By BassFan Staff
All season, a camera crew has been tailing Casey Martin around on the tournament trail, documenting what life is like for an FLW Tour rookie. They've captured the emotional ups and downs he's experienced so far on and off the water and it appears the season finale episode of Circuit Breaker could be one worth watching.
The former ace co-angler is proving no slouch when it comes to dialing in the fish on the ledges of Lake Chickamauga as he again hauled in the day's heaviest stringer, this one a 23-03 bag that pushed his total to 73-02 and gave him a commanding 10-pound lead over 2nd place. His 27-pound bag on day 2 solidified his first Forrest Wood Cup berth. Now he's focused on closing out his first Tour victory as a pro.
"It's been a miracle of a week for me. I just hope to keep it rolling one more day," said Martin, who erased a nearly 50-point deficit to qualify for the Cup.
Michael Neal, a second-year Tour pro from Dayton, Tenn., the host city this week, is Martin's closest pursuer. He weighed 22-08 today to move up a slot with 62-12. Wesley Strader, another Rhea County resident, jumped from 6th to 3rd thanks to his 19-07 bag that has him at 58-04, nearly 15 pounds back of Martin.
Jim Moynagh was the biggest mover of the day, catching 22-02 to advance 13 places to 4th with 55-15. Like Martin, he pulled off a significant rally this week to get inside the cutoff for the Cup after starting the week in 44th place in the points.
Larry Nixon saw his weight dip by 9 1/2 pounds today and he slipped from 2nd to 5th with 55-05.
Here's a look at the 10 pros who will fish tomorrow (the red numbers in parentheses indicate each angler's deficit margin from Martin):
1. Casey Martin: 73-02
2. Michael Neal: 62-12 (10-06)
3. Wesley Strader: 58-04 (14-14)
4. Jim Moynagh: 55-15 (17-03)
5. Larry Nixon: 55-05 (17-13)
6. Dan Morehead: 54-00 (19-02)
7. Andy Morgan: 54-00 (19-02)
8. Luke Clausen: 53-13 (19-05)
9. Todd Auten: 53-03 (19-15)
10. Tom Redington: 52-13 (20-05)
Clark Wendlandt (5th to 13th), Shin Fukae (7th to 11th) and John Voyles (10th to 18th) failed to hold their ground in the Top 10 while Moynagh, newly-crowned Angler of the Year Andy Morgan (14th to 7th) and Tom Redington (13th to 10th) earned another day on the water.
With 120 fewer boats to contend with, the pros today were able to pick their areas a little more comfortably even though many of them seem married to at least a handful of holes that continue to produce. Timing remains a huge factor as many of the schools, at least what's left of them, seem to turn on for a spell, then shut down.
There's a chance of an afternoon thunderstorm tomorrow, but otherwise it'll be partly sunny with highs near 88 and a negligible southwest wind.
Martin Stuck With It
> Day 3: 5, 23-03 (15, 73-02)
Martin hasn't fished the Tennessee River his whole life, but he knows enough about the fish in TVA lakes to know that they can be voracious one minute and finicky the next. So far, they've been pretty cooperative for the Alabama rookie, even though today was much tougher.
"It's been pretty awesome so far, but everything could change at any moment," he said. "It got real tough out there today. I could show up and it could be on fire or they could be gone. That's something I'll find out in the morning."
Today, he hammered away on the area he'd shared with several other competitors the first 2 days and he eventually resorted to a dropshot presentation to get them to start snapping.
"I worked that area a lot today," he said. "It's not among the top 5 holes on the lake, but that school happened to move there during practice. I spent probably 5 hours there today and then tried some other stuff that never panned out. They only seem to bite there in little windows.
Martin had to pull out a spinning rod in order to trigger some of his bigger bites today.
"Most of my weight came off that spot and there's a still a bunch of fish there. I just couldn't get them to bite. I liked the fact that I didn't leave and switched to a dropshot. I caught two 3s and a 7 and it went from there. It's not easy to land a 7-pounder on a dropshot with 10-pound test."
He knows he has a commanding lead, but he's not going to relax tomorrow because he knows things can turn in an instant.
"I'm going to go out and have a good time and try to catch what I can," he said. "I don't have a lot of back-up areas. It's getting hit hard, but I know those fish are there. If I can get some bites there, I know I can win."
