B&W Trailer Hitches duo of Faircloth and LeBrun advance to Knockout Round with second-place finish on Day 1 of second event of Starlink Team Series season

MANCHESTER, Tenn. (Oct. 18, 2026) – The 2026 Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops kicked off its second event Sunday on Tims Ford Lake, where Team Lowrance’s Takahiro Omori of Tokyo, Japan, and Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Arizona, put together a commanding performance to win Elimination Match 1 of the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents . The duo combined for 17 scorable bass weighing 29 pounds, 2 ounces, comfortably securing the first of two advancement spots into the Knockout Round.

The battle for the second qualifying position proved considerably tighter, with Team B&W Trailer Hitches’ Nick LeBrun and Todd Faircloth edging Team Kubota’s Jesse Wiggins and Cole Floyd by just 5 ounces. Faircloth delivered the decisive blow with approximately 35 minutes remaining, boating a 2-8 smallmouth that pushed Team B&W Trailer Hitches above the Lucas Oil cut line for good. Team Kubota finished third with 10 bass for 20-9, while Team BUBBA’s Mark Rose and Zack Birge rounded out the four-team field in fourth with nine bass weighing 16-5.

Link to Hi-Res Photo of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 1 Winner Team Lowrance
Link to HD Video Clip of Heritage Cup Elimination Round Match 1 Highlights
Link to Morning Photo Gallery: Team Series action resumes with the Heritage Cup on Tims Ford Lake

Competing on an unfamiliar fishery, the four teams encountered a challenging fall bite that rewarded anglers who could locate active baitfish and adjust to changing conditions. All three black bass species – largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass – played a role throughout the day, with teams employing vastly different approaches ranging from shallow-water power fishing to offshore presentations guided by forward-facing sonar.

For Team Lowrance, the winning formula centered on a familiar approach from Bass Fishing Hall of Famer Omori. Armed with a white Z-Man ChatterBait and a 4-inch swimbait trailer, Omori covered water aggressively in the backs of stained-water creeks, targeting shaded banks, overhanging trees and pockets where baitfish were concentrated. Rojas worked behind his partner, picking up additional fish while helping identify productive areas and conditions.

The pair established an early lead with seven scorable bass weighing 11-8 in the opening period. Although their momentum slowed after moving to a different creek during Period 2, they returned to their most productive water and quickly resumed catching fish. By day’s end, Omori had accounted for 14 scorable bass weighing 24-1 – enough to win the match on his own – while Rojas contributed three bass weighing 5-1.

“I caught all my fish today on a white ChatterBait with a 4-inch swimbait trailer,” Omori said. “Just the same stuff I use on the Bass Pro Tour. I had a lot of bites today, probably 25 or 30, and I missed about half of them this morning. They were hitting it really hard, but some of them just wouldn’t stay hooked. We caught enough to get the win, though, and that’s what matters.”

Rojas credited their ability to quickly break down the unfamiliar lake then revisit productive areas rather than continuing to search for new water.

“It was a great day getting on a new body of water and figuring it out without any prior knowledge of the fishery,” Rojas said. “Tak and I think a lot alike when it comes to where we need to be, especially this time of year. We’re constantly evaluating the conditions, the water temperature, the bait and what the fish are doing. Today was really about finding the right areas and then going back to them. We returned to some of those places two or three times and caught key fish that helped us extend our lead and maintain it throughout the day.”

While Team Lowrance relied primarily on shallow-water power fishing, Team B&W Trailer Hitches found success with a nearly opposite approach. LeBrun spent much of the day targeting smallmouth with forward-facing sonar, using a Yamamoto Baits Shad Shape Worm to coax fish into biting. He accounted for 10 of the team’s 12 scorable bass, totaling nearly 17 pounds, while Faircloth worked behind him searching for additional opportunities.

Their persistence paid off in the closing minutes, when Faircloth spotted an opportunity to capitalize on a group of smallmouth that had refused LeBrun’s presentations. After the boat passed the fish, Faircloth fired a crankbait back through the group, retrieving it quickly to trigger the critical 2-8 bite that ultimately secured their advancement.

Team Kubota spent much of the day within striking distance of the cut line, with Wiggins and Floyd targeting a mixture of largemouth and smallmouth using urchin-style soft plastics around boat docks and nearby structure. The duo held second place after the opening period before slipping to third during Period 2. Wiggins also landed the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 3-6 largemouth caught beneath a shallow dock. Despite adding a late scorable bass, Team Kubota finished just 5 ounces short of advancing.

Team BUBBA’s Rose and Birge faced an uphill battle after managing only one scorable bass in the opening period. The pair concentrated much of their effort around bridge pilings and shaded areas where forward-facing sonar revealed substantial numbers of fish. Although they struggled to generate bites early, their fortunes improved as the sun climbed higher and baitfish began concentrating along the bridge’s shade lines. Rose added a 3-5 bass in the closing minutes, but the late rally wasn’t enough to move the team above the elimination line.

The contrasting approaches underscored the versatility required on Tims Ford Lake, where active baitfish proved to be a key ingredient regardless of whether teams were fishing shallow or deep. Team Lowrance’s ChatterBait pattern ultimately produced the most consistent results, while Team B&W Trailer Hitches demonstrated that forward-facing sonar could be equally effective in locating the smallmouth needed to advance.

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 1 at the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents that now advance to the Knockout Round are:

1st:         Team Lowrance, 17 bass, 29-2
Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 14 bass, 24-1
Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., three bass, 5-1

2nd:        Team B&W Trailer Hitches, 12 bass, 20-14
Todd Faircloth, Jasper, Texas, two bass, 3-15
Nick LeBrun, Benton, La., 10 bass, 16-15

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:         Team Kubota, 10 bass, 20-9
Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, two bass, 3-05
Jesse Wiggins, Logan, Ala., eight bass, 17-4

4th:         Team BUBBA, nine bass, 16-5
Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., three bass, 4-7
Mark Rose, Wynne, Ark., six bass, 11-14

Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 48 bass weighing 86 pounds, 14 ounces caught by the four teams in Elimination Round Match 1 on the Tims Ford Lake Sunday. Team Kubota pro Jesse Wiggins caught the Berkley Big Bass of the day – a 3-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bass.

The Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents is hosted by Experience Tennessee , in partnership with Manchester, TN, Winchester, TN, the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce, Bill Dance Signature Lakes and Fish Tennessee, and takes place over six days in Manchester, Tennessee. The competition water for each day is top secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 9:15 a.m. CT.

The MLFNOW!^® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!^® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble. The final hour of each day of competition will be broadcast live from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on RFD-TV.

The Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 & 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Day 6 Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2026 Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2026 – the Patriot, Heritage, Challenge, and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of  $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, where 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2026.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ^®  Deep Woods^®  Repellents will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon beginning in February 2027. The complete television schedule for the Starlink Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Starlink Team Series include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Bass Force, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Grizzly Nicotine Pouches, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods Repellents, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Starlink, Toyota, YETI, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on the MLF Starlink Team Series, 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, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, 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.