Mark Menendez has been here before, in a final day shootout on the St. Johns River. “Two casts here and you can have 16 or 17 pounds,” said Menendez prior to the 7 a.m. takeoff today. “That’s the wildcard. That craziness hasn’t really shown up yet (this year) because the fish are scattered.”
Menendez was part of the 2019 Day 4 craziness here when he finished third after sacking 25-12. He’s off to a hot start this morning after catching a 6-pounder at 7:33 a.m.
So it begs the question: Is the craziness showing up today on Championship Sunday? Is that early 6-pounder from Menendez an omen of things to come? There were five bags over 30 pounds caught here in 2019. Every angler polled before the tournament thought at least one 30-pound bag would be caught this week. The closest to that was Patrick Walters’ 26-7 yesterday.