Pride of Georgia live blog

Day Four – West Point Lake

3:12 P.M.

We’re officially shutting this blog down for the Pride of Georgia, with pretty much no idea who is going win when the bass hit the scales. It’s been a crazy day. We devoted most the morning to VanDam, who had to be considered the favorite in second place and he has struggled. We had no one on Lintner all day and he’s one bass away from winning. Patience from our team on Ish Monroe paid off as he started catching bass late in the morning, but everyone else on the lake started making a charge at the same time. The winner in my head today went from Kennedy, to VanDam, to Ish, to Evers, and now back to Kennedy. And if I had to put $10 on it, I would take my $10 and run in the other direction. Any pick at this point is nothing but a guess. Thanks for following the blog. Thanks to all the mothers out there that keep this world from falling off a cliff. Thanks especially to my wonderful wife, Amy, who’s watching our 2-year-old today. Happy Mothers Day. It should be a fun weigh-in. –Kyle Carter

 

3:11 P.M.

One lucky angler will get to thank his mother in person at today’s weigh-in. Bobby Lane’s parents made the drive up from Florida to see their son weigh in this afternoon. Including a stop at the Waffle House, the drive took them over 6 hours, but they were excited to be here. Especially when they heard he caught that big fish this morning.

Happy Mother’s Day.

–Rob Russow

2:40 P.M.

Nothing lately from our crew on BASSTrakk from Evers or Monroe, but that doesn’t mean nothing is happening.  Since our crew doesn’t drive their boat at break-neck speed, they are on their way back in, except for Rob, who’s still sitting on Kennedy about a quarter-mile from the ramp. We’re all staring at BASSTrakk, waiting for any sign of movement, but we may have to settle this thing on the scales.

 –Kyle Carter

 

2:37 P.M.

Wow, this is going to be a crazy weigh-in. After almost an hour of nothing, Kennedy hooks up on a swimbait. It appears to be a big fish and Kennedy actually does a couple laps around his boat. When he finally grabs the bass and hauls it intothe boat, you could see the intensity as he lifted the fish with two hands into the air and gave a very Steve Kennedy-like yell.

The BassTrakk weight was punched in at 3 pounds, which has him just off the lead. I would put the fish at over 4 pounds, giving him the lead. As usual, all these weights are unofficial, so hang in there until the end. This one is a horse race that is just too close to call.

As far as I know, he still has two little fish to cull. Even one 3-pounder could be the difference.

–Rob Russow

 

2:07 P.M.

 I don’t know who it was that said this was a three-man race, but that guy’s an idiot.

 Jared Lintner just caught a 3-pounder that put his limit at 15-4. He’s 2 pounds out of the lead with a 2 pounder as his small fish, which makes him a 4-pounder from being right in the thick of things. Steve Kennedy’s small bass is also under 2-pounds.  There haven’t been a lot of 3-pounders today. These guys are building limits with a couple big fish and a lot of 2 pounders.

 It’s easy to look at a screen all day, get reports from the water and start counting people in or out, but a lot of these guys are one fish away from being in the lead. And those types of bass are all over this lake – it’s not a stretch at all to assume at least one of these guys will make a late run.

 As I type that last paragraph, we get a text that Kevin boated a 4-pounder, giving him four in the livewell that go 9 pounds. He’s 6 pounds, 11 ounces out of the lead, which makes him two 4-pounders from winning. That would be unthinkable at this point after seeing Tommy and Zona’s face as they came off the water after spending the morning with KVD.

 That makes the number of guys still with a legitimate shot at making a late charge at five with an hour left until they have to check in at 3:15 ET.

–Kyle Carter

 

2:00 P.M.

Watching Kennedy work this afternoon reminds me that these guys who made the top-12 cut are the most impatient patient men in the field. On one hand, you have to have the patience to stick with a pattern producing big fish, even when you are only getting a few of those bites each day.

On the other hand, you have to be impatient with the spots you are fishing. Don’t stay in one spot too long and make sure you come back multiple times to the spots that look the best.

Speaking of which, I just heard Kennedy talk to another spectator about coming back to this pocket. He saw two big ones back in there that he will try again to catch. Unfortunately for Kennedy he is still one or two big bites back with a little over one hour remaining.

–Rob Russow 

 

 1:46 P.M.

Brad Sharp: Alton Jones says he is feeling frisky this morning.

— Hank Weldon

I can’t remember a final day of an Elite Series that started this wide open going.

Just over 3 pounds separates Jared Lintner in seventh from Ish Monroe in first. And a few of the names in between are about as formidable as they get: Steve Kennedy, Edwin Evers and Kevin VanDam.

To add to the drama, they are fishing on a lake that has shown a 23-pound bag but for the most part has stuck it to the anglers. Big bag on Day Three didn’t make 15 pounds. That means, literally, all 12 of these guys has a legitimate shot at winning. That’s incredibly rare.

Yesterday, I thought for sure that BASSTrakk was off because the weights were so low, but it ended up pretty spot on, which means we should have a really good idea of what’s happening on the water all day today.

We have two teams on the water and one in the air this morning. Tommy Sanders, James Overstreet and Mark Zona are going to start on VanDam while Dave Precht and David Hunter Jones will start on Monroe. Rob Russow is flying around the lake in a helicopter shooting photos and BASSCam and then he’ll be on the water for the second half of the day.

It’s not a large lake, BASSTrakk is pretty accurate and we have seven guys on the water giving us the latest…it should be a fun day. Follow along.

