Brothers Thomas Oltorik III and James Oltorik of Daytona State College took the Day 2 lead of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional on the St. Johns River with a two-day total of 29-2.
Daytona State is located just 40 minutes up the road from take-off at Bull Creek Fish Camp in Dead Lake. Some might think that close proximity gives the Oltorik brothers an advantage.
In a way it does, but by no means has it made leading the Southern Regional easy.
After hoisting 15-9, the second heaviest bag of Day 1, onto the scales, the Oltorik brothers added to that momentum on Day 2 with 13-9.
Though they fell off their pace by two pounds, they managed to take the lead by a pound and two ounces.
The lighter bag on Day 2 was also harder to come by.
After having only one fish by 8:30, the Oltoriks decided to pack up and make a two-and-a-half hour run down the St. Johns River past Lake George.
Meaning that run didn’t leave the brothers a lot of time to fish.
“We caught them all in about 2 hours,” said Thomas Oltorik III.
“We went real slow on the way back because I didn’t want to have to re-fuel. My boat holds almost 60 gallons and we made it back on fumes.”
That move certainly paid off for Daytona State, but Thomas isn’t sure if the same long run will take place tomorrow.
“We’ll stop on a few places to see if we can get bit,” said Thomas.
“I don’t like to have to make that long run, but if they don’t bite in Crescent Lake we’ll have to. If the ones in the lake bite, we could have more than our Day 1 weight of 15-9.”
For leading after Day 2, Daytona State’s 29-2 earns Thomas Oltorik III and James Oltorik the Livingston Lures Leader Award.
Clemson’s Baylor Ronemus and Cole Tinsley brought in 16-15 to jump from 19th to 2nd place at the end of Day 2.
Their 16-15 was one of six limits that exceeded any brought to the scales the first day, showing that the fishing is certainly improving on the St. Johns.
Jacob Reome and Matthew Garvin of Clemson University backed up their Day 1 weight of 14-4 with 11-7 to retain 3rd place.
One of the biggest moves of Day 2 came from FSU’s Cody Spears and Justin Mahon, who brought in 19-15 to move from 60th all the way into 4th place.
Their weight of nearly 20 pounds took over the Nitro Bass Pro Big Bag lead, which will be awarded at the end of the event for the largest one-day weight of the week.
CJ Knight and Tim Ward of Auburn University round out the Top 5 with a two-day total of 24-8.
Daily Carhartt Big Bass honors go to Nathan Felker and Joe Bates of Georgia Southern for their 10-7 hog.
On a day of big bags and come-from-behinds, Grant Galloway and Joe Marty of Mississippi State University made the biggest move, jumping 77 spots to finish Day 2 in 16th place after starting the day in 93rd.
The top 20 contenders move on to fish Monday, launching at 7 a.m. ET from Bull Creek Fish Camp in Dead Lake.
The weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. ET when the top 18 teams will be determined. Those 18 teams will advance to the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship, to be held later this summer.