Alabama pro catches 25 largemouth weighing 64-3 to lead after Day 1 on Lake Chickamauga, full field to complete Qualifying Round Friday

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (May 1, 2025) – Pre-tournament chatter suggested a diverse event would be on tap at O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 Presented by OPTIMA Batteries , and Day 1 delivered. With the field fishing famed Lake Chickamauga for the first of two days Thursday, a wide range of patterns yielded fish. Cloudy skies made for a strong morning shad spawn bite, then some anglers found schools of fish on offshore ledges, while others targeted shallow cover for spawners and fry-guarders and still others caught smallmouth in the tailrace beneath Watts Bar Dam.

Justin Lucas pieced together the best day of the bunch. The Guntersville, Alabama pro got off to a strong start fishing offshore, then moved shallow and targeted bass on beds in Period 3. That produced a total of 64 pounds, 3 ounces on 25 scorable bass, which has him 5-6 ahead of Waco, Texas, pro Alton Jones Jr. in second. Blaine, Tennessee, pro Ott DeFoe, the only other angler to top 50 pounds, rounds out the top three with 55-15.

With the first two days of Stage 4 taking place on Chickamauga before the field relocates to Nickajack Lake for the Knockout and Championship Rounds, the field got three days of official practice rather than its usual two. Lucas spent most of it on Chick, and yet he still didn’t expect such a strong Day 1 performance.

“Today was fun,” Lucas said. “I can’t believe I caught 25 fish. I didn’t have that many bites in all of practice.”

The big day came at a good time for Lucas, and not just because Thursday marked his 39th birthday. The last time he took the water in competition – at REDCREST on Lake Guntersville, where he’s lived for the past 15 years – he failed to make the Knockout Round and finished 34th. That left a sour taste in his mouth, so seeing his game plan work to perfection provided a welcome jolt of confidence.

“I expected to catch them (at Guntersville), and when you don’t, it definitely takes a little wind out of your sails,” Lucas said. “It feels really good to catch them here.”

Recognizing Chickamauga’s bass were scattered between different phases of the spawn, and in different depth ranges, Lucas centered his strategy on finding an area of the lake where he could catch fish both offshore and around the bank. He started his day plying offshore ledges with the one-two punch of a Neko-rigged Berkley PowerBait MaxScent magnum Hit Worm and a deep-diving crankbait.

As is typical of postspawn ledge fishing, Lucas often got bites in bunches. His best flurry saw him stack nine bass for nearly 23 pounds on SCORETRACKER® in the final 36 minutes of Period 1. In all, he totaled more than 50 pounds fishing offshore.

“I really didn’t catch but probably two fish using (forward-facing sonar),” Lucas noted. “Just more traditional ledge fishing.”

Lucas then switched gears, spending the final period sight-fishing for shallow spawners. He added four more scorable bass for 13-1, most of them eating a wacky-rigged Berkley PowerBait MaxScent The General. He plans to employ a similar program on Day 2, although he’s not sure he can catch another 60 pounds.

“I think the bite is going to be tougher tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t know if I can catch that much weight. But depending on how well some of my deep spots reload, we’ll see.”

If Lucas can maintain the top spot at the end of Friday’s action, he’ll earn an automatic berth to Sunday’s Championship Round. Shortly after lines out Thursday, he remained torn on whether that would be a sound strategy.

On one hand, it’s hard to pass up a guaranteed spot in the Top 10, and there’s no reason to practice or save fish on Day 2 since that will be the field’s final day on Chickamauga. On the other, he (like much of the field) has little experience on Nickajack, so he thinks the best path to hoisting his second career Bass Pro Tour trophy would be to compete in the Knockout Round and hopefully find the winning pattern.

“Obviously, I would take a guaranteed Top 10 anytime,” Lucas said. “But I feel like this one, being that I don’t know Nickajack at all, it would probably benefit me more to make the Knockout Round and fish there and try and figure something out. I think it’s going to be an advantage to the guys that make the Knockout Round.

“I’ll probably try to (win). But I don’t know if it’s a good idea. But I do like Top 10s.”

Like Lucas, Jones pieced together two patterns, both fishing for bedding bass and postspawners offshore. However, he didn’t worry about staying in the same area of the lake.

Jones said he ran a total of 96 miles on the day. He also estimated he caught at least one fish on 10 different baits, illustrating just how spread out the fish are on Chickamauga.

“I never caught one on a big crankbait today, and I never caught one on a swimbait, but I think every other rod on my deck got some action today,” Jones said.

