Buddy Gross Morning Update

Davy Hite came down the dock this morning and stopped by to exchange pleasantries with Buddy Gross and the conversation quickly turned to the fish that Buddy lost on Day 1 rather than the 14+ pounds he weighed in.

“I want you to know I went home last night and changed rods, reels, line and I ain’t going through that again today,” laughed Gross.

Truth is, the Power Pole Pro made one key adjustment following Day 1 and that was changing his swimbait set ups to a Fitzgerald rod with a softer tip.

That key adjustment for Gross has paid off so far on Day 2. Gross landed a flurry of bass on his first stop this morning, three solid fish and followed up with a couple of smaller fish to complete his limit. The Elite Series Pro noted to me right away the difference in changing rods and how he was able to maintain his hookups with the softer rod tip.

Gross is still mining his starting spot and has caught a lot of fish. He’s combed through some non keepers and he’s lost two big fish on a lipless crankbait that would definitely improve his bag. He’s also upgraded on the lipless presentation as well.

After he lost the second fish, Gross snapped, “That’s it! Everybody wants to critique the way I set the hook and retrieve fish but it works for me. You want to see something? Watch me set the hook and reel’em back now!” To his point, while it looks a bit unorthodox pointing the rod tip at the fish and burning them back to the boat, he’s not lost anymore fish.

The Bassmaster Classic qualifier has a limit that goes somewhere in the 14 pound range on BASSTrakk; however, this Marshal believes we’re carrying a little more weight than that.

Gross has a lot of confidence this morning and knows he’s one, maybe two bites away from having a really special day today.