Caleb Kuphall wasn’t the picture of confidence yesterday after weighing in only 15 pounds, 10 ounces, as a follow up to his 27-10 on Day 1. And he had no reason to be optimistic about his secondary pattern – flipping isolated mats in shallow water. He said he upgraded only a quarter-pound there on Day 2.
“I don’t see what I’ve got holding up for another two days,” he said.
But Kuphall did have a feeling that the wind had severely hampered him in flipping shallow mats.
“I think the wind really hurt me in that second area,” said the 38-year-old, second-year Elite Series pro from Mukwonago, Wis. “It was coming pretty much right up the gut. I had the trolling motor on 80 to 100 percent to hold in that area. When you’re fishing shallow like that in the mats, I think I was spooking a lot of fish.”
Kuphall is spooking them again today – when he swings them in the boat. His 22-pounds, 6-ounce limit has been caught between 9:24 and 12:10, when the sun was high and the wind was practically non-existent.