Justin Lucas Leads 2025 B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops

It was a tight race for the top during the Knockout Round and Justin Lucas came out on top with 64-4 on 21 scorable bass. Photo by Tyler Brinks

Mitchell Forde Bass Pro Tour 

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Va. — Everything has gone to plan so far for Justin Lucas at B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters Presented by Bass Pro Shops. His last remaining objective on Smith Mountain Lake: claim the title belt he’s coveted for the past three years and at least one of the $100,000 paychecks up for grabs on Championship Thursday.

Lucas totaled 64 pounds, 4 ounces on 21 scorable bass during the Knockout Round. With less than 2 minutes left before lines out, he boated a 3-13 smallmouth that put him atop SCORETRACKER®, 1-8 ahead of Zack Birge.

Meanwhile, even though he finished the day in third place, the biggest winner was Matthew Stefan. The Wisconsin pro earned $30,000 for catching the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 5-15 that ate a bladed jig.

Lucas will lead the Top 10 into what’s shaping up to be a wide-open Championship Round, where $100,000 will be up for grabs for both the tournament winner and the angler who catches the biggest bass. Watch the final day live on MLFNOW! from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET at MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and the Major League Fishing channel on Rumble.

Full results can be found here.

Lucas hopeful he’s on the winning pattern

Lucas’ Knockout Round unfolded much like his Qualifying Round. He got off to a strong start, putting plenty of distance between himself and the elimination line early, then spent some time scouting for the next round. 

While most of his closest competition plied steep banks on the riverine end of Smith Mountain, Lucas stuck with his approach of targeting schools of bass ambushing blueback herring around the flat points on the lower end of the lake. He amassed more than 27 pounds in the opening period, climbed above the 50-pound mark in the opening minutes of the third frame, then eased off the gas and spent the rest of the day in practice mode.

“I would say the day went better than I expected it to go,” the Alabama resident said. “There was still some fish on some stuff from a few days ago, so that was nice to see. Found a few more spots. And feel decent about it tomorrow.”

One of the few anglers catching roughly equal numbers of largemouth and smallmouth, Lucas rotated between a jighead minnow, a soft-plastic jerkbait and various swimbaits. Thanks to the fact that he was able to spend virtually all of his second day of qualifying as well as Period 3 on Wednesday in recon mode, he should have plenty of schools at his disposal for the Championship Round. 

“I probably have 15 spots to fish, I would say,” he said. “And I’ll just rotate through those.”

Lucas’ primary concern is whether the wind that’s forecast to whip up on Thursday will help or hinder his bite. Another variable the Top 10 pros will have to contend with during the Championship Round is a 3-pound minimum scorable bass weight, up from 2 pounds to this point in the event. Had the 3-pound minimum been in effect during the Knockout Round, Birge actually would have led with 41-14 compared to 38-14 for Lucas.

Still, despite the increased minimum weight and the $100,000 big bass bonus that will be up for grabs, Lucas doesn’t plan to do anything different in an effort to generate bigger bites.

“I’ve caught plenty of 3-pounders,” he said. “I feel like I’m going to try and win the tournament, and if I catch big bass, it’ll happen the way I’m fishing. I’m not going to do something different to try and catch one fish.”

Lucas, who finished as the runner-up by 12 ounces at Heavy Hitters 2022 and was the top qualifier for this year’s event, hasn’t been shy about admitting how badly he wants to take home a title belt. More than the wind or the 3-pound minimum, he’ll have to overcome a loaded Championship Round field to make it happen. 

In addition to Lucas, three other anglers topped 45 pounds through the first two periods Wednesday – Birge, Stefan and Edwin Evers. That doesn’t include Cole Floyd and Michael Neal, both of whom won their respective Qualifying Rounds and advanced to the Championship Round with relative ease, or three-time REDCREST winner Dustin Connell, who has a well-earned reputation as the best closer on the Bass Pro Tour.

Lucas knows it’ll be a dogfight to earn both $100,000 payouts, but more than anything, he’s excited to have a shot at them, especially in a no-entry-fee event. Given how well his game plan has played out thus far, he couldn’t hope to be in a better position.

“I’m pumped,” Lucas said. “That’s what we came here to do. To have a chance on the final day is all you can really ask for.”

Stefan boats Big Bass, keeps momentum rolling

them having caught twin 5-12s just 2 minutes apart. About 30 minutes into Period 2, he took the title for himself by boating a 5-15. That fish wound up topping Dustin Connell’s 5-13 by 2 ounces to earn him $30,000.

“Man, that’s the best big bass I’ve ever caught,” Stefan said.

Twenty-four hours prior to catching that fish, it looked like a long shot that Stefan would even be competing in the Knockout Round. A brutal first day of qualifying, during which he caught just two scorable bass for 5-1, had him in last place in Group B, more than 20 pounds behind the elimination line. 

Stefan admitted that he panicked after his slow start on Day 1 and abandoned his game plan of fishing main-river banks, instead picking up a glide bait in hopes of getting a big bite. When he returned to the water, he hunkered down in his initial area and racked up nearly 38 pounds during the last 3 1/2 hours – part of a 20-fish, 56-pound day that propelled him into the Knockout Round.

Now, after stacking up 59-5 on 18 bass Wednesday, including three over 5 pounds, he enters the Championship Round feeling like he has a legitimate shot at both $100,000 payouts.

“The crazy thing is, the first day of the tournament, I had a really bad day,” Stefan said. “And the couple fish I caught were doing exactly what I’m doing, and I gave up on it because I heard the scoreboard ticking, and you feel like you’ve got to go find something else. And then I started throwing a big glide bait around to try and win the big fish award, and the reality is, I should have just stuck with my guns and continued doing what I’m doing, because that’s what I did on Day 2.