–Kyle Carter

Day Three – West Point Lake

2:53 p.m.

With about 15 minutes left before the first flight checks in, we are going to shut down the live blog for Day Three. That should keep a little suspense going into the weigh-in and truthfully, all our eyes on the water are now in getting ready for the weigh-in (or in my case, eating Pecan Shortbread cookies.

That being said, there is still time for some late-hour heroics. Unlike many of the other stops on the Elite Series, a 4- or 5-pound bite here on West Point is as good as gold. The reason for that is because there is a big disparity between the little, just-keeper-sized spotted bass and the grown-up bigger largemouth. With a limit of spots in the well, an angler’s day can take a turn for the better with one last cast that nets one of those big ‘uns.

On a whole, Day Three appears to be tougher than the days before. I would be surprised to see a 20-pound bag weighed in today. The potential is still there. Ish Monroe had two big fish early and has been looking to cull a squeeker ever since. Should he upgrade, he could be looking at the lead headed into tomorrow’s final round. KVD can run into another flurry like he did earlier and upgrade his catch some more. Every ounce he can put between himself and Edwin Evers will be huge.

One angler who has quietly snuck into yet another top 12 is Alton Jones. He has been a beast all year and hasn’t slowed down. With KVD hot on his heels (along with Terry “Big Show” Scroggins), making the 12 cut this week could limit the damage done by VanDam’s onslaught.

All in all, expect an exciting conclusion to the Pride of Geogia and follow the blow-by-blow account right here again tomorrow.

— Rob Russow
 

2:39 p.m.

It continues to look like a tough day all around. It’s rare to have a lake this small where we have this kind of service, so it’s hard to tell how serious to take BASSTrakk.

Typically there are a lot of anglers out of service and unreachable, but most of the dots on the BASSTrakk are green right now, which means they are submitting. But I find it hard to believe the weights are these low.

Then again, the weights today are more in line with what the anglers were predicting early in the week, so it could be right. Either way, it will give us a better idea of how much we should trust BASSTrakk tomorrow when the top-12 compete for the title.

–Kyle Carter

 

2:19 p.m.

The late flurry might be under way.

According to his Marshal Matt Riggs, Bill Lowen was working his way back to the ramp looking to round out his limit and ran into a 4-pounder.

It will be interesting to see how many of these guys find that kicker fish on their way in. The first flight is due back in less than an hour at 3:15 p.m.

–Kyle Carter
 

 2:06 p.m.

News of VanDam’s late charge may be spreading – or it may just be that he’s Kevin VanDam – because he has 25 to 30 spectator boats following him around.

That’s hard enough when you’re staying in one spot, but when you’re moving the way VanDam is moving around today, it can become a real problem.

Overstreet, our photographer who was following VanDam earlier in the day, just came into the media trailer and said it’s hard to describe the scene when 25 boats fire up and try to follow one guy at one time.

Of course, this is nothing new for him. He may be as good at managing that kind of crowd as he is at catching bass.

–Kyle Carter

 

2:04 p.m. 

Andy Montgomery is finally fishing docks.

Arguably one of the best dock anglers on tour, Montgomery has lamented numerous times on stage the lack of docks thus far this year.

West Point may have them but they are not what he is looking for. Montgomery has 8 pounds today, a far cry from what got him into the cut.

With time ticking down on Day Three all these guys we talk to are searching for one last big bite to give themselves a chance at the 12-cut. With the fluctuations we’ve seen this week in the weights, they all still have a chance.

— Rob Russow

 

1:51 p.m. 

David Walker just left for points not disclosed. He’s disappionted that the water has risen 18 inches since yesterday and moved his fish. We caught up with him as he fished the back end of a pocket with a variety of topwaters baits.

Now, we’re bar- and point-hopping our way back to the launch ramp at Pyne Road Park — that is, we’re stopping at every sandbar and clay point we can find with an Elite Series angler fishing it. It seems that most of 50-angler semifinal field is along this stretch of river. We checked on Edwin Evers, who remains stuck on four fish and 9 pounds or so.
Across the river, Matt Reed as three small fish, a spot and two largemouths. He’s fishing the shoreline cover, despite the fact that each stickup and tree has been hit repeatedly by anglers at some point over the past three days. Reed was in 37th with about 21 pounds as the day began, so his 3 pounds won’t help much. He’ll get a headstart toward the next stop, Lake Murray, if things don’t pick up immediately.

— Dave Precht  

 

12:30 P.M. MARSHAL UPDATE:

Blake Ayers: “Marty Robinson just had one about 5 pounds come off right at the boat!  Bummer.”
Craig Monnin: “Terry Butcher just caught another small keeper. He’s only culling ounces, not pounds.  He’s still looking/hoping for that kicker fish.”
Butcher just made his first move of the day.  After starting in a creek up river, he’s now fisihng the main river looking for a kicker in the current breaks.”
JJ Pitts: “Peter T. just put number two in the box.  Roll Tide.”
Phillip Johnson: “Keith Poche just put a 1 pounder in the boat. He’s slowly working his way to a limit.”
Scott Adkins: “Looks like the fish may be moving toward the docks.  This may be a good sign for Denny. With 5 in the boat, it’s time to get that big bite.  The water color may have changed slightly. This has Denny looking at some new water.”
Bryant Freeman: “Wilks just caught his second keeper.”
Roger Mullins: “Niggemeyer culling @ 1:00pm CST”
 

 

–Hank Weldon
 

1:16 p.m.

