LIVE BLOG: Some Bigger Fish Starting to Show as Period 2 Comes to an End
DAYTON, Tenn. — Alton Jones, Jr., and Cody Meyer may have provided the field a preview of what’s to come in the final period on Lake Chickamauga.
“Junior” put the biggest bass of the day on SCORETRACKER 40 minutes before the end of Period 2 (an 8-6 that catapulted him into the Top 20). Meyer answered 30 minutes later with a 7-11 to jump into the Top 10. As we head into the final couple of hours of competition, we’ve had full sunlight on the water for almost five hours, and you can virtually hear the “tick tick tick” of Chickamauga’s largemouth spawning clock.
Warming water plus improved visibility may provide the right conditions for more 8-plus-pounders like Jones’.
3:30 p.m. ET – Lines are now out and Shotgun Round 2 is in the books. There were plenty of big bass caught today and we had three anglers reel in more than 50 pounds of fish. Cliff Crochet is your leader with 69-6 followed by Edwin Evers (55-2) and Zack Birge (51-4). Below are the Top 20 anglers as we head into Friday’s Elimination Round 2.
- Cliff Crochet 69-06
- Edwin Evers 55-02
- Zack Birge 51-04
- Fletcher Shryock 47-12
- Michael Neal 47-10
- Gary Klein 47-00
- Brent Ehrler 44-08
- Jared Lintner 44-07
- Todd Faircloth 43-14
- Luke Clausen 41-15
- Mike Iaconelli 39-14
- Cody Meyer 38-12
- Alton Jones 37-15
- John Murray 37-11
- Tommy Biffle 37-08
- Adrian Avena 36-13
- Fred Roumbanis 36-01
- Greg Vinson 32-05
- Josh Bertrand 32-04
- Jacob Wheeler 32-01
2:46 p.m. ET – Only 45 minutes remain in the Shotgun Round and we are starting to see how to Top 20 are going to shake out. It’s all about getting yourself in a comfortable position in these last 45 minutes, and from the looks of it the top seven anglers–Crochet, Evers, Birge, Neal, Lintner, Klein and Shryock–all seem to be in a good spot heading into Friday’s Elimination Round.
The Elimination Line drama should be quite interesting come Friday. The difference between 20th place and 29th is only 5 pounds. As we’ve seen so far in this tournament, 5 pounds is a gap that can be closed rather quickly.
1:45 p.m. ET – Fletcher Shryock and Edwin Evers are locked in a battle for second and third place (first place is all but locked up for Cliff Crochet). Shryock has found some fallen timber in the water that he has flipped around for awhile while Evers is in some open water drop-shotting with a worm. Evers currently sits in second while Shryock is 13 ounces behind.
12:15 p.m. ET – There are some big fish biting in the second period. We already touched on Alton Jones, Jr.’s 8-6, but Cody Meyer just landed a 7-11 as well. Meyer is averaging over 2 pounds per fish in his Shotgun Round.
11:45 a.m. ET – We now have a new big bass of the day thanks to Alton Jones, Jr. The Texas pro boated a 8-6 largemouth to catapult him into 18th place. Jones only has five bass on the day but has made them count. According to SCORETRACKER™, Jones used a swimbait to hook his Chickamauga monster.
11:15 a.m. ET – Cliff Crochet has gone into research mode in the second period. The Louisiana pro has not caught a single fish in Period 2, and that is most likely by design. He is comfortably in the lead (he leads John Murray by 29-14) so his round has now turned into scouting for the Elimination Round.
10:45 a.m. ET – Two familiar names have started to climb up SCORETRACKER™ in the past hour or so. Mike Iaconelli and Jacob Wheeler are both inside the Top 10 after a few 4-pounders. Ike has used a crankbait for most of the morning while Wheeler has worked with either a wacky worm or a swimbait.
10:15 a.m. ET – Period 2 is about to get underway and we just saw a Facebook live from leader Cliff Crochet. “Cajun Baby” Crochet has set a Bass Pro Tour record for most weight caught in a single period with 65 pounds, 11 ounces. He said during the Facebook live that he will use the rest of his day to get familiar with the lake and find some more spots where he can have success.
9:25 a.m. ET – We have seen a couple of big fish early in Period 1, but not with much consistency. Mark Daniels, Jr. owns the biggest bass of the day at 7-13 followed by Michael Neal’s 6-1. We’ve seen a 5-pounder from Cliff Crochet and Adrian Avena as well.
After that record-breaking performance during the Shotgun Round of Stage Three, Kelly Jordon is struggling today. The Texas pro has one bass for 2-2.
8:50 a.m. ET – You are not reading a misprint: “Cajun Baby” currently has 53-5 on 25 fish, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down. Crochet’s fish-catching spree was so dramatic that it caused a flurry of texts and phone calls to verify that SCORETRACKER™ was correct, and indeed it is. Crochet’s epic morning flurry produced a fish every 2.16 minute (including one 60-second span where he weighed in three fish).
8:30 a.m. ET – At this point, I’m convinced Cliff Crochet is pulling these bass up four at a time. He now has 17 bass for 34 pounds, 12 ounces in only one hour of fishing. Jared Lintner is in second place, but he’s more than 21 pounds behind Crochet. Practice might start early for Crochet once he gets to a weight where he feels confident he can make the cut.
8:10 a.m. ET – We’re seeing a notable difference in starting locations today as the first hour continues on Lake Chickamauga: most of the field is fishing further north then their Group A counterparts did yesterday. Whereas the first Shotgun Round saw a large percentage of anglers fishing south of Harrison Bay, the bulk of the field is working from Soddy Creek north this morning.
That includes Wesley Strader, who headed straight toward Watts Bar – that’s the furthest north we’ve seen anybody go.
8:00 a.m. ET – Cliff Crochet has taken the lead and has done so thanks to his 5-1 that he caught early in the morning. That 5-pounder remains the biggest of the day while the other anglers try to play catch up. We have yet to see some truly heavy weights this morning, but the volume of fish seems to be present. It might be just a matter of time before we see a monster hit SCORETRACKER™.
7:45 a.m. ET – Fifteen minutes into Period 1 and Tennessee native Andy Morgan is making quick work of Lake Chickamauga. He already has six bass for 9 pounds, 1 ounce. Morgan is using a crankbait, not something we saw a lot of yesterday in Group A. Cliff Crochet has the biggest bass of the day at 5-1.