While the Cooper River Run bunch was plowing across the river and up the ICW, Stetson Blaylock caught a key fish from a bed that he’d worked on for an hour. First he caught the male and then he lured in the female. With that five-pounder he is now in the lead according to BASSTrakk.
What does this mean for tomorrow? Too soon to tell but here is where the clear advantages are for Blaylock, who is not making the long run. He gets to maximize his fishing time, and with bedding fish, that is a huge deal. You might not put the lure in front of as many fish, but the time is well spent when you do it in front of the right one. And he has the time to spend on a single fish by not making that run.
The point is the hour that it takes to get half-way to the Cooper River can be spent on a fish the likes of which was just caught by Blaylock. What else he has going in his favor is a hot streak. Blaylock is coming off a second place showing last week at Lake Hartwell, and an eighth-place finish at the previous event on Lake Lanier.