Bill Lowen is fishing back in the creek from where we left Nate Wellman. He’s actually fishing some offshore structure with a jig or Carolina rig.
“I wish I could tell him to go right over there where I caught a 5-pounder on practice,” Crochet said.
He can’t though. We are content to watch as Lowen continues to seine the area.

We were headed back to find Andy Montgomery, but stopped on Lowen before we got that far.
The sun has come out and it seems to be the first real hot afternoon we have had. The report from Lowen is that his day has been horrible aside from those few minutes in the morning when he caught the 5-pounder.

“I pulled up and caught two spots and that big one,” Lowen said. “After that it has been horrible. I’m going to go back to the spot I caught them on Day One.”
The water temperature here is the warmest I’ve seen at 74 degrees.

— Rob Russow

 

1:13 p.m.

Earlier I talked about a late bite that VanDam has taken advantage of both the first two days … well that bite is coming a little earlier today. VanDam just caught five 2-pounders in about a 5-minute stretch, improving his limit on BASSTrakk to 10 pounds even and putting him in the lead.

I’m guessing that limit is more like 12 or 13 pounds and it looks like he is starting to dial it in. I don’t know how he catches fish in bunches like that, but it seems to happen a lot. That goes against everything the anglers have been saying this week. They’ve been saying fish come one at a time and don’t always replenish.

Obviously VanDam is experiencing something else on the water right now.

–Kyle Carter
 

12:58 p.m.

Scott Rook and Russ Lane just left this point near the Moody Bridge and their wakes had barely settled when the distinctive yellow and black
Stratos of Skeet Reese showed up. Reese is junk fishing the shoreline here, oblivious that two other good fishermen have just seined it. “I’d love to see him set the hook on a big one,” mused Shaye Baker, our boat driver. For a moment he tensed up as if to set the hook but the moment passed with nothing to show for it. Reese has about 6 pounds, according to a spectator who has followed him all day.

Like everyone we’ve seen today, Reese is paralleling the bank, keeping his baits in the strike zone from start to finish. It’s a great way to fish, unless you’re in the back of the boat. That’s one good thing about the Marshal observer program — the pro doesn’t have to worry about giving his boatmate a fair shot at fishing spots.

Scott Rook just roared by. I started counting about an hour and a half ago, and this is the fifth time he has raced past us. He’s not the only one burning up $4 a gallon gasoline today. Pros and their spectator galleries are driving by almost constantly. Apparently none of them have found the glory hole yet. Earlier, Scott DeFoe told us the boat wakes are muddying the clay shorelines, hurting the bite he had been counting on.

— Dave Precht

 

 

12:54 p.m.
For a change of scenery we’ve moved downstream a couple of miles and are now looking at the backside of Scott Rook, who reportedly has the heaviest catch of the day, about 15 pounds. He caught his limit on crankbaits, but he’s too busy trying to catch a few more to chat with us. (I don’t blame him.) A few minutes ago he was working his way around a point, unaware that Russ Lane was working toward him from the other side. They spotted each other as they were both casting to the tip of the point. The two Elite anglers passed each other, content to fish each other’s used water for a while.
Our boat driver and color commentator is Shaye Baker, an outstanding college angler who graduated from Auburn University in December. Shaye is so nuts about fishing that he only saw the Auburn Tigers football team play four games in four years, only twice during his school’s National Championship season. Now on his own, Baker has gone pro, fishing FLW Everstart tournaments. Auburn’s Heisman winning quarterback, Cam Newton, has gone pro as well, but he’s destined to make several million more next year than Baker can hope to earn.
That’s Okay with Baker. “I never cared much for partying or football,” he told me. “I just love to fish.”
— Dave Precht

12:39 p.m.
Ben Parker is also back here with Wellman. Parker just boater a 5-pounder but it was only his second keeper of the day. We shot a BASSCam video as he fished by us and then he picked up his trolling motor to move to the other side of the marina.

Both anglers are finesse fishing in this heavily pressured area.

“Two or three people I talked to before this tournament told me this is a well-known area,” Crochet said. “I think this is a release area. It looks the same as everything else except these docks.”

Wellman has been gathering a following on the docks as people watch him fish right under their feet.

“This place has been good for one big fish every day,” Wellman said.

I didn’t tell him Parker just caught it.
–Rob Russow

12:33 p.m.
The biggest bag on BASSTrakk today is 15 pounds from Scott Rook, anchored with a 4 1/2- and a 5-pounder. Rook also had the big bass yesterday at 6-8.
He’s catching the bass everyone on this lake is looking for but it’s his other fish that are causing him problems.
It feels like a slow day on BASSTrakk, but I have to believe the weights are going to be higher at the weigh-in. It seems to always end up that way. When you start to add up the information not being punched into the phone plus what’s caught in the last hour, I bet today will shape up a lot like yesterday when they put the fish on the scale.
–Kyle Carter

12:29 p.m.
Ott DeFoe, who started the day in 21st place, is curious where he stands currently with about 11 pounds for five bass. I’m not sure if we can give him the information so we dodge the question. His Marshal’s reports apparently are not uploading to B.A.S.S. Central, so BASSTrakk has him down in 38th place. We have him at 37-10 thus far in the tournament, which might be enough for him to extend his stay in LaGrange. I’ll try not to repeat much of what DeFoe said on the BASSCam video David Jones just shot (be sure to check it out), but he did elaborate on his day up to this point. He has caught eight bass, five on a spinnerbait early, culled two with swim jigs and then added a 3 1/2-pounder on a ChatterBait.
A minute ago he got a bite on a Chatterbait but missed. He pitched in with a jig and hooked it twice, but the second time it broke his jig. Lucky fish. DeFote is saturating the spot with casts now, hoping the fish will hit again. Fourth time’s not the charm, though.
— Dave Precht

12:16 p.m.
I’ve picked up Cliff Crochet and we are headed back out. He didn’t make the cut so his reward is to come spend the afternoon with me.

