Day Two: Notes & quotes

The best lines overheard on Day Two of the 2012 Bassmaster Classic.

Iaconelli misses cut in tiebreaker

One of the most well-known anglers in the sport missed the cut Saturday in a tiebreaker. Mike Iaconelli, the 2003 Bassmaster Classic champion, tied for 25th place with 2004 Classic champ Takahiro Omori. But Iaconelli wound up in 26th place in the official standings by virtue of the Classic tiebreaking system. Since both anglers weighed the same number of fish and the same number of live fish over the first two days, Omori took 25th place because he had the heaviest single-day stringer: 13 pounds, 14 ounces, to Iaconelli’s 13-5.

These guys play well with others

They weren’t holding hands and singing “Kumbaya,” but three anglers sharing a small pocket of water in Pool 4 were models for how to fish in a crowd.

Todd Faircloth, Keith Combs and Edwin Evers shared an area that stretched roughly 400 yards in a Pool 4 backwater. The spot was about 100 yards across at the widest point and much narrower in other places.

But there were no conflicts, even when Faircloth and Combs passed within yards of each other on several occasions.

“Edwin’s in the very back, and even though Keith and I were close, we were true professionals about it,” Faircloth said. “There was no fussing and fighting about it. It doesn’t do any good to fuss and fight out there.”

Faircloth caught Day Two’s second biggest bag (18 pounds, 14 ounces), thanks in part to a pair of hefty bass that Combs, who put 15-1 in the boat, watched him catch.

“It was painful to watch him jerk on ‘em,” Combs said. “He caught one that was 5 or 6 pounds right before we pulled up to get out of there. That one hurt.”

But there were no hard feelings. In fact, Faircloth even told Combs how he was catching his fish earlier in the day.

Evers was mostly alone in the back of the pocket, but after posting the lowest total of the threesome at 14-4, he had to wonder how things might’ve been if he’d had the area to himself, which was the case when the Classic was held here in 2009.

“It’s frustrating,” Evers said. “If I had the whole place to myself, I’d be mauling them.”

Quotable

“This was my dream. My next dream is to be doing the exact same thing tomorrow.”

-Chris Lane on leading after Day Two

“It’s blood, and the Classic title’s not gonna split that.”

Chris Lane on competing against his brother Bobby

Numbers game

Here are a few numbers for thought as the 25 remaining anglers fish for $500,000 on Sunday.

  • 7 anglers are within 5 pounds of the lead
  • 2 pounds, 13 ounces separate Greg Vinson (in second place) and Alton Jones (third)
  • 30 of the 49 anglers caught limits
  • 19-4 is the biggest stringer of the tournament, caught by Chris Lane on Day Two
  • 5 anglers caught 20 pounds or better on Sunday when the tournament was held here in 2009
  • 3 of the top 10 (Chris Lane, Edwin Evers, Aaron Martens) improved their weight from Friday to Saturday