Chad Griffin has won exactly one bass-fishing tournament in his life – a Media Bass event in his adopted home state of Texas 4 or 5 years ago. The top prize was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,100.

The rookie who spent the first 22 of his 32 years living in Alaska, the only state in the U.S. in which bass don't live, will fish for nearly 100 times that amount tomorrow when he tries to close out the victory at the Oneida Bassmaster Elite Series in New York. He caught a 16-05 sack today, which gave him a 3-day total of 50-00, and he'll take a 4 1/4-pound cushion into the final day of the regular-season finale.



His closest pursuer is this summer's hottest stick – recent Forrest Wood Cup winner Greg Hackney. He caught 15-01 today for a 45-12 total, but will need a final-day stumble by the leader to push his winnings for the month to a cool 600 grand.

Jeff Kriet weighed his best bag of the event (15-15) and climbed eight places to 3rd with 45-04. He's been around long enough to have seen some big final-day leads laid to waste and hasn't given up hope of his initial Elite Series triumph.

Gerald Swindle rejoined the Top 12 with a 16-03 bag that moved him up from 15th to 4th with 45-00. Jason Quinn fell two spots with a 13-03 bag and rounded out the Top 5 with 44-15.

Here's a look at the 12-angler field that'll fish tomorrow (red numbers in parentheses indicate deficit margin from leader):

1. Chad Griffin: 50-00
2. Greg Hackney: 45-12 (4-04)
3. Jeff Kriet: 45-04 (4-12)
4. Gerald Swindle: 45-00 (5-00)
5. Jason Quinn: 44-15 (5-01)
6. Bernie Schultz: 44-14 (5-02)
7. Dean Rojas: 44-09 (5-07)
8. Matt Sphar: 44-02 (5-14)
9. Tommy Biffle: 43-04 (6-12)
10. Terry Butcher: 43-02 (6-14)
11. Steve Kennedy: 42-13 (7-03)
12. Takahiro Omori: 42-11 (7-05)

Mother Nature threw a curveball at the field today in the form of clouds and a 20-mph wind out of the east that wasn't in the forecast. It fouled some areas and cleared up others, but seemingly had no effect on Griffin, who stayed right on his tournament average of nearly 17 pounds a day.

Swindle, Biffle and Omori all re-entered the Top 12 today after a 1-day absence. Biffle weighed 14-10 and Omori caught 12-12.

The trio that moved off that list consisted of day-1 leader Randy Howell (4th to 26th with a four-fish, 10-03 bag today), Pete Ponds (8th to 40th, 9-14) and John Crews (12th to 13th, 13-09). Howell's aggressiveness cost him a spot in the Top 12 and at least 26 Angler of the Year (AOY) points, but he'll be among the 12 anglers who'll compete in the two-event postseason next month in Alabama to determine this year's winner.



ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina
Photo: ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina

Griffin said he'll have no excuses if he fails to close out the victory tomorrow.

Skeet Reese, who finished 14th, ended up as the regular-season points leader with 2,043 – previous leader and defending AOY Kevin VanDam (27th here) ended with 2,033. But VanDam will again assume the lead when the postseason begins because BASS will move the decimal point one place to the left and award VanDam two bonus points for his victory at Smith Mountain Lake.

VanDam will open competition in Alabama with a 205 total and Reese will have 204. A 50-point scale will be used for those events.

Tomorrow's weather forecast for the Syracuse area predicts mostly sunny skies, a high temperature of 93 degrees and a west/southwest wind to 6 mph. The winner will be determined after the weigh-in by highest 4-day weight.

Griffin Feels Great

Griffin's dream week just continued to get better.

"Everything fell into place just like it was supposed to," he said. "I caught 15 pounds in 15 minutes and shut down everything at about 12:30 with 3 hours to burn. There was still nobody around me and I'll have no excuses if I don't win this thing tomorrow."

He went to the spot where he's caught one good largemouth each morning, but encountered 3-foot waves generated by the surprise wind and couldn't get those fish to eat. He moved to a nearby locale where he'd found some schooling smallmouths the previous day and lost one that he estimated was at least 4 1/2 pounds on his first cast.

His 15 minutes of glory began immediately thereafter. He then moved to one of his best flipping areas and made two culls.

