Runner-up Team Ferguson duo of Ehrler and Lucas also advance to Knockout Round, four new teams to compete Tuesday

MANCHESTER, Tenn. (Oct. 19, 2026) – The second day of competition at the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents delivered a dominant performance from a familiar pair of brothers and a dramatic last-minute shakeup on the Lucas Oil Cut Line. Team Star brite’s Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Florida, and Chris Lane of Guntersville, Alabama, relied on their shallow-water, power-fishing strengths to win Elimination Match 2 of the Heritage Cup, while Team Ferguson’s Brent Ehrler and Justin Lucas claimed the second qualifying position with a clutch catch in the final minutes of competition on Tims Ford Lake.

The Lane brothers set the tone early, with Chris boating a 3½-pound bass just five minutes into the opening period. Team Star brite remained among the top two teams throughout the day before pulling away from the field with a productive topwater bite during the second half of competition, ending the day with a total of 17 bass for 33 pounds, 13 ounces. The race for the remaining Knockout Round berth, however, came down to the wire. Team O’Reilly Auto Parts’ Banks Shaw and Dustin Smithappeared poised to advance until Ehrler landed a bass weighing 1-14 with approximately 3 minutes remaining, vaulting Team Ferguson above the Elimination Line to finish the day in second place with 16 bass for 30 pounds even.

Despite Shaw’s individual total of 21-3– the most of any angler on Day 2 –Team O’Reilly Auto Parts is headed home in third place with a total of 13 bass weighing 28-6. Team YETI’s Casey Ashley and Ron Nelson had a productive run midway through the second period but struggled to maintain momentum throughout the day. They finished in fourth with 12 bass for 23-8.

Link to Hi-Res Photo of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 2 Winner Team Star brite
Link to HD Video Clip of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 2 Highlights
Link to Morning Photo Gallery: Heritage Cup action continues with new teams for Elimination Match 2

For the Lane brothers, success came from trusting their instincts on a lake neither had previously competed on. After being dropped off at the unfamiliar fishery, the duo headed up a creek in search of promising shallow-water cover, focusing on laydowns, shaded banks and areas where baitfish might be concentrated. Their initial approach centered on flipping jigs around wood cover, but as the day progressed, they discovered an increasingly productive topwater bite that allowed them to cover water quickly and capitalize on aggressive fish.

“We ran way up a creek and just found some stuff that looked good,” Bobby said. “We didn’t know anything about this place, but we saw stuff that we agreed on – laydowns, bridges, places that looked like they should hold bait this time of year. We tried a bunch of different tactics first thing this morning, and none of that really worked, but we just kept grinding and fishing what looked good.”

Chris provided the early momentum, catching two key bass in the 3½-pound range while pitching a Bass Pro Shops XPS jig around shallow cover. The brothers continued experimenting with their presentations until they picked up topwater baits midway through the second period, with Chris throwing a River2Sea Whopper Plopper and Bobby working a bone-colored Berkley Choppo. The adjustment proved decisive.

The duo said their approach was less about finding a particular depth and more about identifying the shade where bass were holding. Whether that shade came from trees lining the bank or wood lying beneath the surface, the brothers found opportunities to trigger reaction strikes with topwater baits or slow down and work a jig through the cover.

“It was slick calm when we started out this morning, and I started pitching the XPS jig,” Chris said. “It was such an easy bite. It wasn’t a big thump – they’d just pick it up and I’d set the hook. Getting those couple of key bites early was big for us, and then we started putting things together. Once we figured out what they wanted, Bobby really put the hammer down in that last period.”

Bobby’s topwater presentation produced the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a largemouth weighing 3-14 that also stands as the largest bass caught through the first two days of Heritage Cup competition. The fish exploded on the Choppo in a shaded pocket, highlighting the aggressive, shallow-water bite that carried Team Star brite to victory.

“We literally threw topwater and flipped a jig all day, and that’s the way we love to fish,” Bobby said. “We stayed with that power-fishing approach more than I think we have in a long time. We’d cut across a creek, fish what looked good and just keep moving. In the last 30 minutes, we probably had 10 or 15 pounds’ worth of bass that came up on our baits and didn’t get hooked. But we’re moving on, and that was our goal.”

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 2 at the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:          Team Star brite, 17 bass, 33-13
Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., nine bass, 14-13
Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., eight bass, 19-0

2nd:         Team Ferguson, 16 bass, 30-0
Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 10 bass, 20-3
Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., six bass, 9-13

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:          Team O’Reilly Auto Parts, 13 bass, 28-6
               Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., 10 bass, 21-3
Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., three bass, 7-3

4th:          Team YETI, 12 bass, 23-8
Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., six bass, 12-4
Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., six bass, 11-4

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

Overall, there were 58 bass weighing 115 pounds, 11 ounces caught by the four teams in Elimination Round Match 2 on the Tims Ford Lake Monday. Team Star brite pro Bobby Lane caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a 3-pound, 14-ounce largemouth bass.

The Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents is hosted by Experience Tennessee, in partnership with Manchester, TN , Winchester, TN, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, Bill Dance Signature Lakes and Fish Tennessee, and takes place over six days in Manchester, Tennessee. 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 9:15 a.m. CT.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. 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 Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^®  Repellents 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 2026 Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^®  Deep Woods^® Repellents.

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, where 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 Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF!^® Deep Woods^® Repellents will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon beginning in February 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 Pro Shops, Bass Force, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods Repellents, 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.