As has been noted often this week, Lake St. Clair is fishing better than it did when the Elite Series was last here in 2013. In comparing Day 1 from then to Day 1 yesterday, that's not obvious. Only 7 of 99 anglers failed to catch a 5-bass limit in '13; only 10 of 107 failed yesterday. Not much difference.
Here are some other numbers:
– In 2013, the Day 1 big bag, which remained big bag for the tournament, was 22-9 by Chris Lane.
– Yesterday big bag was 23-10 by Alton Jones, and there were two more over 23 pounds.
This stat is maybe the most telling: 50th place in '13 was 15-5; it was almost a pound higher yesterday, 16-4.
But what you really need to know is that most of the field stayed in St. Clair yesterday. In 2013 the big stories came from Lake Erie and the St. Clair River/lower Lake Huron area. Yesterday the St. Clair River and lower Huron produced many of the headliners, but no big stories came from Erie. And Lake St. Clair was where most of the fish were caught.
Other numbers from Day 1 yesterday:
– Total fish weighed-in: 513
– Total weight: 1,641-1
– Average weight: 3.2 pounds