Alabama's Scott Canterbury has been parked inside the Top 10 all 3 days of the FLW Tour event at Missouri's Table Rock Lake, but today claimed the top spot with 1 day of fishing left. But his 16-pound, day-3 total is only 3 ounces ahead of Arkansan Scott Suggs (15-13), so Canterbury's nowhere near safe, and will likely need a similar weight tomorrow, if not more, to win.
The weather at The Rock was heavily overcast with rain and mist half the day, and almost no wind. The overcast was likely good, but the lack of wind really put a clamp on the bite, and the weights showed it. In fact, Canterbury was the only one to sack more today than he did the previous two.
The rest of the Top 10 caught their lightest bags of the tournament. Four of them didn't even manage a limit.
South Carolina's Anthony Gagliardi scraped up a limit that weighed 14-06 to settle into 3rd place, and Kentucky pro Dan Morehead limited at 12-09 for 4th. Fifth place is held by Tennessee's David Walker, who had led the first 2 days. He caught a limit of 11-08 today.
The rest of the Top 10 are:
6. Brent Ehrler: 4, 9-08
7. Shinichi Fukae: 5, 9-02
8. Greg Bohannan: 3, 5-11
9. Michael Bennett: 2, 4-01
10. Chad Morgenthaler: 1, 2-04
Tomorrow could be a nail-biter with the weights as tight as they are – especially within the Top 5 – and given the fickle bite and sheer numbers of 3-, 4-, and 5-pound fish that swim here.
Canterbury Cranking and Jigging
Canterbury, a Tour sophomore, occupies a now-familiar position. He led day 3 at Guntersville in the FLW Tour season opener last month, and took the lead here today with a 16-pound limit.
"I'd never been to Table Rock before practice and I absolutely love it," he said. "I did a lot of running and fishing new water today.
Scott Suggs plans to fish his Berkley Hollow Belly swimbait early tomorrow, then move to a jig.
"I'm flipping a jig when I get around some wood, but most of my fish are coming off a crankbait. I'm using the same crankbait, but I'm using two different colors according to the conditions."
He ran 50 miles one-way to the White River today. "I'm looking for a certain type of rock and bank. If I can't find it, then I won't even waste my time fishing that area."
Tomorrow he plans to go back to water he's already fished. He said that he's just looking for five bites and hoping to come out on top.
"I love going into the final day being in 1st. When it's your turn it'll fall into place, and if it's not this time, then it'll happen next time."
Suggs Swimming for Spots
Suggs had consistently caught 17-pound limits the last 2 days, but managed only 15-11 today. Still, that put him just 3 ounces off the lead.
"I struggled this morning," he said. "I still had a limit before 9 a.m., but when I got to what I thought was my best tree hole, there were locals on it. I didn't get any bites at my second spot, but I left and came back later got a keeper and some shorts.
"Then I went to one I hadn't been to yet and finished my limit in seven casts. I lost two more. Then I picked up the jig and went shallow and culled four times.
"My goal for tomorrow is to fish the 4-inch Berkley Hollow Belly swimbait over the trees for a limit early, and then move shallow with the jig. What would be awesome would be to get a limit earlier than today. But I probably wouldn't quit – I'd keep rotating to hit a few more tree spots.
Anthony Gagliardi likes fishing a jerkbait, but will be happy when the event's over – it's a grueling technique.
"If I can get a couple 3-pound spots off the trees I'm that much further ahead," he added. "I don't think I've had a fish over 4 1/2 the entire tournament. I only caught nine keepers today, but I caught five shorts. I hadn't caught but one short a day until now."
He's throwing the swimbait on a weedless jighead of his own design, fishing it 20 feet deep over trees in 50 to 90 feet of water.
Gagliardi Grinding Them Out
Gagliardi's fishing a jerkbait almost exclusively, and it's taking a toll on him. "I'll be glad when the jerkbait bite's over for a while," he said. "I like catching them that way, but I'm getting worn out fishing it so many days in a row."
He threw a Lucky Craft jerkbait for all of his seven keepers today, the best five of which put him in 3rd place. His 14-06 is just 1-10 off the lead.
"I'm not fishing just one thing," he added. "I'm fishing some sloping banks and flat banks, some points and other things. There's really no rhyme or reason to it. I'll start on a place I caught them the day before, then fish new water for half the day. Today I caught half my fish on new water. Today was the most keepers I've had in 1 day by far.
