Drew Cook has nibbled another bite out of the elephant lead Chad Pipkens has on him (that’s Kyle Monti in the photo above, more about him later).
His last fish at 1:10 p.m., came in at 5 pounds, 7 ounces. That whittles Pipkens’ lead to 11 pounds, 4 ounces. We’ve watched him slowly chip away all day. And barring another giant from Pipkens, will obviously continue trying.
These little push forwards could turn into big deals. We’ve seen big leads melt away more than once in Elite Series competition. We still have two whole days and piece of this one left. Plus we are on Lake Fork.
I’ve asked myself, if this were the last two hours of the derby would anyone else have a shot? The answer is “probably not.” But as Dumb and Dumber made famous, “So you are saying there’s a chance.”
Looking at the fish that are showing up, definitely. Cook’s biggest two are 5-7 and 6-7. And he has a 4-pound class fish as his lightest. He hooks up with an 8 or 9, as Pipkens has, then all of the sudden that margin is reachable with the right two bites, especially with two days left.
A case in point, since I started typing this blog, Kyle Monti has boated an 8-6, Mike Huff boated a 7-11, and Paul Mueller caught a 7-7, all within a minute of each other.
Of course, Pipkens may have found the mother lode and the perfect spot so it’s not like he’s just going to stand around and let that happen. But Lake Fork certainly makes it exciting.