MASSENA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 11, 2024--
The mighty St. Lawrence River provided a fitting end to the 2024 Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour season at Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Humminbird – a season full of drama and excitement, new winners and superstars adding to their résumés. Ultimately, after a back-and-forth third-period slugfest between pros Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee, and Shelbyville, Kentucky’s John Hunter, Neal sealed the deal with 28 bass for 88 pounds, 14 ounces. His margin of victory over Hunter was 15-3, but the final day was much closer than the final SCORETRACKER® would indicate.
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Hunter led for much of the day, trading blows and the lead with Neal before Neal hit another gear. The final hour saw the eventual winner catch six bass for 17-2 to put it away. The win marks Neal's first since the 2021 season finale on Lake St. Clair and comes after many close calls, including two runner-up finishes this season.
Neal finished the year strong with the win and joined the exclusive list of two-time Bass Pro Tour winners. Both of his victories came on famed northern smallmouth fisheries and both were Stage Seven events.
Link to Hi-Res Photo of Stage Seven Winner Michael Neal
Link to HD Video – Fish-Catch Highlights of Championship Round on the St. Lawrence River
Link to Afternoon Photo Gallery of Stage Seven Championship Round Highlights
With 15 regular season Bass Pro Tour Top 10s (second only to three-time Angler of the Year Jacob Wheeler ), it's surprising that this is only Neal's second win. The Championship Round experience paid off as he sealed the victory, and Neal was as relieved as anyone.
"It's been a long time coming," he said. "Today was starting to feel like the Chowan River (at Stage Five), where I got out to a big lead, and it slipped away from me. I've had a ton of seconds in my career and felt like I was on that path again. When I won the last event in 2021, I won the first event of the 2022 season on the [Tackle Warehouse] Invitationals, and hopefully I can get on another hot streak like that."
This win here is special to Neal as he was able to clinch his first major title, the 2021 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Angler of the Year, on these same waters. It also cements him as a certified smallmouth specialist after claiming his previous win on Michigan's Lake St. Clair.
"I won my first AOY title right here on the same spot,” he said on the MLFNOW! broadcast. “This place will always be special to me. Growing up on Lake Chickamauga, if I caught a smallmouth, it was by accident. I've never considered myself a smallmouth fisherman, and I never thought I'd win a smallmouth tournament once, let alone twice."
Neal spent much of his time in deeper water than many competitors. He stuck with the tried-and-true drop-shot rig with a slight twist while also mixing in a finesse jig.
"I primarily stayed in the 40 to 60 feet depth range keying on rock, but my biggest fish on the last day was in 65 feet of water," he said. "I don't think depth mattered a lot, and the current was the main thing, and the fish, especially the bigger ones, were on sharper drops. The fish were either on the up-current side or down current, using the breaks as current drops. Most of my weight this week came from one stretch where the bottom was wavy looking with a bunch of rolling ups and downs."
Instead of rigging up a standard drop-shot worm, Neal improvised and went with the current trend of soft plastics with protruding silicone skirting material. His version was homemade, with a Big Bite Baits Scentsation Quarantine Craw serving as the plastic.
"I went to Walmart and bought some sewing needles and cut a banded skirt in half," he said. "I threaded eight stands into each one, so the bait had 16 strands coming out of the bait. They were green pumpkin baits with some green pumpkin purple skirt materials, and they looked just like the gobies the bass were spitting out. I was fishing around guys all week and felt like that got me more bites."
Neal fished his creation on a 7-foot, 6-inch medium Denali Kovert, a 3000-sized spinning reel and 10-pound-test Sunline Overwatch braid with a leader of 7-pound-test Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon. He threaded the bait on a 1/O Gamakatsu G-Finesse Stinger drop-shot hook with a 3/8-ounce Denali Kovert tungsten weight.
"That setup was key for me, and I didn't break off a fish all week," he said. "I also caught some fish on a 1/2-ounce Beast Coast OW Sniper Jig and used that same rod but modified to be a casting model. I had a guy back home turn that blank into a casting rod by changing the handle and the first couple of guides. It's the perfect rod for fighting big smallmouth with a lot of line out because you had to let a lot of line out to keep it on the bottom. And when you'd hook one, there'd be 100 feet of line out there, and you can still land them with that rod."
As much thought as Neal put into his setups for Stage Seven, it begs the question: How did he transform into a smallmouth guru? Neal said a change in thinking and a better understanding of the species are likely the culprits.
