COLUMBIA, S.C. – After Day 1, the 43rd annual Phoenix Bass Fishing League All-American Presented by T-H Marine is off to a rollicking start. As she is wont to do, Lake Murray showed out in a big way – the top 11 boaters all caught better than 18 pounds to get things going. Nearly half the field caught 15 pounds, and the top six all weighed 20 or more.
In the lead on the boater side, Jack Story set the pace with 22 pounds, 15 ounces, and he’s closely followed by Caz Anderson with 21-12 and William Bates with 21-3.
On the co-angler side, Tyson Giesbrecht landed three for 15-3, including a 7-pounder, to take the early lead. Wayne Smelser followed with three for 12-3, and Jordan Clayton managed three for 10-5.
Day 2 of the event should be excellent – slightly cooler with a similar mix of clouds and sun. At the end of the day, the field will be cut to only the Top 10, and they’ll duke it out for the win on Saturday with MLFNOW! rolling all day.
Story lights it up early
By noon on Day 1, Story was on the hunt for more fish for Day 2. The youngest boater in the field, Story is missing his high school graduation to fish the All-American, which seems like a pretty easy call considering how well things are going. Schooled on herring lakes in the Southeast like Lanier and Hartwell, Story is the perfect fit for this sort of event.
“Practice was pretty insane — the conditions were better than they were today,” he said. “But today was fun. I’m happy with it — you can’t be mad with it.”
Of course, despite a great practice and a great Day 1, Story knows that with limited sonar, there aren’t many guarantees on Murray right now. A couple lost fish or one bad stop could really change a day.
“I told my dad, my biggest fish should not have come in the boat, and I lost one bigger that I felt should have come in the boat,” he said. “So, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow – we’ll find out.”
Though Story didn’t put in a mega session of pre-practice, the Carson-Newman University commit is plenty familiar with Murray.
“I’ve been coming here since I was little, before ‘Scope,” he said. “But I’ve never been this time of year to fish offshore. I caught everything on a Zoom Fluke. That’s pretty much all there was to it – just winding a Fluke.”
“Just winding a Fluke” may not encompass all the nuance, as Story has learned from one of the best and is trying to follow in the footsteps of some past All-American champs.
“It’d be pretty cool to win, especially after Emil Wagner and Paul Marks Jr. won it,” Story said. “I’m pretty close to Emil; he honestly taught me how to fish with LiveScope. It would be pretty cool to win this, especially after he did.”
Anderson is right in the mix
Coming off a top-five finish in last year’s All-American at Lake Hamilton, Anderson is now fishing on a lake that perfectly suits his strengths with another year of experience under his belt. It’s the perfect recipe for success, and he lived up to expectations on Day 1.
“Today was pretty good,” he said. “I started off this morning fishing a little shallow and caught a 4 1/4, and one almost 3 pounds. I broke off a 5-pounder that put a little damper on the day. I started fishing offshore mid-morning and capitalized on the clouds and wind that we had, and rotated a bunch of cane piles and schools of fish and got them to come up. I really got in a good rotation towards the end of the day.”
Weighing one fish he caught with his LiveScope off, Anderson left a little meat on the bone on Day 1, with some lost and missed fish that could haunt him. Still, he’s not down on the day, and he’s ready to attack Day 2.
“I want to run a few more places in the morning, I feel like, the amount of holes I hit, only so many of them were good,” Anderson said. “Tomorrow, I should be more efficient with my time. I definitely have room to improve. There are really big ones out here, I saw some really big fish today, to have that 24- 25-pound bag.”
Bates starts strong on Day 1
The oldest angler in the top three, Bates is in his 30s, with a real job – he’s the Senior R&D Sonar Software Engineer for Johnson Outdoors. Despite the title, he’s not running MEGA Live 3, and he actually weighed two fish caught without modern sonar on Day 1 – the most of anyone in the top three.
“I’ve fished here a few times, I qualified here in the Regional last year,” Bates said. “A bunch of the stuff I found in the Regional, I didn’t even fish in the Regional. But, a lot of that practice I did last year has helped me out.”
In this one, he might be fishing a little off the beaten path.
“It was a really good day, I caught a bunch of fish on my MEGA Live 2, watching them swim around the grass,” he said. “I was able to pick them out and catch them – just a good day.”
Murray is loaded with grass now, and though grass might not really be the predominant pattern, it has the potential to be a factor.
“The fish I’m targeting are on the edge of the grass,” Bates said. “They’re not in it, in it. You’ll see them on MEGA Live 2 going in and out of the edge. I’m able to target those fish with suspending lures and stuff on top.”
Of course, that’s not his only game plan.
“Probably about 5 minutes after I turned off my MEGA Live 2, I caught a 5-pounder,” Bates said. “That one was really cool, I watched him inhale it, it was awesome.”
As for doing it again, well, Bates is smart enough to know that there aren’t many guarantees on Murray right now.
“These fish are so finicky, they’re here one day and gone the next,” he said. “I hope I’ll have enough, I hope I’ll be good, but it could totally change on me tomorrow. These fish are so hard, even when you catch one, it’s barely got the bait in its mouth.”
Top 10 boaters
1. Jack Story – 22 – 15 (5)
2. Caz Anderson – 21 – 12 (5)
3. William Bates – 21 – 3 (5)
4. Caleb Black – 20 – 11 (5)
5. Tom Frink – 20 – 8 (5)
6. Brooks Anderson – 20 – 2 (5)
7. Lucas Murphy – 19 – 12 (5)
8. Hunter Bouldin – 19 – 4 (5)
9. Cody Mackie – 18 – 9 (5)
10. Corey Neece – 18 – 3 (5)