Terry Scroggins (left) and Britt Myers caught 18 scorable bass in the second Elimination Round match at the Summit Cup in Florida.
November 18, 2024
By MLF Communications Staff INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. – Four new teams set out on Headwaters Lake early Monday morning for Elimination Match 2 of the Summit Cup, the final event of the 2024 MLF Team Series season. Whether due to the fact that he was the only Florida native in the field or celebrating his birthday, no one could keep pace with Terry Scroggins.
The Team Lucas Oil duo of Scroggins and Britt Myers held the top spot on ScoreTracker for much of the day and finished in first place with 43 pounds, 10 ounces on 18 scorable bass. Scroggins accounted for 38-9 of that by himself — more than any other two-angler team. That tally was bolstered by a 7-8 lunker, which easily represented the biggest bass caught through two days of competition on Headwaters.
Meanwhile, the other three teams waged a tight race for second place during an explosive third period. Team Coign, made up of Drew Gill and Marshall Robinson, ultimately slid into the second-place spot thanks to a 3-9 in the final 2 minutes. They finished the day with 15 scorable bass weighing 28-15.
Team Lucas Oil and Team Coign will advance to the Knockout Round, to be contested Wednesday and Thursday. The Ferguson team of Marty Robinson and Jonathon VanDam and Team Builders FirstSource – Nick Hatfield and Takahiro Omori – were eliminated from the competition.
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Scroggins and Myers spent the competition day on the east side of Headwaters Lake punching heavy, dense vegetation. The pair held the lead most of the day, relinquishing it briefly to Robinson and VanDam at the end of the first period. But as the sunshine peeked out, burning off the cloud cover, Team Lucas Oil regained the lead and never looked back.
“We started off this morning, hit a little stretch and had seven or eight bites real quick,” said Scroggins. “We caught a few, lost a few, and then we ran away from them — there’s just so many targets out here to fish. So, we went back to that area during Period 2 and was able to capitalize on them.
“It’s like a needle in a haystack out there — there are mats and hydrilla everywhere. You can go and go and not get a bite, but then you’ll run into seven or eight bites. So, we knew we just needed to keep moving. Once we had a little sun and had a break from the cloud cover, that made a big difference for us.”
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The duo spent the day targeting fish in big fields of hydrilla but said the key was finding the matted pennywort and water hyacinth on top of the hydrilla.
“That’s what the fish were keying in on, so we just kept running those mats,” said Scroggins. “Today was just one of those absolute fun days fishing. We only fished two baits — a little creature-style bait, black, blue and silver-colored, and then a craw in the same color — on 65-pound braid. We threw that on a little MHX light flipping stick with a 1 1/2-ounce weight on a 3/0 hook.”
“I couldn't ask for a better General Tire Team Series event, being out here with one of my best friends,” said Myers. “We room together, but when the tournaments are over, we're both busy. We hardly ever get to fish together, so this has been great.”
After a rough start to the day, Team Coign was 9-14 below the Elimination Line at the start of the third and final period. The duo racked up nearly 21 pounds in Period 3 alone to finish in second place.
“It was an overwhelming first period to say the least,” said Gill. “We had five or six scorable bites but only put two of them in the boat. We just had several missed opportunities. It's easy to get lost in the sauce in a place like Florida and all of the good options, all the good-looking cover.
“We tried to run some places that might have some flow, some depth access and places with a clean bottom. We just tried to fish a little fast, burn some water and stay around one of those deeper stretches.”
With two minutes remaining in the final period, Robinson boated a 3-9 to put them over the Elimination Line and earn the berth to the Knockout Round — knocking his father, Marty, out of the second spot in the process.
“That was freaking clutch,” said Gill. “That was our second-biggest fish of the day. We said we just needed one fish apiece in the last hour or so, and we did it.”
“I’d just told Drew we needed a 5-pounder, and we immediately caught a 3-9 and a 4,” said Robinson, laughing.
Here are the final results of the match:
1st: Team Lucas Oil, 18 bass, 43-10
2nd: Team Coign, 15 bass, 28-15
Eliminated
3rd: Team Ferguson, 14 bass, 27-3
4th: Team Builders FirstSource, 13 bass, 24-0
The competition water for each day is top-secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 8:45 a.m.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action live every day of competition from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
The Summit Cup features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 and 5.
In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the Top 2 teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the Summit Cup.
