As is typical on smallmouth bass fisheries, there's very few pounds of separation between the leaders and the longshots after the field was cut to the Top 50 for today's competition. Yes, Edwin Evers has a 3-pound, 7-ounce lead over second-place Skeet Reese entering the day. And if Evers stays on his 20-pounds-a-day roll, it's unlikely anyone will catch him.
But there's less that 10 pounds separating Reese (40-5) and 50th place Tommy Biffle (30-8). A big bag today could propel anyone in the Top 50 into Sunday's Top 12 finalists. In fact, the 12 cut will likely be decided by a single ounce, just like the 50 cut was yesterday.
Here were the two-day totals from 45 to 55 yesterday – the last six anglers in, and the first five anglers out: Bill Lowen, 30-15, Matt Lee 30-13, Steve Kennedy 30-13, Brent Ehrler 30-11, Rick Clunn 30-10, Tommy Biffle 30-8, Britt Myers 30-7, Scott Rook 30-6, John Crews 30-5, Jeff Kriet 30-1, Mike Kernan 30-0.