"That was my weight right there. From then on I went practicing and trying to keep my fish alive – I've been having some battery issues and I don't know if my charger's not working or what.

"If everything goes right tomorrow, I'll catch 15 pounds and then go tie up at the boat ramp and spend the rest of the day keeping them alive."

He did most of his damage today with an XCalbur Zell Pop topwater bait. His flipping bait is an Ezee Jig of his own design.

"I'll keep going with my rotation (of holes) tomorrow, except I'll abandon the starting spot and go straight to the schooling spot. I'm going to treat it like it's just another day on the water and I'll let the chips fall where they may.

"And if I do end up winning, you'll see me cry like a little girl."

2nd: Hackney's Day Wasn't Easy

Hackney's strong sack bumped him up three places, but he said it wasn't easy to compile.

"I actually struggled for quite awhile and I think a lot of it was the weather," he said. "The cloudy skies and high winds changed some things and I didn't get going until later on this afternoon, and I still weighed one that was about 2 1/4 (pounds).

"It was one of those deals where I figured everybody else was catching them and I wasn't, and that probably caused me to hurry a little. I finally settled down around noon."

ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina
Photo: ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina

Greg Hackney's bag contained a 3 1/2-pounder of each species.

His bag contained three smallmouths and two largemouths, and one of each species went about 3 1/2 pounds.

"I'm just fishing grass (at depths of) 7 to 12 feet and I'm really throwing just one bait. I'll have four rods rigged tomorrow, all basically the same way.

"(Griffin) has really done a great job this week – he's been so consistent. But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that if he stumbles a little, I'll put it on his chin, and I know there are some other guys thinking the same thing."

3rd: All Brown for Kriet

Kriet caught his best sack of the tournament and it was comprised entirely of smallmouths.

"I'm happy because I'm on the average of what I'd hoped I could catch, but it's crazy what Griffin's catching," he said. "I'm not saying I can't win because that would be stupid, but everything would have to go really right for me and pretty wrong for him.

"I had more weight than yesterday, but yesterday they were all 3-pounders. Today I had a couple of big ones, but two were 2-08s. If I could've gotten rid of those and replaced them with a couple of 3s, that would've put me in the mid-16s, and that's strong."

He's catching suspended fish at depths from 8 to 20 feet.

"I found some giants in practice and I went and checked on them today and they're starting to get right. If I could get that school of fish going, I could catch 18 or 19 pounds.

"The deal out there was there was a big algae bloom, but now there's a couple of clear veins running down the sides. That's where I think I might be able to catch them."

6th: Wind Hindered Schultz

Schultz's bag was his lightest of the tournament and cost him four places in the standings.

"We had wind for the first time during the competition, it was pretty stiff out of the east, and it messed me up," he said. "I thought it would help on another pattern I had, but it didn't – it backfired.

"I found my best fish in practice under windy conditions and I liked what I was doing. It was working real good and I thought that would be the case today, but I had to scramble to catch what I caught."

ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina
Photo: ESPN Outdoors/Gary Tramontina

Suspended smallmouths have propelled Jeff Kriet to the No. 3 position on the leaderboard.

His bag had one largemouth in it and was topped by a 3 1/2-pound bronzeback.

"Tomorrow I'm going to need the biggest stringer I've ever caught here, and I had almost 18 pounds one time. Anything could happen and I'm definitely not out of it. If I could catch a couple of 5-pounders, I could win the tournament."

26th: Howell Disheartened

Howell did something that pro anglers almost never do at Oneida – he failed to catch a limit. He continued to pursue quality bites at the expense of ordinary keepers and ended up 1-07 out of the Top 12.

A run-of-the-mill 12-incher would've given him the weight he needed.

"I'm bummed out," he said. "It was one of the most frustrating days I've ever had. I thought the wind would've made the smallmouths in the area I was fishing bite better, but apparently it shut them off.

"At 1:30 I only had two fish and I started getting nervous. I ran way down the lake and only caught one at my first spot, and then only one at another spot. Before I knew it, it was time to come in."

He relied on two topwater baits (a Rebel Pop-R and a Lucky Craft Gunfish) and two jerkbaits (a Lucky Craft Pointer 100 and a Molix T-Jerk) this week.

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 50 anglers, 49 limits, 1 four.

> John Crews was the first angler out of the Top 12 cut, but his 13th-place finish was his best of the season by 20 places.