We are looking for Nate Wellman and as we idle under a bridge, he is coming out the other way. Wellman has been doing well all week and is in position to make his second 12-cut of the year.

“I’ve got a limit around 10 or 11 pounds,” Wellman said. “Right now I’m just searching for that bigger bite. Let’s see if I can go finesse one up.”

We follow him to a marina not too far away. He’s working around back in behind some docks and there is a lot of activity.

“I want to take a picture of that bird,” Crochet said. “That’s a giveaway right there bud. He ain’t there to mess around.”

The bird is an indicator of bait, which in turn attracts the bass. His only bite so far was a little bass he quickly turned loose.
–Rob Russow

12:12 p.m.
Our photographer/BASSCam videographer on this three-person reporting team, David Hunter Jones, is struggling. Every couple of minutes, it seems, he has to pull up the trolling motor on Shaye Baker’s Ranger. That’s because our target, Edwin Evers, keeps fishing 30-yard stretches, then pulling up and hopping to the next point or pocket and fishing again. We’ve made nine moves in the last 30 minutes. As Evers drove past us just now, Jones complained, “You’re wearing us out, Edwin.”
“The fish are wearing me out,” Evers replied. That is, he’s finding nothing in spots they ought to be. Even though he’s in the lead, unofficially, he knows he has to catch a couple of “picture fish” to hold on. We just passed another Nitro pro along the shoreline, Ott DeFoe. He doesn’t seem to be moving as often, so Jones wants to camp on him for awhile and take a break. We leave just as Evers takes off again.
–Dave Precht

12:08 p.m.
Imagine competing while your head pounds and the pains in your gut make you moan out loud –- especially when your head is hanging over the gunnels.

That’s what Aaron Martens has been going through for the past two Bassmaster Elite Series events.
Three weeks ago on Toledo Bend in Louisiana, Martens was feverish and queasy for days, but he finished in ninth place.
He kicked whatever bug he had, but turned up again with flulike symptoms in Georgia.
“It’s what you don’t want to get in a fishing tournament,” Martens said after two days in the Pride of Georgia competition on West Point Lake. “I hurt so bad (Thursday) that I had to lay down. I missed about five hours of fishing.”
Still, he managed 27th after two days.
“Just think how much better I could have done if I’d felt better,” said Martens, who seemed to be recovering Friday afternoon. Just off the water, he repeatedly asked his wife if they had time to pick up some sushi before the Top 50 cut meeting.
“You have to keep going, you have no choice,” said Martens. “There are no sick days in tournaments. You couldn’t give up the points and risk not qualifying for the Classic.”
— Deb Johnson

11:48 a.m. MARSHAL UPDATE
Craig Monnin: “Terry Butcher just picked up three fish in three consecutive casts. The first two were short largemouth, and the third one was a keeper spotted bass. Terry said it’s the first spotted bass he’s caught up here all week. As I type this he just culls the spotted bass. He has his Power-Pole down.”
Scott Adkins: “Quality bites are proving to be hard to come by. The little white Pure Poison has been good to Brauer. He just boated three fish quickly, one was a keeper.”
 
Phillip Johnson: “Keith Poche is finally on the board with a 4-pounder.”
 
Roger Mullins: “Niggemeyer with his third keeper.”

Matt Riggs: “Wrong species! Pickeral maybe. Lowen has caught only one short fish since this morning.”

— Hank Weldon

11:48 a.m.
We’d be wrong if we made it through an entire blog on the day where the horses in Kentucky will be running for the roses and not mention Kevin Wirth.
 
In 1981, Wirth rode Mythical Ruler to a 17th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
 
Saturday, on the 30th anniversary of his Churchill Downs ride, Wirth took the wheel of a bass boat in the Pride of Georgia for another run at glory.
 
Wirth, born and raised in the racing world and now living in Crestwood, Ky., keeps up with it through family and friends, and through his equine dentist practice, which he restarted last fall. He recently worked on the teeth of a 2011 Derby entrant, Shackleford.
 
The Run for the Roses in Lexington, Ky., will happen early Saturday evening, so Wirth can catch it if he hustles from the tournament site to the nearest TV or radio. The estimated post time for the “fastest two minutes in sports” is 6:24 p.m. ET; the Pride of Georgia weigh-in will begin at 3:15 p.m. ET.
He admits to feeling a bit left out of the celebrations at home.
 
“I’d like to be a part of it, maybe at least a couple of mint juleps or something,” he joked.
 
His racing family and friends raised an eyebrow when he decided years ago to try fishing professionally.
 
“They thought I was absolutely insane, and didn’t give me much respect at first,” Wirth said. “But now you can go anywhere across the country, to any race track where they’re running, and talk to trainers, owners, jockeys — most anyone — and 95 percent of them would say they know me. They follow fishing just because of me.”
–Deb Johnson

11:40 a.m.
Things, as they typically do, are slowing down in the middle of the day.

We have teams on Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year leader Alton Jones and tournament leader Edwin Evers. Neither are doing much, although, as Precht reported, Evers just put his fourth in the boat.

