This lake has the reputation of being hot one day and cold the next. Throw in an unexpected thunderstorm that caused a two-hour delay to today’s takeoff and you’ve got the formula for the unexpected. At 12:30, yesterday’s leaders, Steve Kennedy and Patrick Walters, who were separated by only 9 ounces, have fallen to 6th and 8th place, respectively. Both have two keepers weighing 3-plus pounds.
Hank Cherry had the other 20-pound bag yesterday. He’s now in first place with one bass shy of a limit. The model of consistency so far has been Chris Jones. He finished Day 1 in 4th place after weighing 17-2. The Bokoshe, Okla., angler has a limit weighing 15-11 and is less than two pounds behind Cherry in second place.
Then there’s Justin Kerr, the BASS Nation champion from Lake Havasu, Ariz. He started the day in 22nd place. He’s only caught three fish today, but two of them are 7-pounders and the other is a 3-pounder. He’s now in 3rd place, 4-2 behind Cherry, according to BassTrakk.