday, bringing his two-day total to 154-9. That topped Mark Rose and James Elam by more than 37 pounds, easily earning Lawrence an automatic trip to Sunday’s Championship Round, where he’ll look to win his second event in as many years on the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour.

Fishing his 16th career Bass Pro Tour event, Lawrence has often remarked how stressful the every-fish-counts format and live scoring can be. Friday was the first time he didn’t have to sweat over every bass that hit SCORETRACKER® – a nice change of pace, especially after a largely frustrating 2026 season.

“It was really nice for everybody to kind of lay up,” Lawrence said. “My strategy worked in the sense that I was able to get far enough ahead, stay far enough ahead to where it didn’t really make a whole lot of sense for anybody to try. So, it was one of the most stressless BPT days I’ve had.”

Elam used a strong first period to pull within 17 pounds, but Lawrence answered with four scorable bass totaling 11 pounds in the final 20 minutes of the frame. After that, no one really made an effort to run him down.

That allowed Lawrence to use the third period – when he elected to utilize forward-facing sonar – to look for new groups of offshore bass and revisit schools he’d located during practice. While he didn’t catch much during Period 3 (by design), Lawrence said he “felt like he gained a lot of knowledge.”

“I was able to hold off on my forward-facing period until the third just hoping I would have the freedom to go look around,” he explained. “And I did find one new group and kind of eliminated another group – spent a lot of time looking for one that I lost touch with, and I think I’m just going to kind of write that one off. I’ve got four or five groups that I really want to kind of focus in on.”

Then again, Lawrence knows that many of his pursuers got even more practice time Friday than he did. While that’s always valuable in BPT events and especially so for anglers scanning for offshore schools, Lawrence noted that Grand has been changing fast with high, dirty water flowing through the fishery, and he expects that to continue over the next two days. So, there’s no guarantee anything he (or anyone else) learned today will hold up come Sunday.

“There’s a lot of change going on,” he said. “It’s a major creek that I’ve really been living in the whole week, and it’s been really clean for Grand right now. And yesterday afternoon, things were changing in there – a lot of mud kind of blew in. I bet half the creek is muddy today. And so that is a little concerning. But it could change and clean up just as fast as it got muddy.”

Having already secured his first Top 10 of the regular season and put himself in a much better position to requalify for 2027, Lawrence can fish free of pressure on Championship Sunday. As is often the case in summertime, offshore events, he expects timing his rotation of spots to be key. Between his wealth of experience competing on the Tennessee River and beyond this time of year and his dominance so far on Grand, he should be as strong a candidate as any to take the $125,000 top prize.

“I’m really confident,” he said. “I know we’re going to go get some bites. It’s just a matter of timing. Getting one of those schools to yourself at the right moment is absolutely crucial in this, and somebody is going to do that once if not two or three times on Sunday. That’s going to be the determining factor in who wins the event.”

Aside from Lawrence, the rest of the Top 25 anglers will return to Grand with weights zeroed for Saturday’s Knockout Round. The top nine finishers there will join Lawrence in the Championship Round.

The race for the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title looks like it will come down to a one-on-one battle. Zack Birge entered Stage 6 with a one-point lead over Jacob Wheeler, and both anglers made the Knockout Round with ease. Meanwhile, the anglers who entered in third and fourth – Drew Gill and Justin Lucas – both missed the cut. Spencer Shuffield made the Knockout Round and still has an outside shot, but after arriving at Grand 34 points back of Birge, he would need a lot to break his way. Look for Wheeler and Birge to fight for every spot on SCORETRACKER® this weekend.

Five anglers moved from below the Lucas Oil Cut Line at the start of the day into the Top 25. Brent Ehrler put together the most dramatic rally. The California pro totaled 67 pounds even on 24 scorable bass – the best day of anyone in the field – to climb from 37th place at the start of the day to eighth. That marks his sixth made cut in eight BPT events on the year. Other anglers who rallied to make the Knockout Round were Jesse Wiggins, Todd Faircloth, Wesley Strader and Ron Nelson.

