Duckett Leads Top 10 Anglers into Championship Round of Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two Conroe presented by Favorite Fishing

February 17, 2019
|In MLF BPT, RESULTS
|By AnglersChannel
CONROE, Texas (Feb. 16, 2019) – For the better part of the past year, Boyd Duckett has been “Mr. MLF” as he worked endlessly to establish the Major League Fishing® (MLF) Bass Pro Tour. But for the seven hours of competition in the Knockout Round of MLF Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two Conroe presented by Favorite Fishing, Duckett was “Mr. Consistency”.
Duckett caught his first scorable bass 22 minutes into the competition at Lake Conroe and then steadily added fish to SCORETRACKER® throughout the morning and early afternoon, swimming a small worm. By the time Period 3 got underway, Duckett had already weighed 31 pounds, 14 ounces, and owned a 9-plus-pound lead on the field.
The Alabama pro would eventually finish the day with 38-5 on 21 fish, followed by Gary Klein (30-1), Edwin Evers (29-2), Brent Ehrler (28-12) and Jordan Lee (28-12).
“I’ve always been decent at compartmentalizing my fishing and my work, but I just couldn’t make fishing the most important thing at Toho,” Duckett admitted, referring to the MLF Bass Pro Tour’s inaugural event in Florida two weeks ago. “Coming into this one, I told everybody that I was going to concentrate on my fishing. It’s been nice to just be an angler at this event.”
And Duckett the angler has been consistently stout on Conroe from Day 1. He recorded 46 fish in his first three rounds, despite spending the majority of each competition day either looking for new water, or guarding what he considers his best area.
“I like that this fishery is tough,” Duckett said. “I’ve traditionally done well in events that are difficult to fish. You really have to figure out how to catch these fish, you can dial something in that’s just a little bit different than what the other guys are doing.”
Surviving the battle for the Championship 10
Randall Tharp (27-13), David Walker (27-10), Wesley Strader (27-5), Jeff Sprague (26-6) and Stephen Browning (25-13) filled out the Top 10 and will compete in the Championship. And while all five anglers endured their moments of stress, Browning had to work especially hard for his spot in the finals.
Entering the last 10 minutes of competition, Browning, Shin Fukae, Keith Poche, Andy Montgomery and Jonathan VanDam all sat within 14 ounces of each other in the race to make the 10 cut.
Poche hooked a fish with under 2 minutes to go – at the time trailing Fukae by just 3 ounces – but the fish was unscorable at 14 ounces. As it turned out, Browning was the angler who would ultimately experience the thrill of victory.
The Arkansas pro hooked a 3-4 with 30 seconds left in the round, pushing him from 12th place to 10th. And that meant that Fukae suffered the agony of defeat as he fell to 11th, 2-9 behind Browning.
“I’m still shaking,” Browning said at the Berkley Postgame Show. “You go through the most emotional highs and lows in this format, and that’s what makes it all so exciting.”
Championship Round reset
The Championship 10 will head back out onto Lake Conroe on Sunday with weights zeroed, turning the battle for the championship trophy into a one-day dogfight. Strader, Lee and Evers have been the most consistent this week, recording the highest combined weights in their three competition rounds.
How, where & when to watch
Official live scoring updates are available via SCORETRACKER from the start of competition at 7:30 a.m. CT. The MLF NOW! Championship Sunday live stream begins at 10 a.m. CT, with on-the-water coverage following the action until the end of competition at 3:30 p.m. The MLF Berkley Postgame Show begins at 5 p.m.

Day 5

Place Angler Total Weight Total # Fish Avg Weight Largest Fish
1st Boyd Duckett 38 – 05 21 1 – 13 3 – 10
2nd Gary Klein 30 – 01 15 2 – 00 2 – 15
3rd Edwin Evers 29 – 02 14 2 – 01 4 – 11
4th Brent Ehrler 28 – 12 16 1 – 13 2 – 06
5th Jordan Lee 28 – 12 13 2 – 03 6 – 09
6th Randall Tharp 27 – 13 16 1 – 12 2 – 07
7th David Walker 27 – 10 11 2 – 08 6 – 03
8th Wesley Strader 27 – 05 13 2 – 02 3 – 09
9th Jeff Sprague 26 – 06 16 1 – 10 2 – 14
10th Stephen Browning 25 – 13 9 2 – 14 4 – 06
Elimination Line
11th Shin Fukae 23 – 04 11 2 – 02 2 – 13
12th Keith Poche 23 – 01 11 2 – 02 3 – 00
13th Andy Montgomery 22 – 06 10 2 – 04 5 – 02
14th Jonathon VanDam 22 – 06 10 2 – 04 3 – 11
15th Adrian Avena 21 – 15 12 1 – 13 2 – 14
16th Gerald Spohrer 21 – 02 12 1 – 12 3 – 05
17th Dean Rojas 20 – 05 10 2 – 00 2 – 12
18th Matt Lee 20 – 04 7 2 – 14 7 – 05
19th Mark Rose 19 – 13 11 1 – 13 3 – 02
20th Bobby Lane 19 – 05 11 1 – 12 4 – 06
21st Greg Hackney 18 – 03 9 2 – 00 2 – 14
22nd Jason Christie 17 – 09 10 1 – 12 2 – 15
23rd Skeet Reese 17 – 07 10 1 – 12 3 – 02
24th Todd Faircloth 17 – 05 8 2 – 03 4 – 08
25th Mark Davis 16 – 05 8 2 – 01 3 – 06
26th Randy Howell 16 – 00 8 2 – 00 3 – 07
27th Alton Jones 15 – 05 9 1 – 11 2 – 09
28th Alton Jones Jr. 15 – 03 8 1 – 14 5 – 12
29th Bradley Roy 15 – 02 7 2 – 03 3 – 00
30th Dave Lefebre 14 – 02 9 1 – 09 2 – 08
31st Kevin VanDam 14 – 02 7 2 – 00 4 – 14
32nd Justin Atkins 13 – 05 7 1 – 14 3 – 10
33rd Andy Morgan 12 – 10 5 2 – 08 3 – 01
34th Fletcher Shryock 11 – 12 8 1 – 08 2 – 01
35th Jeff Kriet 10 – 02 4 2 – 08 4 – 11
36th Zack Birge 8 – 15 4 2 – 04 2 – 14
37th Jared Lintner 7 – 11 4 1 – 15 2 – 13
38th Brett Hite 6 – 13 4 1 – 11 3 – 02
39th Casey Ashley 3 – 04 1 3 – 04 3 – 04
40th Chris Lane 2 – 12 1 2 – 12 2 – 12