PORT HURON, Mich. (Major League Fishing) – The first day of the 2025 Fishing Clash Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops launched in style Sunday at the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® at Port Huron on Michigan’s Thumbcoast. Warm, sunny skies and a light breeze made for near-perfect fishing conditions, and by the time SCORETRACKER® stopped shuffling at the end of three periods, it was a familiar family duo atop the leaderboard.
Representing Team 7Brew Coffee, Alton Jones Jr. and Alton Jones Sr. turned in a solid performance, boating 27 scorable bass weighing 65 pounds, 5 ounces to secure the first Elimination Round victory of the season. The father-and-son pairing, who fished together last year and finished runner-up at the Heritage Cup in Neenah, Wisconsin, wasted little time finding their rhythm on the southern half of the St. Clair River, where competitors were restricted to Sunday. Their smallmouth bite set the pace for much of the day as they became the first team to punch their ticket to the Knockout Round.
Joining them in advancing was Team Star Tron – the tandem of Jacob Wall and Bobby Lane, who connected with 20 scorable bass weighing 39-14. Like the Joneses, Lane and Wall worked steadily through the Elimination Round, piecing together enough quality bites to comfortably secure the second and final advancing spot of the day.
That meant the end of the road for the Lucas Oil duo of Michael Neal and Brent Chapman and Team BUBBA’s Justin Cooper and John Hunter, who were eliminated from the Challenge Cup after finishing third and fourth, respectively.
New bait produces big for Joneses
Team 7Brew Coffee wasted little time taking control of the match, jumping out to an early lead in Period 1 and never letting go. Their edge came from experience and execution – Jones Sr. has competed on these waters many times over his career, and that knowledge helped the duo lock in on today’s winning pattern almost immediately.
“We’ve continued to dial down and dial in the pattern,” Jones Sr. said. “The key today was finding the current – finding where it really roars. Anytime you can dial in a good pattern in the first period, it really helps you. You don’t have to spend half the day trying to figure out what you need to be doing.”
Fishing almost exclusively for smallmouth – 25 of their 27 scorable bass were brown fish, including the Berkley Big Bass of 4-13 caught by Jones Jr. – the Joneses spent the day targeting current seams in 12 to 25 feet of water. Both anglers leaned heavily on the new 2.8-inch Geecrack Bellows Shad, a size that has yet to hit the U.S. market.
“It was a really good day,” Jones Jr. said. “We caught them really well on the Bellows Shad, but we weren’t even throwing it at the end of the day because we’re trying to save the few packs of Bellows Shads we’ve got left. They’re not even out yet, and we’ve only got three packs. So we’re going to be making some phone calls to see if we can get some stuff overnighted to us in time for the Knockout Round.”
For Jones Sr., it was his first time ever tying on the bait, and he was impressed.
“The Bellows Shad, the little 2.8, looks as much like a goby or baitfish as anything I’ve ever seen,” he said. “After Jr. caught a couple on it this morning, I went straight to it, and I started getting bit. I’m pretty pumped about that little bait.”
The father-son duo alternated between different color patterns – Junior with green pumpkin, Senior with electric shad – and both produced equally well. The combination of a unique presentation and knowledge of where to apply it made all the difference.
“These fish are pressured; they’re seeing a lot of the same stuff,” Jones Jr. added. “Showing them a bait they’ve never seen before was the ticket today.”
Though Alton Jr. was quick to credit his father’s decision-making, the elder Jones pointed out that the learning now goes both ways.
“There are not many times where we fish together and I call the shots and run the show,” he admitted. “He’s already heads and tails beyond what I’ve ever known, and I learn from him way more than he learns from me now. But, he might have learned a thing or two today.”
“I did,” Jones Jr. replied with a grin.
What’s next
Four new tandems will take the water Monday in the second Elimination Match. Once again, the top two finishers will advance to the Knockout Round (which is slated for Wednesday and Thursday), while the other two teams will be eliminated. The Challenge Cup will culminate with Friday’s winner-take-all Championship Round.
The final period of each day’s competition will air live on RFD-TV and RFD-TV Now, starting at 2:30 PM ET, Monday–Friday of this week.
Team 7Brew (father-and-son duo Alton Jones Sr. and Alton “AJ” Jones, Jr.) won Elimination Round 1 of the MLF Challenge Cup and will advance to the Knockout Rounds later this week along with Day 1 runner-ups, Team Star Tron (Bobby Lane and Jacob Wall).