The bite this week has been early and late. VanDam said he saved his Day One with a 5-pounder on basically his last cast during the last 15 minutes of his day.

The last hour of today will have as much action as the first hour did. Right now it’s just a matter of grinding it out for these guys.
–Kyle Carter

11:33 a.m.
At long last, Evers has another keeper. His fourth bass hit a small squarebill crankbank along a point at the mouth of a tributary on the upper part of the Chattahoochee. The fish looked like it weighed a pound, maybe a tad more, but it was long enough to earn a ride in Evers’ livewell.

After boating that one and making a dozen casts, he fired up his engine and scooted across the creek to the next point, which looks just like the one he just left. Nothing on this one, though, so he’s behind the wheel again, hopscotching to the next good looking bank.
–Dave Precht

11:08 a.m.
Edwin Evers is stuck in high gear this late morning as he tries to fill his limit and upgrade his estimated catch of 8 pounds for the day. That’s enough to keep him in the lead, for now, but isn’t likely to hold up through weigh-in time.
 
The Oklahoma pro is “junk fishing,” moving from pocket to point to pocket, flipping and pitching and shallow cranking, according to whatever cover is before him. He’s concentrating on fairly deep pockets along the Chattahoochee River channel upstream from the main lake. The water here is bordering on murky, so sight fishing is out of the question. The bank has stretches of chunk rock interspersed among clay with an occasional fallen tree or rootwad. He’s fishing it all, but not willy-nilly.
 
After a few minutes of bank-running, he hauls up the troll motor and races to another spot one or two pockets upstream. He’s in a hurry. He’s on the bow as the boat is still settling down (after the engine is shut off, of course), and is lowering the troller while winding up for a cast at the same time.
–Dave Precht

10:57 a.m.
Evers has three fish for 8 pounds with a 4-pounder as a kicker. He’s technically in the lead, but it would be a toss-up between him and Monroe. Dave Precht is heading toward Evers right now and Rob Russow just left Ish to run in some BASSCam videos and photos.

If Ish would have boated either of the two bass Rob said he lost recently, he’d be leading.

Monroe’s only two wins with B.A.S.S. came in 2006.
–Kyle Carter

10:47 a.m.
We are idling away from Ish Monroe, who is still far back on the creek. Monroe is one quality bite from significantly cutting into the lead and a cull away from taking it over. Check for some cool photographs from his day when we get back.

The wind has picked up quite a bit. It was glassy calm this morning, but the breeze should help this afternoon.

Surprisingly, the water has only warmed up one or two degrees. Some unseasonably cool nights have kept the water down around 70 degrees here, even back in the stained water.

Another weird thing out here is the time zone issue. It has yet to bite any of the anglers this week, but it is weird to have your phone jumping back and forth an hour near the state line. The lake is split between Central and Eastern time, with the launch in the Eastern zone.
–Rob Russow

10:45 a.m. PHOTO GALLERY

Check out James Overstreet’s photo gallery from earlier today at the Pride of Georgia Day Three launch on West Point Lake. More photos from the water coming up soon.
–Fred Lalande

10:33 a.m.
Vinson has moved to the very back of a shady pocket where the bottom slopes gently and bass are apt to scrape out nests. He’s found a fish guarding fry but she’s playing hard to get.

The angler is being as quiet as he can, slowly changing from one rigged rod to another. He tried a wacky worm for a while before switching to a small craw. Neither paid dividends.

Frustrated, he has finally given up and is fishing along the shore. He said the spawning area has become muddy — making sight fishing difficult — because carp have moved in to spawn in the same place. Carp are much more rambunctious in their mating ritual than  bass are, and the commotion has ruined the neighborhood.

(I’ve heard lots of excuses for not catching fish but this one is new to me. I’ve filed it away for future use.)
–Dave Precht

10:30 a.m. MARSHAL UPDATE
Roger Mullins: “Niggemeyer’s first keeper – nice spot.”
 
Brad Durden: “Dean Rojas says Katoosh with two fish out of one pocket.”

 
Craig Monnin: “Terry Butcher just put a 2.5-pounder in the boat that choked down a lipless crankbait. And now he quickly boats keeper number four.  He is power fishing the lipless crank.  Butcher states he is having to work a lot harder for his bites this morning.”
 
Scott Adkins: “We have now moved way upriver to work boat docks.  The bite has really slowed down for Brauer.  Bluebird skies now with wind.”
–Hank Weldon

10:17 a.m.
BASSTrakk currently has Jared Lintner in the lead with four fish that go 11 pounds, 4 ounces.
 
The more official (but still very unofficial) BASSTrakk we’re looking at right now has him off the grid, so we can’t get a feel right now for how accurate that weight is. We’ve had trouble getting a hold of the Marshal in that boat, so at the moment, off the grid is looking a little more likely.

Tommy Sanders said Andy Montgomery has moved pretty far up the river and the water is 7 degrees cooler and much dingier. It took a while for the fog to burn off up there so some anglers may be heading that way now to try something new on what’s been a fairly slow morning compared to the last two. Of course, they might show up, leave, show back up and leave again before we can track them down.
 
Sanders said one of Montgomery’s keys is definitely shade on this clear, sunny day. Montgomery caught another small keeper working down a boulder-strewn bank on the Chattahoochee. He currently has three fish that go 3 pounds, 10 ounces.
 
If you’re not watching the hourly updates, now would be a good time to start. They’re getting footage in from on the water and it’s pretty telling. Evers was fishing a spot and trying to talk himself into the fact that there were still fish swimming around.
 