"I don't think most of these spots replenish. If I don't catch more than one fish in a place, I won't go back. I have one area that I'll start on tomorrow that's been pretty consistent. I caught a limit in that area today, and there's one part of it I haven't fished yet that looks right. I have plenty of water to keep me busy tomorrow."
He said he's spending half his day up in one river arm, then the other half in the other river arm. He weighed two spots today, and is catching both spots and largemouths in the clear water. His fish are coming from 5 to 15 feet deep.
Dan Morehead thinks he may have learned a little something from his co-angler today.
Morehead Motivated
Morehead's just one solid 4-pound bite out of the lead, having weighed 12-09 on what he described as a slow day. "This morning in the lowlight the fish were more aggressive and up and I caught them pretty good," he said. "In fact I had a limit by 9 a.m. After that I kind of struggled. It took longer to get the bites."
He caught eight keepers today – five early, one in the middle of the day, and two late.
He's still fishing a Megabass jerkbait and a Storm Wiggle Wart crankbait around trees on channel swings. "There wasn't any wind today and I think that shut the bite down for me," he added. "But the overall weights were lower than I anticipated, and I don't feel like I'm out of the ballgame by any means.
"I also figured out a little something at the end of the day when I caught two keepers back-to-back, so I'll try that some tomorrow," he noted. "Also, my co-angler won today and I might have learned a little something from him. He was fishing a jerkbait too, but was working it a little different – maybe a little slower. He caught one fish about 4 pounds or better and I just didn't get that kind of bite today."
Walker's Fish Shrinking
Walker's 11-08 today was less than half what he weighed on day 1, and was his lightest sack of the tournament. He went from the top of the leaderboard for 2 days to 5th today (after weights were zeroed this morning). He's 4-08 behind the leader.
"My fish keep shrinking," he said. "But the good side is that nobody else really caught them either. I don't know what happened. We didn't have any wind, but the rain and clouds should have made up for it. I caught just the five keepers today. I never got to cull, and didn't lose anything. I caught what bit and that was it.
"Today I had to change some of what I was doing or I might have zeroed," he added. "I did salvage a limit by going extremely deep to be sure I got five. They were around 20 feet down, which is a lot deeper than what I've been doing.
"I knew it would be tougher but I thought somebody would have caught them. With the lighter weights, I didn't feel so bad after all. I'm only one 4-pound fish back out of first. There are lots of them and nobody caught one today. Either we're all fishing pretty similar or the whole lake shut down."
Tomorrow his plan is to "go out and catch 18 to 20 pounds" and win the tournament doing what he did the first day. "Hey, why not? Gotta have a plan."
Notable
> Day 3 stats – 10 anglers, 6 limits, 1 four, 1 three, 1 two, 1 one.
> Due to technical difficulties, Jay Yelas' Big Stick report wasn't included with yesterday's coverage. The report's up now. He finished 50th and says his mistake was he covered too much water in practice – trying to check every place he knew. To read his full report, click here to go On Tour With the BassFan Big Sticks.
> Patrick Majors of Rogers, Ark., won the co-angler division and $20,000 with a 14-03 limit. As noted, he fished with Morehead. He was "strolling" the jerkbait out behind the boat while Morehead worked the bank.
Weather Forecast
Here's the forecast for the final tournament day.
Sun., March 15 – Partly Cloudy – 62°/38°
> Wind: From the S at 9 mph
Day 3 Standings
1. Scott Canterbury -- Springville, AL -- 5, 16-00
2. Scott Suggs -- Bryant, AR -- 5, 15-13
3. Anthony Gagliardi -- Prosperity, SS -- 5, 14-06
4. Dan Morehead -- Paducah, KY -- 5, 12-09
5. David Walker -- Sevierville, TN -- 5, 11-08
6. Brent Ehrler -- Redlands, CA -- 4, 9-08
7. Shinichi Fukae -- Mineola, TX -- 5, 9-02
8. Greg Bohannan -- Rogers, AR -- 3, 5-11
9. Michael Bennett -- Lincoln, CA -- 2, 4-01
10. Chad Morgenthaler -- Coulterville, IL -- 1, 2-04
