Look at the Day 1 leaderboard and it reveals just how many 3-pound class smallmouth are being caught. During my interviews this morning I asked the guys about the tight weights. All stressed the importance of catching smallmouth weighing in the high 3-pound range. A 3-pounder won’t cut it. All you get is a 15-pound limit. Those limits were at the very bottom of the leaderboard, almost equivalent to catching nothing at all, in the big scheme of things.
On Day 1, Ray Hanselman Jr. was in the middle of the pack with 18 pounds on the board. He was not alone. Sixteen anglers had 18-pound-range limits. Eighteen anglers had 16-pound limits, and 13 anglers had 17-pound limits.
Hanselman and others are going after fish in the 3 1/2- and higher range, with the golden egg a four pounder that can crack the weight outside 3 pounds.
“Having 18 pounds a day really doesn’t give you much of a cushion,” he said. “You must catch 18 pounds just to stay in the Top 20.”
That means today the goal is not 18 but 19 or 20 pounds to have a shot at fishing on Championship Sunday. Anything less and you might be going home early.
Ed Loughran, the seasoned Virginia angler, provided even more insight on this game of ounces.
“Typically up here on these northern fisheries a pound can make 10 or 15 spots difference on the leaderboard,” he said. “That is why it is so important to catch those upper three- and four-pounders.”
Who would’ve thought that a measly 3-pound smallmouth would be so insignificant to the big picture?