The leader blanked and two challengers ended up in a tie for 1st place, forcing a fish-off at the Lewisville Bassmaster Central Open in Texas
Day-2 leader Bradley Hallman failed to catch a keeper today and dropped to 3rd place, while Elite Series pro Brent Chapman (at right in photo) weighed in three keepers and Josh Bertrand brought one fish to the scale. They finished tied for 1st with 20-09 and will compete in a fish-off from 7 a.m. to noon CST tomorrow, with the takeoff and weigh-in at the Lewisville Lake Park.
Chapman’s best spot is in the back of a creek that he found in practice.
“I knew there would be a lot of boats in there, but I felt like if I could just get in there and put my Power-Poles down and camp on that one spot, I might be able to catch a few,” he said. “I was real fortunate. I got in there and had four quality bites and put three in the boat and was off to a good start (the first day). I went in there yesterday and spent almost the entire day in there and never had a bite.”
Because his co-angler caught two fish there, Chapman knew the area still had fish. On the way in, he caught about a 2-pound spotted bass yesterday, his only keeper.
“Today I went back in there and I knew it would be good because there wouldn’t be that many people in there,” he said. “I caught two in the first hour and fished the rest of the day and had one other bite.”
Bertrand caught his biggest stringer (18 pounds) the first day on an Alabama Rig.
“Today I had to slow down a lot,” he said. “The wind was really blowing hard in the area I was fishing and I couldn’t fish it. So I pitched boat docks the rest of the day and caught one pitching a dropshot with a Roboworm.”
Rounding out the top five on the pro side were Hallman with 20-04 in 3rd; Brad Lankford, 18-o1, 4th; and Mike McClelland, 17-07, 5th.
