Fewer boats, more bass?

For a change, weather has not been a factor in this tournament. Consistently sunny days with light winds and temperatures in the low 80s have been the norm.

What’s different today is the fishing pressure. The field has shrunk from 200 to 12 boats and that’s a big deal on two main bodies of water covering 15,000 acres. We’ll see what impacts, if any, that has on the fishing. If anything, fewer boats means fewer spooky largemouth. Likewise, the fish might be more prone to move into shallow water for the pre-spawn.

Marty Robinson, currently in second place, eluded to the fact that less pressure might allow him to “open things up a bit” and expand his fishing. Likely, what that means is having the freedom to alternate between bed fishing and offshore fishing, the two prevailing patterns of the week.

Leader Justin Lucas has that in mind, too. James Overstreet reports that Lucas is working a shoreline. Previously, he focused on a lily pad field where up to 20 boats landed each day in Little Lake Harris.

Lucas has one fish in the livewell weighing under 2 pounds. The big fish strike can happen any moment, so we’ll be watching he and Robinson closely as the sun heats up the water.