MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – Dave Lefebre, a veteran professional competitive fisherman from Erie, PA, took the final round of the six-day Major League Fishing Kubota Heavy Hitters bass fishing tournament on Marion County’s Orange Lake on Thursday, May 21, 2026, to win not just $100,000 for the tourney but also an additional $100,000 for catching its biggest fish of the day.

The competition, hosted by the Ocala/Marion County Visitors & Convention Bureau and co-sponsored by Bass Pro Shops, was broken into two previous rounds–two two-day qualifying rounds and a one-day “knockout round”–to whittle the initial field of more than 30 entrants down to 10 finalists.

Winners of each round were determined by the combined weight of all qualifying fish caught during that round. (In the first round, when two groups of anglers had two days to compete, each angler’s catch weight for both days was combined to determine who would move to the “knockout round.”) There was also a cash bonus for the biggest bass caught each day that climbed from $10,000 in the initial rounds to $30,000 for the knockout round and ultimately $100,000 for the final.

Lefebre caught seven largemouth bass for a winning total weight of 31 pounds, 3 ounces in the final round. The one that doubled his money, and the largest caught in the final, weighed nine pounds, three ounces. That wasn’t the largest fish caught over the course of the tournament, however–that honor goes to an 11-pound lunker largemouth caught by Michael Neal of Dayton, TN, on the second day of the contest.

Michael Neal caught the biggest fish of the week, an 11-pound largemouth/Courtesy Major League Fishing

The only even semi-local/regional angler to make the final 10 was Lakeland’s Bobby Lane, who finished eighth with six pounds, three ounces. (Though, to be fair, the competitor living closest to Orange Lake was from San Mateo, more than 60 miles away.)

The winners

Final round rankings

  • 1st:        Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., seven bass, 31-3
  • 2nd:      Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 27-7
  • 3rd:       Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., four bass, 24-2
  • 4th:       Mark Davis, Mound Ida, Ark, five bass, 21-1
  • 5th:       Marshall Hughes, Hemphill, Texas, three bass, 18-7
  • 6th:       Alton Jones Jr., Lorena, Texas, three bass, 10-2
  • 7th:       Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., two bass, 7-2
  • 8th:       Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., one bass, 6-3
  • 9th:       Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, one bass, 3-1
  • 10th:     Jeff Sprague, Wills Point, Texas., one bass, 3-0

“Berkley Big Bass” bonus award winners

  • Group A Day 1: Takahiro Omori, Tokyo, Japan (10-1), $10,000
  • Group B Day 1: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn. (11-0), $10,000
  • Group A Day 2: Ott DeFoe, Blaine, Tenn. (10-1), $10,000
  • Group B Day 2: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn. (9-8), $10,000
  • Knockout Round: Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn. (9-8), $30,000
  • Championship Round: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa. (9-3), $100,000