Plenty of pros made huge moves from day 1 to day 2 at the recent Hartwell FLW Tour Major. A few examples:
> Troy Morrow: 67th to 20th
> Rusty Trancygier: 68th to 21st
> Nick Larson: 105th to 34th
> Darrel Robertson: 140th to 59th
> Gerald Brown: 150th to 85th
> Michael Murphy: 153rd to 117th
Troy Morrow's climb stands out, however, because the Toccoa, Ga. pro's big 17-04 catch on day 2 buoyed him to 20th, where he was the last pro inside the Top 20 cut.
"Hartwell's my home lake, so I had way too much stuff to fish," Morrow said. "I was torn between my muddy water and staying down south in the clear water. I just didn't fish effectively. I lost a key fish in the clear water on day 1 that would have kept me up there pretty high. I wasn't expecting to get a lot of bites down there – maybe five or six quality bites a day. I got three and lost one."
On day 2, he said he just put his head down and fished clear water again in order to secure a $10,000 check. The difference was he fished better and "just ground out a good limit."
He looked at all his decisions in retrospect and noted: "My original plan was to stay down in the clear water for 2 days and save some muddy water to use in the finals. I did that, and when I made it to the finals, I went to my muddy water and (eventual winner) Jason Christie was sitting there. So essentially, I didn't do things in the right order. Typically, those (muddy-water) spawning flats will only hold up for a day or a day and a half. That's why I didn't go there right away – I wanted to save it. It was just a bad judgment."
Morrow made the cut in clear water using a Zoom Z-Nail, which is a Senko-style bait. He was skipping it behind docks, "where the walkway was, because the females had pulled up and were staging there," he said.
Next up for Morrow is this week's Lanier PAA Tournament Series – another near-home venue where he's again a pre-tournament favorite (he finished 5th at last year's Lanier Forrest Wood Cup).
"The fishing's a little tough right now," he said of his ongoing Lanier practice. "I've still got a little time to work something out though. I think they were in the same phase they were at Hartwell – pulling up – but I think this cold weather has pushed them back out. We really need some sun. We haven't seen it for a couple days now."
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