Throughout the second Elimination Match of the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY®, the two Knockout Round berths up for grabs remained in flux. Three different tandems topped SCORETRACKER® at various points during the third period of the Fishing Clash Team Series competition.
Ultimately, it was Ron Nelson and Martin Villa of Team O’Reilly Auto Parts that secured the win thanks to a dominant final frame on the lower St. Clair River.
Nelson and Villa stacked up more than 32 pounds of bass in the last two hours of competition to rocket from third place into the top spot. The duo combined to catch 37 scorable bass weighing 64 pounds, 15 ounces on the day, advancing to the Knockout Round thanks to a balanced mix of largemouth and smallmouth.
Joining them in the Knockout Round is the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame duo of Mark Davis and Gary Klein. Representing Team B&W Trailer Hitches, they pieced together a steady day, boating 29 scorable bass weighing a total of 51-3. Their second-place finish was anchored by Davis’ 22 scorable bass for 36-8 – the highest fish and weight count of the event thus far.
That meant heartbreak for Team Ferguson’s Brent Ehrler and Justin Lucas, who fell just one scorable bass short of advancing with 50-8. Ehrler’s 5-pound Berkley Big Bass of the day – caught on a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm along an industrial stretch of seawall – highlighted their day. But despite boating several quality smallmouth, the duo was unable to find the one more bite they needed during the final minutes.
Team Smoky Mountain, featuring Josh Bertrand and Dean Rojas, showed promise early with Rojas throwing his signature frog and Bertrand flipping cane edges, but their bite fizzled out in the second half of the day. They were eliminated alongside Team Ferguson.
Nelson, Villa ride one-two finesse punch
Nelson and Villa caught most of their fish along current eddies, seawalls, and pilings up and down the St. Clair River. Nelson boated 17 scorable bass on the day, weighing 30-4, while Villa added 20 bass for 34-11.
“It wasn’t just one winning bait for us today; really, it was two,” Villa explained. “I’m a drop-shot fisherman, and every fish I caught came on a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm. Ron’s a Ned rig guy, and that Z-Man Finesse TRD in green pumpkin really got the key bites along seawalls. There were a couple of times I thought we were going to get left behind, but that one-two punch kept us in the hunt.”
Nelson said fishing to their strengths was the key.
“This is what Michigan’s all about – clear water and current – and we had a blast,” he said. “I’m not a drop-shot guy, but I did catch a few on it today. My go-to today was the Ned rig. Simple but effective, and we survived to fish another day.”
The turning point came late in the day when they revisited a stretch near ferry docks.
“It’s the first time either of us has fished the St. Clair River, so it was a little edgy at first,” Nelson said. “Funny enough, the first time we stopped at our winning spot, we didn’t catch a bass – just a few walleye. But we thought it looked too good, so we came back, and that decision made all the difference.”
“Anybody who’s fished around ferry boats knows good things can happen there, and that’s the way it went down for us today,” Villa added. “We’re blessed to have survived this round. Now we’ll see where they put us in the Knockout Round, but you can bet we’ll be looking for another ferry.”
Instead of letting the stress of a tightly-packed leaderboard spin them out, Nelson said he and Villa fed off the intensity.
“MLF has got it down with this Team Series – it’s nothing but sheer adrenaline from start to finish,” he said. “It’s hard going in blind without practice, but we’re a great team, and the excitement keeps us on our toes. You never know what you’re going to pull out of this water – could be a big brown fish, could be a big green fish – and that makes it so much fun.”
Villa agreed.
“Anytime you can get your hands on some of those big smallmouth, that’s fun,” he said. “And we definitely had fun today.”
What’s next: Elimination Match #3
Four more teams will take the water on Tuesday in the third and final 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.
Continue to watch all the action on RFD-TV Now from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The final period of each day will also air LIVE on RFD-TV from 2:30-5 p.m. ET
