Rubber Meeting Road For Remaining Anglers

Photo: FLWOutdoors.com Mark Rose has been doing well, but he's not sure if he can keep getting the big bites he needs.

Mark Rose (vs. Dave Lefebre)

"I had a great practice," said Mark Rose. "I'm trying to catch a limit really deep. I'm fishing a hump in a creek with a Carolina rig, and I'm and following it up with a 3/16-ounce Strike King Bleeding Shad spinnerbait. It feels like the hump replenishes, but I'm not sure about the shallow areas. I think I can catch five, and as far as the big fish go, I've gotten lucky so far but I don't know if I can do it again the next 2 days."

David Walker vs. Jason Kilpatrick

"It feels good (to make the cut)," said David Walker. "That's one step closer.

"Today the weather was the biggest change. We had clouds and rain, something that I hadn't been used to dealing with, and the water came up a little. But that's fine. Like I said, I don't care what it does. I caught probably 15 or so fish, but I haven't caught a big fish yet. I haven't lost any fish or caught any big fish. I'm due to get a big bite.

"I think I have enough for 2 more days. I've been moving around a lot and fishing fast. There's so much shallow cover here you won't run out of it.

Photo: FLWOutdoors.com David Walker still is just going with the flow.

Jason Kilpatrick said: "Today I tried to fish a little grass. The water is still coming up and coloring up, and with the clouds and rain I thought I could catch a really big bag up shallow. I'm sure some people did, but I couldn't connect with them.

"I've saved 2-3 areas. I haven't looked at them yet, but I'm confident in them."

"David needed more weight (to advance which is) encouraging. "He caught it because he thought he needed it. So I know he can only can catch between 10 and 13 pounds. He's taking fish off his areas and so are his co-anglers, and only so many fish are available.

"It will take 12 pounds (to advance), either him or me."

Brent Chapman (vs. Clark Wendlandt)

"I had 6 pounds yesterday and 9 today," Brent Chapman said. "Nothing really changed – I just got two quality bites today instead of one. I can catch a 5- or 6-pound limit fairly easily, but catching quality fish is the hard part. I'm fishing docks early, then later I'm fishing laydowns.

"If it's sunnier, I think that should help me because I'm flipping tight cover. As far as weight goes, I have no idea. Neither Clark nor I are catching them good. I'd feel good with 10 pounds, but with Clark you never know.

"I'm not really dialed into one little area. I'm fishing a pattern and just running different types of cover. I caught some fish in some new water today. Tomorrow I'm going to go fish water where I caught fish and expand on that."

John Crews (vs. Chris McCall)

"My partner caught some better fish right behind me throwing little-fish baits, so I might have to make a change," John Crews said. "I think 7-8 pounds could be good, but I won't feel comfortable until I have 9 or 10.

"The fish are out there (for 2 more days), but they'll be new fish, not the ones I've been catching. The one deep area I have, I know the fish are still there."

Anthony Gagliardi vs. Dean Rojas

Photo: FLWOutdoors.com Anthony Gagliardi's morning bite improved yesterday, when it was cloudy, but this morning it was sunny again.

"It's hard to say (what weight he'll need tomorrow). You probably can't go by the weights weighed in (so far) because the lake changes every day. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable with anything less than 12 pounds – 12-15 pounds at least. I'll catch everything I can.

"If it's cloudy again, I'll try to concentrate on brushpiles and the shallow point I'm starting on. If the sun comes out, I'll hit the brush early and then start cranking."

Dean Rojas said: "Today I caught them flipping a Grass Craw from Wave Worms, but yesterday I caught them all on a Luhr Jensen Speed Trap. Today they wouldn't eat the Speed Trap. I hooked the first two on it and lost the next four keepers, then it went completely dead. I went to flipping some grass and filled out my limit.

"Tomorrow I'm just going for biggest bag I can. This is when it really counts, right now."

Glenn Browne (vs. Mark Hardin)

"I just slowed down today," Mark Hardin said. "I had a 9-pound lead, a pretty good cushion, so I caught a quick limit in 90 minutes and then rode around a little bit, looking and trying some different stuff. I didn't really find anything, but I have some other stuff I haven't gone to that I'll probably have to go to tomorrow. I'm looking for somewhere around 10 pounds."

