FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. (May 20, 2025) – If Cole Floyd had to pick his favorite way to catch a bass, it’d be on a topwater frog. To have big ones blowing up on his frog one after another – and to earn $10,000 with one of those bites – doesn’t get more fun. Such was the case for Floyd during the second morning of qualifying for Group B at the Heavy Hitters tournament on Smith Mountain Lake. Shortly after lines in, the Ohio pro used his frog to whip the Smith Mountain Lake largemouth into a frenzy. He boated 10 scorable bass totaling 37 pounds, 10 ounces in the opening period alone, including a 6-2 largemouth that earned him the $10,000 daily Berkley Big Bass bonus.
“It was freakin’ wicked,” Floyd said.
That strong start erased his nearly 35-pound deficit to leader Justin Lucas entering the day. With Lucas safely above the elimination line and spending the day in scouting mode, Floyd maintained the top spot from there. He wound up totaling 53-13 on 15 bass and bringing his two-day weight to 85-1.
Floyd wasn’t the only angler who found the Smith Mountain bass willing to bite, especially early. In fact, he didn’t even post the best day on the water. That honor went to Matthew Stefan, who rocketed all the way from 15th place at the start of the day to sixth and earned a spot in the Knockout Round on the strength of 20 scorable bass for 56-5. Stefan and Floyd were among a group of four anglers who topped 48 pounds on the day.
Floyd’s charge to the top actually started Sunday afternoon. He struggled to gain traction during Group B’s first day of qualifying, catching just one scorable bass during the opening period and sitting below the elimination line after two frames. However, in the third period, he boated six of his 11 scorable bass on the day to climb all the way to second place.
When he returned to the water Tuesday, he kept the momentum rolling, surpassing his Day 1 weight in the first period alone. Interestingly, Floyd did it by fishing the same banks with the same bait as his first morning of competition. This time, the bass were more willing to play along.
“It’s crazy, I fished a lot of the same exact stuff today,” Floyd said. “I threw a frog 90% of the day that first day, and today I did the same thing. They just bit better. I was on the right stuff; they just didn’t cooperate that day.”
Floyd said he found the frog bite during official practice, when he estimates he generated 50 blowups in one day.
On Sunday, though, the waves from the recreational boat traffic crashed against the steep banks he was plying and killed his frog bite. His third-period rally came after he put down the bait in favor of sub-surface presentations.
With calmer conditions Tuesday, the bass were more willing to engulf Floyd’s frog – and big ones, too. He landed six bass over 4 pounds. The other 14 anglers combined to catch 15. Not only did he catch the biggest bass on the day, but the second biggest, as well – a 5-10. He caught 5 ounces more on the day than Zack Birge, who finished the round in second place, despite the fact that Birge boated four more scorable bass.
Floyd thinks he’s simply fishing in an area with a strong average size, which would bode well if he can advance to the Championship Round, when the minimum weight for a scorable bass will jump to 3 pounds.
“I think it’s mainly just the area I’m at, and I think the water color has a lot to do with it,” he said. “I’m catching a lot of females, just postspawn females that are feeding on shad and bluegill, and the size has been great. It’s been an average of 3 pounds. In practice one day, I probably had 50 bites on a frog, and I’m going to say a dozen of them were over 4 pounds. So, it hasn’t changed at all.”
Floyd’s biggest bite came just 35 minutes after lines in. He didn’t see the fish when it hit, so he didn’t realize just how big it was until he swung it into the boat. While he had to sweat out another 7 1/2 hours of competition, no one ever really threatened to dethrone him and steal the big bass cash.
“I threw up under an overhang, and I heard him blow up,” Floyd said. “I never saw a fish or anything. I really didn’t know what I had. I set the hook, and I got him out, and I was like, ‘holy crap.’”
Floyd closed the first period by catching a 5-10 and a 3-5 in the final two minutes. At that point, as hard as it was to leave the frog bite, he knew he needed to conserve those fish for the Knockout Round. He spent the rest of the day checking a few banks where he’d gotten bit in practice, running new water and tinkering with his lure selection.
“I left a handful of them out there,” Floyd said. “And I did find some new stuff.”
Floyd is optimistic he’ll be able to continue his momentum into the Knockout and Championship Rounds. He doesn’t think the bass he’s targeting are on the move, and he’s identified a few different ways to trigger bites based on the conditions. Perhaps most important, he’s “fishing the way I love to fish.”
“I don’t see the fish going anywhere,” he said. “I’m just going to have to adjust. That first day, I had to adjust a little bit and throw something under the surface. … I see them biting again, hopefully.”
The top eight pros from Qualifying Group B that now advance to Wednesday’s Knockout Round on Smith Mountain Lake are:
1st: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 26 bass, 85-1
2nd: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 29 bass, 80-10
3rd: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 25 bass, 76-13
4th: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 22 bass, 64-3
5th: Jonathon VanDam, Kalamazoo, Mich., 23 bass, 61-13
6th: Matt Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 22 bass, 61-6
7th: Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala., 20 bass, 57-1
8th: Shin Fukae, Osaka, Japan, 20 bass, 55-0
Finishing the event in 9th through 15th place are:
9th: Marshall Robinson, Landrum, S.C., 17 bass, 48-9
10th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 15 bass, 47-11
11th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 45-12
12th: Britt Myers, Lake Wylie, S.C., 14 bass, 39-4
13th: Martin Villa, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 38-14
14th: Nick LeBrun, Bossier City, La., eight bass, 21-9
15th: Luke Clausen, Spokane, Wash., seven bass, 19-6
Overall, there were 147 bass weighing 430 pounds, 15 ounces caught by the 15 pros on Tuesday, which included one six-pounder, five 5-pounders and 15 4-pounders caught from Smith Mountain Lake.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/mlf-smith-mountain-52025.html
Major League Fishing (MLF) Archive