WACO, Texas (March 5, 2026) – The opening day of qualifying at the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tournament on Lake Whitney also marked the first day of tour-level competition on Texas’ Lake Whitney. Chris Lane’s impression of the Brazos River impoundment?
“This lake’s got a lot more fish than what I was thinking.”
The Guntersville, Alabama, pro steadily stacked Whitney largemouth on SCORETRACKER® throughout the day. He closed with a three-fish flurry in the final 15 minutes before lines out to bring his total to 56 pounds, 12 ounces on 23 scorable bass and give him the lead. Wills Point, Texas’ Jeff Sprague, who held the top spot on SCORETRACKER® for much of the afternoon, sits in second with 51-7, while Logan, Alabama’s Jesse Wiggins is just 11 ounces back of him in third.
The constant action made for a tight leaderboard, with a different angler leading after all three periods on Day 1. If that’s any indication, it should be a wide-open race to win the Qualifying Round tomorrow (which comes with an automatic berth to Sunday’s Championship Round) and a crazy affair around the Lucas Oil Cut Line. The Knockout and Championship Rounds on Days 3 and 4 will move to nearby Lake Waco.
One reason Lane and the rest of the Bass Pro Tour field found the fishing a bit better than expected on Day 1 was the conditions. A warming trend coincided with a full moon to push a wave of bass shallow, with some of them setting up on spawning beds overnight.
“The conditions have set up perfect for Lake Whitney,” Lane said. “You’ve got a full moon. You’ve got warming from a cold front. The water temp is getting up there. And the fish are feeding really good right now.”
That made for a strong shallow bite, which is right up Lane’s alley. He never turned on his forward-facing sonar transducers on Thursday.
Combined with windy conditions, it also caused the lake’s shallow creeks and pockets to get crowded with competitors. Anglers spent a lot of time fishing behind one another, and that pressure will only mount on Day 2.
“That’s one of those things that you’ve got to really keep in the back of your mind,” Lane said. “The fish there that hasn’t bitten yet, how are you going to get it to bite? It's like, what can you do different (from everyone else) to get a bite?”
That likely accounts for the fact that several anglers put together one strong period (mostly in the morning) but found the action slower the rest of the day. Lane, however, started strong and got better as the day progressed. He caught eight scorable bass for 17-2 in Period 1, then another eight for 19-5 in Period 2. He closed strong with almost 22 pounds in the final period.
Lane said he made an adjustment in the afternoon that helped, but he also benefitted from some good fortune.
“I made a little bit of an adjustment and it seemed to pay off,” he said. “But I will say, the Good Lord showed me a few fish jumping, so I said, ‘I think I’ll go over there.’”
Lane’s strong finish was buoyed by a pair of 5-pounders. Those bigger bites loomed large on Day 1. Of all the scorable bass caught by the field, 82.6% weighed less than 3 pounds. Lane accounted for two of the 19 bass of 5 pounds or more. Sprague caught seven more scorable bass than him on the day, but none weighed more than 2-0.
Lane plans to start Day 2 where he ended Day 1, then explore new water from there. He also has a few tackle tweaks in mind that he hopes will improve his landing ratio.
“I’ve got some work to do,” he said. “I left a lot of fish out there that I hooked, and I’ve got to make some adjustments and figure something out. Whether it’s the way they eat the bait or if there’s a different bait that they’re going to eat better, there’s a lot of adjustments that I need to make if I’m going to do well tomorrow.”
Clearly, Lane is set on trying to win the Qualifying Round. That’s always a conundrum at BPT events, and the fact that this one is split between two fisheries adds another layer of strategy. Since there’s no need to save fish for the weekend, is it better to chase an automatic trip to the Championship Round or to get an extra day to learn Lake Waco in the Knockout Round at the risk of not even making it to Sunday?
Lane didn’t hesitate. He wants the guaranteed Top 10.
“I would love to blow this thing out of the water and have a shot at (Lake) Waco and not even have to worry about saving fish,” he said. “But first thing’s first, the weights are tight, so you’ve got to stay in that Top 25.”
The top 25 pros after Day 1 on Lake Whitney are:
1st: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 23 bass, 56-12
2nd: Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas, 30 bass, 51-7
3rd: Jesse Wiggins, Logan, Ala., 20 bass, 50-12
4th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 23 bass, 45-13
5th: Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan, 19 bass, 44-5
6th: Mark Daniels Jr., Tuskegee, Ala., 17 bass, 43-2
7th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 16 bass, 42-15
8th: Mark Davis, Mount Ida, Ark., 15 bass, 39-14
9th: Zack Birge, Blanchard, Okla., 17 bass, 39-7
10th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 39-5
11th: Dean Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 16 bass, 39-4
12th: Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., 15 bass, 38-14
13th: Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., 13 bass, 37-11
14th: Dustin Smith, Trussville, Ala., 15 bass, 37-1
15th: Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 18 bass, 36-14
16th: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 34-3
17th: Edwin Evers, Talala, Okla., 15 bass, 33-14
18th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 13 bass, 32-14
19th: Casey Ashley, Donalds, S.C., 13 bass, 31-11
20th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 12 bass, 31-10
21st: Alton Jones Jr., Lorena, Texas, 11 bass, 31-3
22nd: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., 12 bass, 30-11
23rd: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 12 bass, 28-7
24th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 11 bass, 27-14
25th: Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, 11 bass, 25-15
A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, 632 bass caught weighing 1,467 pounds, 8 ounces, were caught by the 51 Bass Pro Tour anglers on Thursday.
Thursday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award was shared by pros Alton Jones Jr. of Lorena, Texas, and Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Michigan, as both caught 6-pound, 6-ounce largemouth bass. Berkley awards $1,000 to the angler who weighs the heaviest bass each day.
https://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_123/mlf-whitney-3526.html
Major League Fishing (MLF)