While sitting in the boat this morning prior to takeoff, Seth Feider looked at me and said, “Today’s a big day. I could lose 35 points if I’m not careful.” The current leader in AOY points, Feider knew exactly what his situation was for today and what is at stake.
With that, I asked the Tin Cup Rapala Pro if the AOY is something he thought about or if he avoided it like the plague. “Are you kidding me,” Feider said. “I think about it every day! It’s all I think about. Some guys tell you they don’t think about it but I think about it every day.”
Feider went further to explain that coming into the year, he worried most about the stops at the St. Johns River and the Sabine River as potential train wrecks; however, those derbies have provided Feider with a third and sixth place finish respectively, his best finishes of the year.
The Bassmaster Elite Series Pro left the dock today with a plan to hit some points along the way to his primary area which has been the flipping bite all week.
Feider pulled his Ballistic into an area and fired a topwater bait across the Tennessee River fishery and on his second cast, landed a near five pounder. A few casts later, he landed a near two-pounder and not long after that, he landed a double on his topwater bait, a keeper and non-keeper. If you’re scoring at home, Feider caught a double in the last event at Lake Fork on Bassmaster Live on Day 3. When he pulled the trolling motor and headed for his main area, he had four bass in his Ballistic livewell and a small monkey off his back.
Since arriving in his main area, Feider has added a fifth keeper and made one cull. His five bass currently weigh in the 12-pound range and Feider admitted that he has plenty of room to grow here today.
We seem to be hunkered down here for the day which is exactly what Feider has done atop the AOY standings….hunkered down and stayed.