Florida's Koby Kreiger moved into the lead today at the EverStart Championship on the Ouachita River with a 9-02 sack that game him a 2-day total of 21-07. He swapped places on the leaderboard with Texan James Stricklin Jr., who weighed just four fish on a day when only two of the 153 competitors topped the 10-pound mark.
“Any lead is a good lead,” said Kreiger. “Going into the tournament I knew the fishing was going to be tough and that if I could consistently catch about 10 pounds per day, I'd have a chance of making the cut. I'm actually doing a little better than I expected – during practice I didn’t even come close to 10 pounds, so I’m pretty happy with what I've caught so far.”
He said he's starting the day in the backwaters targeting shallow wood, moving out to the main river about mid-day seeking moving water and then heading back to the oxbows to finish off the day. He's using a variety of homemade crankbaits.
“The biggest challenge is staying mentally strong. The key is to make it to fish on Sunday and I hope I can do that.”
Brandon Medlock, who weighed just one fish on day 1, sacked a tournament-best 14-07 today to jump to 14th place. Keith Pace, who ended up 21st, had the only other double-digit stringer (10-12).
Here are the totals for the anglers who survived today's cut:
1. Koby Kreiger: 21-07
2. James Stricklin Jr.: 19-09
3. Larry Jones: 17-12
4. Lance Williams: 17-10
5. Robbie Dodson: 17-08
6. George Kapiton: 17-06
7. Dan Morehead: 17-00
8. Bill Chapman: 16-12
9. Casey Martin: 16-10
10. Adrian Smiley: 16-07
11. Joseph Kremer: 16-03
12. Currey Holley: 16-01
13. Jim Tutt: 15-14
14. Brandon Medlock: 15-11
15. (tie) Lamonte Loyd: 15-11
15. (tie) Clayton Batts: 15-11
17. (tie) Derek Hicks: 15-10
17. (tie) Shane Melton: 15-10
19. Zach King: 15-07
20. Kent Ware: 15-06