2nd: Neal In Need of a Giant
> Day 3: 5, 22-08 (15, 62-12)
Neal has capitalized on a morning bite each day, but he knows tomorrow he'll need to collide with a couple random giants if he has any hope of tracking down Martin.
"In order to catch anything more than what I had, I'm going to need to catch a couple random 6- or 7-pounders through the day," he said. "I'm thinking 22 to 23 pounds is the top of my game right now without getting those random big bites."
He said he's caught fish from 15 to 35 feet this week and that the deeper bite has been better earlier in the day as opposed to later, which he says is odd for late June.
"It's been kind of backward," he said. "I don't understand why. It's just how it's been."
His best morning spot produced five bites that weighed 20-plus today and he wound up weighing four of those fish. Tomorrow, he'll pepper it again with the hopes some bigger specimens are around.
"I'm going to try to bust a big bag early again and see how it turns out," he said.
3rd: Strader Stroked 'Em Early
> Day 3: 5, 19-07 (15, 58-04)
When he saw Chickamauga on the schedule, Strader said he was terrified that he'd fall victim to the hometown curse that's bitten so many local anglers in the past after they get caught up fishing memories rather than the moment.
Michael Neal is going giant-hunting tomorrow.
After locking up his first Top-10 finish since 2011 (Lake Champlain), he's no longer a believer in any such curse.
"Normally at your hometown lake you have so many places you want to run around to and fish all of them and that's hard to do," he said. "I knew going into this thing it'd have been a little easier had I been in 10th place (in points), but where I was at (32nd), I needed a 70th or better and that put even more pressure on me.
"I told the local TV station after they asked me about the hometown curse, 'If there's a curse, get all the voodoo dolls out you want and stick pins in me because I love it.'"
He followed the same game plan today as he did yesterday, working over an area in the river with a swimbait and Zoom Ol' Monster worm to catch his weigh fish.
"I had what I had today in about 30 minutes," he said. "It seems like I can't catch more than I have been out of there and that's why I've been running down lake to try to catch a big 'un. Your odds are greater to catch a big one down the lake and I did that forever today, but couldn't get one.
"I'll try to do the same thing tomorrow."
4th: Moynagh Staying the Course
> Day 3: 5, 22-02 (15, 55-15)
When asked to grade his effort today, Moynagh wasn't modest after catching one of three 20-pound bags.
"I'd give myself an A," he said. "Any time you come in with 22 pounds, that's an A in my book."
He knows he'll need that and then some tomorrow to close the sizable gap between himself and Martin.
"I'm not going to change my strategy with the big deficit," he said. "You never want to concede victory, but the reality is I approach every tournament day the same way mentally and that’s I need to go out and catch the best bag I can. Tomorrow will be no different. I will try to catch best bag I know how and I won't try to reinvent anything on account of being so far behind.
"I'm sitting in 4th and it'd be nice to move up or defend where I'm at."
He's caught every fish he's weighed this week on his signature series All-Terrain Tackle football-head jig and today he said he didn't have any big flurries, but did catch a few more keepers than he had the first 2 days.
"I thought the fish might've been leaving one of the areas where I'd caught them on day 1 because there were just small ones in there yesterday, but it looks like there should be some big ones there for tomorrow," he said. "At least, I hope they're there. You never know on that river."
After catching 19-07 today, Wesley Strader is no longer a believer in the hometown curse.
5th: Calm Conditions Hurt Nixon
> Day 3: 5, 12-15 (15, 55-05)
After bagging 22 1/2 pounds on day 2, Nixon knew he had to keep up that pace today in order to stay near the leaders. When he arrived at his first spot this morning, the water was slick calm and there was little sign of much current. It wasn't the recipe he was looking for.
"Today was one of those days that was totally different from anything I'd seen all tournament," he said. "There was no wind or current on the south end until about 10:30 and the fish never pulled up to feed. By then, the boat traffic got so bad, I couldn't fish it much and I scrambled around and caught five keepers."
He said he had seven schools of deep fish found before the event, but knew that five of them had been worked over pretty well over the first couple days, so he invested most of his time on the other two.
"I knew to have a chance to win, I needed big ones and I kept fishing those spots, but they never turned on," he added. "I'm going to go fish the same things tomorrow that I fished this morning, but if it's slick I'll go somewhere else. I'm committed deep with that Jewel football-head jig."