"I think it's all because I knew nothing about them,” he admitted. “I've learned that you must have an open mind when smallmouth fishing because they move so much daily. Largemouth are always going to be right on some cover, and smallmouth will always just be around something. That took me a while to figure out. I'm still not sure I like smallmouth fishing, but it seems to suit me."
Hard to argue. He now has two BPT wins to show for it.
The top 10 pros from the Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Humminbird at the St. Lawrence River are:
1st: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 28 bass, 88-14, $100,000
2nd: John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 23 bass, 73-12, $45,000
3rd: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., 15 bass, 55-14, $38,000
4th: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., 18 bass, 55-6, $32,000
5th: Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., 17 bass, 53-12, $30,000
6th: Chris Lane, Guntersville, Ala., 18 bass, 52-1, $26,000
7th: Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 13 bass, 42-6, $23,000
8th: Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., 13 bass, 40-8, $21,000
9th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 13 bass, 38-4, $19,000
10th: Marty Robinson, Lyman, S.C., 12 bass, 34-12, $16,000
Complete results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Overall, there were 170 bass weighing 535 pounds, 9 ounces caught by the 20 pros Sunday, which included one 6-pounder, two 5-pounders, and 25 4-pounders.
Pro Nick Hatfield of Greeneville, Tennessee, earned Sunday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award with a smallmouth bass weighing in at 6 pounds even that he caught during Period 3. The $3,000 prize for heaviest bass of the tournament went to Louisiana’s Cliff Crochet, who caught a largemouth weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces on Day 2 of Group A competition.
Harrison, Tennessee, pro Jacob Wheeler, clinched the 2024 Fishing Clash Angler of the Year honors and the $100,000 payout on Friday – Wheeler’s third AOY title in the last four years.
Fishing Clash, an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s played by more than 80 million people worldwide, is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League. You can download Fishing Clash for free in the App Store and on Google Play or log on to www.fishingclash.game for more information.
The Minn Kota Stage Seven at the St. Lawrence River Presented by Humminbird featured anglers competing with a 2-pound minimum weight requirement for a bass to be deemed scorable. The MLF Fisheries Management Division determines minimum weights for each body of water that the Bass Pro Tour visits, based on the productivity, bass population and anticipated average size of fish in each fishery.
The six-day tournament, hosted by the Town of Massena, showcased 78 of the best professional anglers in the world competing for a purse of more than $805,000, with a top prize of $100,000 going to the winner.
Television coverage of the Minn Kota Stage Seven at the St. Lawrence River Presented by Humminbird will premiere as a two-hour episode starting at 7 a.m. ET, on Saturday, Nov. 16 on Discovery. New MLF episodes premiere each Saturday morning on Discovery, with re-airings on Outdoor Channel.
The 2024 Bass Pro Tour featured a field of 78 of the top professional anglers in the world, competing across seven regular-season tournaments around the country, for millions of dollars and valuable points to qualify for the annual General Tire Heavy Hitters all-star event and REDCREST 2025, the Bass Pro Tour championship, set for April 3-6, 2025, on Lake Guntersville in Huntsville, Alabama.
Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Bass Pro Tour include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Pro Shops, Berkley, BUBBA, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Garmin, General Tire, Humminbird, Lowrance, Mercury, MillerTech, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak Fishing, NITRO, Onyx, Plano, Power-Pole, PowerStop Brakes, Rapala, REDCON1, Star brite, Suzuki, Toyota, WIX Filters and U.S. Air Force.
For complete details and updated information on Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 17 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
Pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tennessee, won the final regular-season event of the 2024 Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour season - the Minn Kota Stage Seven at the St. Lawrence River Presented by Humminbird, and earned the top payout of $100,000. (Photo: Business Wire)
An Israeli airstrike hit a mosque in central Gaza and Palestinian officials said at least 19 people were killed early Sunday. Israeli planes also lit up the skyline across the southern suburbs of Beirut, striking what the military said were Hezbollah targets.
The strike in Gaza hit a mosque where displaced people were sheltering near the main hospital in the central town of Deir al-Balah. Another four people were killed in a strike on a school sheltering displaced people near the town.
The Israeli military said both strikes targeted militants, without providing evidence.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead from the strike on the mosque were all men, while another man was wounded.
