By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Brett Hite is starting to get used to the every-fish-counts format used in Bass Pro Tour events. He sure has the drama part figured out.

After pulling off an Elimination Round rally to advance to the Knockout Round at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes two weeks ago, Hite outdid himself today at Lake Conroe. Stuck in 22nd with time winding down in the third period, during which he hadn’t had a bite, Hite connected with a 3-02 in the final minute to catapult himself into 19th and earn a spot in tomorrow’s Knockout Round.

By the time he released the fish, there wasn’t enough time to make another meaningful cast so he laid down on his back to process what had just happened. He said it felt like he’d just won a tournament.

“It’s intense when you know what you need,” said Hite, who tallied 13-07 today and finish with 27-02, one ounce ahead of Gary Klein in 20th. “At another tournament, you might’ve thought you had enough, but you didn’t, and then you have to wait 2 1/2 hours to find out you were in 51st.”

Hite started the day in 16th place after catching 13-11 on Wednesday. He slipped to 23rd after catching just one 2-pounder in the first period, but rebounded in the second with four fish, including a 4-04, to improve to 19th after two periods.

Hite wasn’t the only angler who pulled off a comeback today to extend their tournament.

Matt Lee (23rd to 13th) and Stephen Browning (24th to 18th) came from outside the top 20 to clinch berths in the KO Round, supplanting James Watson (10th to 30th) and Takahiro Omori (12th to 23rd). Lee caught 20-03, with all of it coming after 11 a.m., while Browning amassed 15-plus pounds – he finished with 17-09 – over the first two periods to get inside the top 20.

Edwin Evers jumped 17 places to 2nd behind a day-best 28-12 to push his two-day total to 39-15 (15 fish). Jordan Lee was never threatened despite not recording a catch in the third period as he shifted into search mode for Saturday. Lee tacked on 15-07 today and cruised to the Elimination Round win with 47-10 (20 fish).



Major League Fishing/Garrick Dixon
Photo: Major League Fishing/Garrick Dixon

Jordan Lee swings one his eight fish today into the boat at Lake Conroe.

Andy Montgomery added 13-14 to his total today and finished with 14 fish for 39-09 to wind up 3rd. Shin Fukae, who finished 79th at the season opener, shot up to 4th today with 20-00 to push his total to 37-10 (18 fish). Dave Lefebre, who won the 2009 Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Conroe, racked up 22 fish over two days for 37-05 to finish 5th.

Randall Tharp started the day in a comfortable spot among the top 5, but a 4-pounder just before 8 a.m. served as his only fish of the day until he boated a 4-04 at 2:50 p.m. to help him finish 17th. Zack Birge improved from 20th to 7th with 25-03 today while Justin Lucas (started in 28th) and Tim Horton (started in 40th) saw their bids to make the Knockout Round fall short as they finished 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Weights are reset to zero for the KO round as the top 20 finishers from Group A and B head back on Conroe with 10 spots in Sunday’s Championship Round up for grabs. Conditions are expected to be overcast with highs around 70. More importantly, the wind is supposed to be tame, in the 5 to 10 mph range.

Hite admitted he was feeling deflated as time ticked down in the third period. He was frustrated because the conditions were starting to improve to the point where he felt like he should be getting more bites, but nothing was materializing.

“I was kind of bummed,” he said. “I wasn’t getting a ton of bites. I had maybe six or seven each day in practice and it was about the same on (Wednesday). I knew it was getting better with the sun and warm weather, and later in the day should be better. I was in a good area, too.”

After Tharp caught his 4-04 to gain some separation on Hite and move into the top 20, Hite made one final move with 30 minutes left.

“It ended up being the right move,” he said. “I had practiced there, but I hadn’t been there in the tournament. I’d burned areas where I’d been catching them. There is not a ton of fish moving up yet so I went out on a limb. The area’s been good in the past. It’s just a good pre-spawn area so I put the trolling motor down and went fishing for 25 minutes.”

Right up until the last cast, he tried to keep his composure and focus on the basics.

“I just put my head down and kept fishing,” he said. “The biggest thing I kept telling self was to just slow down. Just because I was behind didn’t meant I had to fish fast. I fished efficiently and made the right cast.”

Matt Lee didn’t need any last-cast drama to advance, but he sure made the most of the afternoon portion. He was one of six anglers to not record a catch in the first period despite fishing water that a number of the leaders were also fishing.

“I’m fishing an area that I think is one of the best areas out there,” he said. “Jordan and Andy (Montgomery) fished it (Wednesday) and they fished it this morning, too. Andy caught a few this morning and then told me he’d let me have it. Even though he did that I couldn’t get bit.”

Eventually, he left and caught his first couple fish off a seawall, then returned to his starting area in the third period.

“That’s when it all turned around,” he said. “The first one I hooked, I caught it on a homemade vibrating jig and it gets hung on a stump. For like 2 minutes I’m trying to get it free and then it finally swims out and it’s a 4-07.”

About 45 minutes later, he landed a 4-04 on a swimming worm. He added two more totaling 4 pounds in the last half hour to cement his spot in the KO Round.

“The water temperature got up to 63,” he said. “On Wednesday morning, it was 54. The fish were just biting. As tough as the fishing has been, it’s not easy to catch that many that quick.”

Lee’s younger brother, Jordan, went out today with a game plan to try to seek out more areas he can add to his arsenal for Saturday. His search yielded little in the way of productive water.