Andy Morgan vs. Charlie Ingram

"I had 8-10 today and I did sandbag a little," Andy Morgan said. "They bit better today, actually. I caught them pretty quick – I had about a 2 1/2-pounder on my second cast this morning.

"I found a few new areas today, and I didn't see anybody on them.

"I am around fish to last 2 more days, and I had a pattern today that I never fished that's a bigger-fish pattern. I should be able to catch a bigger average that way.

"I'm pretty excited, but it all depends on Alabama Power too. And Charlie will catch them."

Charlie Ingram said: "I had a good day. My partner and I both caught a good bag, over 10 pounds. We caught all spots. I think I need to catch a largemouth or two, but I haven't been able to. Tomorrow I think I have to to beat Andy Morgan. We're both flipping and pitching, so it's just a matter of who gets the big bite.

"I think I need 12 pounds to advance, and I haven't caught that this week. Today we caught over 20 pounds off (his) spots -- I might not have enough for one more day."

Lee Bailey Jr. (vs. Scott Martin)

"I got to fish all day today," said Lee Bailey Jr. "Yesterday I lost a lower unit, and I lost about 3 hours.

"I can catch a few fish in the afternoon, but my fish are biting better in the morning. The cloud cover today gave me an extra couple of hours.

"It's hard to say about the weight to move on – I figure probably 10-11 pounds.

"I'm absolutely around enough fish for 4 days."

Anglers Who Didn't Make the Cut

Randy Blaukat
"The fish actually bit better today. I just had some bad luck getting them in. I was fishing a jig on docks. The first fish was a 5-6 pounder, the biggest bite I've gotten here, and halfway to the boat it just rolled and came off. My second fish was around 5 pounds. It wrapped around the dock and came up behind it – we could see it on the surface. It made a turn, and the line got around a nail and broke. So those were the two momentum fish that I lost.

"After that I scratched out a decent limit, but my bracket had an outstanding tournament. It was a bummer to catch 18 pounds for 2 days and get knocked out. It's just really not fair. Three years in a row, the bracket format hasn't tilted in the direction I needed it to. Last year I was paired with Wesley Strader, and he led the tournament after 2 days. I had more weight than over half the guys who made the cut. At Cross lake, Mike Wurm and I were tied, and then he brought in the biggest string of the tournament. So I guess I don't have a very good attitude about the bracket format right now."

> He fished two baits this week: a Texas-rigged Luck E Strike Megacraw (black/silver pinchers) around dock pilings, and a firetiger Megabass MR Griffon crankbait between the docks. He fished the baits with Megabass rods, Quantum reels and 22-m and 12-pound Seaguar FW fluorocarbon.

Chad Grigsby
"I only had 5-02 today. I had about 20 bites today on a Venom buzzbait (black/blue) and only caught one of them. I probably should have been done fishing at about 9:00. I saw about 15 pounds. It was brutal.

"I switched colors and threw a Pop-R, but couldn't get bit. It was one of those days where they just didn't eat right.

"I caught two on a buzzbait yesterday, a 4 and a 3, and the rest on docks and one deep hump.

"I'm disappointed. Five pounds – I was catching more than that the first couple hours of every practice."

Mike Surman
"I had 7-06, which was a little better. I think the cloud cover made the difference. I didn't have a great practice.

"I still love the bracket format. It's exciting. Some guys with less weight than I had will probably move on, but I still really like it, win, lose or draw.

"I was using a 3/8-ounce Gambler Ninja jig and Gambler Super Tube, both in green-pumpkin, with a 7' 6" Silver Reef flipping stick and 20- and 25-pound Big Game line."

Ray Scheide
sa"I caught my fish on Mizmo tubes (black/blue tail) flipped to docks and brushpiles. Today the water came up even more, and I caught them on a compact tungsten Terminator spinnerbait (1/2-ounce, gold Oklahoma blade, nickel Colorado, firetiger) around shallow brush and weeds. I used a 7-foot medium-action Tacklebox rod for flipping and a 6' 3" Tacklebox medium-action rod for the spinnerbait, and 20-pound Triple Fish
Camo line on both.