Notable
> Day 3 stats – 20 anglers, 19 limits, 1 three.
> Luke Clausen incurred a 2-pound penalty after making a cast with six fish in his livewell this afternoon. The deduction cost him three spots in the standings, but he's hoping to make up for it tomorrow. "It was on the same place I caught 20 pounds in eight casts yesterday and I threw out there and caught a couple and got excited and for some reason, I didn't throw one back," he said. "It was kind of an expensive mistake."
Weather Forecast
> Sun., June 30 – Partly Sunny - 87°/64°
- Wind: From the W at 3 to 6 mph
Day 3 Standings
1. Casey Martin -- New Hope, Al -- 22-15 (5) -- 27-00 (5) -- 49-15 (10) -- 23-03 (5) -- 73-02 (15)
2. Michael Neal -- Dayton, Tn -- 17-06 (5) -- 22-14 (5) -- 40-04 (10) -- 22-08 (5) -- 62-12 (15)
3. Wesley Strader -- Spring City, Tn -- 18-07 (5) -- 20-06 (5) -- 38-13 (10) -- 19-07 (5) -- 58-04 (15)
4. Jim Moynagh -- Carver, Mn -- 20-02 (5) -- 13-11 (5) -- 33-13 (10) -- 22-02 (5) -- 55-15 (15)
5. Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, Ar -- 19-14 (5) -- 22-08 (5) -- 42-06 (10) -- 12-15 (5) -- 55-05 (15)
6. Dan Morehead -- Paducah, Ky -- 23-07 (5) -- 12-15 (5) -- 36-06 (10) -- 17-10 (5) -- 54-00 (15)
7. Andy Morgan -- Dayton, Tn -- 18-01 (5) -- 16-10 (5) -- 34-11 (10) -- 19-05 (5) -- 54-00 (15)
8. Luke Clausen -- Spokane, Wa -- 19-02 (5) -- 20-09 (5) -- 39-11 (10) -- 14-02 (5) -- 53-13 (15)
9. Todd Auten -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 17-09 (5) -- 18-02 (5) -- 35-11 (10) -- 17-08 (5) -- 53-03 (15)
10. Tom Redington -- Royse City, Tx -- 20-06 (5) -- 14-10 (5) -- 35-00 (10) -- 17-13 (5) -- 52-13 (15)
The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.
11. Shinichi Fukae -- Palestine, Tx -- 19-00 (5) -- 17-13 (5) -- 36-13 (10) -- 15-13 (5) -- 52-10 (15) -- $11,837
12. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, Fl -- 15-08 (5) -- 18-15 (5) -- 34-07 (10) -- 17-05 (5) -- 51-12 (5) -- $11,837
13. Clark Wendlandt -- Leander, Tx -- 16-11 (5) -- 22-14 (5) -- 39-09 (10) -- 11-12 (5) -- 51-05 (15) -- $11,837
14. Ken Golub -- Pittsford, NY -- 19-11 (5) -- 13-14 (5) -- 33-09 (10) -- 17-09 (5) -- 51-02 (15) -- $11,837
15. Justin Lucas -- Guntersville, Al -- 22-03 (5) -- 12-02 (5) -- 34-05 (10) -- 15-13 (5) -- 50-02 (5) -- $11,837
16. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, Ok -- 20-08 (5) -- 14-09 (5) -- 35-01 (10) -- 14-11 (5) -- 49-12 (15) -- $11,360
17. Matt Arey -- Shelby, NC -- 16-10 (5) -- 16-15 (5) -- 33-09 (10) -- 16-03 (5) -- 49-12 (15) -- $11,360
18. John Voyles -- Petersburg, In -- 18-06 (5) -- 16-14 (5) -- 35-04 (10) -- 14-07 (5) -- 49-11 (15) -- $11,360
19. Ray Meredith -- Smiths Grove, Ky -- 15-09 (5) -- 19-10 (5) -- 35-03 (10) -- 8-05 (3) -- 43-08 (13) -- $11,360
20. Cody Meyer -- Auburn, Ca -- 16-12 (5) -- 16-14 (5) -- 33-10 (10) -- 9-07 (5) -- 43-01 (15) -- $11,360
