Havasu Midday Update – Day 3
Nobody has separated from the pack on the final day
With three days of fishing on Havasu mostly complete, it looks like we’re going to have to wait until weigh-in to figure out the winner. All week, weights in the Costa FLW Series presented by Ranger have been wicked tight, and despite less boat pressure and lovely weather, nobody is wrecking them on the final day.
Most of the morning was calm, warm and sunny, but at about 11 o’clock the weather took a turn. Though still warm, a fresh south breeze has kicked up and brought clouds in with it. It’s the first real cloud cover we’ve had all week, and it might really change the bite this afternoon as the clock ticks down toward weigh-in.
Starting the day in the lead, Chris Kinley caught a small limit very quickly but has failed to upgrade, leaving him with less than 10 pounds around noon. In second, Shaun Bailey had a decent morning and has around 14 pounds, but his estimate seems like it might be a little light. Sean Minderman, who sacked up 23 pounds on day two, is still around fish, but only had a pair of 2-pounders midmorning.
We stopped in on David Valdivia early and he wrangled a quality smallmouth around 9 o’clock, but only had the one when we left. Starting in fifth, Jason Milligan might move up a lot – we found him early with two keepers and two 3-pounders to go with.
Lower down, Jay Wright had one 4-pounder when we found him. Michael Caruso had three in the box around 11:30 and one was a big one. Finally, Tom Leedom is poised to move up with a limit for 13 or so pounds.
There’s a lot of time left and plenty of mystery to unravel. One mystery is going to be Joe Uribe Jr.’s weight. We heard secondhand around 11 o’clock that he didn’t have any in the boat, but the conditions this afternoon seem prime for his swimbait bite to get going.
Weigh-in starts at the ramp and online at 3:30 p.m. MT and it should be a good one. There’s $40,000 for the pro winner on the line and nobody has locked it up yet.