Justin Lucas and Brent Ehrler of Team Ferguson totaled 29-9 on 15 Cross Lake bass to win the Bass Pro Shops Summit Cup Presented by Zenni. Photo by Tyler Brinks
Joe Opager • Fishing Clash Team Series
SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, La. — Justin Lucas and Brent Ehrler of Team Ferguson powered through a stingy Championship Round on Cross Lake to claim the Bass Pro Shops Summit Cup Presented by Zenni with a gritty, wire-to-wire performance.
Lucas led the way with 10 scorable bass for 19 pounds, 1 ounce, while Ehrler’s late surge pushed the team to a total weight of 29-9, securing the title over Team Lucas Oil – defending Summit Cup champs Drew Gill and Marshall Robinson – by more than 12 pounds.
Lucas, who now calls Guntersville, Alabama, home but grew up in California, noted how special it was to win alongside Ehrler, a fellow West Coast product he looked up to as a young angler.
“This one feels special,” Lucas said. “Brent and I kind of came up in the same circles back home, and to win this one together – especially in Louisiana – that’s something I’ll never forget. Today wasn’t easy. Nobody was running away with it, and we had to grind every single minute.”
Late surge seals the win
The four-team field competed on Cross Lake for the first time this week, and the Louisiana fishery proved challenging. Early rain, muddy water and scattered bait made it difficult to identify a standout pattern or area and prevented any team from running away with it.
Through the grind, Lucas and Ehrler proved to be the only duo able to generate steady opportunities across all three periods. After grabbing an early lead, they stacked seven scorable bass in the final two hours to secure the victory.
The team started on the dam with a shallow-running crankbait – including an older, discontinued model Lucas grabbed off his garage wall on the way out the door – and quickly put a pair of scorable fish on the board. As the bite slowed, they adjusted by targeting shallow, rocky points where bait was sliding up with the wind. The crankbait continued to play throughout the afternoon, but the biggest strategic shift came when Ehrler moved to a finesse flipping setup to clean up behind Lucas.
“When Justin gets on a roll with a crankbait, there isn’t much point in me trying to do the same thing behind him,” Ehrler said. “I tied on the new Yamamoto Yama Bug and just started pitching around the walkways and docks. It’s a new bait – I only had four packs of them. But it was the right adjustment. Those bites came fast, and they were the ones that really sealed the deal for us.”
Gill and Robinson entered the final period just over 4 pounds behind Lucas and Ehrler, but they couldn’t match the latter duo’s late-day surge. Meanwhile, Todd Faircloth and Nick LeBrun of Team B&W Trailer Hitches went more than 3 1/2 hours without catching a scorable bass but made a run up SCORETRACKER® late in the day thanks to a pair of 4-pounders, including Faircloth’s 4-14 Berkley Big Bass of the day. LeBrun, who won the 2018 BFL All-American on Cross, chipped in two nice bass in the final hour, but it wasn’t enough to catch Lucas and Ehrler.
Lucas said the victory was the result of constant communication and trust – two things that define a successful Team Series partnership.
“We made the right calls,” he said. “We stuck together, we stayed patient, and when things got tough, we didn’t panic. Brent caught some absolutely critical fish behind me, and that’s what makes this format so fun. You’re never out of it as long as you’re making good decisions.”
“It’s been a while since either of us has won one of these,” Ehrler agreed as he was awarded the Summit Cup trophy. “We worked hard this week, we adjusted when we had to, and we got it done today in a really challenging place. Sharing this win with Justin, after all the years we’ve fished against each other – and now with each other – is just awesome.”
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