Wisconsin pro Matt Stefan boats 5-pound, 11-ounce largemouth to win Knockout Round Berkley Big Bass, Lucas tops Knockout Round with 64-4, Final 10 anglers set for Thursday’s Championship Round

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (May 21, 2025) – Everything has gone to plan so far for Justin Lucas at B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops. His last remaining objective on Smith Mountain Lake: claim the title belt he’s coveted for the past three years and at least one of the $100,000 paychecks up for grabs on Championship Thursday.

Lucas totaled 64 pounds, 4 ounces on 21 scorable bass during the Knockout Round. With less than 2 minutes left before lines out, he boated a 3-13 smallmouth that put him atop SCORETRACKER®, 1-8 ahead of Zack Birge.

Meanwhile, even though he finished the day in third place, the biggest winner was Matthew Stefan. The Wisconsin pro earned $30,000 for catching the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 5-15 that ate a bladed jig.

Lucas will lead the Top 10 into what’s shaping up to be a wide-open Championship Round, where $100,000 will be up for grabs for both the tournament winner and the angler who catches the biggest bass.

Lucas’ Knockout Round unfolded much like his Qualifying Round. He got off to a strong start, putting plenty of distance between himself and the elimination line early, then spent some time scouting for the next round.

While most of his closest competition plied steep banks on the riverine end of Smith Mountain, Lucas stuck with his approach of targeting schools of bass ambushing blueback herring around the flat points on the lower end of the lake. He amassed more than 27 pounds in the opening period, climbed above the 50-pound mark in the opening minutes of the third frame, then eased off the gas and spent the rest of the day in practice mode.

“I would say the day went better than I expected it to go,” the Alabama resident said. “There was still some fish on some stuff from a few days ago, so that was nice to see. Found a few more spots. And feel decent about it tomorrow.”

One of the few anglers catching roughly equal numbers of largemouth and smallmouth, Lucas rotated between a jighead minnow, a soft-plastic jerkbait and various swimbaits. Thanks to the fact that he was able to spend virtually all of his second day of qualifying as well as Period 3 on Wednesday in recon mode, he should have plenty of schools at his disposal for the Championship Round.

“I probably have 15 spots to fish, I would say,” he said. “And I’ll just rotate through those.”

Lucas’ primary concern is whether the wind that’s forecast to whip up on Thursday will help or hinder his bite. Another variable the Top 10 pros will have to contend with during the Championship Round is a 3-pound minimum scorable bass weight, up from 2 pounds to this point in the event. Had the 3-pound minimum been in effect during the Knockout Round, Birge actually would have led with 41-14 compared to 38-14 for Lucas.

Still, despite the increased minimum weight and the $100,000 big bass bonus that will be up for grabs, Lucas doesn’t plan to do anything different in an effort to generate bigger bites.

“I’ve caught plenty of 3-pounders,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to try and win the tournament, and if I catch big bass, it’ll happen the way I’m fishing. I’m not going to do something different to try and catch one fish.”

Lucas, who finished as the runner-up by 12 ounces at Heavy Hitters 2022 and was the top qualifier for this year’s event, hasn’t been shy about admitting how badly he wants to take home a title belt. More than the wind or the 3-pound minimum, he’ll have to overcome a loaded Championship Round field to make it happen.

In addition to Lucas, three other anglers topped 45 pounds through the first two periods Wednesday – Birge, Stefan and Edwin Evers. That doesn’t include Cole Floyd and Michael Neal , both of whom won their respective Qualifying Rounds and advanced to the Championship Round with relative ease, or three-time REDCREST winner Dustin Connell, who has a well-earned reputation as the best closer on the Bass Pro Tour.

Lucas knows it’ll be a dogfight to earn both $100,000 payouts, but more than anything, he’s excited to have a shot at them, especially in a no-entry-fee event. Given how well his game plan has played out thus far, he couldn’t hope to be in a better position.

“I’m pumped,” Lucas said. “That’s what we came here to do. To have a chance on the final day is all you can really ask for.”

Stefan boats Big Bass, keeps momentum rolling
For much of the first period, Stefan found himself tied with Evers for Big Bass honors, the two of them having caught twin 5-12s just 2 minutes apart. About 30 minutes into Period 2, he took the title for himself by boating a 5-15. That fish wound up topping Dustin Connell’s 5-13 by 2 ounces to earn him $30,000.

“Man, that’s the best big bass I’ve ever caught,” Stefan said.

Twenty-four hours prior to catching that fish, it looked like a long shot that Stefan would even be competing in the Knockout Round. A brutal first day of qualifying, during which he caught just two scorable bass for 5-1, had him in last place in Group B, more than 20 pounds behind the elimination line.

