Cole Floyd has overhauled Mark Davis to top Group B at the B&W Trailer Hitches Heavy Hitters presented by Bass Pro Shops, sacking a 53-pound, 13-ounce bag of 15 scorable bass on Orange Lake to push his two-day total to 85-1 on 26 bass, while Shin Fukae snuck into the knockout round by a 6-8 margin with a 55-pound even total.
Floyd had opened the event from second place behind Davis, who paced day one with 53-12 and Michael Neal's $10,000 11-pound bonus stealing the headlines. Davis's stranglehold lasted barely a day. According to MLF's day-two summary, Floyd "didn't have to go big to not go home — but he came out swinging and didn't stop until he moved up from second place to first with 53 pounds, 13 ounces on 15 scorable bass for a two-day total of 85-1 on 26 scorable bass."
The Heavy Hitters format weighs every fish above the two-pound length minimum and awards big-bass cash for the heaviest single fish of the round, but the qualifying round still rewards the angler who can keep the cull active. Floyd's day-two bag averaged just over three and a half pounds per fish, an admission that the pad-edge and offshore-grass game on Orange Lake was holding together even if no one matched Neal's day-one giant.
Bubble drama defined the back half of the leaderboard. Heading into the final qualifying day, anglers were fighting for the eighth and last seat in the Knockout Round. Japanese veteran Shin Fukae made it on by the narrowest margin of the day.
"A battle was brewing for the eighth and final spot in tomorrow's Knockout Round and Shin Fukae made the cut by a 6-8 margin with 55 pounds even on 20 scorable bass," MLF reported in its post-game summary.
The day-two highlight reel from Major League Fishing showed Bobby Lane in particular making hay around lily pads and matted vegetation. Lane connected on a stream of pad-edge fish topped by a 5-pound, 12-ounce kicker, with a 4-13, a 5-9, a 5-5 and a 5-13 punctuating his afternoon. "We're going to the knockout round, boys," Lane said after one of the bigger landings, the camera catching him guiding a fish through matted greenery and onto the carpet of his Bass Cat.
Elsewhere on the lake the topwater bite ran hot. "We have had some absolute killer topwater bites here this afternoon," one MLFNOW! commentator said as a wave of post-spawn fish began to chase frogs and buzzbaits over the shallow flats. A 6-pound, 15-ounce buzzbait fish drew the eventual quote of the day: "Welcome to Florida."
For Davis the lead was not so much surrendered as eroded. The Arkansas pro had set the early pace on day one with a measured cull, but a sleeper Cole Floyd day put a 31-4 swing on the leaderboard. The Heavy Hitters score resets at zero for the Knockout Round so the qualifying-round leaderboard becomes purely a seeding exercise, but Floyd's surge does mean he carries momentum into a one-day shootout against the top finishers from Group A.
Group A had completed its qualifying earlier in the week with Terry Scroggins on top at 78-10 and Ott DeFoe banking a $10,000 10-1 big bass bonus. The Knockout Round, which begins at 7:30 a.m. ET, will pit the top eight from each group against each other in a one-day cut. Only the top 10 advance from there to the championship round.