Lucas Tallies 64-Plus at Brownwood to Claim Knockout Round

Brownwood kicks out big ones – and a lot of them – with one day left

March 28, 2026 By Staff Report

EARLY, Texas – Prior to the start of this week's Bass Pro Tour event in Texas, Lake O.H. Ivie had the reputation as a destination fishery thanks to its track record of producing giant bass. But neighboring Lake Brownwood showed that it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Saturday’s Knockout Round took the remaining anglers to Brownwood after Ivie hosted the two-day Qualifying Round. It didn’t take long for the fishery to start producing big bass – the very first fish to hit the Scoretracker was a 7-pound, 14-ounce beast caught by Brent Ehrler. That was one of 11 bass over 6 pounds caught on the day, with the biggest being a 9-13 tank wrangled by Matt Becker. Becker’s fish not only won big bass honors for the day, it weighed more than anything caught on O.H. Ivie.

Meanwhile, Justin Lucas started stacking weight at a blistering rate and didn’t slow down until he decided to. Lucas rocketed to the lead with 30-2 on nine scorable bass in Period 1, then backed it up with another nine for 28-14 in the second frame before transitioning into scout mode for the rest of the day. His total of 64-2 on 19 scorable bass easily paced the field, 18-5 ahead of Drew Gill in second.

Lucas and the rest of the top nine finishers from the Knockout Round will join Qualifying Round winner Jacob Wheeler on Brownwood for Sunday’s Championship Round.

Lucas came into Saturday with high expectations for Brownwood – just not necessarily for himself. He didn’t spend any of the three-day official practice period prior to Stage 4 on the fishery, so he admitted he didn’t see his excellent day coming.

“I knew this was a really good lake, and I was expecting it to be pretty good,” he said. “I just didn’t expect it for myself.”

Lucas spent two days competing on Brownwood at the 2024 Patriot Cup, a Fishing Clash Team Series event in which he competed alongside Ehrler (who also made the Championship Round). He said that experience helped in the sense that he knew how the lake set up and where to find similar water once he established a bite. But he launched for the Knockout Round with no real plan in place. He thinks that worked to his advantage.

“It’s been several days now since we were able to be on Brownwood (during practice),” Lucas said. “I feel like a lot has changed, and it’s continuing to change. It just let me keep a real fresh mind about the lake instead of feeling like I need to go back to something that I already saw.”

Lucas’ results didn’t indicate his lack of a game plan. It took him about 20 minutes to post his first scorable bass to SCORETRACKER® – a 6-6. Over the next 40 or so minutes, he boated six more to bring his total to 22-12 and take a lead he would never relinquish. He kept up the pace throughout the second period before deciding to back off to conserve fish for the Championship Round. Not only did he catch the most scorable bass of anyone in the field with 19, but he also landed seven over 4 pounds.

Lucas did most of his damage in one area, but he was able to replicate his pattern in other spots, too, which has him optimistic for Sunday. And while he only added one scorable bass during the third period, he gleaned some insight that he thinks will help his quest for his second career Bass Pro Tour win.

“Definitely felt like it was a productive third period even though I only put one fish on SCORETRACKER®,” he said.

The big variable Lucas (and everyone else) will have to account for Sunday is a change in conditions. Whereas Saturday brought chilly weather and cloud cover, the temperature is supposed to climb about 30 degrees on Sunday, with the forecast calling for a high in the 80s, sunny skies and a south wind.

Having made 15 Top 10s since his lone BPT win, which came on Sturgeon Bay to close the 2020 season, Lucas feels overdue to hoist another trophy. He predicted it will take about 60 pounds to do so on Sunday. After he hit that mark in just two periods during the Knockout Round, he’s confident about his chances. But he’s also endured enough close calls to know that nothing is guaranteed.

“I really want (another win),” he said. “But I’ve done this long enough to know you can’t force it. So, as much as I want one. I don’t want to try and force a win, because that’s when I’ve had my worst tournaments and worst seasons. So, I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing, keep knocking on the door, and hopefully it will come eventually.”

Gill Saw Brownwood for First Time

Like Lucas, Gill didn’t spend any practice time on Brownwood. And since he didn’t compete in the 2024 Patriot Cup, he’d never seen the lake prior to Saturday.

Yet it didn’t take long for him to take a liking to the fishery. After two days of hunting for bass in the flooded forest that is O.H. Ivie, he said being able to identify a piece of cover that looked good and catch a bass off it was “refreshing.”

“I knew it was a good lake, but it honestly felt kind of easy,” Gill said. “Not saying that you could just catch one anywhere. But it felt straightforward. When you got a bite, you could repeat it. After Ivie, being able to intentionally go around and say, ‘That looks good, I should get a bite there’ was really refreshing.

“I caught two 7s, I caught a 5 1/2-pounder on a swim jig, I caught a couple 4s – today was just awesome.”

As is often the case for the 23-year-old phenom, Gill did most of his damage during his lone period using forward-facing sonar. He opted to utilize the technology in Period 2 once he’d gotten a better feel for the fishery, and he totaled more than 30 pounds on seven scorable bass during that frame. That included a pair of 7-pounders – although he didn’t actually see the first one on his Garmin LiveScope screen until after it bit.

“The first 7 I caught, I just pitched my Neko at the bank, and I was literally just crawling down the bank,” Gill said. “Pitched it over there, and I was just shaking it, and my line went ‘bonk,’ and I look over on ‘Scope, and there’s a whale of one swimming off with it.”

It’s a bit surprising, then, to hear Gill say that he feels as confident as he ever has about his two periods without forward-facing sonar entering Championship Sunday, but he’s not sure he can replicate his success with the technology. He caught three scorable bass for 10 pounds without LiveScope in Period 1, and he’s optimistic he can bump that to 15 pounds tomorrow. Figuring, like Lucas, that it will take about 60 pounds to win, he knows he needs another 30-pound forward-facing sonar period, but he’s going to have to piece that together on the fly.

“I didn’t find any areas that I felt like I could settle into ‘Scope-wise,” he said. “So, I’m going to have to improvise in my ‘Scope period tomorrow a little bit. But I did find a couple more stretches for no-Scope that I can go through and catch a handful. My no-Scope deal, I feel about as good as I can feel about it.”

Then again, Gill knows Mother Nature could throw a wrench in his plans. He plans to enter the Championship Round with an open mind just like he did Saturday.

“I’ve never seen the lake under the conditions we had today, and I’ve never seen the lake under the conditions we’re going to have tomorrow,” he said. “I would presume that the morning bite that happened this morning, where it was a little bit easier to catch them, probably is not going to happen as strong tomorrow. But we’ll find out.”

Here are the nine anglers who will join Qualifying Round winner Jacob Wheeler in the championship round on Sunday: