

Keith Poche worked a Strike King 5XD in the Tennessee Shad color for prespawn bass to amass the heaviest bag on Day Two. âI was throwing up on a flat and they were sitting on a little 2-foot drop,â Poche said. âAll the pressure with everyone running around kept them on that drop.â


Marty Brown targeted bass that were staging around reeds, docks and eelgrass. He used a junebug 8-inch Zoom Magnum Lizard and a junebug Zoom Brush Hog. Both were rigged on Bass Pro Shops tungsten weights and a 5/0 Trokar flipping hook.


Robert Grosso landed in 10th after catching 41 pounds, 13 ounces on the Harris Chain using a black/blue flake Jethro Baits Waldo, a soft plastic stickbait, and a black Zoom Fluke both rigged on a 1/4-ounce Jethro tungsten weight. Grosso flipped buggy whips, essentially alternating between the two baits, although he did note his biggest, a 7-pounder, came on the Waldo.

Will Evans caught all his fish sight fishing using a green pumpkin/chartreuse tail Yamamoto Senko with a 1/2-ounce weight. âI liked the chartreuse tail so I could see it in the water,â Evans said.


Luke Gritter used a red bug Zoom U-Vibe Speed Worm rigged with a 3/16-ounce tungsten weight, a junebug Garneau Baits Gen X Bug with a 3/4-ounce weight and a junebug Gambler Lures Flappân Shad on a 5/0 Trokar hook and 1/16-ounce tungsten weight.


Daniel Lanier finished the Open in seventh place with 45 pounds. His primary pattern was flipping isolated clumps of lily pads and he did so very slowly and methodically. âI was basically throwing it in and letting it sit,â Lanier said. In the morning, Lanier would target eelgrass patches with a lipless crankbait.


Kevin Hawk used a Zoom Trick Worm in both black and junebug on the Harris Chain. He used the junebug worm on a drop shot with a 3/0 Roboworm ReBarb straight-shank hook. The black worm was Texas rigged on a 5/0 Gamakatsu straight-shank hook.


Keith Carson covered water with a 1/4-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad and then flipped both a watermelon seed Zoom Speed Worm and a Zoom Speed Craw on a 3/8-ounce weight. The primary cover in the areas he was fishing was a mixture of pencil reeds and mother-in-lawâs tongue.



Clifford Pirch landed 58 pounds, 1 ounce of bass and finished in the runner-up spot, his highest in B.A.S.S. competition. Pirch spent the entire practice and tournament sight fishing in clear water. âMy whole game was looking at them,â Pirch said.



Chris Lane claimed his third B.A.S.S. victory with 72 pounds, 11 ounces, a margin over 14 pounds greater than second place. He was focused on bass staging to spawn around lily pads, catching fish on the drop outside of the pads and up in the pads themselves.
