Avena Finishes Second

Professional bass fisherman Adrian Avena of Vineland and his YETI teammate Dustin Connell of Clanton, AL,  finished second in a dramatic ending to the Championship Round of the B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® at Port Huron on Michigan’s Thumbcoast, according to Major League Fishing.

Team 7Brew Coffee, made up of the father-son duo Alton Jones Jr. and Alton Jones Sr., rallied late to capture the title on the St. Clair River. The Joneses overcame a furious charge from Team YETI, sealing the win with four scorable smallmouth bass in the final 30 minutes of competition to end the day with 26 bass weighing 62-1.

Connell and Avena surged later with a six-bass rally and nearly pulled off the comeback, finishing just short of the win with 26 bass weighing 59-5. Team O’Reilly Auto Parts—made up of Ron Nelson and Martin Villa—caught a mixed bag of both largemouth and smallmouth early before fading to third with 23 bass for 40-8, while Team B&W Trailer Hitches’ Gary Klein and Mark Davis capped off a strong week with a fourth-place showing, ending the day with a total of 14 bass for 26-13.

Avena has 20 tour-level Top 10s to his credit, and more than $1 million in career winnings. He finished in the Top 10 in Angler of the Year standings two of his four years fishing the FLW Tour. Under the newly implemented five-bass format in 2023, Avena scored his first major win during Stage Five of the Bass Pro Tour at Cayuga Lake, a $100,000 win that pushed his career earnings past $1 million.

The B&W Trailer tournament took place over six days, The competition water for each day was top-secret and only revealed to the anglers when they arrived at the boat ramp each morning. 

Television coverage of the MLF Fishing Clash Team Series B&W Trailer Hitches Challenge Cup Presented by 5-hour ENERGY® will premiere on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon starting January 3, 2026.