Day 2 of the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Plains Division event on Grand Lake has been warmer with substantially less wind, though big bites – or bites in general – are still hard to come by.
With the overnight temps last night only dipping into the 50s and the high projected to be close to 80 today, the top pros were almost certain there would be waves of prespawn largemouth pushing to the bank to feed before locking on beds. Unfortunately, that hasn’t entirely been the case so far.
Our on-the-water crew spent the majority of the morning keeping tabs on the top pros and as of about 12:30 when they got off the water none of the anglers we stopped on had a limit in the boat.
Leader Eric Olliverson spent his morning bouncing around from pocket to pocket throwing a variety of baits – from buzzbaits to a Texas rig – but by mid-morning only had a 2-pounder to show for it. He noted that the day feels different and thinks he’ll have to adapt to tempt bites this afternoon.
James Watson was fishing super shallow with a swim jig to start the day and had a “decent” keeper in the boat when we got on him. Just a few hours ago we checked back on him and he still had just the one keeper.
Blain Jackson started the day in third and was struggling today with the lack of wind. He had three keepers in the boat, but would be happy if they weighed 6 pounds total.
Jeremy Lawyer, who has more knowledge of Grand Lake than a lot of pros in the field, caught his first keeper around 11 o’clock this morning. He’s got three for close to 8 pounds and is really banking on a strong afternoon bite.
Elsewhere, Chris Jones, who also is a hammer on Grand, had a 5-pounder in the box early, but was still looking for four fish to go with it. Brent Algeo was the only top pro we caught up with that was close to a limit as he’s got four keepers. They may weigh 11 or 12 pounds total, but he’s certainly happy to have them.
Clouds have settled in for the afternoon and the wind is picking up, which could be the spark to ignite a usually stellar afternoon bite. Only the Top 10 pros make the cut to fish tomorrow, so tune in to the weigh-in at 3 p.m. CT to see who’s going to advance.