Stormin’ Norman
FLW Tour anglers prepare for wind and rain on Norman
CONCORD, N.C. – As day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour National Guard Open dawned under dark skies and rain Friday morning, anglers were quickly making adjustments for what looks to be a wet and windy day.
Bounty pro Craig Powers was changing colors of his Pop-R to better match the darker sky conditions, and then, at the last moment, he tied on a spinnerbait for good measure.
“It’s starting to look like a spinnerbait kind of morning,” said Powers, who is currently tied for fourth place. “If it gets too windy for the Pop-R, I’ve got something else to try.
“Plus, the word is David Dudley caught some on a spinnerbait yesterday – and 
whatever Dudley does, I do,” Powers joked.
In the next boat over, Castrol pro Bobby Curtis, who is in sixth place, had apparently heard the same Dudley report as he, too, was tying on a spinnerbait.
“I’m fishing postspawn fish with a Fluke,” Curtis said of his catch yesterday. “But fishing that weightless Fluke is so slow. I really need a bait to fish fast between docks, which is what the spinnerbait is for.”
Both Powers and Curtis know that in order to stay atop the tight leaderboard on Norman, they’re going to have to change with the conditions.
“With the weather like this, you can’t get too bogged down on any one thing,” Powers offered. “It’s a constant mental battle of trying to dial in to something specific while keeping an open mind to other patterns that are forming before your eyes. It sound like a contradiction, but that’s fishing for you – a constantly changing contradiction.”
The day-two weigh-in of the National Guard Open will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern time at Blythe Landing located at 15901 NC Highway 73 in Huntersville, N.C.
On the Web
For those who can’t catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.
Friday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:35 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 64 degrees
Expected high temperature: 80 degrees
Water temperature: 70-72 degrees
Forecasted winds: SW at 10 to 20 mph
Day’s outlook: showers in the morning then windy