B&W Trailer Hitches pro catches 22 bass weighing 62-2 to pace Knockout Round, final 10 anglers set for Championship Sunday in final-day shootout for top prize of $150,000

LEESBURG, Fla. (Feb. 15, 2025) – The Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour Suzuki Marine Stage 2 Presented by YETI on the Harris Chain of Lakes has largely turned into an old-school Florida flipping fest. And no one on the Bass Pro Tour does old-school quite like Mark Davis .

The 61-year-old Davis led the way through Saturday’s Knockout Round, stacking up 60 pounds, 2 ounces on 22 scorable bass. That put him 8-4 clear of Fletcher Shryock and easily earned him a trip to Sunday’s Championship Round. There, Davis will look to add his first Bass Pro Tour victory to his Hall of Fame resume, which already includes two national-tour Angler of the Year titles and a Bassmaster Classic win.

Davis and the rest of the top nine finishers from the Knockout Round will be joined by Qualifying Round winner Jacob Wheeler in a one-day sprint for the Stage 2 trophy. The angler who amasses the most weight will take home $150,000.

Like many of the top anglers this week, Davis has been fishing slowly, using his years of experience to identify sweet spots among the emergent vegetation that lines the shallows of Lake Apopka and methodically picking them apart with a Yamamoto Senko.

Once he got into the right zone Saturday, he stacked up weight in a hurry. During a stretch that lasted a little more than 2 hours (including the break between Periods 1 and 2), Davis boated 16 scorable bass that weighed a combined 43-6. The flurry shot him to the top of SCORETRACKER® and only ended because he decided he’d done enough to secure a spot in the Championship Round and set off to scout new water.

“It was a lot of fun,” Davis said. “It was the way I love to fish, just casting a Senko and getting a lot of bites. Had a few mishaps there in that first period, but I got it lined out and caught a 5 1/2-pounder there in the second period. I said, ‘Yep, we need to get out of here,’ and I just went kind of looking around after that.”

Davis is optimistic that he not only left some fish in that zone that he might be able to catch during the Championship Round; he said he has two other productive areas that he never visited Saturday.

That said, Davis is “not counting any chickens” yet. The veteran knows how fickle Florida bass can be, especially given the strong south wind forecast for Sunday. He experienced that firsthand in 2023, when the Bass Pro Tour opened its season on the nearby Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. Davis sacked up a gaudy five-fish total of 34-10 during that Knockout Round, but the wind switched, and he was only able to muster 14-0 the following day, opening the door for Chris Lane to pass him and steal the win.

“There’s no telling what’s going to happen,” Davis said. “Everything down here is susceptible to wind and weather. If you get bad wind and weather, you can go from a hero to a zero. You just never know. It’s hard; there’s no protected areas, so depending on direction and how hard the wind is blowing, it could just take you right out of it.”

Regardless of the weather, Davis said he’s committed to Apopka. He and the rest of the anglers fishing there will benefit from the MLF trailering policy, which will be enacted on Sunday to accommodate for the wind. That frees up a minimum of 90 minutes traveling to Apopka and dealing with the lock.

“I really don’t have any other options,” he said. “I’ll have to go down there and try to make something happen no matter what the weather does.”

Davis would love to get some redemption and leave Florida with a trophy in tow. He knows better than just about anyone that opportunities like this don’t come often. His last national victory came in an FLW Tour event on Fort Loudon and Tellico Lakes in 2007, and he’s realistic about the fact that he doesn’t have too many years left in his career to earn another one.

“It’d mean a bunch,” Davis said. “At my age – I’m 61, been at this now for 40 years – it would be great to lift a trophy one more time.”

Shryock awoke Saturday morning feeling “awful.” Battling a stomach bug that brought with it a fever, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to endure the 8-hour competition day.

A red-hot punching bite was the best medicine he could ask for.

Shryock, long one of the best on tour with a big weight, returned to the hydrilla mats where he’d spent virtually the entire event and found the bass biting. By the midpoint of the day, he had hauled in 16 scorable bass totaling 47-6 – more than enough to advance to his first Championship Round since 2022. So, Shryock used the second half of the day to check some new water and conserve his strength.

