By Sean Ostruszka
Special to BassFan
Andrew Upshaw took a bit of a risk today, and it might’ve bit him.
Playing with a decent-sized lead in what has been a tight FLW Tour event on Lake Cherokee, Upshaw decided to begin day 3 on what he considered a “gutsy” starting area. The result was an hour of lost fish and non-keepers that snowballed through the rest of the day and cost him a good chunk of his lead.
“That was probably the most stressful 16 pounds I’ve caught,” said Upshaw, whose 16-00 bag still kept him in the lead, but only by a little less than 2 pounds over a hard-charging Tom Monsoor.
Monsoor caught 17-06 today to jump from 8th to 2nd, while Dylan Hayes slipped to 3rd despite weighing in a pair of kickers, but he a lost a third one that cost him a chance at taking the lead.
Grae Buck stood pat in 4th as he, like Hayes, couldn’t eclipse the 16-pound mark today. Andy Young continues to steadily be in the hunt, cracking 16-13 to move into 5th.
The big bag of the day came from Matt Becker, who caught 17-11 to jump from 19th to 6th. And rounding out the top 10 is Tim Frederick, Jason Reyes, Derrick Snavely and Tim Cales.
After two days when everything went right for Upshaw, he might’ve been due for a harder day. That’s exactly what happened, as he says he couldn’t get anything going to start.
“It could’ve been nerves,” Upshaw said. “More than likely it was probably the area. I should’ve done something different, but it is what it is.”
The Tulsa, Okla., pro continued to cycle through many of the same areas he’s already hit looking for spawning smallmouths, trying to save as much as possible for the final day. Obviously, it didn’t work out to start, but he says he did eventually get comfortable, find his groove and start having fun, “chipping away at what I needed.”
While he laments not being able to once again extend his lead, he knows he still has plenty of areas of marked bedding smallmouth he’s yet to touch. Plus, he has an ace-in-the-hole he found while “practicing” on day 2 that he plans to start on tomorrow. It’s not a spot that has a lot of fish, but Upshaw says it has the right ones, and he’s hoping it works out better than his risky move from today.
“I’m still pretty happy knowing I have everything I have going into tomorrow,” Upshaw said. “I’d like if tomorrow wasn’t as stressful as today. You know, have one of those easy ones. But nothing good in life comes easy.”
Speaking of easy, Monsoor certainly made things look that way today. Tossing around a swimjig, per his usual, he sacked up a quick limit before 8 a.m., yet somehow managed to stay under the radar despite the live coverage. It was quite the shock when he brought in his big bag to jump up the leaderboard.
As for Hayes, he mentioned he needed to keep getting a couple big largemouth bites a day to keep up with the smallmouth guys back in the main lake. Well, he got three today. Problem is, he only landed two.
“[The lost 4 1/2-pounder] was my fault,” Hayes said. “She jumped just as I was reaching for the net. I have to land a fish like that.”
For three days, Hayes has been making a long run upriver to target largemouths by flipping a jig and sporadically mixing in a spinnerbait. There’s been one key point with a channel swing that’s accounted for the majority of his weight. The odd part is, he doesn’t know which side of the point they’ll bite on each day.
On day 2, he caught three good ones off the left side. Today, he never got a bite there. Instead, he caught two off the right, including a 4-14. He got two of his big bites today in completely new water, though, including one in a flurry when he caught three fish in five flips.
Toward the end of the day Hayes decided to try and upgrade with some smallmouth, which he never did. Don’t expect the same tomorrow, though.
“I’m going for big bites all day tomorrow,” he said. “Honestly, there’s no pressure. At 6:30 p.m. Tuesday I didn’t know if I could catch a limit, so to make the top 10, I’m thrilled. I don’t care if I zero tomorrow, but I’m going to try for it all at this point.”
Notable
> Day 3 stats – 30 anglers, 30 limits.
