Covington, Georgia Pro Catches 11 Bass Totaling 33 Pounds, 2 Ounces to Lead Big Early for Group B – Group A to Conclude Qualifying Round Monday

MONROE-WEST MONROE, La. (Feb. 6, 2022) – Fishing what he called a “Bubba Shot”, pro Jared Lintner of Covington, Georgia, weighed in 11 scorable bass on Lake D’Arbonne Sunday totaling 33 pounds, 2 ounces, to take a commanding lead on Day 1 for Group B at the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole in Monroe-West Monroe, Louisiana.

Lintner grabbed the lead around 11 a.m. and never relinquished control, increasing his lead by another 10 pounds in this third period alone. He will bring a 14½-pound lead into Tuesday’s Qualifying Round finale for Group B. Gonzales, Louisiana pro Gerald Spohrer ended the day in second place, catching six bass for 18-11, while David Dudley of Lynchburg, Virginia, boated seven scorable bass totaling 16-6 for third place. Covercraft pro Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, also weighed in 16-6, but sits in fourth place due to tiebreaker rules, and Favorite Fishing pro Jonathon VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, rounds out the top five with eight bass for 16-1.

The 40 anglers in Group B will now have an off day on Monday, while the 40 anglers competing in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Tuesday. The six-day event, hosted by Discover Monroe-West Monroe, showcases 80 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world competing for a purse of $805,000, including a top cash prize of $100,000 to the winner.

“Today was a good day,” said Lintner, a California native who recently moved east to Georgia. “I assumed it was going to be tough, and it was. I threw crankbaits and flipping jigs and vibrating jigs – at one point I even broke out a buzzbait – but I never had any bites on anything other than my Bubba Shot.

“It’s basically a drop-shot rig with heavier line,” Lintner continued. “I’m using 16-pound Sunline Shooter with a Roboworm, Aaron’s Madness-colored, and just making a lot of casts. It ended up being a really great day.”

Lintner threw his Bubba Shot around boat docks and brush near docks. He fished it painstakingly slow and would often make multiple casts and presentations to the same spots. He threw his Bubba Shot rig on a 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy Daiwa Tatula Elite rod with a Daiwa Zillion TW HDreel. His Bubba Shot consisted of a 3/0 Trokar hook, an Eco Pro Tungsten Full Contact Drop Shot weight, 16-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, and a Marten’s Madness-colored Roboworm, dipped in Pautzke Fire Gel bait scent.

“I’m really looking forward to getting back out here and fishing again on Tuesday,” Lintner went on to say. “This is a neat lake, and the people out here are awesome.”

Unlike Lintner who mainly targeted docks, second-place pro Gerald Spohrer did most of his damage cranking around riprap on the lower end of the lake.

“It was very hard for me to get fish to bite, but the ones that did for me came on a Nomad squarebill crankbait, and that was the key,” Spohrer said. “I fished it with a very slow retrieve, letting it tick off of every single rock. Sometimes I had to make six or seven casts in a row to get a fish to bite it. But that’s what it took to trigger those fish. They didn’t want to chase anything, they wanted it right across their mouth.”

The top 20 pros in Group B after Day 1 on Lake D’Arbonne are:

1st:          Jared Lintner, Covington, Ga., 11 bass, 33-2
2nd:         Gerald Spohrer, Gonzales, La., six bass, 18-11
3rd:         David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., seven bass, 16-6
4th:         Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., seven bass, 16-6
5th:         Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., eight bass, 16-1
6th:         Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., six bass, 14-9
7th:         Kevin VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., five bass, 13-4
8th:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., six bass, 12-4
9th:         Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, five bass, 12-4
10th:       Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., three bass, 12-3
11th:       Jordan Lee, Cullman, Ala., five bass, 11-3
12th:       Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., four bass, 8-7
13th:       Randy Howell, Guntersville, Ala., four bass, 7-7
14th:       James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., two bass, 6-7
15th:       Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, three bass, 6-0
16th:       Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., one bass, 5-2
17th:       Paul Elias, Laurel, Miss., one bass, 4-10
18th:       Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., one bass, 4-3
19th:       Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., two bass, 3-15
20th:       Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., two bass, 3-15

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

There were 102 scorable bass weighing 253 pounds, 13 ounces caught Sunday by 32 pros.

Montgomery boated a 5-pound, 12-ounce largemouth in Period 1 – the largest of the day – to earn Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award. The fish came on a jig. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day, and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass of the tournament.

The 40 Anglers in Group A compete in their two-day qualifying round on Lake D’Arbonne on Saturday and Monday – the 40 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round on Caney Creek Reservoir, while the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round weights are zeroed, and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top 8 to advance to the Championship Round on Bussey Brake. In the final day Championship Round weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

In the four-day opening Qualifying Rounds, anglers will launch at 8:30 a.m. from the Lake D’Arbonne State Park, located at 3628 Evergreen Road in Farmerville, Louisiana. The Knockout Round will launch Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. from the Caney Creek Hooks Marina, located at 400 Spillway Road in Chatham, Louisiana. Thursday’s final day Championship Round on Bussey Brake will launch at 8:30 a.m. from Bonner Ferry Road, five miles northwest of Bastrop off of Hwy 593.

Each day’s General Tire Takeout will be held at the respective launch ramps, beginning at 5:30 p.m.Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLF NOW!® live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole features anglers competing with a 1-pound, 8-ounce minimum weight requirement on Lake D’Arbonne, and a 2-pound minimum weight requirement on Caney Creek and Bussey Brake for a bass to be deemed scorable. Minimum weights are determined individually for each competition waters that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The Bass Pro Tour features a field of 80 of the top professional anglers in the world competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, competing for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2023 championship.

The MLF NOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. MLF NOW!®  will be live streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Television coverage of the B&W Trailer Hitches Stage One Presented by Power-Pole will premiere at 7 a.m. ET, Sept. 3 on the Discovery Channel. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on the Discovery Channel, with additional re-airings on the Outdoor Channel. Each two-hour long reality-based episode goes in-depth to break down each day of competition.

Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, BallyBet, Bass Cat, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, Covercraft, Favorite Fishing, Garmin, General Tire, Googan Baits, Grundéns, Guaranteed Rate, Humminbird, John Deere Gator UTVs, Lowrance, Luminox, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Nitro Performance Boats, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, Power Stop, Rapala, Starbrite, Toro, Toyota, Wrangler, Yellowstone Bourbon and Zoom.

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, Twitter,  Instagram, and  YouTube.