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King and Prince of Heavy Hitters
The Bass Cast - FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. – B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops comes to Smith Mountain Lake, May 17-22. Thirty Bass Pro Tour anglers from the 2024 season qualified. One will walk away with the $100,000 top prize – and potentially double that with an additional $100,000 awarded to the angler who catches the heaviest bass in the Championship Round.
The qualification process for Heavy Hitters was simple. Each angler’s biggest bass from every event of the 2024 BPT season was added up for a total weight. The 30 anglers with the most combined weight made 2025 Heavy Hitters. At the top, Justin Lucas piled up 41 pounds, 15 ounces over seven events, followed closely by Jacob Wheeler at 41-9. Michael Neal (third in qualifying standings) was the only other angler to top 40 pounds with 41-7.
Heavy Hitters features a star-studded cast yet again this year, headlined by some of the biggest names in the sport – among them, Alton Jones Sr. and Jr., who may as well be called the King and Prince of Heavy Hitters at this point, having each won the title belt in 2021 and 2023, respectively. Junior, notably, has won more Heavy Hitters money than anyone with an additional $150,000 in big bass bonuses in 2022.
How Alton Jones Mastered Deep Water for a 2008 Classic Win
Lake Hartwell, which spans nearly 56,000 acres along the Georgia-South Carolina border, is a legendary bass fishing location. Hartwell is in a three-way tie for “most Bassmaster Classics” hosted—2008, 2015, 2018 and 2022.
Impounded in 1961 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to generate hydroelectric power and manages floodwaters, Hartwell offers some of the best bass fishing in the country.
Nestled in the rolling foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, the lake is mostly clear and deep, with some parts reaching depths over 200 feet. While there are some houses and shoreline development, much of Hartwell remains wild, with shorelines heavily wooded.
Jones cracked the code by capitalizing on a jigging spoon bite first thing each morning before switching to a deep jig. After a strong opening day, he surged to the lead on Day 2 with an 18-pound, 11-ounce bag.
Bassmaster Classic Champions Who Conquered Hartwell
Lake Hartwell has seen its share of Bassmaster Classic stories and drama. Each of the following four champions earned his victory.
How Alton Jones Mastered Deep Water for a 2008 Classic Win
Jones cracked the code by capitalizing on a jigging spoon bite first thing each morning before switching to a deep jig. After a strong opening day, he surged to the lead on Day 2 with an 18-pound, 11-ounce bag.
Joneses pull off late-day heroics
Photo by PMoore It was a mad race to the second Knockout spot. The Team B&W Trailer Hitches duo of Nick Hatfield and Justin Lucas held the No. 2 spot for most of the third period, but a key decision by Team Builders FirstSource late in the day turned out to be the difference-maker.
As the final minutes ticked down in the third period, the Builders FirstSource duo threw a Hail Mary, running three miles to fish a lone boat dock that they had boated a couple of scorable bass on earlier in the day. With just 2 minutes remaining in competition, behind by 9 ounces, Alton Jones connected with a 1-pound, 2-ounce bass to overtake the Hatfield/Lucas duo and seize the final qualifying spot from Match 1.
“Man, we had to make a decision right there in the last little bit, and we decided to fish this one dock,” Jones said. “And there was nothing else back here for us to fish. It was either going to work or it wasn’t. And it paid off. I almost missed that fish. I saw him spit it, then right back in he ate it again. It was a pretty lucky catch.”
Like most of the field, the Jones/Jones father-son duo caught all of its fish throwing soft plastics around grass and boat docks.
“We had to play from behind all day, so we just kept our head down and kept working,” Jones Jr. said. “We didn’t catch a lot of fish, but we ended up scrapping up enough.”
“I’m just glad we get to do this again for another day,” Jones Sr. responded. “I hope I performed well enough to make it where you might actually want to draw me again.”
“Maybe so,” Jones Jr. joked. “We’ll see how it goes in the Knockout Round on Thursday.”
The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 1 at the Knighten Industries Heritage Cup Presented by Berkley that now advance to the Knockout Round are:
1st: Team WIX Filters, 17 bass, 38-14
David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., nine bass, 20-12
Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., eight bass, 18-2
2nd: Team Builders FirstSource, 16 bass, 28-7
Alton Jones, Jr., Waco, Texas, four bass, 5-15
Alton Jones, Sr., Lorena, Texas, 12 bass, 22-8
Local Volunteers Join MLF Pros and Fisheries Management Division to Deploy Artificial Fish Habitat into Center Hill Reservoir
MLF Bass Pro Tour anglers Alton Jones, Alton Jones Jr, Brent Chapman, Cliff Crochet, Kelly Jordon, Mark Rose and Nick LeBrun joined the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA), Dekalb County High School Bass Fishing Team, Tyler Anderson of TylersReelFishing and MLF Fishing Management Director Steven Bardin at Tennessee’s Center Hill Reservoir this week during PowerStop Brakes Stage Three at Dale Hollow Lake Presented by Mercury to complete a Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project supported by Humminbird.
This team of volunteers built 20 40-inch MossBack Fish Habitat Conservation Cubes, which were deployed in pairs in locations in Indian and Holmes creeks. The GPS locations were recorded on the TWRA habitat barge’s Humminbird Helix 10 and will be available in the coming weeks on the TWRA website. Each cube was weighted down using cinder block anchors supplied by the Dayton Lowes Home Improvement Store No. 2866.
The next Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project supported by Humminbird will take place in Eufaula Oklahoma in conjunction with Bass Pro Tour Stage Four.
Team Star brite triumphs at Builders FirstSource Qualifier Elimination Match 1
Photo by P Moore
LONGVIEW, Texas – Team Star brite won Elimination Match 1 of the Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley by a margin of 6 pounds, 14 ounces over Team Ferguson.
Alton Jones, Dave Lefebre and Brent Chapman of Team Star brite combined to catch 51 bass for a total weight of 77 pounds, 4 ounces. Hot on their heels was Stephen Browning, Anthony Gagliardi and Keith Poche of Team Ferguson, who posted 43 bass for a combined weight of 70-7. Meanwhile, Alton Jones Jr., Britt Myers, and Nick LeBrun of Team Kubota missed the elimination line with 34 bass weighing 55-14.
Check out some of the day’s highlights in this video, and watch the General Tire Team Series Builders FirstSource Qualifier Presented by Berkley action unfold on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday from 2-4 p.m. EDT. The full television schedule can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com/tv-schedule.
