Photographer James "Osprey" Overstreet reports that Jeremy Starks has had a hot start to a cool morning in the Ozarks, courtesy of smallmouth bass.
Starks entered the day tied for 10th place with 14 pounds, 3 ounces. He has almost duplicated that weight with four smallies that weigh about 13 pounds.
But Starks has found the going a bit tougher in the last hour, since the sun has moved up in the sky and there's no ripple on the water.
Overstreet has also observed Scott Rook this morning. Once the sun got up a bit, Rook put his rod down, kicked his trolling motor on high and has been looking for spawners.
If no wind blows today, the majority of this 100-man field will be doing some version of the same thing. It could be Tuesday all over again. It was Tuesday afternoon during practice when Jeff Kriet observed bass moving to spawning beds "by the thousands. There were fish everywhere."
The storm and cold front Thursday pushed many of those fish back off the banks. A warm, calm day, like today, might bring them right back.