“I can’t be the first person to fish this. I have to stay positive about this area no matter how many boats I’m behind.”
 
A few minutes later, he caught a nice one. These anglers have a lot going through their head when they pull up to spot.
–Kyle Carter

10:08 a.m.
After a great morning, West Point syndrome finally struck Ish Monroe.

Many guys have reported lost fish, but the last one by Monroe was a heartbreaker. He had worked his way back very shallow and reached a big tree laying into the water. After he made a few casts his rod loaded up with a large fish. As he tried to finesse it free, the fish just came off.

Monroe was distraught. He yelled in dismay and doubled over. That fish would have given him a real good shot at taking over the lead.

He moved back deeper and lost another fish. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows, like the LA Lakers, Monroe needs to turn this around now.
–Rob Russow

9:52 a.m.
Montgomery is hitting about 10 different spots every 20 minutes — main lake laydowns, docks in little coves.

He’s using spinnerbaits and undisclosed plastics but hasn’t had much luck on either. He still just has one fish and is dealing with a lot of local traffic.
–Tommy Sanders

9:49 a.m.
KVD has hopped to another main lake pocket. We counted 22 boats following him — at a polite distance, thankfully. Now it’s 21; we have moved upriver, passing a railroad bridge, and stumbled onto Greg Vinson again. He’s fishing steeper clay banks than the one where he started, and bass are here, too.

He just missed a 3-pounder that came unbuttoned on the way to the boat. That fish would have helped him!
–Dave Precht

9:44 a.m.
Things started to get quiet for Monroe until he got back to a straight, shallow bank. His rod loaded up under the weight of a good fish. Monroe played it carefully to the boat and ran back to the passenger seat to rope it in.

With a yell (or two) Monroe holds up a bass close to 5 pounds. That fish was his fourth and pushes him to about 13 pounds with four fish.

“If I could stop shaking I’d be able to retie,” Monroe said. “I still think it was because of the lunch lady’s sandwiches. I took a couple of bites of that and I usually catch another fish.”

The water is getting even shallower back here. Everyone has trimmed their big engines up and Monroe just asked everyone to make sure their trolling motors were on low. With a dozen boats following him, the water can get stirred up if they get too close.
–Rob Russow

9:34 a.m.
I hate to keep hammering this into the ground but these guys are running so much, it’s hard for our guys on the water to keep up.

We’re running into the same problem as the anglers. Sanders and Zona pull off of VanDam and not 5 minutes later, Dave Precht and David Hunter Jones pull up on him. Sanders and Zona are now on Andy Montgomery who has one 2-pounder in the boat. Even BASSTrakk only updates every 5 to 10 minutes, so we get calls from our guys on the water asking about location and we can’t hardly give them anything definite.

They’re running spots and we’re running anglers. Between the anglers, the spectators and out crew running in circles, it sounds like a mad house out on the water.
–Kyle Carter

9:29 a.m. MARSHAL UPDATE
Travis Hays:  “The fog has finally burned off for Takahiro Omori on the North end.”

Craig Monnin: “Terry Butcher just ran into some quick bites by changing over to a shaky head. He caught one keeper and two short fish in the last 15 minutes. We are up on the North end of the Chattahoochee river; it is dead calm and not a cloud in the sky.  All the fog has burned off. Butcher is now throwing a lipless crankbait on a flat.  He quickly catches a short fish. Maybe the bite will heat up for him now.”

Scott Adkins: “We just moved to the sun side of the riprap.  I’m wondering how that will affect the bite. The main lake here is still foggy. Denny Brauer is now starting to move a little bit faster.  We just made another move which puts us on our fourth section of riprap. He is now back to throwing the Pure Poison.”

Bryant Freeman:  “I am with Dustin Wilks. He is calling his shots right now.  Unfortunately they are all non-keepers.  He has caught four in the last 30 minutes.”

Matt Riggs: “Lowen’s topwater bite suddenly quit.  He is now flipping a waterfall where he caught a 5-pounder in practice.”

— Hank Weldon

9:21 a.m.
Ish Monroe has moved across to the other side of the creek. This bank looks a little deeper and has a few laydowns, so I’m shocked that he hasn’t caught one yet.

As he went by, he said he has three fish for about 9 pounds including that 6-pounder.

He’s alternating between three baits spending a little extra time on the laydowns with nothing to show for it. Now he rounds a point into a pocket and hooks up with a fish. After carefully playing it to the boat, he swings aboard a 5-pound catfish.

“Anyone hungry?” Monroe asks.
–Rob Russow

9:16 a.m.
We had planned to follow Greg Vinson to his next spot but couldn’t pass up Kevin VanDam fishing along a shoreline.  It was easy to spot him — the 16 boats following him on the water are a dead giveaway. VanDam was second going into the start of Day Three. We haven’t gotten close enough to ask how he’s doing this morning — his trolling motor is on high-36 and we can’t catch up to him. He’s using all the power it provides as he fires a topwater plug ahead of the boat and parallel to the shore. He’s working the bait incredibly fast — so fast we can’t even decide whether he’s got a popper or a walking bait on. VanDam appears to be trying to get a fish to show itself with his superfast retrieve but it hasn’t worked since we pulled up on him 15 minutes ago. One of the specators drifting nearby said he has caught two small fish, totaling under 3 pounds.

