Two months ago Andy Ortega was competing in a high school world finals championship. Now he's leading the Grand Lake Bassmaster Central Open.
The 18-year-old Odessa, Texas angler weighed in a 12-07 bag to take over the lead with a 2-day tortal of 28-06.
“I had a little bit less today, but yesterday I had more than I was expecting,” he said. “I was expecting to have 12 pounds and I ended up getting 15, which was a bonus and an awesome head start.
“It was a lot of hard work today,” Ortega added. However, the teen angler is used to hard work after spending the last two months working 70 hours a week in the west Texas gas industry.
Ortega threw a topwater lure in an area receiving heavy fishing pressure and managed to catch three keepers by about 10 o’clock. “There were about eight boats fishing my area, but I watched every single one of them and none of them were catching fish,” he said.
Moving on to a new spot, Ortega completed his limit with a couple of squeakers. “They were little 1-pounders,” he said. “So I had a gut feeling to go back to my primary area. I picked up one of my custom jigs that I make at home, and I ended up culling two times.”
The former Junior Bassmaster angler has a reputation for catching big bass. He once caught a 10-pounder that measured 28 1/2 inches and set a Texas state record for length.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro James Elam jumped into 2nd place with 27-15 by catching a 13-02 limit on day 2.
“The fishing was pretty consistent with how I caught them yesterday,” Elam said. “I just have to hunker down and look for more stuff.”
Day-1 leader Toby Hartsell weighed just three fish for 6-10 and dropped to 11th place.
Here are the totals for the 12 anglers who advanced to the final day:
1. Andy Ortega: 28-06
2. James Elam: 27-15
3. Roy Hawk: 27-03
4. Allan Nail: 27-02
5. Casey Scanlon: 27-02
6. Harvey Horne: 26-06
7. Jonathan Simon: 26-00
8. Dave Mansue: 24-04
9. Masayuki Matsushita: 24-03
10. Beau Branine: 23-05
11. Toby Hartsell: 22-15
12. Gary Clouse: 22-13
