Gunning for 10

Semifinals under way at sunny Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – The top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers took off for the semifinal round of Stren Series Western Division competition Friday morning, all with a game plan to figure out the tough bass bite.

Weather conditions are pretty much a carbon copy of what anglers have seen the first two days, so it will be a surprise if more than a few five-bass limits come in today. It’s still sunny and calm with cool water, and the bass just haven’t really wanted to start feeding yet.

“I love Lake Havasu,” seventh-place qualifying pro David Kromm said. “But they’re just really spooky right now and tough to catch. You’ve just got to slow way down and try to pick one up here and there.”

Still, one gets a sense that a surprise or two might be in the cards. In addition to Kromm, who finished second at this tournament last year, a couple other pros made the cut who might have just been lying in the weeds in the opening round. Young Justin Kerr (18th-place qualifier) has finished in the top five at Lake Havasu in the last two years, and Clayton Meyer (10th place) is this event’s defending champion.

Tough fishing or not, these pros might be the ones to watch over the next two days.

Day-three weigh-in festivities begin at 3 p.m. Mountain time at Windsor Park located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City. Following today’s competition, both the pro and co-angler fields will be cut to the top 10 anglers for Saturday’s final round.

Friday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 7:34 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 50 degrees

Expected high temperature: 80 degrees

Water temperature: 50-57 degrees

Wind: N at 7 mph

Maximum humidity: 24 percent

Day’s outlook: mostly sunny