If you watched the Day 2 weigh-in at Lake Champlain, and it felt like you were watching a repeat of the Day 1 weigh-in, your eyes weren’t deceiving you. The first two days of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite have produced some remarkably consistent totals.
Thursday 95 anglers weighed-in 472 bass, 94 five-bass limits, totaling 1,633 lbs., 14-oz. Friday 95 anglers weighed-in 470 bass, 94 five-bass limits, totaling 1,570-11.
Those are impressive numbers. And almost everyone thinks fishing is going to get better with the forecast of decreasing clouds and wind over the next two days.
“The worst thing here is clouds and wind for how I like to fish,” said Seth Feider, who increased his odds for capturing the Angler of the Year title with a second-straight 19-pounds-plus day. “The calmer and sunnier the better.”
Feider is in 6th place. Bryan Schmidt leads with 43-0 after his second straight 21-pound day. “They’re catching the heck out of them,” said Schmidt. “You’re going to need more than 20 (pounds) a day to win. Sunlight would be very good for everybody. Sun will help me for sure.”
Destin DeMarion is second with 40-8. For the second day he weighed a combination of smallmouth and largemouth bass. His 21-2 bag included largemouth weighing 5 and 3 ¾ pounds, plus three smallmouth in the 4-pound range.
“It’s going to be better,” DeMarion predicted. “I think the largemouth bite is going to stay about the same. I think the smallmouth bite is going to get better. Sun is always better for smallmouth.”