ROGERS, Ark. \u2014 At the outset of Day 2 on Beaver Lake,\u00a0Marshall Hughes<\/a>\u00a0had no aspirations of winning the Qualifying Round and claiming the automatic trip to the Championship Round at\u00a0Yuengling Light Lager Stage 5 Presented by YETI<\/a>. Sitting in 17th place after Day 1, he was more worried about staying above the Lucas Oil Cut Line.<\/p>\n But it only took Hughes about 35 minutes to climb all the way to the top of SCORETRACKER\u00ae. The second-year\u00a0Bass Pro Tour<\/a>\u00a0angler started Friday with a furious flurry that produced 31 pounds, 12 ounces on 17 scorable bass in the first 1 hour and 20 minutes. Hughes then survived a long lull to out-duel\u00a0Matt Becker<\/a>\u00a0for the Qualifying Round win.<\/p>\n Hughes\u2019 up-and-down day embodied the first two days of action for the whole field in Beaver Lake\u2019s return to the national scene. The top two anglers after Day 1,\u00a0Jeff Sprague<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Adrian Avena<\/a>, both slipped down SCORETRACKER\u00ae Friday, while four anglers who started the day outside the Top 10 topped 40 pounds on Day 2. Ultimately, Hughes\u2019 second-day weight of 53-10 on 28 scorable bass \u2013 the best day for any angler so far in the event \u2013 pushed his total to 85-11 and topped Becker by 2-6, cementing his first Top 10 on the Bass Pro Tour.<\/p>\n Full results\u00a0can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n Hughes knew there would be bass around his starting spot; he just wasn\u2019t sure they would be scorable. Targeting a morning shad spawn, he\u2019d fished in the same area on Day 1 and said he had to catch about 10 bass to land one over the 1-8 minimum weight.<\/p>\n On Day 2, they showed up in both numbers and size. In fact, he said SCORETRACKER\u00ae didn\u2019t do his opening hour justice.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the first hour,\u00a0almost every\u00a0single cast \u2013\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not even exaggerating \u2013 I caught a fish, whether it was scorable or not,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n Hughes caught all those fish from the same cove on the upper end of the lake. He said the cove is \u201cnothing special\u201d other than the fact that it was brimming with spawning shad.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0just a random shad spawn area,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0just a cove\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0full of\u00a0shad\u00a0and hard bottom. It\u2019s\u00a0really nothing special, to be honest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, as quickly as he\u2019d been reeling them in, his bite vanished. Hughes went nearly four hours without catching another scorable bass. But when he started getting bit again, he once again did so in style.<\/p>\n After his shad spawn bite died, Hughes set off in search of new water. Trailing both Becker and Sprague for much of the second period, he still didn\u2019t think he had a great chance at winning the Qualifying Round. But both experienced a similar midday slog, so when Hughes found a fresh school, he didn\u2019t hold back. In fact, at one point, he caught an astounding four bass in two casts. That\u2019s right \u2013\u00a0two casts with a bass on each treble hook of his crankbait.\u00a0<\/p>\n While only one of the four was scorable (a 2-7), Hughes said that was a first for him. It kicked off a final period in which he weighed 13-8, which was just enough to edge out Becker.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve\u00a0caught two at a time before, but not (on back-to-back casts) like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was crazy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The fact that he found another spot to add to his rotation has Hughes optimistic for his first ever Championship Round. He\u2019s confident those areas will reload by Sunday. His only concerns are whether enough of the bass are scorable and if a competitor puts more pressure on them during the Knockout Round.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0excited,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like the area where\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0catching them in the morning is full of fish. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know if there will be a chance for me to potentially win, but I ought to catch a\u00a0couple\u00a0bass. And to be honest, I like the stuff that I found this afternoon, too. That stuff was\u00a0really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n As impressive as Hughes\u2019 start was Friday, he didn\u2019t account for the best period of the day. That honor went to Becker, who stacked up 20 scorable bass for 40-12 in Period 1 alone.