In Beirut, the strikes reportedly targeted a building near a road leading to Lebanon’s only international airport and another formerly used by the Hezbollah-run broadcaster Al-Manar.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire across the Lebanon border almost daily since the day after Hamas’ cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took 250 others hostage. Israel declared war on the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip in response. As the Israel-Hamas war reaches the one-year mark, nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, and just over half the dead have been women and children, according to local health officials.
Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon in the latest conflict, most of them since Sept. 23, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Here is the latest:
BEIRUT — U.N. refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi says Lebanon is seeing a “major displacement crisis” as a result of Israel’s escalating air campaign in the country and that some of the strikes have violated international law.
Grandi made his remarks during a visit to Beirut on Sunday.
Lebanese government officials estimate that 1.2 million people are now displaced. The U.N. has appealed for money to respond to the humanitarian crisis. About 40% has been funded so far.
The UNHCR head also said there had been “many instances of violations of international humanitarian law in the way the airstrikes have been conducted that have destroyed or damaged civilian infrastructure.”
Two UNHCR workers have also been killed in the strikes.
Grandi said that a strike that cut access to a major border crossing between Lebanon and Syria had also created an obstacle for civilians attempting to flee to safety.
Israel has maintained that it is targeting Hezbollah figures and weapons in the airstrikes and ground incursion it has launched in Lebanon.
The escalating violence has pushed both Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees in Lebanon to cross the border en masse.
RABAT, Morocco — Thousands of people have demonstrated in the streets of Morocco’s capital to call for justice for the Palestinians and for the Moroccan government to revoke its 2020 agreement formalizing its ties with Israel.
The North African nation has had — since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas — some of the Arab world’s largest protests.
A diverse group — including students, Islamists, leftists, attorneys and unions — have poured into the streets of the country’s cities and towns in an expression of support for Palestinians in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
“I don’t know who is next, probably in Syria or any other country. Maybe it’s our turn next,” said Houria, a demonstrator from northern Morocco.
Morocco’s government has spoken out against the war but retained its ties with Israel. Authorities have for the most part permitted protests yet pursued charges against demonstrators who have blocked the entrance to businesses or implicated the monarchy in their demands.
The protest in Rabat was among the largest demonstrations in months. Moroccans from throughout the country gathered in Rabat to march past the country’s parliament.
They protested against President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and carried large banners of Arab leaders killed during the conflict, including Hamas' Ismail Haniyeh and longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
SAO PAULO, Brazil — A plane carrying Brazilians fleeing Lebanon has landed in Brazil, according to a statement from the Brazilian Air Force.
The plane touched ground in Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport Sunday. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was at the scene to welcome them.
The flight, the first Brazil has organized to assist its nationals, was carrying 228 passengers including 10 infants, as well as three pets.
A second flight is scheduled for next week but will depend on security conditions on the ground, the foreign ministry said.
Around 21,000 Brazilians live in Lebanon, which is home to the largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East. Two Brazilian adolescents have been killed by Israeli bombardments in Lebanon.
BERLIN — On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks against Israel, hundreds of demonstrators marched behind a banner that read “Against all antisemitism,” accompanied by a police escort.
With scores of Israeli flags waving over head, some Jewish leaders led a song about “shalom” — peace — while marchers chanted “Free Gaza from Hamas!” and “Bring them home,” referring to hostages still held by Hamas militants in Gaza.
Another chant, “Rape is not resistance!” decried the sexual violence that occurred during the attack. Survivors have given The Associated Press numerous accounts of sexual atrocities committed during that day and a U.N. report released in March said there are “reasonable grounds” to believe Hamas committed rape, “sexualized torture,” and other cruel and inhumane treatment of women during its surprise attack.
Some in the crowd held up photos of hostages still held by Hamas. Photos of several women featured the word “Kidnapped” in German.
Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They are still holding around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s Magen David Adom rescue service said one person was killed and 10 others were wounded in a stabbing and shooting attack in the southern city of Beersheba.
Sunday’s attack at the city’s central bus station came on the eve of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel, which ignited the war in Gaza. The country is on high alert as it prepares to hold memorial ceremonies.
Israel’s police did not identify the assailant but said they were treating it as a terror attack. Palestinians have carried out a number of stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks since the war began.
The attack comes a few days after seven people were killed in a shooting attack in Tel Aviv last Monday. In that attack, two Palestinian men opened fire on a crowd inside the city’s light rail and around the station before being killed by security forces in the area.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis issued a new appeal for peace “on every front” is his Sunday Angelus prayer and spoke of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas against Israel.
