Here are some notes from Bassmaster Classic anglers who were not included in BassFan's primary day-2 coverage.
21st: Price Stayed too Long
> Day 2: 5, 13-10 (10, 24-01)
Federation Nation qualifier Chris Price made the cut with a solid stringer, but said it could've been bigger if he'd had more time to hunt for heftier fish.
"I knew I could catch 10 pounds in that one clearwater pond, but it took me a little longer to do it today," he said. "Then I went to my main deal, which is fishing a little bit deeper, but I didn't have enough time go get a real big bag.
"Tomorrow I think I'll leave those little fish alone and just go for big ones."
22nd: No big ones for Browning
> Day 2: 5, 12-12 (10, 23-15)
Stephen Browning has spent the event in a secluded backwater that has plenty of fish, but he hasn't been able to link up with a lot of quality.
"After I had my 12 pounds I decided to bail and try to find some big ones because I know they live around there," he said. "They have to be there because I'm catching too many buck bass.
"Maybe tomorrow I'll go out to the main lake and try to figure out where they are, or maybe they'll come to me."
28th: Swindle Lightened Up
> Day 2: 4, 13-06 (9, 22-02)
Swindle can trace his tough Classic back to a single adjustment he failed to make.
"I think when I'm getting in those backwater areas I'm wanting to fish too aggressive," he said. "The stuff I've been throwing is too big and it's got too much flash. When you throw the smaller stuff the fish seem to respond to it a little better."
He was all alone in his Pool 4 spot and said the isolation was getting into his head.
"You start to think, 'There ain't jack right here.' I know (the fish) are there, but it starts to poke at your confidence when you see all these other guys catching fish on top of each other and I'm sitting down there by myself."
29th: Robinson Lacked Kickers
> Day 2: 5, 9-07 (10, 21-15)
Marty Robinson came in 3 pounds lighter than on day 1 and fell out of the cut.
"I just never got a decent bite," he said. "A 3-pounder was the biggest I had. I lost one the first day that was a 3- or 4-pounder, and that probably kept me from fishing tomorrow."
30th: Crews Blind-Casted
> Day 2: 5, 9-14 (10, 21-13)
John Crews fished the same spawning area as Alton Jones and noted that Jones got in there first and "picked them over pretty good." He managed more than 15 keepers on the day, but struggled to find any quality.
"I saw a few locked on beds, but for the most part I was blind-casting," he noted.
He caught all his fish with a one-two punch of a swimjig and Texas rig. He used his signature Missile Baits Twin Turbo grub as a trailer for the swimjig and flipped and pitched a Missile Craw on a 1/4-ounce weight.
"I was just kind of shaking (the Missile Craw) through those pad stems. Some of them would hit it two or three times before they'd swim off with it. That's when you know you've got a spawn thing on."
31st: Upshaw Switched
> Day 2: 5, 7-09 (10, 20-01)
Collegiate qualifier Andrew Upshaw took a page out of Ott DeFoe's playbook and made a change from the shallow crank he utilized on day 1 to a jerkbait on day 2. He also boated two keepers flipping.
"I lost one about 6 pounds on a jerkbait and then I saw another 5-pounder that was on a bed that I couldn't get to bite," he said. "The area I was fishing had a really poor bottom so the fish were spawning stumps. I was fishing that jerkbait right under the surface – almost like a wakebait.
"The fish were busting shad everywhere, so (the jerkbait) just made sense."
32nd: Shryock Should've Run
> Day 2: 5, 9-10 (10, 19-13)
Fletcher Shryock regretted his decision to forego locking down to Pool 4 on day 1.
"While I was waiting for the lock I cuaght a 2 1/2-pounder and lost a 3 or 4, and I ended up staying," he said. "I'm not saying I could've been leading the tournament if I'd gone down there, but I'm pretty sure I could've caught 13 or 14 pounds."
