Three teams compete on the Potomac River in first match of Knockout Round, Seaguar BRAWLR duo of Roy and Vinson rally late to also advance to Championship Round with second-place finish

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (Aug. 19, 2026) – Knockout Round Match 1 competition at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches brought a completely different look at the Potomac River on Wednesday, as the playing field shifted from the lower river to the northern third of the fishery. Anglers launched from Marshall Hall Landing and the new boundaries put competitors on a much less favorable tidal cycle than teams had experienced during the first three days of competition.

After a slow start to the morning, the Team O’Reilly Auto Parts duo of Nick Hatfield of Afton, Tennessee, and John Hunter of Shelbyville, Kentucky, combined for 12 scorable bass weighing 24 pounds, 2 ounces to secure their spot in Friday’s Championship Round. Team Seaguar BRAWLR’s Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, and Greg Vinson of Wetumpka, Alabama, mounted a late rally in the third period, finishing second with 13 bass weighing 21-13 to also advance to Friday’s Championship Round.

Team B&W Trailer Hitches Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Arkansas, and Marshall Hughes of Hemphill, Texas, were never able to get the ball rolling, ending the day in third with four bass weighing 8-9.

The upper Potomac River offered narrower water and less vegetation than in years past, with teams combating a rising tide through much of the morning. The boundary shift effectively put the anglers on the “wrong side of the tide,” with water rising through the opening periods rather than falling toward the low-water conditions that had produced the strongest bite earlier in the week. With competition boundaries preventing teams from making long runs to “run the tide,” the six anglers were forced to adapt to the conditions in front of them.

That challenge was evident early. The Team B&W Trailer Hitches duo of Davis and Hughes were first onto SCORETRACKER®, while Team Seaguar BRAWLR, made up of Roy and Vinson, went scoreless for the entirety of Period 1. Team O’Reilly Auto Parts’ Hunter and Hatfield endured a slow start of their own before settling into a productive stretch of grass near the mouth of Belmont Bay during the final minutes of the opening period.

Hatfield ignited the rally with three late scoreable bass, and Hunter added another before lines out to give Team O’Reilly Auto Parts the lead entering Period 2.

“Today was super, super tough,” Hunter said. “We ran a few places that didn’t work out, then pulled into an area where we both had some history and started getting bites. Once we realized what we had, we just hunkered down, stayed there and milked it for everything it was worth.”

Rather than chase a better tide or search for new water, Hunter and Hatfield committed to Belmont Bay. The decision proved critical. Fishing lightly-weighted and weightless stick worms around the grass, the pair caught four scoreable bass in each of the three periods, never producing a massive flurry but steadily adding weight throughout the day.

“All of our damage came from that one area,” Hatfield said. “On a day like today, it was about keeping it simple and making the right decisions. We knew we weren’t getting bit winding baits, so we slowed down, started dragging those stick worms around and got bites almost immediately. From there, we pretty much stayed put and caught them all day.”

Hunter and Hatfield finished with 12 scoreable bass for 24 pounds, with each angler contributing six fish. Hunter led all anglers individually with 13 pounds, 4 ounces and also earned Berkley Big Bass honors with a 3-pound, 6-ounce largemouth.

While Team O’Reilly Auto Parts controlled the match from late in Period 1 onward, the battle for the second Championship Round berth turned dramatic in the final period.

Team Seaguar BRAWLR entered Period 3 with just one scoreable bass, but Vinson and Roy found the bite they had been searching for near Belle Haven. The tandem erupted for 12 scoreable bass in the final two-hour period alone, including eight from Vinson, and piled up 20 pounds during the closing period. Their late surge vaulted them comfortably past Team B&W Trailer Hitches and into the Championship Round by 13 pounds, 4 ounces.

The comeback unfolded just as the tide finally began to turn. After high, slack water made Period 2 especially difficult, the outgoing tide in the final period created the best conditions of the day and opened the door for Team Seaguar BRAWLR’s furious rally.

For Hunter and Hatfield, Wednesday’s win provided both a Championship Round berth and additional confidence entering Friday’s Championship finale.

“We feel like we know enough now to make a run at it,” Hatfield said. “We’ve got a handful of places, and if we can hit them in the right order, at the right time, we could catch 50 or 60 pounds – maybe more. That’s what it takes to win a tournament. You have to make the right decisions and make the right moves.”

Hunter echoed his teammate’s optimism after grinding through one of the toughest days of the event.

“We’re just blessed to be moving on,” Hunter said. “It was a tough day, but we found something we believed in, stayed with it and had an awesome day. Now we have a chance to go fish for the championship.”

The top two teams from Knockout Round Match 1 at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches that now advance to Friday’s Championship Round are:

1st:         Team O’Reilly Auto Parts, 12 bass, 24-2
Nick Hatfield, Afton, Tenn., six bass, 10-14
John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., six bass, 13-4
2nd:        Team Seaguar BRAWLR, 13 bass, 21-13
Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., five bass, 8-11
Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., eight bass, 13-2

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:         Team B&W Trailer Hitches, four bass, 8-9
Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., two bass, 4-0
Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, two bass, 4-9

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

Overall, the three teams caught 29 bass weighing 54 pounds, 8 ounces in Knockout Round Match 1 Wednesday on the Potomac River. Team O’Reilly Auto Parts pro John Hunter earned Berkley Big Bass honors with his 3-pound, 6-ounce largemouth late in the third period.

The three teams that will compete Thursday in Knockout Round Match 2 at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches are:

Team Lucas Oil:
Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn.
Jacob Walker, Springville, Ark.

Team Star brite:
Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La.
Colby Miller, Elmer, La.

Team YETI:
Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas
Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C.

The Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism and takes place over six days in Charles County, Maryland. 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.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble. The final hour of each day of competition will be broadcast live from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on RFD-TV.

The Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches 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 featured four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round now advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 and 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 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2026 – the Patriot, Heritage, Challenge 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 in which 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2026.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon beginning in January 2027. The complete television schedule for the Starlink Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Starlink Team Series include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Boat Technologies,  Bass Force, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Grizzly, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Starlink, Toyota, YETI, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on the MLF Starlink 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, 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.