“Oh, yeah, I can still win this,” said Prince before takeoff today. “I’ve got one more big one, and if I catch her, I won’t be 6 pounds behind any longer. I’ll be right there in the hunt.”
Prince could have had a 30-pound bag Friday, if not for one decision he’d like to have back. He was working a big spawning female that “was every bit as big as that 10-pounder I weighed-in,” Prince said, referring to the 10-8 Friday that’s the big bass of the tournament so far.
After failing to get a reaction from her with his first couple of bait choices, Prince tossed a Carolina rig with lighter-test line into the spawning bed, induced a strike, but couldn’t get the big bass out of the grass before breaking off.
“I went back to fish for her again, and I saw her tail-walking like a tarpon, trying to throw that drop shot weight,” he said. “She’s done. I can write her off. That’s just more salt in the wound.”
Prince already had plenty of salt rubbed into a wound – based on the livewell aerator mistake he made on Day 1 that resulted in 5 dead bass at 9:30 a.m. But as far as Prince is concerned, he’s not dead yet.