> Arkansas' Billy McCaghren, who finished 25th, overtook Matt Herren in the points to claim the Elite Series Rookie of the Year (ROY) Award and also climbed inside the Bassmaster Classic cutoff (Top 37). “That was my goal at the beginning of the year, to win Rookie of the Year and to make it to the Classic,” he said. “I’m really blessed. To have done this well – I thought I could, but until you actually do it you don’t know.” Past BASS ROY winners were Bobby Lane (2008), Derek Remitz (2007), Steve Kennedy (2006), Dave Wolak (2005) and Hackney (2004).

Day 3 Standings

1. Chad Griffin -- Cresson, TX -- 15, 50-00 -- 310
Day 1: 5, 15-03 -- Day 2: 5, 18-08 -- Day 3: 5, 16-05

2. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, LA -- 15, 45-12 -- 295
Day 1: 5, 13-07 -- Day 2: 5, 17-04 -- Day 3: 5, 15-01

3. Jeff Kriet -- Ardmore, OK -- 15, 45-04 -- 290
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 15-09 -- Day 3: 5, 15-15

4. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, AL -- 15, 45-00 -- 285
Day 1: 5, 15-09 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 16-03

5. Jason Quinn -- York, SC -- 15, 44-15 -- 280
Day 1: 5, 15-07 -- Day 2: 5, 16-05 -- Day 3: 5, 13-03

6. Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 15, 44-14 -- 276
Day 1: 5, 15-07 -- Day 2: 5, 16-12 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11

7. Dean Rojas -- Lake Havasu City, AZ -- 15, 44-09 -- 272
Day 1: 5, 14-08 -- Day 2: 5, 15-15 -- Day 3: 5, 14-02

8. Matthew Sphar -- Pavilion, NY -- 15, 44-02 -- 268
Day 1: 5, 12-01 -- Day 2: 5, 17-09 -- Day 3: 5, 14-08

9. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, OK -- 15, 43-04 -- 264
Day 1: 5, 15-13 -- Day 2: 5, 12-13 -- Day 3: 5, 14-10

10. Terry Butcher -- Talala, OK -- 15, 43-02 -- 260
Day 1: 5, 15-06 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 13-11

11. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, AL -- 15, 42-13 -- 257
Day 1: 5, 10-13 -- Day 2: 5, 17-04 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12

12. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 15, 42-11 -- 254
Day 1: 5, 16-11 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 12-12

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not be fishing tomorrow.

13. John Crews -- Salem, VA -- 15, 42-11 -- 251 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 15-02 -- Day 3: 5, 13-09

14. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, CA -- 15, 42-11 -- 248 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-08 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 13-15

15. Mike McClelland -- Bella Vista, AR -- 15, 42-07 -- 245 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 11-12 -- Day 2: 5, 15-15 -- Day 3: 5, 14-12

16. Kelly Jordon -- Mineola, TX -- 15, 42-07 -- 243 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-14 -- Day 2: 5, 15-05 -- Day 3: 5, 14-04

17. Mark Menendez -- Paducah, KY -- 15, 42-06 -- 241 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-10 -- Day 2: 5, 12-07 -- Day 3: 5, 14-05

18. Cliff Pace -- Petal, MS -- 15, 42-05 -- 239 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 13-02 -- Day 3: 5, 15-07

19. Alton Jones -- Waco, TX -- 15, 42-04 -- 237 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-12 -- Day 2: 5, 13-10 -- Day 3: 5, 14-14

20. Yusuke Miyazaki -- Forney, TX -- 15, 42-01 -- 235 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-03 -- Day 2: 5, 13-12 -- Day 3: 5, 13-02

21. Edwin Evers -- Talala, OK -- 15, 41-15 -- 233 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-03 -- Day 2: 5, 12-04 -- Day 3: 5, 14-08

22. Dave Wolak -- Wake Forest, NC -- 15, 41-14 -- 231 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-07 -- Day 2: 5, 13-02 -- Day 3: 5, 14-05

23. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, TX -- 15, 41-10 -- 229 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-14 -- Day 2: 5, 12-00 -- Day 3: 5, 15-12

24. Brian Clark -- Haltom City, TX -- 15, 41-08 -- 227 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-03 -- Day 2: 5, 15-08 -- Day 3: 5, 12-13

