By Lynn Burkhead
OSG Senior Digital Editor

Frank “The Tank” Talley laughed when asked about the bacon that he starts off each day – according to the Bassmaster Elite Series media guide, he consumes a pound of it, along with two pots of coffee.

“Every other day, maybe, but I was just being funny when I answered that question,” said Talley. “They call me ‘The Tank’ because of my stature. I’m a big guy, about 6-1 and about 300 pounds. It also rhymes, Frank the Tank, and it’s all good. I’m good with that kind of teasing. You’ve got to have a nickname, right?”

Talley isn’t teasing so far with the big-bass honors at the 51st Classic, landing an 8-03 bucketmouth on Friday’s first day of competition that remained the event’s Berkley Big Bass leader heading into Sunday’s final day.

Talley likes to fish shallow and target big fish – angling traits that have proven to be valuable so far at flooded Lake Ray Roberts.

On Friday morning, Talley put the blinders on and went to work, hoping that he could stick one of the sowbelly bass that swim in the 25,600-acre lake. He accomplished that task – more on that in a moment – and finished the day in 14th place, weighing four bass for 15-10.

On day 2, Talley kept himself in the in conversation despite only weighing three fish for 8-04, remaining in 14th place. He kept his hopes alive for winning a home-state Classic with a couple of key adjustments after the two-hour-plus severe weather delay that kept anglers off the water at Ray Bob.

He still flipped a Strike King Rodent, but two changes paid almost immediate dividends on a frustrating day that saw only 15 limits weighed compared to 32 the day before.

“I just hunkered down in two or three areas that I knew had some fish and I just flipped until I could flip no more,” said Talley, who has competed on the Elite Series for two years and is fishing his second Classic. “The one change that I did make is that all throughout practice and on day 1, I had been flipping a 3/4-ounce tungsten Strike King weight, but what I did (on Saturday), after flipping for about an hour without a bite, is that I downscaled an eighth of an ounce, down to a 5/8-ounce weight. And I literally just started getting bites almost immediately.”

The other adjustment Talley made was in the color of his Strike King soft plastic, moving from a Summer Craw pattern with its mixture of green pumpkin and chartreuse to a more natural-looking straight green-pumpkin hue.

Talley said that he figured the changes were necessary due to the clearer than expected water, the lack of post-storm wind on Saturday and the crush of Classic anglers and spectators out on the water.

Despite the fact that Talley has weighed only seven fish in two days of competition – he says that in his opinion, a lack of vegetation, missing nutrients and a scarcity of gizzard shad lead to lower bass numbers here – he knows that things could still go his way if he can find some of the giant bass that the rain-swollen lake is famous for.

Especially if he can find a few behemoths on Sunday that have been eating a pound of bacon every day this week. If two or three of his final round fish look like the one he caught on Friday, then Talley could win more than big-bass honors.

“I pulled into a pocket (on Friday) that I had caught a 9.20-pound bass in during practice,” said Talley. “I went in there, dropped a swimjig in a bush about 3 feet back, and she bit. It was just a miracle that I got her out. When I set the hook, the fish literally came flying out of the bush and got into open water immediately. When she did that, I knew I had her.”

Using a similar setup of Seaguar braid, a Lew’s grass-fishing rod and a Lew’s baitcaster, the Texan hopes to tempt a few similar fish on day 3.

“It means everything for me to be here,” he said. “Last year, when they announced where the Classic was going to be, I was like I’ve got to bust my tail and find a way to qualify because I didn’t want to miss this Classic in my home state.

"Last year was phenomenal. I had an Elite Series win (on Guntersville) and I finished 15th in the AOY points. I knew I just had to make this Classic .”

“Honestly, if I can get bit by some big ones – and when I say big ones, I mean all five being 5- to 7-pounders and I can get them into the boat – then yeah, I think I’ve got a puncher’s chance,” he continued. “Because this lake does have big ones in it and that’s what I like about it.”