Update with the leaders

I’ve had the privilege of covering the Day 1 leaders, Connor Jacob and Sam Smith of Auburn University here on beautiful Smith Lake.

Jacob and Smith started their morning targeting a shad spawn on floating docks and managed to catch a limit within the first hour of their day. Once Jacob boated their fifth keeper, they instantly started flipping trash mats in the backs of pockets. That moved paid huge dividends as they just culled up with a four-pound largemouth.

Watching these two fish has put a huge smile on my face. Jacob and Smith have grown up fishing together in Illinois and it shows. All morning the two have focused on having fun and not letting the moment get too big.

Their game plan for the rest of the day is to flip as many trash mats as possible and see where they end up.