“The goal was trying to find something new that I could lean on tomorrow – something different besides the backwater that other people are fishing. I know it’s a good spot, but I wanted to find something new. I found one place where I caught three or four, but it’s just one small spot.”

Tomorrow, he thinks he’ll resort to his day-1 strategy of being patient and staying in what has been his most productive area. He knows there will other competitors in there, but more fish seem to be streaming in.

“The best thing for me to do is go do what I did day 1 and stay put,” he said. “I caught them quick and in the afternoon. That seems to be the bite window for a lot of people. I feel confident that I can catch them. I’m curious to see how many guys will be in there.”

Evers set the tone for his day with a 5-pounder less than 10 minutes into the first period. He led all anglers with 15-04 in the first period to move up to 4th. He only caught one fish today that weighed less than two pounds.

“I think I have it figured out,” he said. “I don’t want to sound overconfident because I’ve been in this position here before, too. It’s Conroe, meaning it’s hard to go back and duplicate stuff. It’s a historic hero or zero type of lake and that’s happened to me multiple times here.”

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 40 anglers (First period: 95 fish, 187-03; Second period: 94 fish, 185-12; Third period: 81 fish, 175-15; Total: 270 fish, 548-05)

Weather Forecast

> Sat., Feb. 16 – Mostly Cloudy - 65°/47°
- Wind: From the ESE at 6 mph

> Sun., Feb. 17 – Mostly Cloudy - 66°/51°
- Wind: From the ENE at 9 mph

Group B Elimination Round Results

1. Jordan Lee -- 12, 32-03 -- 8, 15-07 -- 20, 47-10

2. Edwin Evers -- 5, 11-03 -- 10, 28-12 -- 15, 39-15

3. Andy Montgomery -- 8, 25-11 -- 6, 13-14 -- 14, 39-09

4. Shin Fukae -- 6, 17-10 -- 12, 20-00 -- 18, 37-10

5. Dave Lefebre -- 12, 19-07 -- 10, 17-14 -- 22, 37-05

6. Casey Ashley -- 8, 15-03 -- 11, 21-07 -- 19, 36-10

7. Zack Birge -- 5, 11-00 -- 13, 25-03 -- 18, 36-03

8. Gerald Spohrer -- 8, 13-07 -- 11, 21-07 -- 19, 34-14

9. Jared Lintner -- 9, 20-07 -- 8, 13-01 -- 17, 33-08

10. David Walker -- 11, 22-02 -- 7, 10-10 -- 18, 32-12

11. Keith Poche -- 7, 14-04 -- 9, 17-02 -- 16, 31-06

12. Andy Morgan -- 8, 16-08 -- 9, 14-12 -- 17, 31-04

13. Matt Lee -- 5, 10-10 -- 8, 20-03 -- 13, 30-13

14. Mark Davis -- 9, 17-13 -- 5, 11-14 -- 14, 29-11

15. Chris Lane -- 10, 17-15 -- 7, 11-11 -- 17, 29-10

16. Randy Howell -- 5, 11-04 -- 9, 17-10 -- 14, 28-14

17. Randall Tharp -- 6, 20-02 -- 2, 8-05 -- 8, 28-07

18. Stephen Browning -- 4, 9-10 -- 7, 17-09 -- 11, 27-03

19. Brett Hite -- 6, 13-11 -- 6, 13-07 -- 12, 27-02

20. Gary Klein -- 7, 14-02 -- 7, 12-15 -- 14, 27-01

The following anglers missed the cut and will not compete in the Knockout Round.

21. Justin Lucas -- 4, 7-06 -- 7, 19-05 -- 11, 26-11

22. Tim Horton -- 1, 1-02 -- 14, 24-06 -- 14, 25-08

23. Takahiro Omori -- 9, 16-04 -- 2, 6-07 -- 11, 22-11

24. Mike McClelland -- 6, 10-15 -- 4, 11-12 -- 10, 22-11

25. James Elam -- 3, 6-06 -- 7, 16-03 -- 10, 22-09

26. Greg Vinson -- 2, 4-00 -- 9, 18-07 -- 11, 22-07

27. Mark Daniels -- 4, 7-01 -- 8, 14-05 -- 12, 21-06

28. Ott DeFoe -- 6, 10-15 -- 5, 10-04 -- 11, 21-03

29. Michael Neal -- 5, 8-11 -- 7, 10-12 -- 12, 19-07

30. James Watson -- 8, 17-03 -- 1, 2-04 -- 9, 19-07

31. Cody Meyer -- 3, 6-03 -- 3, 11-02 -- 6, 17-05

32. Jacob Wheeler -- 2, 3-09 -- 7, 13-11 -- 9, 17-04

33. Fred Roumbanis -- 4, 8-04 -- 5, 8-08 -- 9, 16-12

34. Russ Lane -- 3, 6-02 -- 5, 8-08 -- 8, 14-10

35. Roy Hawk -- 4, 6-00 -- 4, 7-10 -- 8, 13-10

36. Jason Lambert -- 1, 1-15 -- 7, 11-00 -- 8, 12-15

37. Kelly Jordon -- 1, 1-15 -- 4, 10-12 -- 5, 12-11

38. Ish Monroe -- 5, 9-05 -- 2, 2-13 -- 7, 12-02

39. Brandon Coulter -- 2, 3-11 -- 1, 2-10 -- 3, 6-05

40. Tommy Biffle -- 1, 1-03 -- 3, 4-07 -- 4, 5-10