Stefan admitted that he panicked after his slow start on Day 1 and abandoned his game plan of fishing main-river banks, instead picking up a glide bait in hopes of getting a big bite. When he returned to the water, he hunkered down in his initial area and racked up nearly 38 pounds during the last 3 ½ hours – part of a 20-fish, 56-pound day that propelled him into the Knockout Round.

Now, after stacking up 59-5 on 18 bass Wednesday, including three over 5 pounds, he enters the Championship Round feeling like he has a legitimate shot at both $100,000 payouts.

“The crazy thing is, the first day of the tournament, I had a really bad day,” Stefan said. “And the couple fish I caught were doing exactly what I’m doing, and I gave up on it because I heard the scoreboard ticking, and you feel like you’ve got to go find something else. And then I started throwing a big glide bait around to try and win the big fish award, and the reality is, I should have just stuck with my guns and continued doing what I’m doing, because that’s what I did on Day 2.

“I’m sitting in a position where I feel like I actually have a shot at this thing tomorrow.”

The top 10 pros from the Knockout Round that now advance to Thursday’s Championship Round on Smith Mountain Lake are:

1st:        Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 21 bass, 64-4
2nd:       Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 20 bass, 62-12
3rd:       Matt Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 18 bass, 59-5
4th:        Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 15 bass, 51-4
5th:        Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 17 bass, 49-6
6th:        Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 15 bass, 44-8
7th:        Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 14 bass, 41-11
8th:        Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 13 bass, 41-9
9th:        Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 14 bass, 40-12
10th:     Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 14 bass, 32-8

Eliminated from competition after the Knockout Round on Smith Mountain Lake are:

11th:     Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., nine bass, 27-3
12th:     Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 26-1
13th:     Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, seven bass, 22-14
14th:     Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., eight bass, 21-4
15th:     Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark., five bass, 18-4
16th:     Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., five bass, 14-6

Full results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 205 bass weighing 617 pounds, 15 ounces caught by the 16 pros on Wednesday, which included eight 5-pounders and 19 4-pounders caught from Smith Mountain Lake.

Berkley Big Bass Bonus Award Winners:

Group A Day 1: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa.. and Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark. (6-7), $10,000
Group B Day 1: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., and Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C.  (5-4), $10,000
Group A Day 2: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn. (5-6), $10,000
Group B Day 2: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio (6-2), $10,000
Knockout Round: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis. (5-15), $30,000
Championship Round: TBD, $100,000

The 15 Anglers in Group A competed in their two-day qualifying round on Saturday and Monday – the 15 anglers in Group B on Sunday and Tuesday. After each two-day qualifying round was complete, the top eight anglers from both groups advanced to Wednesday’s Knockout Round. In the Knockout Round weights were zeroed, and the remaining 16 anglers competed to finish in the Top 10 and advance to the Championship Round. In Thursday’s final-day Championship Round, weights are zeroed, and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Hosted by Visit Franklin County, Virginia and Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge , the B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters at Smith Mountain Lake Presented by Bass Pro Shops features the MLF catch, weigh, immediate-release format, in which anglers catch as much weight as they can each day, while also feeling the pressure and intensity of the SCORETRACKER® leaderboard. A bass must meet the 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable in the Qualifying and Knockout Rounds, but for the final day Championship Round a bass must weigh at least 3 pounds to be deemed scorable.

In addition to overall tournament awards, Berkley Big Bass bonuses are awarded in each round of competition with payouts of $10,000 for the single biggest bass on each day of Group A & B Qualifying, $30,000 for the biggest bass in the Knockout Round and $100,000 for the biggest bass in the Championship Round.

The final 10 anglers will depart Trinity Ecumenical Parish Thursday morning at 6:15 a.m. to one of five launch ramps located around the fishery. Anglers will return to Trinity Ecumenical Parish following the end of competition at 3:45 p.m. Fans are encouraged to follow the event online throughout the day on the MLFNOW! live stream and SCORETRACKER® coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

To qualify for B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters, the weight of an angler’s single-largest bass from each event of the seven 2024 Bass Pro Tour events was recorded. The 30 anglers with the heaviest total from those seven bass qualified to compete in this event.

The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live on each day 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.

Television coverage of B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters 2025 Presented by Bass Pro Shops will be showcased across six two-hour episodes, premiering at 7 a.m. ET, July 19 and running each Saturday – except Shark Week – through Aug. 30 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on the Outdoor Channel.

Proud sponsors of the 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Barbasol, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, E3 Sport Apparel, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO Boats, Onyx, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Star brite, Toyota, YETI and Zenni.

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.