Day 3 Standings
1. Andrew Upshaw -- Tulsa, Ok -- 18-6 (5) -- 17-14 (5) -- 16-0 (5) -- 52-4 (15)
2. Tom Monsoor -- La Crosse, Wi -- 17-0 (5) -- 16-4 (5) -- 17-6 (5) -- 50-10 (15)
3. Dylan Hays -- El Dorado, Ar -- 17-13 (5) -- 16-11 (5) -- 15-9 (5) -- 50-1 (15)
4. Grae Buck -- Harleysville, Pa -- 16-6 (5) -- 17-10 (5) -- 15-4 (5) -- 49-4 (15)
5. Andy Young -- Isle, Mn -- 17-2 (5) -- 15-1 (5) -- 16-13 (5) -- 49-0 (15)
6. Matt Becker -- Finleyville, Pa -- 16-4 (5) -- 14-14 (5) -- 17-11 (5) -- 48-13 (15)
7. Tim Frederick -- Leesburg, Fl -- 17-4 (5) -- 16-5 (5) -- 14-10 (5) -- 48-3 (15)
8. Jason Reyes -- Huffman, Tx -- 17-2 (5) -- 14-8 (5) -- 16-9 (5) -- 48-3 (15)
9. Derrick Snavely -- Piney Flats, Tn -- 16-8 (5) -- 16-6 (5) -- 15-4 (5) -- 48-2 (15)
10. Tim Cales -- Sandstone, WV -- 15-8 (5) -- 15-10 (5) -- 16-3 (5) -- 47-5 (15)
The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.
11. Austin Felix -- Eden Prairie, Mn -- 17-4 (5) -- 17-1 (5) -- 12-15 (5) -- 47-4 (15) -- $12,000
12. David Dudley -- Lynchburg, Va -- 15-11 (5) -- 16-0 (5) -- 15-7 (5) -- 47-2 (15) -- $12,000
13. J Todd Tucker -- Moultrie, Ga -- 14-12 (5) -- 17-0 (5) -- 15-2 (5) -- 46-14 (15) -- $12,000
14. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, Fl -- 16-8 (5) -- 15-11 (5) -- 14-8 (5) -- 46-11 (15) -- $12,000
15. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 14-9 (5) -- 16-5 (5) -- 15-13 (5) -- 46-11 (15) -- $12,000
16. Ron Nelson -- Berrien Springs, Mi -- 16-12 (5) -- 16-13 (5) -- 13-0 (5) -- 46-9 (15) -- $11,500
17. Alex Davis -- Albertville, Al -- 14-14 (5) -- 15-4 (5) -- 16-6 (5) -- 46-8 (15) -- $11,500
18. Dakota Ebare -- Denham Springs, La -- 13-9 (5) -- 17-3 (5) -- 15-8 (5) -- 46-4 (15) -- $11,500
19. Joey Cifuentes -- Clinton, Ar -- 15-9 (5) -- 16-14 (5) -- 13-7 (5) -- 45-14 (15) -- $11,500
20. Johnny McCombs -- Morris, Al -- 17-1 (5) -- 14-4 (5) -- 14-9 (5) -- 45-14 (15) -- $11,500
21. Kerry Milner -- Bono, Ar -- 15-14 (5) -- 16-4 (5) -- 13-10 (5) -- 45-12 (15) -- $10,500
22. Josh Douglas -- Isle, Mn -- 14-8 (5) -- 16-3 (5) -- 14-12 (5) -- 45-7 (15) -- $10,500
23. AJ Slegona -- Pine Bush, Ny -- 15-3 (5) -- 15-1 (5) -- 15-2 (5) -- 45-6 (15) -- $10,500
24. Jon Englund -- Farwell, Mn -- 13-9 (5) -- 17-10 (5) -- 13-10 (5) -- 44-13 (15) -- $10,500
25. Larry Nixon -- Quitman, Ar -- 14-7 (5) -- 15-5 (5) -- 13-9 (5) -- 43-5 (15) -- $10,500
26. Brandon McMillan -- Clewiston, Fl -- 15-6 (5) -- 15-6 (5) -- 12-2 (5) -- 42-14 (15) -- $10,500
27. Jason Meninger -- Saint Augustine, Fl -- 14-11 (5) -- 15-3 (5) -- 13-0 (5) -- 42-14 (15) -- $10,500
28. Evan Barnes -- Hot Springs, Ar -- 15-12 (5) -- 14-15 (5) -- 11-15 (5) -- 42-10 (15) -- $10,500
29. Matthew Stefan -- Junction City, Wi -- 15-13 (5) -- 14-6 (5) -- 12-7 (5) -- 42-10 (15) -- $10,500
30. Kurt Mitchell -- Milford, De -- 14-0 (5) -- 19-7 (5) -- 8-10 (5) -- 42-1 (15) -- $10,500