25. Billy McCaghren -- Mayflower, AR -- 15, 41-05 -- 225 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 10-14 -- Day 2: 5, 14-13 -- Day 3: 5, 15-10

26. Randy Howell -- Springville, AL -- 14, 41-04 -- 228 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 17-09 -- Day 2: 5, 13-08 -- Day 3: 4, 10-03

27. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 15, 41-01 -- 221 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-02 -- Day 3: 5, 13-15

28. Jeff Connella -- Bentley, LA -- 15, 40-15 -- 219 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11

29. Scott Campbell -- Springfield, MO -- 15, 40-15 -- 217 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-10 -- Day 2: 5, 14-00 -- Day 3: 5, 13-05

30. Kotaro Kiriyama -- Moody, AL -- 15, 40-13 -- 215 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-11 -- Day 2: 5, 13-13 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05

31. Wade Grooms -- Bonneau, SC -- 15, 40-13 -- 213 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-08 -- Day 2: 5, 14-04 -- Day 3: 5, 14-01

32. Dustin Wilks -- Rocky Mount, NC -- 15, 40-09 -- 211 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 16-04 -- Day 2: 5, 12-05 -- Day 3: 5, 12-00

33. Pat Golden -- High Point, NC -- 15, 40-09 -- 209 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-12 -- Day 2: 5, 14-01 -- Day 3: 5, 13-12

34. Todd Auten -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 15, 40-07 -- 207 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-08 -- Day 2: 5, 13-05 -- Day 3: 5, 13-10

35. James Niggemeyer -- Van, TX -- 15, 40-06 -- 205 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-04 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 13-15

36. Jeff Reynolds -- Platter, OK -- 15, 40-05 -- 203 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-08 -- Day 2: 5, 11-12 -- Day 3: 5, 14-01

37. Jason Williamson -- Aiken, SC -- 15, 40-01 -- 201 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-15 -- Day 2: 5, 15-01 -- Day 3: 5, 11-01

38. Ish Monroe -- Hughson, CA -- 15, 40-01 -- 199 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-10 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 11-04

39. Jared Lintner -- Arroyo Grande, CA -- 15, 39-11 -- 197 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 11-10 -- Day 2: 5, 14-02 -- Day 3: 5, 13-15

40. Pete Ponds -- Madison, MS -- 15, 39-10 -- 195 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-09 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 09-14

41. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, MO -- 15, 39-08 -- 193 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 11-11 -- Day 2: 5, 14-10 -- Day 3: 5, 13-03

42. Peter E Thliveros -- St Augustine, FL -- 15, 39-05 -- 191 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 15-15 -- Day 2: 5, 12-04 -- Day 3: 5, 11-02

43. Scott Rook -- Little Rock, AR -- 15, 39-01 -- 189 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-01 -- Day 2: 5, 14-15 -- Day 3: 5, 11-01

44. Stephen Browning -- Hot Springs, AR -- 15, 38-14 -- 187 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-14 -- Day 2: 5, 13-04 -- Day 3: 5, 12-12

45. Derek Remitz -- Grant, AL -- 15, 38-01 -- 185 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-07 -- Day 2: 5, 12-02 -- Day 3: 5, 12-08

46. J Todd Tucker -- Moultrie, GA -- 15, 37-14 -- 183 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 12-09 -- Day 2: 5, 13-00 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05

47. Jeremy Starks -- Charleston, WV -- 15, 36-03 -- 181 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 14-03 -- Day 2: 5, 11-13 -- Day 3: 5, 10-03

48. Shaw E Grigsby -- Gainesville, FL -- 15, 35-03 -- 179 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-15 -- Day 2: 5, 12-10 -- Day 3: 5, 08-10

49. Clark Reehm -- Russellville, AR -- 15, 34-00 -- 177 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-14 -- Day 2: 5, 12-05 -- Day 3: 5, 07-13

50. Rick Morris -- Virginia Beach, VA -- 10 -- 26-12 -- 175 -- $9,506
Day 1: 5, 13-03 -- Day 2: 5, 13-09 -- Day 3: 0 -- 00-00

Big Bass

Day 3: Randy Howell -- Springville, AL -- 4-03
Day 2: Bernie Schultz -- Gainesville, FL -- 4-13
Day 1: Chad Griffin -- Cresson, TX -- 5-08