Since the Bass Pro Tour limited anglers to one period per day using forward-facing sonar prior to the start of the 2025 season, most pros have opted to use the technology during the first period regardless of the time of year or fishery. On Grand, however, the vast majority have opted to wait until Period 3. Thirty-two of the 51 anglers used forward-facing sonar in Period 3 on Friday after 36 did so on Thursday. Interestingly, it hasn’t seemed to boost catch rates. According to SCORETRACKER Insider™, just 26.4% of the total weight caught by the field has come with forward-facing sonar on and used.

The top 25 pros after Day 2 on Grand Lake are:

1st:         Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., 50 bass, 154-9
2nd:       Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., 36 bass, 117-9
3rd:        James Elam, Cleveland, Okla., 36 bass, 117-3
4th:        Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 41 bass, 114-6
5th:        Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 33 bass, 101-9
6th:        Alton Jones Jr., Lorena, Texas, 37 bass, 100-5
7th:        Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., 39 bass, 99-9
8th:        Brent Erhler, Redlands, Calif., 35 bass, 96-13
9th:        Jesse Wiggins, Logan, Ala., 33 bass, 95-14
10th:      Jacob Wheeler, Birchwood, Tenn., 32 bass, 95-1
11th:      Dustin Connell, Deatsville, Ala., 35 bass, 93-12
12th:      Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., 31 bass, 92-4
13th:      Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 32 bass, 90-11
14th:      Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., 32 bass, 90-0
15th:      Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 29 bass, 89-1
16th:      Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 33 bass, 89-1
17th:      Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 27 bass, 88-12
18th:      Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 27 bass, 85-9
19th:      Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 32 bass, 85-7
20th:      Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 30 bass, 84-0
21st:      Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 31 bass, 83-4
22nd:     Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 27 bass, 80-6
23rd:      Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., 29 bass, 79-14
24th:      Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 29 bass, 79-0
25th:      Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 28 bass, 77-10

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

Overall, there were 589 bass caught weighing 1,652 pounds, 13 ounces, caught by the 51 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Friday.

Friday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was earned by Jesse Wiggins of Logan, Alabama, who caught a 5-pound, 12-ounce largemouth in the second period throwing a crankbait. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

Hosted by the City of Grove and the Grove Convention and Tourism Bureau , the four-day tournament features 51 of the world’s top professional anglers competing for a $125,000 top prize and their share of a $600,000 purse, along with valuable Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) points in hopes of qualifying for REDCREST 2027 – the Bass Pro Tour championship – and the Kubota Heavy Hitters all-star event.

The full field of anglers competed in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. With the two-day Qualifying Round now complete, the pro with the heaviest two-day total – Jake Lawrence – will advance directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers who finished 2nd through 25th now 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 6:15 a.m. CT to Wolf Creek Park, located at 963 N. 16th St. in Grove, Oklahoma, with takeoff starting at 7:15 a.m. Anglers will return to Wolf Creek Park 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 action live every day 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, June 20-21, from 3 to 6 p.m., MLF invites fans of all ages to Wolf Creek Park 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, participate in a free fishing derby and casting contest, and cheer on their favorite anglers. Live music begins at 4 p.m., (Brad Hemphill on Saturday and Morgan Rohrs on Sunday) 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.

Student anglers from sixth grade through college are invited to join MLF pros at the free Columbia PFG Student Angler Clinic on Saturday, June 20 from 2 to 6 p.m. The clinic will also be held at Wolf Creek Park, and offers a unique opportunity for students to learn from the BPT pros, gain hands-on fishing instruction and compete in the national MLF Casting Competition. For more information or to register for the Columbia PFG Student Angler Clinic, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The Zenni Stage 6 at Grand Lake Presented by Toyota 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 Kubota Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2027 championship.

Television coverage of the Zenni Stage 6 at Grand Lake Presented by Toyota will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Sept. 26 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 Force, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, 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, Rumble 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, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.