FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (May 19, 2025) – After racking up more than 75 pounds on Day 1, Michael Neal didn’t need to catch another bass during Group A’s second day of qualifying to maintain his spot at the Hitches Heavy Hitters tournament on Smith Mountain Lake. The Tennessee pro went ahead and added seven scorable bass for 22 pounds, 5 ounces anyway, bringing his two-day total to 98-3 to win the group’s Qualifying Round by nearly 25 pounds.
While Neal’s lead afforded him a stress-free day exploring new water on Smith Mountain Lake, plenty of drama unfolded further down the standings. Jeff Sprague and Nick Hatfield both put together huge days to rally from below the elimination line and qualify for the Knockout Round. Hatfield’s 17 scorable bass included a 5-6 largemouth that earned him $10,000 as the biggest bass of the day.
Meanwhile, the elimination line jumped all the way from 24-9 at the start of the day to 53-11 at lines out. With less than 20 minutes left, Cliff Crochet boated a 3-8 to leap past Bass Pro Tour stars Jacob Wheeler and Alton Jones Jr. and claim the final Knockout Round berth. He and the rest of the top eight finishers from the group will return to the water Wednesday, when the big bass of the day will be worth $30,000 and the Top 10 finishers will earn a trip to the Championship Round.
Neal spent the day trying to expand and refine the bite that produced his big Day 1. He started out fishing new banks in the same general area of the riverine upper end of the lake, trying to ascertain exactly how much room he’ll have to work with during the Knockout Round.
While he didn’t find much new productive water – he didn’t catch his first scorable bass until the final minutes of Period 1 – he was at least able to eliminate certain sections based on water temperature.
“I went out with the game plan just to expand basically as far away as I could and still do the same exact thing in the same general area,” he explained. “The water temperature was way different, way colder. No signs of a bait spawn or anything like that. … Just kept working my way closer to where I was and got about to where I really anticipated that it would start picking up again. The water temperature warmed up and started getting bit again.”
From there, Neal focused on dialing in his bait choice. Whereas he caught almost all his Day 1 weight on a spinnerbait, all but one of his scorable bass Monday ate topwater lures, primarily a frog and a buzzbait. He found that the amount of shade dictated the best presentation.
“I feel like the amount of shade that’s on the bank determines what bait you need to be throwing,” Neal said. “When you get in a bunch of shade, you need to be winding something, and when you get in them little pockets, that’s when a frog or a little popper – something that stays in place more – is coming into play. And that helps me going into this next round know when I can cover more water and when I can’t.”
Armed with that knowledge, Neal said he is “100% committed” to fishing the rest of the event in the zone that’s produced for him so far. While fishing pressure is a concern, he’s optimistic that the bass shouldn’t be leaving the area anytime soon – if anything, more should be coming to him.
“They're on the main drag, on the steepest banks on the main drag, so really the only choice that they’ve got is to go suspend,” he said. “Otherwise, they have nowhere else to go as far as more toward a summer pattern.
“I know the fish are there, even for more than one boat, for somebody to win.”
The top eight pros from Qualifying Group A that now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round on Smith Mountain Lake are:
1st: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 33 bass, 98-3
2nd: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 25 bass, 73-9
3rd: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 22 bass, 70-15
4th: Fred Roumbanis, Russellville, Ark., 19 bass, 66-11
5th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 24 bass, 63-12
6th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 23 bass, 61-12
7th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 23 bass, 58-15
8th: Cliff Crochet, Pierre Part, La., 18 bass, 53-11
Finishing the event in 9th through 15th place are:
9th: Alton Jones Jr., Waco, Texas, 19 bass, 52-15
10th: Jacob Wheeler, Harrison, Tenn., 19 bass, 51-11
11th: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 14 bass, 42-14
12th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 13 bass, 39-13
13th: Dylan Hays, Hot Springs, Ark., six bass, 19-4
14th: Alton Jones, Lorena, Texas, seven bass, 18-15
15th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., seven bass, 18-11
Overall, there were 133 bass weighing 394 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the 15 pros on Monday, which included five 5-pounders and 10 4-pounders caught from Smith Mountain Lake.
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Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive