Cunningham Smashes 17+ for All-American Lead
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – It was tough to get big bites on Lake Hamilton for Day 1 of the 39th annual the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine All-American and subsequently it was tough to come away with a big bag. Still, there were plenty of limits filled between the 49 boaters and Strike King co-anglers, but none better than Missouri boater Connor Cunningham.
Cunningham came away with an eye-popping 17-pound, 8-ounce limit, 4-10 more than second-place boater Ryan Powroznik. Cunningham helped his cause tremendously with a 6-plus-pound largemouth, the biggest bass of the day by far.
Cunningham ‘Swings for the Fences’
Talking to Cunningham after he secured his Day 1 lead, you’d expect to find him a little more excited about his chance at coming away with $120,000. However, the Springfield, Missouri, native looked to be more in shock that his bag stood up that well against the rest of the field.
“My day looks really good on paper, but it was tough out there,” Cunningham said. “I only got five bites all day and I was lucky to put them in the boat. I bounced around a lot. I caught my last one schooling, but I caught all the others using a variety of different techniques.”
Cunningham moved around the 7,000-plus acres of Hamilton for much of the day, just looking to try to string a few bites together. The stormy weather made that a lot tougher than it was for him in practice, and all five of his fish were caught in different areas of the lake.
“None of those fish knew each other, let’s just put it that way,” Cunningham joked. “It took me two hours to catch my first one, then I caught one every hour until my last one at 1:30. Not one of them came fast enough for me, let’s just say that.”
Cunningham was coy about how he was catching them, and plans to keep as many secrets as he can until Saturday afternoon. Still, the Missouri boater felt somewhat at home on Lake Hamilton even though he doesn’t have a ton of experience on the body of water.
“I was really just fishing traditional Lake Hamilton stuff,” Cunningham said. “I’ve only seen this place a couple of times and that was only just before the off-limits period. It fishes pretty similar to Lake of the Ozarks back home, a lake I fish pretty often. Other than that, I’ve never seen the place, so today was a pleasant surprise.”
Cunningham enters Friday’s Day 2 with a 4-10 lead over second and nearly 7 pounds clear of 10th place. At the end of the day on Friday, only the Top 10 boaters and co-anglers will advance to Saturday’s final day. While he’s happy with the lead he’s built, Cunningham is far from comfortable. He took a gamble on Thursday that paid off. He’s not so sure the same thing can happen on Friday.
“My plan tomorrow is to do exactly what I did today and take a chance,” Cunningham said. “I could come in with 17 pounds again or I could come in with zero. In a tournament like this, you have to swing for the fences and that’s what I came here to do. I have a big lead right now, but I’ve been fishing long enough that I know I just have to tune it out and keep fishing.”
Top 10 Boaters
1. Connor Cunningham – 17 – 8 (5)
2. Ryan Powroznik – 12 – 14 (5)
3. Sean Wieda – 12 – 8 (5)
4. Hunter Eubanks – 11 – 14 (5)
5. Brian Bean – 11 – 13 (5)
6. Preston Henson – 11 – 7 (5)
7. Wade Ramsey – 11 – 6 (5)
8. Brad Jelinek – 11 – 3 (5)
9. David Lowery – 11 – 0 (5)
10. Andy Wicker – 10 – 14 (5)
Rusher Paces Strike King Co-angler Side
Hailing from Lincoln, Arkansas — about 190 miles away from Lake Hamilton — Billy Rusher sits on top of the Strike King co-angler leaderboard after weighing a stringer of 11-4. Rusher leads second-place Evan Eldred by 1-5.
Rusher was pretty happy with his day considering how fast it got started for him.
“I had a limit by 9 a.m. this morning,” Rusher said. “I was able to get a limit really before the rain started and once that rain started it really slowed down for me. I culled a few times once the rain let up.”
Rusher made one final cull at the end of the day with only minutes remaining before he had to be back at the ramp. That one final cull proved to be the difference for him.
“We were looking for one final spot right before heading back for weigh-in,” Rusher said. “We pulled up to a spot, and I hooked into a 4-11 and got it into the livewell at 2:27 p.m. He was skinny, but that’s still a big fish out here right now. After that, it was a wrap and we headed back. A great way to end the day.”
Rusher, like Cunningham, wasn’t ready to give anything away about how he was catching them. However, he did admit what wasn’t really working for him to start out his day.
“I was fishing pretty slow today,” Rusher said. “I tried to catch them on topwater this morning and I just couldn’t make it work. I figured out one bait that I could get them to bite and that’s the bait I stuck with all day long. I won’t say what it was, but there was a lot of shake, rattle and roll in my presentation.”
Top 10 Strike King Co-Anglers
1. Billy Rusher – 11-4 (5)
2. Evan Eldred – 9-15 (5)
3. Hunter Dhanke – 9-0 (5)
4. Cory Guinn – 8-14 (5)
5. Kenneth Hunnicutt – 7-13 (5)
6. Jeffrey Johnson – 7-10 (5)
7. Zachary Verbrugge – 7-10 (5)
8. Clint Horton – 7-2 (5)
9. Scott Blaesi – 6-11 (5)
10. Eric Eden – 6-10 (5)