Beaver Lake Day 2 Coverage
Time to weigh ‘em up
Quick Links
Live On The Water Twitter stream (scroll to the bottom)
2:30 p.m.: Time to weigh ‘em up
Weigh-in for day two of the FLW Tour starts up at 3 p.m. CT and this should be a good one. We’re about to crown a co-angler winner and only the top 20 pros get the chance to move on to day three. So far, the weights have been very tight, so tune in and buckle up for another great weigh-in from Beaver Lake!
1:35 p.m.: Recent action
We’ve had a slew of updates in the last few minutes and it seems like many of the pros are building pretty solid bags at this point in the day. Buddy Gross has culled his way up to about 10 pounds, which ought to keep him safely inside the top 10 at least. Scott Ashmore has worked himself a small limit that goes about 7 pounds (he started the day in 96th). Finally, for now, Clark Reehm is doing well with around 12 pounds, which will certainly give him a shot at a top 20.
1:25 p.m.: Brandon Cobb is making a move
Starting the day in 56th with about 11 pounds, Brandon Cobb was well within range of the tightly packed top 20. Today, it appears that he’s making a run for it. Moments ago, the affable South Carolinian upgraded with a 3-pounder and he’s now looking at about 15 pounds in the ‘well. From the looks of it, Cobb is moving and grooving by the seat of his pants and fishing about 80 mph like he did last year at the Forrest Wood Cup. Interestingly, he’s discovered a topwater bite, something not a ton of pros look for this early in the year.
1:05 p.m.: The wind is picking up
The last couple hours of the day are going to be crucial and the anglers might have some god adjusting to do. Up in War Eagle Creek, the wind is rolling pretty good and the same can be said of the clear water down by the dam. Long story short, the bass oughta start biting as the day winds down.
Up the War Eagle, Kurt Mitchell has added some, but is still shy of a limit. He’s just got the one good one from the morning and three littles with it. Also of note, Brian Latimer is working on a pretty good bag, with a limit for about 10 pounds. Finally, Stetson Blaylock is almost to a limit – he’s got four that are “just keepers.”
12:25 a.m.: #Hammerbury has 14 in the boat
Well up in War Eagle Creek, Quaker State pro Scott “Hammerbury” Canterbury is working on the biggest bag of the day that we know of. He’s got 14 pounds and is of course looking for more. From what our OTW reporter has observed, he’s mostly dragging and flipping a jig along a rocky bank with a good amount of wood mixed in as well.
11:45 a.m.: Roundup time
With a little more than 3 hours to go before the first flight checks in, it is starting to get into crunch time for the whole field. From leaders looking to main to pros on the cusp of the top 20 or simply a guy looking to scrap together a check. The weather really hasn’t changed that much all day. The big wind has yet to materialize and it’s otherwise just fairly warm and cloudy.
JT Kenney started the day with the lead, but with only two fish in the boat at this point, he is big-time in danger of coughing it up. Behind him, Jimmy Houston has yet to fish his limit and Buddy Gross has boxed a small limit for about 7 pounds.
For some reason, the fishing is a bit tougher today than yesterday, though it may be simply a function of the anglers our OTW coverage team has run across. The guys really doing well that we know of are Jacob Wheeler, Andy Morgan, Jeff Sprague and Capt. Blake Smith, who are about at the 12-pound mark. Other than that, there is a good collection of pros with partial limits. Of that bunch, Clark Reehm has two for about 6 pounds, Stetson Blaylock had two keepers about an hour ago, Cody Meyer has three small keepers and Brandon Cobb has four for about 10 pounds.
11:00 a.m.: The Goat is doing work
Andy Morgan started the day pretty strong and he just culled his way up to about 12 pounds with a big spotted bass. After a pretty slow day one, it looks like the Beaver Lake expert is going to be in the mix for a top 20 by the end for the day. As usual, his adaptability is coming in handy. The wind has never really picked up to the levels the pros would like today and the bedding bite seems to be off a little or too pressured, but there are still plenty of fish to be caught.
Being able to change on the fly to make something happen is going to be key. At the moment, JT Kenney needs to figure out how to do that. He’d got two fish now, but one is just a little spotted bass and he’s still a long way off the lofty mark he set the first day.
