There were not many trophy-sized largemouth caught, with an 8-pound 12-ounce largemouth leading Phoenix Boats Big Bass. The few others coming to the that scales, including that fish caught by James Castillo, came in the earlier flights.
What that means for tomorrow is yet to come, unless the same holds true. If so, then having an early flight could be of definite benefit. Another more obvious finding was more scripted. As predicted, missing was a parade of multiple 20-pound bags. Wednesday leader Patrick Walters succeeded with the only bag, which weighed 21 pounds, 4 ounces.
In every tournament there are takeaways, or things to capitalize on or change for the next day. Here are some observations from the leaders.
Patrick Walters (1st; 21-4)
His take-away: “I’m going to change my line. I went through a lot of big fish today, and I will go with a longer rod for the leverage. Another takeaway for me was fish until a group is located, and then put down the Power-Poles and work slow. You just cannot work slow enough. The good bite lasted about 90 minutes. I didn’t get there until 10:30 so it could have been earlier. I say early because these fish have been pulling up late in the afternoon. At about 5:30 in the afternoon the bite just gets phenomenal. So, from then and all through the night and then early in the morning are prime activity times. There is a midday lull because they have been feeding at night. Beyond all that, the biggest takeaway has been the ability to go behind people and just fish slower.”
Jason Christie (4th; 18-15)
His takeaway: “it’s vintage Florida fishing. The takeaway is you have to be on point all day long. It’s all about focusing on getting big bites. I got two of those today. You don’t get 20 pounds here by catching 3- and 4-pounders. You get there by catching big fish. The other takeaway is when you get a big bite you’ve got to get it in. That adds another challenge to it here in this thick vegetation. The two big bites I got today were miles from each other on two different baits.”
Alex Wetherell (7th 17-13)
His takeaway: “My takeaway is about what I learned here two years ago (he finished 6th). It came down to how fast these fish move. Within a few hours they are gone from an area where you previously caught them earlier. They key that I learned is give it a couple hours and come back. The fish will move in and replenish. When you get hot, sunny conditions like we had today it really pushes the fish up into shallow water. I’m also looking for clean hydrilla, and by that I mean water that is flourishing and providing oxygen in the water.”
Cody Bertrand (8th; 17-10)
His takeaway: The late boat draw has me a little concerned, because I was fortunate to have an early boat draw today. That put me into position to get into an area with a lot of boats in it later on. My strike zone is small in a big area. My takeaway is the bite slows significantly midday.
Bradley Hallman (8th; 17-10)
His takeaway: “The takeaway is the early bite is key here. It’s a Florida deal in the wintertime. The bite is always early when they feed. There is an afternoon bite too, but it gets fired up after we come off the water. Tomorrow the key is I found another bait they are going to eat, that I didn’t catch them on during practice.”
Scott Martin (36th; 11-5)
His takeaway: “Today was a transition day for the fish. I’m not sight fishing but I am fishing for spawners. You can see activity but I couldn’t get them to bite in the dead slick calm. It was just a little tough. I really think that tomorrow those big fish will start biting again, including the males. They just aren’t interested when they are doing their thing.”