<\/p>\n Becker, who has opted to use his period with forward-facing sonar at the outset of each of the first two days, felt like he had the potential for a better Period 1 than Thursday, when he had 22-15 with his full suite of electronics at his disposal. However, like Hughes, he wasn\u2019t really thinking about winning the Qualifying Round until about an hour into the day, when he suddenly found himself near the top of the standings.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first two places that I went to, I knew there\u00a0was\u00a0a lot of fish,\u201d Becker said. \u201cThen, I got in a weird position where I was like, \u2018OK,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0probably time\u00a0to back off. Let me just look for some new stuff.\u2019 Then I started running some new\u00a0stuff,\u00a0and I found a couple more places that were just like it, that had just as many. Caught a few, and then the next thing you know, I\u2019m right there almost in the lead. So, I was like, \u2018Well,\u00a0maybe we\u00a0should go for it.\u2019 I went back to\u00a0some good places and caught a few more and got a little lead there before the end of the period.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Becker led Hughes by 6 pounds at the end of Period 1. After locking up his forward-facing transducers, he started Period 2 strong, quickly catching a 3-3 smallmouth to extend his lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then, he went more than three hours without boating a scorable bass, and he only caught two more on the day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0pretty difficult\u00a0when\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0not working your bait\u00a0just right,\u201d Becker said. \u201cSo, when you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0see them and know what\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0doing with your bait, it has really made it tricky. The only time I can really catch them is when they come up schooling and\u00a0kind of get\u00a0angry, and that\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0happen a whole lot for me today. I\u2019m\u00a0kind of stumped\u00a0on the non-\u2018Scope bite.\u201d<\/p>\n Through two days, 32 of Becker\u2019s 41 scorable bass have come during his forward-facing sonar periods. Sticking in the clear waters of the lower lake, he attributed that to the bluebird weather conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cI think\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0just\u00a0the clean\u00a0water,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we had\u00a0optimal\u00a0conditions, I think they would bite a little better non-\u2018Scope, but\u00a0today was mostly sunny and slick. It\u2019s\u00a0really not\u00a0ideal conditions to be fishing without \u2018Scope.\u201d<\/p>\n Becker is hopeful he can get off to another strong start in the Knockout Round, although he\u2019s concerned about how long the schools he\u2019s been leaning on can continue to produce. After he turns off his forward-facing sonar, he plans to \u201cjust keep trying new things and see if we can figure something out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re\u00a0definitely getting\u00a0smart,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, that worries me.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0kind of why\u00a0I was trying to lay off and not\u00a0fish\u00a0a few places today and try to save some stuff, but once I got so close, I had to go for it.\u00a0The fish are there, for sure, but they\u2019re definitely getting more pressured and trickier to catch.\u00a0So, I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know if a period like that is possible again, but the fish are there to do it.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0just a matter of if\u00a0they\u2019ll\u00a0bite for us or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Aside from Huges, the rest of the Top 25 finishers will have their weight totals reset overnight then return to Beaver for the Knockout Round. The top nine finishers will then join Hughes in Sunday\u2019s Championship Round with $125,000 on the line.<\/p>\n Continue to watch all the action on the\u00a0MLFNOW!<\/em>\u00a0livestream. Tune in from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble.<\/p>\n The next two days will not only decide who wins the Stage 5 trophy but might also loom large in the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year race. Each of the top four anglers in the points standings entering the event made the Knockout Round thanks to\u00a0Justin Lucas<\/a>\u00a0edging\u00a0Alton Jones Jr.<\/a>\u00a0by 2 ounces for the final spot inside the cut.\u00a0Jacob Wheeler<\/a>\u00a0led\u00a0Zack Birge<\/a>\u00a0by 3 points entering the event, with\u00a0Drew Gill<\/a>\u00a014 points behind and Lucas 2 points back of him.<\/p>\nHughes backs up fast start with strong finish<\/h3>\n
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Becker\u2019s charge comes up just short<\/h3>\n
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What\u2019s next at Stage 5<\/h3>\n
Other notes:<\/h3>\n