More early action on St. Johns

Day 1 of the Bassmaster Elite on St. Johns presented by Dick Cepek Tires and Wheels has begun with a bang. Here is more of the action on the water as the morning turns to afternoon in Central Florida. Brent Chapman is playing one into the boat while fishing among a flotilla of Elite Series pros.

Chapman’s bass is not happy about the situation and throws water all over the side of his boat.

Hoisting it into the boat, and hoping it’ll help his efforts.

Looks like it may push the 3-pound mark.

He seems happy with it, and it upped his total by a few ounces.

Chad Grigsby brings a small one aboard. It immediately went back into the water.

Josh Bertrand works one to the boat.

The fish has attitude, and makes a run at the side of the boat.

Looks like a pretty good fish, it’ll go into Bertrand’s livewell, but later be culled out.

Chad Grigsby hoists another one into the boat to build on his limit.

Meanwhile, Florida native Bernie Schultz lands another keeper. He was positioned in shallow water, several hundred yards closer to shore.

Brent Chapman is still making noise.

Another angry fish throws water next to Chapman’s boat.

Into his boat it comes, but will it be good enough for a cull?

It helped Chapman’s cause, and into the livewell it goes. Chapman quickly returned to the front deck and and resumed casting.

Behind Chapman, Brian Snowden hooks into a big fish and the battle goes boat-side.

The fish goes airborne several times splashing both the angler and his marshal.

Snowden does his best to control the bass, but it has different plans.

The fish continues to defy Snowden’s attempts to land it.

After some excessive splashing, Snowden gets the bass corralled and put into his livewell.

Takahiro Omori gets a fish up to the side of his boat.

Throwing water onto the casting deck of the pro’s boat.

Omori works the fish toward the back of the boat preparing to swing it in.

It looks like a solid fish.

The fish is good enough to increase Omori’s total, he’s happy with it.

In the background, Chad Pipkins hooks into a fish.

He works the fish to the other side of the boat before scooping it up.

He pauses for a moment so his marshal can take a quick photo for the blog. It’ll help Pipkin’s limit.

A short cast away, Brent Chapman ties into another bass.

It’s not a very big fish, so he flips it in…

Chapman sizes it up as the line lands within his grip…

The fish wasn’t very big, but it was big enough to make an upgrade.

David Walker works through the crowd while wearing a hood. The hood shadows his vision, which reduces glare and makes it easier to see bedded fish.

Walker locates a bedded bass and makes several flips to it before moving on.

Here’s a look at how close many of the anglers are fishing. So far, everyone has been very cordial and willing to share the water.

Josh Bertrand continues to peer into the dark water looking for bass on beds.

He finds one that is willing to eat…

It’s a small fish, but it’s proof that his pattern is still producing fish.

Chapman gets into another one, and it looks like it should help his total.

Into the livewell it goes. It’s a small cull, but every ounce counts.

Morizo Shimizu connects with a pretty good fish and works it boat side.

It looks like a pretty good fish…

….it will definitely help his limit.

Into the livewell it goes.