Carson leads with 22-15, Morrison an ounce back at the Detroit River
TRENTON, Mich. – With most of the contenders (but not all) making the trek to Lake St. Clair on Day 1 of Stop 6 Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches at the Detroit River, the standings are packed tight as you’d expect in a smallmouth event. Leading the way, Keith Carson tallied 22 pounds, 15 ounces, and Alec Morrison is an ounce back with 22-14. Behind the leaders, Jon Canada, Jacob Wheeler and Jesse Wiggins all weighed more than 22 pounds, which has set the stage for a fantastic weekend of action.
Notably, with both tournament-specific and Fishing Clash Angler of the Year implications, Morrison was assessed a 2-pound penalty for making a cast with six fish in the livewell. Though he doesn’t have much higher to climb in the standings, you never know when 2 pounds will come in handy.
Carson roams for big ones
Running to St. Clair and hunting smallmouth with Lowrance ActiveTarget, Carson put together a fantastic day of smallmouth fishing.
“I found in practice that the big ones seem to be all by themselves,” explained Carson. “If you get in schools, you’re catching 3s and 4s; if you get out and see one every once in a while, they’re all over 4, every one of them. I’m just out there roaming around. I don’t have a single spot anywhere. I’ve got an area where there’s some perch, and there seems to be bass around them. But you really have to search and move a lot. I’m only seeing one fish every 20 minutes or so.”
Culling multiple 4-pounders on the day, Carson did most of his damage with a drop-shot and a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Flat Worm or a minnow.
While some folks reported that the fish were very difficult to trick in practice, Carson ran pretty good percentages today.
“I love smallmouth fishing. There’s something about them, I’ve been able to find bigger ones and figure out the structure almost everywhere,” said Carson. “Every day in practice and today, I’ll get a flurry where I catch three in a row, and then I’ll get three in a row that won’t bite it or will nip it or get the tail. So, it’s about 50%, I’d say.”
Carson is mired in a pretty tough rookie season on the Bass Pro Tour, but his Invitationals performance has been strong, as it usually is. With a couple more good days, he could be heading to the season finale at the St. Lawrence with some serious smallmouth mojo.
Morrison surges into the AOY lead despite mishap
With not a ton of fishing time and some long runs in play, the weights for this event are about what they should be — 20 pounds is very good, but not good enough. On the high end, scratching across the 22-pound barrier is very much the goal.
Today, had he not slipped up and made a cast with six in the ‘well, Morrison could have really got out ahead, with 24-14 to his credit pre-penalty. As is, 22-14 has him right in the hunt and obviously marked as someone with a lot of potential.
“My starting area was good, but it wasn’t as good as it had been,” Morrison said. “I made a move to another place that was really good. I only have two areas, and the secondary place is unreal now. I left another 20-plus swimming around out there. They’re definitely moving in, and no one was around. I should be able to do it again — I don’t know about 25, but over 20.”
Bringing 4-pounders over the rail left and right is fun, but Morrison was far from overjoyed after weigh-in. Locked in a battle for AOY with Jake Lawrence, he knows he had a shot a putting it away.
“I had a great day, but I feel pretty distraught,” said the young pro. “If I didn’t have that mishap, I would say it’s probably a wrap. But, it’s still open for either one of us. Jake is super good; he could definitely have a big day tomorrow, but so could I.”
Morrison has fished a lot of smallmouth events, and it’s not unusual to throw back smaller keepers when you expect to have a good day. Today, putting those marginal fish in the box hurt him.
“I was putting fish in the ‘well that I never do and shouldn’t have, I guess,” Morrison said. “I realized right when I casted. My camera guy was totally clueless of it. I’ve never done anything like that. I definitely won’t do it again. I was putting little ones in there and not thinking about it.”
Top 10 pros
1. Keith Carson – 22 – 15 (5)
2. Alec Morrison – 22 – 14 (5)
3. Jon Canada – 22 – 12 (5)
4. Jacob Wheeler – 22 – 06 (5)
5. Jesse Wiggins – 22 – 03 (5)
6. Scott Dobson – 21 – 15 (5)
6. Matteo Turano – 21 – 15 (5)
8. Connor Cunningham – 21 – 14 (5)
9. John Cox – 21 – 12 (5)
9. Troy Stokes – 21 – 12 (5)
Points shakeup on the horizon
After Day 1, the race for Fishing Clash Angler of the Year and Polaris Rookie of the Year have a new leader, and the chase for the top five spots and Bass Pro Tour invitations is up in the air as well. Moving up, Morrison took the lead with 1154 points to his credit if the tournament ended today. He unseated Lawrence, who sits in 30th, which gives him a pretty steep hill to climb to get within striking distance of Morrison.
On the BPT qualification front, Jaden Parrish is in 19th place and moved into the top five in the points. On the downside, Jacob Walker only weighed 16-8 and probably took himself out of the race. Tomorrow, there’s sure to be a lot more movement on the leaderboard, which should make for a tense weigh-in for interested parties.
Standings if the event ended today:
1. Alec Morrison – 1154 points
2. Jake Lawrence – 1131
3. Colby Miller – 1101
4. Jaden Parrish – 1097
5. Marshall Hughes – 1096
6. Brock Reinkemeyer – 1072
7. Nick Hatfield – 1055
8. Andrew Nordbye – 1053
9. Brad Jelinek – 1047
10. Keith Carson – 1039