Rose still rules, Mann on the move
FLW Series AOY still too close to call
HIXSON, Tenn. – Call it another day at the ledge-fishing office for Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., who still leads the FLW Series event on Lake Chickamauga after day three.
Though Rose brought in his lightest weight of the week today – 12 pounds, 15 ounces – his three-day total of 45-7 gives him a 3-pound advantage going into the final day.
Behind him, Tom Mann Jr. made a big move today with the largest limit of the week, and Wesley Strader has also tapped into a shallow groove that has allowed him to move up to third.
Ironically, for Rose, he caught more fish today, but his weight was lighter.
“I did just about what I wanted to do today, I was just a little light on weight,” Rose said. “I actually got off to a great start. Somehow I got a good school fired up early and caught 13 or 14 keepers in a row. It was fun. But two of my best ones jumped off and I ended up a little lighter than I wanted.”
Mann jumps to second 
Despite a heart-breaking seventh-place finish at the Forrest Wood Cup on his home lake last month, Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., has not let it get him down.
Mann is back to his fish-catching ways this week on the FLW Series (he won the points title last year), sacking up the biggest limit of the tournament today – 17 pounds, 6 ounces – to move into second place and put a little pressure on Rose with a three-day total of 42-8.
Mann is fishing grass, but he is not fishing the mats or the hard edge. Instead he is concentrating on the deeper, scattered grass with a 6-inch Yamamoto Cut-tail worm in green-pumpkin with a 3/16-ounce tungsten weight tied to 12-pound-test Suffix fluorocarbon.
“I’m staying way off the shallower hard edge and fishing the deeper clumps in about 10 to 14 feet,” Mann said. “I’m fishing slow. A lot of these guys are burning up those mats with moving baits, but I’m out there really soaking the Cut-tail in deeper water where it’s a little cooler.”
Strader moves to third
Goodwill pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., has hooked up and found his groove on Chickamauga the last two days. Yesterday he weighed in 14-6 and today he did even better with 15-9.
Strader is fishing shallow grass and says timing the bite with water movement is key.
“Yesterday I kind of figured out where I needed to be when the water started moving,” Strader said. “And today when they turned on the turbines, I was in the right place at the right time.”
Strader says he is covering water with a moving bait. Although he would not say what the bait is just yet, he did say it has a Zoom Speed Craw on the back of it, which is a big key.
Montgomery fourth
Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C. is in fourth place with a three-day total of 40-15.
Montgomery said his flipping bite came back on today with the increased sunshine. He is punching mats with a Zoom Superhog and noted that the flipping bite did not exist yesterday.
“The first and third days, the flipping bite was really good, I caught a lot of fish under mats,” he explained. “But yesterday that bite was non-existent. It’s got to be the sun that really puts those fish under the thicker mats.”
Thliveros fifth
Pete Thliveros of St. Augustine, Fla., grabbed the last qualifying spot for Saturday’s final round with a three-day total of 38-13.
Over the last two days, Thliveros has been fishing a couple of grass humps and ledges with a Rapala DT-3 square-billed shallow runner, contacting the grass and ripping it out to trigger bites.
Today he resorted to a topwater for the first time all week.
“The topwater bite was good until about 10 this morning, then I switched to a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speedworm to catch a couple more key fish later in the day,” Thliveros said.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros in the FLW Series Eastern on Lake Chickamauga after day three:
6th: Scott Suggs of Bryant, Ark., three-day total of 38-2, $7,612
7th: Rogne Brown of Hixson, Tenn., three-day total of 37-0, $7,165
8th: Derek Remitz of Grant, Ala., three-day total of 36-15, $6,717
9th: Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., three-day total of 36-7, $6,269
10th: Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., three-day total of 36-5, $5,821
FLW Series AOY
None of the contenders for the FLW Series Eastern Division Angler of the Year title made the top-five cut for tomorrow. But because the race is so tight between John Cox, JT Kenney and Bryan Thrift, FLW tournament officials wanted to make sure the Chickamauga tournament results were set in stone before announcing the points champion, which will be done tomorrow at the final weigh-in starting at 4 p.m. at Chester Frost Park.