Thinking ahead has put Harvey Horne ahead of the pack in the second Bassmaster Central Open of 2018 at the Arkansas River.
“I'm doing something a little bit different than everybody else is doing because I'm not seeing anybody around where I'm fishing,” Horne said. “When I showed up here for practice, I was mainly looking for places where the fish were going and not where the fish were.”
The Bella Vista, Ark., angler was hoping warm weather would move into the area he was fishing so that his plan of anticipating where bass would be moving in to spawn would work. His plan worked to perfection today as he weighed a 16-08 stringer
The 42-year-old, part-time bait shop employee said he had a “terrible” practice. He started in an area this morning that he found Wednesday, the final day of practice, and caught a limit within 15 minutes. He later culled up three times.
Despite encountering heavy fishing pressure in his spots, Billy Smith Sr. was able to catch a 16-01 limit to move into 2nd place.
“Just about every hole I had was getting a lot of pressure,” he said. “I don’t know what it's going to do to the fish tomorrow.”
Here's a look at the initial top 12:
1. Harvey Horne: 16-08
2. Bill Smith Sr.: 16-01
3. Eric Gilchrist: 15-15
4. Dustin Reneau: 15-12
5. Greg Vance: 15-11
6. Lee Livesay: 15-06
7. Joey Nania: 15-05
8. Brandon Lee: 15-00
9. (tie) Nathan Martin: 14-10
9. (tie) Dean Silvester
11. David Gillham: 14-09
12. Justin Lucas: 14-06
