MANCHESTER, TENN. (Major League Fishing) — The 2026 Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops kicked off its second event Sunday on a mysterious fishery in Tims Ford Lake. That didn’t stop Takahiro Omori and Dean Rojas of Team Lowrance from doing what they do best – power fishing shallow – and winning Elimination Match 1 of the Toyota Heritage Cup Presented by OFF! ® Deep Woods® Repellents.
The duo combined for 17 scorable bass weighing 29 pounds, 2 ounces, comfortably securing the first of two advancement spots into the Knockout Round.
The battle for the second qualifying position proved considerably tighter, with Team B&W Trailer Hitches’ Nick LeBrun and Todd Faircloth edging Team Kubota’s Jesse Wiggins and Cole Floyd by just 5 ounces. Faircloth delivered the decisive blow with approximately 35 minutes remaining, boating a 2-8 smallmouth that pushed him and LeBrun above the Lucas Oil Cut Line for good.
Floyd and Wiggins finished third with 10 bass for 20-9, while Team BUBBA’s Mark Rose and Zack Birge rounded out the four-team field with nine bass weighing 16-5.
Teams find success both shallow and deep
The four teams had little collective knowledge of Tims Ford prior to launch Sunday, and they encountered a challenging fall bite that rewarded anglers who could locate active baitfish and adjust to changing conditions. All three black bass species – largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass – played a role throughout the day, with teams employing vastly different approaches ranging from shallow-water power fishing to offshore presentations guided by forward-facing sonar.
For Team Lowrance, the winning formula centered on a familiar approach. Armed with a white Z-Man ChatterBait and a 4-inch swimbait trailer, Omori covered water aggressively in the backs of stained-water creeks, targeting shaded banks, overhanging trees and pockets where baitfish were concentrated. Rojas worked behind his partner, picking up additional fish while helping identify productive areas and conditions.
The pair established an early lead with seven scorable bass weighing 11-8 in the opening period. Although their momentum slowed after moving to a different creek during Period 2, they returned to their most productive water and quickly resumed catching fish. By day’s end, Omori had accounted for 14 scorable bass weighing 24-1 – enough to win the match on his own – while Rojas contributed three bass for 5-1.
“I caught all my fish today on a white ChatterBait with a 4-inch swimbait trailer,” Omori said. “Just the same stuff I use on the Bass Pro Tour. I had a lot of bites today, probably 25 or 30, and I missed about half of them this morning. They were hitting it really hard, but some of them just wouldn’t stay hooked. We caught enough to get the win, though, and that’s what matters.”
Rojas credited the duo’s ability to quickly break down the unfamiliar lake, then revisit productive areas rather than continuing to search for new water.
“It was a great day getting on a new body of water and figuring it out without any prior knowledge of the fishery,” Rojas said. “Tak and I think a lot alike when it comes to where we need to be, especially this time of year. We’re constantly evaluating the conditions, the water temperature, the bait, and what the fish are doing. Today was really about finding the right areas and then going back to them. We returned to some of those places two or three times and caught key fish that helped us extend our lead and maintain it throughout the day.”
While Omori and Rojas relied primarily on shallow-water power fishing, LeBrun and Faircloth found success with the opposite approach. LeBrun spent much of the day targeting smallmouth with forward-facing sonar and using a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm to coax fish into biting. He accounted for 10 of the team’s 12 scorable bass and totaled nearly 17 pounds, while Faircloth worked behind him searching for additional opportunities.
Faircloth’s persistence paid off in the closing minutes, when he spotted an opportunity to capitalize on a group of smallmouth that had refused LeBrun’s presentations. After the boat passed the fish, Faircloth fired a crankbait back through the group and retrieved it quickly to trigger the critical 2-8 bite that ultimately secured their advancement.
Team Kubota spent much of the day within striking distance of the cut line, with Wiggins and Floyd targeting a mixture of largemouth and smallmouth using urchin-style soft plastics around boat docks and nearby structure. The duo held second place after the opening period before slipping to third during Period 2 and ultimately falling one bite short of advancing. Wiggins also landed the Berkley Big Bass of the day, a 3-6 largemouth caught beneath a shallow dock.
