Jeff Gustafson put his fifth keeper smallmouth in the boat at 8:25 a.m. Yes, his spot has definitely loaded up again overnight, after he struggled for hours to catch No. 5 there yesterday. He’s basically got a limit of 3-pounders in his livewell. However, the last one he’d like to cull eventually. It barely met the 18-inch minimum for smallmouths on the Tennessee River. It took repeated measurements for it to touch the 18-inch mark.
It’s hard to imagine a more comfortable spot for the two-day tournament leader to be in: Ninety minutes into Day 3 and his biggest problem is culling a barely-keeper smallmouth.