34th: McCoy Saved Face
> Day 2: 5, 17-07 (6, 19-05)
Indiana Federation Nation angler Matt McCoy struggled with his execution and only weighed a single fish on the first day of competition. He told BassFan that he was around quality fish and proved it on day 2 with one of only a handful of 17-pound-plus limits.
"The only difference in today and yesterday was I put my bites in the boat," he said. "I fished the same stuff and did the same things – I just executed better today. I think the wind was my biggest downfall yesterday.
"I shook yesterday off until now," he added. "Now I look back at yesterday and it's 'What could have been?'."
He flipped a tube bait to stumps and laydowns in less than a foot of water.
"I hit every piece of wood I could," he added. "Some of (his fish) were on the outskirts of the wood in the actual standing trees, but most of them were on laydowns up in the dirt."
35th: Lintner Punched
> Day 2: 5, 12-05 (8, 18-13)
Lintner spent his whole tournament in Pool 5, where he punched hyacinth mats with creature baits pegged to 1- and 1 1/2-ounce tungsten weights.
"When we got here the mats were loose and the 1-ounce weight was working fine," he noted. "When the wind blew the day before the tournament it packed those mats really tight and I got out there on the first morning and the 1-ounce weight wouldn't go through. I had to go up to the 1 1/2-ounce weight and I was still having trouble punching through."
He witnessed fish cruising the shallows in his area, but never actually fished for a specimen on a bed.
"I'm sure some of those fish I caught punching the hyacinths were on beds, because I'd throw in there and one would bite it and drop it. Then I'd shake it and get bit again. Sometimes I was getting two or three bites before one actually took it."
The water in his area cleared up dramatically on day 2, which prompted him to make a switch from a black and blue creature bait to a natural craw color. He said the color swap netted him "way more bites".
36th: Kennedy Watched Wilks
> Day 2: 4, 6-09 (9, 18-08)
Kennedy fished the McDade area within sight of Dustin Wilks (and several others) on day 2 and found himself in awe of the North Carolinian's decision making.
"I just sat back and watched the Dustin Wilks show today," he said. "It was fun to watch. He's making all the right decisions. I watched him catch a sight-fish and then I saw him make a little move and catch two fish on two other baits. He pulled up to this one little point and I called it. I said, 'Watch, there's going to be one right there.' Sure enough, he caught it.
"Honestly, it was fun," he added. "That guy is doing everything right and when I see someone fishing like that, I'm just in awe."
About his own performance, he said: "I'm usually pretty good about fishing in a crowd. I can usually throw a little Kinami Flash and catch them. I saw Ott catch them on a little Shad Rap and I wasn't about to pick that up and do his thing. I saw Dustin catch a fish on a lure we call a 'blah, blah, blah' and he whacked them on it. I can't tie that on and fish in front of him. He came by later in the day and said, 'Hey, I appreciate you not tying on the blah, blah, blah.' It's frustrating.
"I'm kicking myself for not going where Keith Poche was."
38th: Howell Gambled, Lost
> Day 2: 3, 6-07 (8, 18-02)
It didn't take long for Randy Howell to get enough of fishing the crowded McDade backwater on day 2. He made a move to Bobo's Hole where he fished in 2009, but couldn't put anything together.
"I had a 5-pounder smoke a swimjig in about a foot of water and it came straight to the top and that was it," he said. "An hour later I had another do the same thing with a spinnerbait. They were so shallow that as soon as they bit they were already jumping. I think they're up on beds, but I can't see them.
"I think that (Bobo's) area will get better tomorrow and Brent Chapman caught a few out of there today. Make sure to watch Brent. I think he'll do good tomorrow."
39th: No Spawners for Scroggins
> Day 2: 3, 3-09 (8, 18-01)
Terry Scroggins expected to see more spawning activity in his area on day 2, but that action never materialized.
"I'm in an area punching hyacinth mats and the water was clear enough for me to see them if they moved up, but I never found them (on beds)," he said. "I ran around to look for new water, but everything's covered up. This place is fishing so small."
40th: Tiny Limit for Monroe
> Day 2: 5, 6-13
Ish Monroe was unable to crack the 10-pound barrier on either of his two long runs to Pool 3.