“If I had to go hard all day – it’s going to be hell tomorrow, I know that,” Shryock said.

While his chosen technique – wielding a heavy rod and winching bass out of thick grass mats – might not be the most suitable for someone feeling less than 100%, Shryock put a positive spin on it.

“I’m looking at it as a positive, like it might slow me down just a little bit,” he explained. “Because I got to the point today, like, it was hurting to set the hook. I’ve just got body aches and stuff. So, I’m definitely a lot more patient. Maybe that’s the deal.”

Shryock has had to deal with some company in his primary area this week – he said he spent most of Day 2 “playing defense.” But he’s the only angler in the Top 10 who has found the punching pattern, which excites him.

“I really feel good about just fishing my own deal tomorrow, and there’s no excuses,” he said.

Like Davis, though, Shryock knows how temperamental Florida bass can be. Fishing the same technique in largely the same area for the past three days, he’s now experienced two in which the action has been fast and furious and one that saw him “begging for a bite until noon.” He thinks he’ll be around enough fish to earn his first career BPT win, but whether they cooperate remains to be seen.

“When the sun comes up in Florida, you don’t ever know what you’re going to get,” Shryock said. “I know that much. Today was phenomenal. I don’t expect tomorrow to be as easy, just because it never is.

“Can I win? Absolutely. Can I go out tomorrow and finish ninth? Absolutely. I’m going to flip around and find out.”

The top nine pros from the Knockout Round that now advance to Championship Sunday on the Harris Chain of Lakes are:

1st:         Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 22 bass, 60-2
2nd:        Fletcher Shryock, Guntersville, Ala., 17 bass, 51-14
3rd:         Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 21 bass, 50-14
4th:         Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 21 bass, 50-9
5th:         Terry Scroggins, San Mateo, Fla., 16 bass, 44-8
6th:         Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 14 bass, 41-10
7th:         James Elam, Tulsa, Okla., 17 bass, 38-13
8th:         Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 34-13
9th:         Jacob Wall, New Hope, Ala., 16 bass, 32-12
*QR Winner: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn.

Eliminated from competition is:

11th:      Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 11 bass, 29-5, $15,900
12th:      Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, 13 bass, 27-13, $15,800
13th:      Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 13 bass, 27-0, $15,700
14th:      Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 11 bass, 25-10, $15,600
15th:      Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., nine bass, 23-11, $15,500
16th:      Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 13 bass, 23-0, $15,400
17th:      Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., eight bass, 22-1, $15,300
18th:      Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., eight bass, 18-3, $15,200
19th:      John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., seven bass, 14-4, $15,100
20th:      Justin Cooper, Zwolle, La., five bass, 11-10, $15,000

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

Becker won Saturday’s Berkley Big Bass Award with a 7-pound, 15-ounce largemouth. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.

The full field of anglers competed in the two-day Qualifying Round on Thursday and Friday. After the two-day Qualifying Round was complete, leader Jacob Wheeler advanced directly to Sunday’s Championship Round. The anglers that finished 2nd through 20th competed in Saturday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round, weights were zeroed, and the top nine finishers now join Wheeler in Sunday’s Championship Round. In the Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $150,000.

Based on the forecast for stronger winds, MLF will enact the trailering policy for Championship Sunday. The final 10 anglers will arrive at 5:30 a.m. ET to the Venetian Gardens, located at 201 E. Lake Harris Drive in Leesburg. Anglers will depart the Venetian Gardens at 6:15 a.m. to approved launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to the Venetian Gardens Sunday evening, following the end of competition 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 Championship Sunday 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 Sunday, Feb. 16, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. MLF welcomes fans of all ages to visit the Venetian Gardens 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 rod and reel. The Bass Pro Tour anglers will be on hand both days to meet and greet fans, sign autographs and take selfies.

The Suzuki Marine Stage 2 at the Harris Chain of Lakes Presented by YETI is hosted by Discover Lake County Florida and features anglers competing with a 1-pound, 8-ounce 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 Suzuki Marine Stage 2 at the Harris Chain of Lakes Presented by YETI will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Sept. 13 on Discovery, with the Championship Round premiering the following Saturday on Sept. 20. 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 Sports Apparel, Fishing Clash, Grizzly, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, 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.