LIVE BLOG: 20 Minutes of Pressure; Final Spot in REDCREST Championship up for Grabs

LA CROSSE, Wi. – We’re down to the final 20 minutes in Knockout Round 2. We’re watching a toe-to-toe battle between Brandon Palaniuk (44-10) and Casey Ashley (42-6) for the fifth and final spot. Who will join Greg Hackney, Zack Birge, Fred Roumbanis and Brent Ehrler out of the round?

12:52 p.m. CT – Hackney is fishing a stretch that he said he caught 15 fish earlier in the day. It’s a small area – maybe 100 yards long – and “Hack Attack” is back to throwing the deep-diving crankbait exclusively. He’s gotten a few bites, but nothing scoreable yet. He told us that he’s going to fish that stretch and then move back to an area where he got off to his jump-start morning.
-Mason Prince

12:23 p.m. CT – MLF NOW! live stream analyst JT Kenney gave an accurate prediction of how Period 3 will probably play out on the Upper Mississippi River: “It’s going to be wild all over the place.” Greg Hackney and Zack Birge are probably pretty safe with 55-0 and 50-6 to start the final period, and Fred Roumbanis is semi-safe with 40-8, but hasn’t caught a scoreable bass in over 90 minutes. The next five spots, though? Whoa. Less than 6 pounds separate Brent Ehrler in fourth and Mark Rose in eight.

12:16 p.m. CT – Back on Greg Hackney again, and he’s back in an area of Swift Creek called Green Island. He had to idle for about 7 minutes to get back to the place near where he started this morning. He has a creature bait tied on as he fishes the outside edge of lily pads and duckweed.
-Mason Prince

11:42 a.m. CT – At roughly the midway point of the day, we have a major donnybrook forming around the fifth spot and Elimination Line. Casey Ashley is currently in fifth with 29-13, and Mark Rose is just ahead of him with 31-8. Lurking right behind Ashley are Brandon Palaniuk (28-15), Brent Ehrler (25-10) and Randall Tharp (24-3). Palaniuk has been the fastest mover so far in the second period: he’s added 10 fish to SCORETRACKER® in the period.
-Joel Shangle

10:22 a.m. CT – Managed to snake our way through a maze of sloughs to find Casey Ashley. He’s fishing the intersection of French Slough and Smith Slough. There’s considerable current in this area, and Ashley just landed a scoreable bass as we pulled up.
-Tyler Brinks

10:03 a.m. CT – We had a quick chat with Fred Roumbanis during the period break, and the Arkansas pro told us that he’s using lighter line because the fish wouldn’t bite when he was using heavier line. He plans to stick with that strategy, and continue to fish a wacky worm around isolated patches of milfoil. Once that bite stops, Roumbanis says he’ll switch to punching through those mats, and then throw a frog after that. “Boom Boom” feels comfortable with his position on SCORETRACKER and confident that he’ll continue to catch fish. However, during the break, a local angler moved into Roumbanis’ favorite spot in this area, so he may have to find something new.
-Mason Prince

9:33 a.m. CT – Fred Roumbanis is down on Lake Lawrence, fishing isolated patches of hydrilla. He’s using a wacky worm on a spinning rod, and has worked his way into a battle with Zack Birge for first place. “Boom Boom” just lost what he says was “a toad!” because of the thick, matted vegetation. Because of the combination of light line and light spinning rod, he didn’t have enough power to pull the fish through it.
-Mason Prince

9:17 a.m. CT – Still on Palaniuk, and he’s starting to catch them with a little more frequency. He’s throwing a small moving bait, and has added five fish to his total in a six-minute span. Palaniuk has climbed out of 10th into seventh.
-Tyler Brinks

8:47 a.m. CT – We’ve worked out way downriver to Brandon Palaniuk. The Idaho pro is in the same area where he, Micheal Neal and Zack Birge have smashed ’em this week, but so far, it’s slow going for BP. He’s working his way down the bank with a buzzbait.
-Tyler Brinks

8:21 a.m. CT – And just like that, Zack Birge takes the lead. Birge has been quietly simmering away this morning, within range of Hackney’s weight, but the Oklahoma pro has been on a tear the past 20 minutes: he’s caught five fish in a 19-minute span to add 9-1 to his total.
-Joel Shangle

8:11 a.m. CT – Hackney has put down the deep-diving crankbait for now and has picked up a worm. He’s fishing the same area, just slowly dragging the work along the structure. He’s yet to get bit with the worm, but there’s plenty of fish activity in his area. Hackney might be packing up and heading out to a new area soon in hopes that this main spot replenishes a little later on in the day.

8:04 a.m. CT – Hackney’s main weapon this morning is a Strike King 5XD in Chartreuse Perch, which he’s winding along a series of sandy “ledges” on the lower end of Pool 8.
-Jesse Schultz

7:37 a.m. CT – As Hackney continues to light up SCORETRACKER®, Kevin VanDam just pulled up for a report on the MLF NOW! live stream. Plenty of people are taking notice of Hackney’s early-morning success as we’re watching a growing gallery of fans starting to form on the water around the Louisiana pro.
-Mason Prince

7:14 a.m. CT – We’re on the I-90 bridge patrol again this morning. Same story as yesterday, with a couple of guys starting here. Instead of Evers and Vinson, though, this morning it was Rose and Ehrler. Both of the two anglers who fished here yesterday advanced to the Championship Round, so we’ll see if the bridge can produce two more final-round competitors. So far, it’s a little off pace: Both Ehrler and Rose are just over 6 pounds.
-Tyler Brinks

7:11 a.m. CT – Greg Hackney has found some sandbars and is back to throwing a deep-diving crankbait to start the morning. The Louisiana pro is in an area with a plethora of baitfish and schooling bass, and it’s paying off: Hackney with the early lead. He just landed two fish on two casts, but the second one landed him a fish-landing violation. As he sits and waits, he’s clearly ready to throw right back to the same spot.
-Mason Prince