"Greg Hackney was in the spot I wanted to fish, but since I didn't go there yesterday, I had to leave it to him," he said. "I fished around there, but just didn't catch them."
42nd: Too Much Power for Roumbanis
Day 2: 3, 5-02 (8, 15-12)
Roumbanis estimated he caught 25 fish on a sqaure-bill crank in McDade on day 2, but only three of those fish were long enough to make the trip to the weigh-in.
"I didn't bring light enough line," he said. "I watched the Aaron Martens show today and that's no fun. I went in (to McDade) with a dropshot on day 1, but I was using 12-pound line. I'm pretty sure (Martens) must be using lighter line. He was pretty smart to do that, because those fish are so pressured. (The dropshot) was never really my plan, though. I thought I could catch them on a crankbait."
43rd: Wind Hurt Pratt
Day 2: 5, 11-08 (6, 13-05)
Pratt, a self-proclaimed river rat from Virginia, thought he'd found an ideal staging area in Pool 5. He caught a couple 4-pounders there in practice and thought he could catch "at least 14 pounds a day" during competition.
"It's a ditch with two rock piles about the size of the deck of your boat on either side of it," he said. "It's out in the open and the wind really wouldn't let me fish it on day 1.
"If I were to go back and do it again I'd probably look for more protected places that were holding some clearer water. I wasn't way back in a backwater. I was closer to the main river than most guys were fishing and it looks like the guys that fished the cleaner water caught them better than I did. I fish that kind of water clarity back home so I felt comfortable, but that wasn't the deal this week."
44th: One Bite for Brauer
Day 2: 1, 3-00 (4, 11-13)
Brauer ran unfamiliar water again on day 2 and tanked a 3-pounder first thing in the morning. That was the only bite he mustered all day.
"As best I can tell, if you're not around boats, you're not around bass," he said. "I don't have a lot of history here so I don't really know these places. Everywhere looks bassy, but I can't buy a bite."
45th: Jessop Didn't Adjust
Day 2: 1, 0-14 (6, 11-05)
Texas Federation Nation qualifier Tom Jessop was in good spirits in the media room in spite of weighing in the smallest bass of the Classic. He threw a Senko to roaming fish on day 1, but said the high skies "locked the fish down" to cover on day 2.
"I thought I had the right deal going in practice," he said. "I was slow rolling a chartreuse and white spinnerbait with a Colorado/willow leaf (blade) combination and I caught some really good ones. That reaction bite is gone now.
"The water temperature came up 7 degrees since we started practice," he added. "Based on the weather forecast I never anticipated it would come up that much. That's what these (Elite Series) guys are so good at. They've got a lot of time on the water and they're very good at anticipating those changes. They fish so many spawns a year and they're more clued into the timing of this kind of (spawn-based) tournament."
48th: Learning Experience for Palaniuk
Day 2: 3, 5-15 (3, 5-15)
Palaniuk's plan was to fish contour features in hopes of intercepting staging pre-spawners. He wasn't expecting the fish to get as far along in the spawn as they ultimately did.
"I learned some stuff," he said. "I guess I had it in my mind as to what I thought these fish were going to do and I had some solid areas that fit into my plan. The problem is I was off by a few days. I should've looked at some cleaner water in practice just in case the fish decided to (spawn the way they did).
"A lot of guys were catching them in McDade and that's where I won the Federation (Nation) championship here," he added. "I didn't even go in there in this time. During practice I was catching them outside (closer to the main river) and then that wind came in and messed everything up. That really made McDade the best option."
49th: Goose Egg for Grigsby
> Day 2: 0, 0-00 (2, 4-05)
Shaw Grigsby's run to Pool 3 was fruitless – he failed to catch a keeper.
"It'd have to be my worst day in the Classic ever because I can't remember ever zeroing before," he said. "I know the fish were there because they couldn't have all died over the last couple of days. They must've relocated and I didn't figure them out quick enough."
