Minutes after the take off of the Ramada Championship, Brent Chapman arrives at his primary area. And a minute after that, Bassmaster cameraman, Brian Mason has to adjust the microphone Chapman in wearing.
For the first 15 minutes several anglers in the event ran by Chapman headed to their areas, including Chris Lane.
But it wasnât long before Chapman began to see a difference in the fishing from Day One to Day Two.
While Chapman caught his first keeper in the first hour, during that same amount of time on Day One he had boated a limit.
He spent a large amount of his time roaming around a flat casting, hoping to get a school fired up.
Most of his casts were with topwater baits, but he would occasionally try something different.
After two hours, Chapman began to spread his wings and move to new places.
At each of the areas, a slap of the water to clear grass from his baits was a constant scene.
And after a several minutes, Chapman would be on the move again.
By 9 a.m., Michael Iaconelli and his entourage could be seen (not heard) in the background.
By his third move, Chapman was able to hook his second keeper.
Unlike many smallmouth fights, this fish stayed down and never broke the surfaceâ¦
â¦until Chapman brought the smallmouth to the boat..
..and over the gunwale.
The 2 ½ pounder gave him about 4 ½ pounds on the day.
Chapman said a big reason for the slow fishing was the lack of birds, like these two that were chasing shad on Day One and helping him keep track of the fish.
Without the visual clues of birds and shad, Chapman stayed on the move.
On his sixth stop of the day, he immediately hooked up.
And a 3-pound plus smallmouth was quickly boated.
Chapman shows it the cameraman, and works on catching another.
Each time he would catch a fish, he would drop a buoy, hoping a school would be nearby.
But the only excess of anything water related was the number of boats speeding by him.
Despite the distractions and the lack of action, Chapman kept working five or six main areas.
By mid-morning, he hooked up with keeper number three.
This one hit a crankbait..
And surprised Chapman when it came in the boat as a largemouth.
Chapman called the 3-pound largemouth a bonus fish. His total at the moment reached 8 pounds.
On Day One, Chapman also weighed one largemouth.
He quickly got it in the livewell and repeated his buoy process.
Within 15 minutes, he caught anotherâ¦
.. This one a smallmouth that hit his topwater.
The fish produced a mighty jump in the airâ¦
But was close enough for Chapman to finish the jump with a pull into the boat, finishing his limit for about 14 pounds.
Chapman pulls grass off his lure as he continues fishing his area.
And within a few minutes hooks up with another keeper.
The fish quickly pulls Chapman into a different position at the bow of the boatâ¦,
⦠forcing Chapman to switch sides.
The fish stays down and Chapman is able to get next to the boatâ¦
..and air born and other the gunwale..
A quick adjustment to the trolling motor to keep from ruining his areaâ¦,
And Chapman is ready to make his first cull of the day.
That cull gave him a five fish total of about 14 ½ pounds by noon.