“Brothers and sisters, tomorrow it will be a year since the terrorist attack by Hamas against the people of Israel, to whom I renew my closeness,” the pontiff said. He called for the “immediate liberation" of the hostages still held in Gaza.
The pope called for a day of prayer and fasting on Monday, the first anniversary of the attack - which he said sparked a war that has taken a heavy toll on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
“From that day the Middle East has fallen into worse suffering because of destructive military actions that continue to hit the Palestinian people,” the pontiff said. "It is most of all innocent civilians, they must receive the necessary humanitarian aid.”
The pope repeated his plea for “an immediate ceasefire on every front," including Lebanon.
"Let’s pray for Lebanese people, especially for the people in the south forced to leave their villages.”
TEL AVIV, Israel — Ahead of the anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the Israeli military on Sunday displayed thousands of weapons seized from the militant group.
The military, which created the display at a sprawling army base south of Tel Aviv, said it has retrieved more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Gaza and destroyed double that number, as well as seized thousands of other items including drones, explosives, RPGs, scuba equipment, machine guns, sniper rifles, anti-tank missiles and weapons manufactured both inside Gaza and in Iran, Russia and North Korea.
The army also displayed homemade explosives it said Hamas used to burst through the border barrier on Oct. 7. It said they were crafted specifically after years of studying Israel’s border during years of Hamas-organized violent protests along the fence, including as early as 2018.
“What Hamas did on Oct. 7 was storm Israel with all their abilities at one time,” said military spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani. He said that the Israeli military had seized the weapons from Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, to study the types of weapons used as well as track where they came from.
As Israel prepares for a day of somber memorials marking a year since the attacks, the military said it was increasing troop presence in Israel’s south to protect memorials taking place along the Gaza border.
A large memorial planned by bereaved families was expected to draw a crowd of more than 40,000 in Tel Aviv, but will be broadcast with only direct family members and media in attendance due to warnings from the military of possible rocket attacks from Lebanon.
BEIRUT — The southern suburbs of Beirut were hit by more than 30 strikes overnight, the heaviest bombardment since Sept. 23, when Israel began a significant escalation in its air campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Sunday.
The targets included a gas station on the main highway leading to the Beirut airport and a warehouse for medical supplies, the agency said.
Some of the overnight strikes set off a long series of explosions, suggesting that ammunition stores may have been hit.
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a halt to arms exports for use in Gaza,” saying it's urgent to avoid escalating tensions in the region, his office said.
Macron drew strong criticism from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by saying "the priority is … that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza.” He made the comments in an interview with France Inter radio, which was recorded on Tuesday and aired Saturday.
France doesn’t deliver any weapons to Israel, Macron said.
Netanyahu released a video statement in which he called out the French president by name and referred to such calls as a “disgrace.”
In a statement, Macron’s office said “France is Israel’s unfailing friend. Mr. Netanyahu’s words are excessive and irrelevant to the friendship between France and Israel.”
“We must return to diplomatic solutions,” it added.
The statement also said that Macron had demonstrated his commitment to Israel's security when France mobilized its military resources in response to the Iranian attack. French authorities did not provided details about France’s role.
Macron has called for an immediate cease-fire in both Gaza and Lebanon.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An apparent Israeli airstrike early Sunday killed at least 18 people in central Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said.
The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.
An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue. Hospital records showed that the dead were all men. Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, but many of the dead were women and children.
BEIRUT — Powerful new explosions rocked Beirut’s southern suburbs late Saturday as Israel expanded its bombardment in Lebanon, also striking a Palestinian refugee camp deep in the north for the first time as it targeted both Hezbollah and Hamas fighters.
Thousands of people in Lebanon, including Palestinian refugees, continued to flee the widening conflict in the region, while rallies were held around the world marking the approaching anniversary of the start of the war in Gaza.
The strong explosions began near midnight after Israel’s military urged residents to evacuate areas in Beirut’s Haret Hreik and Choueifat neighborhoods. AP video showed the blasts illuminating the densely populated southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. They followed a day of sporadic strikes and the nearly continuous buzz of reconnaissance drones.
Israel’s military confirmed it was striking targets near Beirut and said about 30 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.
Moroccan women wave flags and chant slogans in support of Gaza and Lebanon during a protest in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024 (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man checks the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers inspect a building that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Israeli soldiers pray at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
An Israeli soldier prays at a staging area in northern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from a destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners gather around the bodies of Palestinian men who were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