10:25 a.m.: Sprague making a charge
Starting the day in eighth, Keystone Light pro Jeff Sprague looks to be making a move. Fishing up tight on steep rocky banks midway up the river, the young Texan is mixing it up between a jig and a crankbait and has already put 12 pounds in the boat. He landed day 15-6 on day one, and having 12 in the boat this early likely assures he’s at least fishing tomorrow.
9:40 a.m.: Now we’re cooking with gas
Though JT Kenney is still sitting on one keeper, the bite seems to be picking up across the board. One factor in that might be the increasingly cloudy skies and a breeze that is steady, though not very strong at the moment. Like day one, the entire lake is playing, with anglers finding success from the top of the White River all the way down into the clear.
Buddy Gross is up to four keepers now for a negligible amount of weight. James Watson has a limit for about 8 pounds. Anthony Gagliardi has two for a total of 5 pounds. Jimmy Houston just added a fourth squeaker. Jimmy Reese is finding some quality, with a variety of species and three bass for about 7 pounds. To top things off, Larry Nixon just caught his fourth keeper of the day and is a fish away from a small limit.
9:15 a.m.: Martin has a 3-pounder to start
We’ve now got a collection of catches throughout. Kurt Mitchell has the biggest of the morning and recently added one small keeper to go with it. Scott Martin is also on the board with a 3-pounder off a bed that took him about an hour to catch and a little guy from the clear water. Buddy Gross has now gotten on the board with a pair of small keepers as well.
The best of the morning (and really of basically everything) is Jimmy Houston. Though his fish aren’t big, Houston has three on the spinnerbait so far for about 5 pounds total.
Possibly trying to come from behind, Andy Morgan is on the board with three – two of which are solid largemouth.
Wheeler in action on day one
8:35 a.m.: JT Kenney has keeper No. 1
We’ve caught up with JT Kenney and so far he’s not off to a 6-pounder start like yesterday. At the moment, he’s still working out how the day will go and has put one keeper largemouth in the box. Like yesterday, Kenney is doing a lot of cranking, but he’s also mixing in some other stuff when he comes to a dock or laydown.
8:10 a.m.: Mitchell is on the board
Kurt Mitchell qualified for the FLW Tour out of the Northern Division of the Costa FLW Series last year and had banked two top 100 finishes in his rookie year to this point. This week he’ll likely do a lot better. Starting today in third, Mitchell has already put a 3-pounder in the boat, though he says things are going a bit slower today. Mitchell is fishing well up the War Eagle, and is targeting solely largemouth. He’s not really doing one specific thing, though he’s supposedly got a small group of areas to concentrate on.
7:30 a.m.: We’re off to a bit of a slow start
So far things are going a little slow out on Beaver Lake. We’ve got most of our coverage thrown toward the leaders and the only one of them on the board at this point is Jimmy Houston, who boxed a small keeper (complete with a kiss) very early.
One note to make is that Prairie Creek is a lot busier today and that the clear water down by the dam isn’t seeing as much action as it did on day one. It may be that pros feel the bedding bass down by the dam are too picked over, or it may be them taking a cue from the leaders who plied dirty water on day one.
6:30 a.m.: Can Kenney hold on to the lead?
Day two of the Walmart FLW Tour presented by Jack Link’s on Beaver Lake has started with even better weather than day one. It’s slightly warmer, calm for now, and word is that we’ve got some wind on the way to help out the cranking bite. JT Kenney lead day one in style with 18-5, but he knows as well as anyone that nothing is guaranteed on Beaver Lake. Yesterday at weigh-in, a number of pros said that the bass in the lower end of the lake really started to get on beds in the afternoon, and if that behavior continues we could see another wave of sight-fishing success. Of course, though many in the top 20 were sight-fishing, the leaders weren’t, at least not exclusively, and targeting the prespawn bass in the dirty water may still be the way to go.
Conditions
Current temperature: 50 degrees
Forecast high: 73 degrees
Sky: clear, transitioning to partly cloudy
Precipitation: no rain in the forecast
Wind: SE building to 13 mph
Weigh-in Details
Watch the day-two weigh-in live at FLWFishing.com starting at 3 p.m. CT.
Click here for complete tournament details.