In the last hour, Hank Cherry has started showing why these four All-Star finalists were fired up about coming to White Lake. Cherry has been on fire.
He moved back down to the mid-lake area after leaving Whitehall Marina and set up on another one of these sandbar flats that has a deep drop on the edge. He's caught two 3 1/2-pounders and a 4-pounder, plus two more small ones. All of them were smallmouths.
Unfortunately for us, we missed the action after having to run photographer Darren Jacobson back to the takeoff site to put together a photo gallery. But Cherry's marshal, Mike Ebach, just gave us a blow-by-blow account. Ebach manages the Gander Mountain store in Traverse City and is an avid bass fisherman. In other words, he's a trusted source.
If anything, Ebach said, he might be underestimating the size of the two 3 1/2 pounders. The 4-pounder he has no doubt about.
Cherry has continued to rely on his main weapons for the day: Damiki anchovy shad swimbaits, and a Brian's Bees chatterbait.