KVD amazed everyone yesterday by hauling a 23-pound limit to the weigh-in stage. He has two goals this week — to win, of course, but also to gain ground on Alton Jones, the front-runner in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.

We hope to find Jones later in the day and see how he’s doing. Jones is doing all he can to protect his lead over VanDam and Terry Scroggins, and he was getting nervous late yesterday afternoon. “I caught a 6 1/2-pounder at 2:30,” he said. The last-minute fish was “huge,” he said, not only in weight but also in its ability to move him up to eighth in the standings on Day Two. If he can stay near the top of the list here at West Point, he’ll control the TTBAOY race.
–Dave Precht

9:14 a.m.
It’s all moving baits for Ish. He’s way back up in this creek and the water is the dirtiest I’ve seen on the lake. The south end has good visibility, midlake has a greenish stain, but back in the creeks the water is dingy, perfect for a shallow presentation like Ish is employing.

One of the spectators following him confirmed that he just caught a 6-pounder, to go with a 3-, 2- and 1- that just measured, putting him between 12 and 13 pounds with  four fish, a great start to the day.

Angler	Fish	Weight	Total
Nate Wellman	4	9-04	41-05
Edwin Evers	1	3-01	40-07
Kevin VanDam	2	2-12	39-15
Ish Monroe	1	6-00	39-11
Greg Vinson	5	8-15	38-15

–Hank Weldon

8:49 a.m.
Alabama angler Greg Vinson has his five-bass limit already this morning, and it appears to be heavy enough to move him up from 11th to second in unofficial standings. But he’s not satisfied. “I need this big one,” he told us as we eased toward the shoreline he’s fishing. Vinson has found a 5-pounder on a bed in the back of a pocket off the main lake and is trying to get her to cooperate. “I couldn’t catcher yesterday, either,” he said.

“I can’t see it very well right now,” he complained. That should change shortly as the sun reaches a higher angle in the sky and enables him to peer through the stained water. Vinson is pitching what appears to be a NetBait Salt Lick, a soft plastic stickbait, to the fish. At least it had better be a NetBait product — the company is his boat wrap sponsor.

Now, he’s raised his twin Power-Poles and is working his way slowly down the bank. “I don’t see her,” he said. “She may still be there but I don’t see her.” No doubt he’ll revisit the spot later in the day.

Vinson caught his limit early on topwaters, he said.
–Dave Precht

8:34 a.m.
VanDam is still moving, averaging about eight casts per stop. The average distance between spots has been about three-quarters of a mile. It feels like a UPS route.

All these anglers are playing it so close to the vest. As near as I can tell, they are cutting the lake up into a grid and as many squares as you can run a bait through, the better, with big fish being the difference.

VanDam caught his second keeper at his seventh stop.
–Tommy Sanders

8:34 a.m.
On the advice of Hank Weldon, who is watching over BASSTrakk, we moved way into the back of a creek arm looking for Ish Monroe, who just reported in with a 6-pounder.

We stopped briefly on a flotilla of boats that turned out to be following KVD. He was halfway to Ish and we’ve got Zona, Sanders and Overstreet on him so we kept going back to find Ish.

A crowd of boats around a bridge indicated we were in the right area. Monroe has worked around the bridge itself and it moving back farther into the pocket here. I’m actually standing on the bridge, which offers an interesting view of the man who entered the day in third place.
–Rob Russow

8:22 a.m.
Like a lot of the contenders in the Pride of Georgia Elite, Skeet Reese wishes the tournament had been scheduled about two weeks earlier. That would have placed it dead center in the spawn, plus the lake level was at full pool about then.

Local angler and tournament pro Bobby Padgett was surprised that the U.S, Army Corps of Engineers started lowering the lake a week prior to the tournament. At full pool, the lake’s bigger bass would have been prowling newly flooded shorelines and would have been easy to catch.

“This lake is full of standing timber in deep water,” noted Reese. “All they have to do is pull off over deeper water and suspend in the trees.” Catching those suspended bass would have been an exercise in frustration, so Reese (in 39th with 21-12) said he is “swinging for the fences” today.
–Dave Precht

8:14 a.m.
With the exception of an occasional tree or dock, the bank here on West Point is mostly barren and clay. For those that don’t live in the area, this is the bright orange clay that is as hard as a rock.

Without much cover, these fish scatter along the bank after they finish spawning, forcing the anglers to cover water when they get in a likely area. Key focus points are points and the banks leading back in to spawning pockets.

We “lost” Kennedy willingly when we saw Mark Menendez on a bank not far away. Menendez won a tournament out here and entered today in 20th place. Like everyone else, Menendez is moving around a lot and alternating presentations, just a little more laid back then Kennedy.

Menendez heads to a secondary point and works quickly back into a pocket. We are just off the main lake but it’s still fairly shallow back here and the water temperature is 70 degrees.

Just like that, Kennedy is back. Quickly hitting a dock before moving again. His 10 boat pack doesn’t even put the trolling motor down.

Menendez has four fish so far but no big ones yet. He estimates them at a little over 6 pounds.
–Rob Russow

8:10 a.m.
We knew these guys were fishing fast, but that brings on a whole new set of problems when you have 25 boats following your every move.

Every 11 minutes it’s like an old fashioned shotgun start with KVD and his spectators. The fog makes it even more fun. He doesn’t have any more fish in the boat, but VanDam told Zona that these fish aren’t smart like the Clarks Hill bass. All moving baits so far.
–Tommy Sanders

8:05 a.m. MARSHAL UPDATE
With the new site brings even more coverage.  Our Marshals on the water aren’t only operating BASSTrakk, they are now taking pictures with their phone and texting information as it happens.  We will be passing along this info every hour for you to read:
 
Travis Hays: I am with Takahiro Omori. The north end of the lake is thick fog.  Running 50 feels like 100! These guys have nerves of steel.
 