Jones started his day running a few different offshore spots where he targeted postspawn schools.

“I think your chances of catching a quality bass are better offshore if you don’t have forward-facing sonar, and for two-thirds of the day, we can’t,” he explained.

He used the latter part of Period 2 to make a long run to a different area of the lake, making sure he’d have all of Period 3 to maximize his time with forward-facing sonar. Jones used the technology to target fish that were spawning and guarding fry away from the bank. He put together one of the best forward-facing sonar periods of any angler, totaling an even 22 pounds on eight bass and moving from sixth place at the start of the period up to second.

“There’s a lot of fish still spawning, but what I noticed is they’re spawning offshore – points, shoals, bars, whatever,” he said. “And so being really dialed in with that is really, really important this week.”

Like Lucas, Jones expects the bite to slow a bit tomorrow. If he can push his total above 100 pounds, he likes his chances of winning the Qualifying Round.

And he has no reservations about pursuing the automatic berth to the Championship Round. A Top 10 would be important in his pursuit of his first Fishing Clash Angler of the Year title (he’s currently fourth), and since he doesn’t have to worry about saving bass on Chickamauga, he sees no reason not to shoot for it.

“Normally, there’s a little more strategy that goes into grabbing the auto qualification,” Jones said. “Do I want to burn my fish? Do I not want to burn my fish? But here, we’re not coming back. So, there is no number where you lay off here. It’s just pedal to the metal and see what happens.”

The top 20 pros after Day 1 on Lake Chickamauga are:

1st:          Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 25 bass, 64-3
2nd         Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 19 bass, 58-13
3rd:         Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn., 19 bass, 55-15
4th:         Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 16 bass, 47-12
5th:         Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 17 bass, 47-8
6th:         Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 18 bass, 47-5
7th:         Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 17 bass, 46-3
8th:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 14 bass, 44-4
9th:         Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 15 bass, 42-12
10th:       Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 42-2
11th:       Brent Chapman, Lake Quivira, Kan., 12 bass, 41-2
12th:       Andy Montgomery, Blacksburg, S.C., 15 bass, 40-2
13th:       Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., 16 bass, 38-12
14th:       David Walker, Huntingdon, Tenn., 13 bass, 38-3
15th:       Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 15 bass, 37-15
16th:       Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 12 bass, 36-14
17th:       Colby Miller, Elmer, La., 12 bass, 33-10
18th:       Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 13 bass, 33-3
19th:       Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 10 bass, 32-3
20th:       Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., nine bass, 31-8

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

“Big Fish” Bobby Lane earned the Day 1 Berkley Big Bass Award Thursday with a 7-pound, 14-ounce largemouth that he caught on a bladed swim jig in Period 1. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

The full field of anglers compete in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round is complete, the pro with the highest two-day total advances directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. Anglers that finish 2nd through 20th will advance to Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed, and the remaining anglers compete to finish in the top nine to advance to Sunday’s Championship Round. In the final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $150,000.

Anglers will launch at 7:15 a.m. ET Friday from Chester Frost Park, located at 2277 Gold Point Circle N. in Hixson, Tennessee. The takeout on Friday will be held at the same location beginning at 3:45 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, anglers will launch at 7:15 a.m. ET from the Tennessee Riverpark, located at 4301 Amnicola Highway in Chattanooga. The takeout Saturday and Sunday will be held at the same location, beginning at 3:45 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all launch and takeout events and also encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW!®  live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on all four days of competition from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!®  will be live streamed on  MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to visit Ross’s Landing at 201 Riverfront Parkway for the MLF Fan Experience & Watch Party. Fans can watch the pros live on the MLFNOW!  big screen, enjoy free food, enter to win hourly giveaways, listen to live music and cheer on their favorite pros. The first 50 kids 14 and under will receive a free Abu Garcia rod and reel each day. The event also includes a meet and greet with Paw Patrol’s Skye and Marshall, a youth fishing derby presented by Hardee’s and a casting contest. The Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand both days to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 at Lake Chickamauga and Nickajack Lake Presented by OPTIMA Batteries is hosted by Chattanooga, Tennessee and Fish Tennessee and features anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.

The 2025 Bass Pro Tour features a field of 66 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual Heavy Hitters all-star event and the REDCREST 2026 championship.

Television coverage of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Stage 4 at Lake Chickamauga and Nickajack Lake Presented by OPTIMA Batteries will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Oct. 11 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering on Saturday, Oct. 18. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, Athletic Brewing, Bass Force, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Star brite, Suzuki Marine and Toyota.

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 , 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 Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network 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.