Terry “Big Show” Scroggins has been fishing professionally for 15 years, and yesterday he weighed-in the lightest five-bass limit of his career.
The highly likeable Florida pro’s quintet of four smallmouth and one largemouth totaled a grin-generating 5 pounds, 10 ounces, and he was proud to have ‘em.
“I’d have to rank the Upper Chesapeake this week as the third toughest tournament I’ve ever fished,” says Scroggins, who has competed in 183 B.A.S.S. events, earning a paycheck in 69-percent of them.
“The toughest event ever was the 2005 Bassmaster Classic in Pittsburgh. I caught two keepers in three days of competition,” remembers Scroggins. “I’d rank the Delaware River last summer in Philadelphia as the second toughest.”
“Practice here on the Upper Chesapeake was so tough that guys were talking about whether or not they even had a bite, not how much a good limit might weigh. So to get five bites, and bring five keepers to the scales yesterday was an accomplishment,” says Scroggins, who enters Day 2 in 63rd place.
Scroggins ran about 10 miles from the launch area to his catch his tiny limit yesterday. A jerkbait and a topwater were his primary lures.
“Here’s the deal, 50-percent of these guys never fished further than three miles from this ramp yesterday hoping to catch fish that have been released here in previous tournaments,” says Scroggins.
“The problem is there aren’t enough bass within three miles of this ramp to keep sustaining that pressure. So I’m running 10 miles again today, and if I can catch another 5 pound, 10 ounce limit I’ll be ahead of most. And if I can catch an 11 or 12 pound limit today, I’ll be in real good shape,” theorizes Scroggins.