Ehrler Leads MLF Bass Pro Tour Shotgun Group A on Conroe
Courtesy of MLF
By Joel Shangle – February 12, 2019
CONROE, Texas – To say that Brent Ehrler has a colorful career history in the state of Texas is an understatement. Ehrler has picked up a couple of landmark victories in the Lone Star State, including a Toyota Texas Bass Classic win, and the champion’s trophy of the first-even Major League Fishing Competition (held on Lake Amistad in 2011).
But in the days before the first round of the MLF Bass Pro Tour Huk Stage Two presented by Favorite Fishing, Ehrler admitted that he’s been disappointed in the outcome of some of the events he’s competed in on Lake Conroe.
The California pro took matters into his own hands early in the first Shotgun Round of the week, connecting with eight fish for 22-3 in the first period, primarily throwing a spinnerbait and vibrating jig. Ehrler would eventually finish the day with 33-12, tops among the 40-angler Group A field, putting himself in a strong position as he heads into the event’s first Elimination Round competition on Thursday.
“I caught them pretty good this morning, I just don’t know that there’s a lot of fish in that are,” Ehrler said. “I did catch some nice ones – I got a near-5, a 5-5, a couple of 3s – but it’s hard to say if I’ll be able to do that again (on Thursday).”
Even though Ehrler added only 10-9 to SCORETRACKER in Periods 2 and 3, he spent the majority of the afternoon running new water, scoutSing for more productive spots for his next competition round.
“I literally did a full lap around this lake in the second and third periods,” Ehrler said. “I can’t say that I love what I saw, but I think I have a big enough cushion that I can lay off some spots (in the Elimination Round).”
Strader goes from “cautious” to comfortable
Heading into the first day of competition, Wesley Strader was “cautious” about his expectations of Lake Conroe. But after an 18-fish day, the Tennessee pro finds himself in a much more positive frame of mind (and a strong position to claim a Top 20 spot with 33-0).
Strader spent his day winding a Stan Sloan Bango Blade spinnerbait and picking his way through small, shallow, hard-to-reach spots with a 3/8-ounce Stan Sloan Zorro Flipping Jig and Big Zoom Salty Chunk.
“I want to an area in the morning that I hadn’t even practiced in, so I was pretty happy to catch a few pretty early,” Strader said. “I didn’t get many bites in practice, but I got enough to know what to look for.”
Jason Christie (29-11), Bradley Roy (29-4) and Adrian Avena (29-2) rounded out the Top 5.
The battle around the 20 spot
As has quickly become the case in the Bass Pro Tour format, much of the day’s drama unfolded around the elimination line (No. 20). Heading into Thursday’s Elimination Round, there’s only a 3-3 spread between Todd Faircloth in 13th (17-13) and Cliff Pace in 21st (14-10). There are six anglers within 4 pounds of the 20 spot.
Shotgun Round 2 Wednesday
The 40 anglers fishing Group B start competition Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. That group – which includes Stage One winner Jordan Lee – should see slightly less wind than Group A dealt with on Tuesday, and a daytime high creeping back toward the upper 60s.
Action starts at 7:30 a.m. CT, with official live scoring available on SCORETRACKER. The MLF NOW! live stream starts at 10 a.m. CT.
Shotgun Round
| Rank | Angler | Total Weight | Total # Fish | Avg Weight | Largest Fish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Brent Ehrler | 33 – 12 | 15 | 2 – 04 | 5 – 05 |
| 2nd | Wesley Strader | 33 – 00 | 18 | 1 – 13 | 2 – 09 |
| 3rd | Jason Christie | 29 – 11 | 10 | 2 – 16 | 4 – 13 |
| 4th | Bradley Roy | 29 – 04 | 12 | 2 – 07 | 4 – 04 |
| 5th | Adrian Avena | 29 – 02 | 15 | 1 – 15 | 4 – 12 |
| 6th | Bobby Lane | 28 – 05 | 13 | 2 – 03 | 4 – 08 |
| 7th | Boyd Duckett | 27 – 00 | 17 | 1 – 09 | 3 – 02 |
| 8th | Jeff Kriet | 26 – 03 | 13 | 2 – 00 | 4 – 09 |
| 9th | Kevin VanDam | 25 – 12 | 14 | 1 – 13 | 4 – 02 |
| 10th | Gerald Swindle | 21 – 03 | 7 | 3 – 00 | 6 – 08 |
| 11th | Alton Jones | 18 – 06 | 7 | 2 – 10 | 7 – 06 |
| 12th | Jonathon VanDam | 18 – 03 | 7 | 2 – 10 | 4 – 12 |
| 13th | Todd Faircloth | 17 – 13 | 11 | 1 – 10 | 2 – 03 |
| 14th | Mark Rose | 17 – 12 | 10 | 1 – 12 | 3 – 09 |
| 15th | Jeff Sprague | 17 – 07 | 10 | 1 – 12 | 2 – 07 |
| 16th | Greg Hackney | 17 – 02 | 8 | 2 – 02 | 3 – 14 |
| 17th | Fletcher Shryock | 16 – 12 | 7 | 2 – 06 | 3 – 11 |
| 18th | Justin Atkins | 16 – 01 | 8 | 2 – 00 | 3 – 03 |
| 19th | Mike Iaconelli | 15 – 15 | 8 | 1 – 16 | 2 – 09 |
| 20th | Alton Jones Jr. | 15 – 06 | 8 | 1 – 15 | 2 – 12 |
| 21st | Cliff Pace | 14 – 10 | 9 | 1 – 10 | 3 – 09 |
| 22nd | Anthony Gagliardi | 13 – 02 | 5 | 2 – 10 | 3 – 08 |
| 23rd | Shaw Grigsby | 12 – 14 | 7 | 1 – 13 | 2 – 14 |
| 24th | Dean Rojas | 12 – 14 | 6 | 2 – 02 | 3 – 10 |
| 25th | Jacob Powroznik | 11 – 10 | 6 | 1 – 15 | 2 – 08 |
| 26th | Cliff Crochet | 11 – 07 | 6 | 1 – 15 | 2 – 06 |
| 27th | Aaron Martens | 11 – 02 | 5 | 2 – 04 | 4 – 06 |
| 28th | Britt Myers | 10 – 14 | 7 | 1 – 09 | 2 – 05 |
| 29th | Josh Bertrand | 9 – 04 | 3 | 3 – 01 | 3 – 10 |
| 30th | Marty Robinson | 8 – 14 | 5 | 1 – 12 | 2 – 08 |
| 31st | Luke Clausen | 8 – 14 | 4 | 2 – 04 | 2 – 12 |
| 32nd | Brent Chapman | 8 – 11 | 5 | 1 – 12 | 2 – 13 |
| 33rd | Skeet Reese | 8 – 02 | 5 | 1 – 10 | 2 – 08 |
| 34th | Terry Scroggins | 7 – 11 | 4 | 1 – 15 | 2 – 08 |
| 35th | Brandon Palaniuk | 7 – 03 | 3 | 2 – 06 | 2 – 13 |
| 36th | Paul Elias | 7 – 00 | 5 | 1 – 06 | 1 – 10 |
| 37th | Scott Suggs | 5 – 15 | 3 | 1 – 16 | 2 – 05 |
| 38th | Dustin Connell | 5 – 08 | 3 | 1 – 13 | 2 – 01 |
| 39th | John Murray | 4 – 12 | 1 | 4 – 12 | 4 – 12 |
| 40th | Jesse Wiggins | 0 – 00 | 0 | 0 – 00 | 0 – 00 |