Scott Adkins: Denny Brauer just caught two little ones on a white Pure Poison.  He is fishing riprap right now. This bait is working very well for him right now. He is still fishing the same riprap, but now with a little square-billed crankbait.  He’s really working this area hard.

Matt Rigs:  Lowen boats his first keeper.

Lowen took a full two minutes fighting this 5-pounder! I’ve never seen anybody so calm with a big fish on.

Joe Bolder: After hitting eight different spots, the G-Man (Gerald Swindle) quote of the day is: “They won’t our hussle or think us today!”
— Hank Weldon

7:55 a.m.
Florida pro Bobby Lane is concerned, as is everybody else, about the inconsistency in daily weights. Many of the leaders have had one heavy limit in the first two days of fishing but were held back by mediocre results the other day.

The “postspawn funk” is part of the reason. In addition, West Point bass seem to be in a variety of stages. A few are spawning — Lane caught a good one off a bed Friday — while others are guarding fry and still others are already in postspawn. The bigger strings so far have incorporated at least some fish in one of the spawn phases. Lane is 18th with 27-15, just under 10 pounds behind the leader, and is hoping to put together a 20-pound sack today.
–Dave Precht

7:44 a.m.
Out of 50 boats, we have two phones that aren’t sending in data to BASSTrakk -– that’s a great sign in terms of cell service on West Point Lake.

We should be getting some pretty accurate updates from BASSTrakk throughout the day, which is a nice change of pace.

Greg Vinson already has a limit of five fish, for 8-5, which puts him in second place behind VanDam, who still has just the one keeper.
–Kyle Carter

7:44 a.m.
The best way to describe the most common technique this week is frantic running. This is power fishing on a sugar high. I’ve never seen Steve Kennedy fish this fast. He’s moving from spot to spot, hitting docks, points and any other cover that he knows could hold a fish.

Kennedy reports one small spotted bass in the well and maybe a few more bumps but this morning has not started off according to plan. Yesterday he had a limit in 15 minutes.

In the time it has taken me to type this with my fingers of fury, he has fished four different areas, working away from the launch at Pyne Road Park.

Yep, he’s moving again. Here we go.
–Rob Russow

7:42 a.m.
In the space of 10 minutes Van Dam has made two more moves:  first to the back of another pocket, then to a main lake point.  From Zona: He’s working a very specific pattern which he’s not divulging yet.  He’s surprised at the good weights here.
–Tommy Sanders

7:34 a.m.
We find KVD with 25 spectator boats — working his way back in the pocket from a small point — casting at wood on this clay bank.  The water is clear, it’s 72 degrees and he has one bass for 2-pounds. 
— Tommy Sanders

7:22 a.m.
Terry Butcher arrived to his first spot and said it looked like the water had raised over a foot last night. The rise and fall of water has been a big deal for the anglers this week, with the general idea of the higher the water, the better the fishing. Some of that has to do with the lack of cover. These guys are running around hitting the same stumps because they’re the only cover in the area. Rising water should add cover.

According to his Marshal, Denny Brauer put a 3-pounder in the boat shortly after pulling up to his first spot. This early bite should be pretty fast and furious. Speaking of fast and furious, I’m going out on a limb and predicting the bite this morning will be better than Fast Five.
— Kyle Carter

7:21 a.m.
We had some fog this morning, but not the kind to delay the launch. This is the stuff that Kennedy hopes will help extend his out of this world morning bite for more than 15 minutes.

The temperatures in the morning and afternoon are going up, which means these fish are getting more active. Keith Poche has been looking for shallow bass and has seen some cruising around. The warmer water is actually pulling more fish up onto that area. Yesterday afternoon was setting up perfectly.

The biggest problem is lost fish. Bites from 4- and 5-pound class largemouth are hard to come by and this tournament has dealt a lot of heartbreak with lost fish.

Each day, someone has emerged with a big bag. It’s time to find out who will have a great Day Three.
— Rob Russow

6:50 a.m.
Our plan is to follow VanDam as best we can.  Zona will jump in the boat with him and Overstreet and I will catch up.  All the anglers stress the early bite/shad spawn — hopefully we will have something soon.
— Tommy Sanders

6:50 a.m.
If Day Three of the Pride of Georgia holds serve with the rest of this event, it should be interesting if not confusing.

VanDam stuck to his claim this morning that he might not catch a fish today. Obviously that’s not going to be the case but it’s a glimpse into the range of success these guys are experiencing on the lake. Kevin Wirth said he was running a pattern on Thursday and not having much success. He eventually figured out that Edwin Evers was running the same pattern right in front of him.

Steve Kennedy had everything fall apart on Thursday and caught 20 pounds. Kennedy said Friday morning was incredible but he missed a couple fish and ended up with 10 pounds. Nothing is a given on this body of water, so it should be interesting. It feels like any of these 50 anglers are two good days from winning it.

We’ll have BASSTrakk running plus three teams on the water blogging, shooting photos and sending BASSCam, with hourly Toyota Hooked Up! updates to fill in the gaps.

Let us know in the comments section if you have any questions and we’ll get you anwers.

Welcome to Day Three of the Pride of Georgia.
— Kyle Carter