After a day when three 20-pound bags came across the Elite Series stage, Jeff Gustafson proved the show goes on at Santee Cooper Lakes. Anchored by the big bass of the tournament – a 9-pounds, 7 ounces, Gustafson weighed 22-7, the biggest bag of Day 2.
It rocketed him from 34th place on Day 1 to 4th place Friday, giving every angler hope who made the top 40 cut and survived to fish another day on Santee Cooper.
Interestingly, the exact same number of fish were weighed-in both days – 349. In the 85-angler field, there were 59 limits caught on Day 1 and 54 on Day 2.
Among the big movers on the leaderboard was current Angler of the Year points leader Clark Wendlandt. He was 29th after Day 1 and finished 10th Friday. Going in the opposite direction was his closest competitor in the AOY race, Taku Ito. He weighed only a single bass Friday and dropped from 14th place to 64th place. The AOY points are awarded only on the final standings, but based on how it stands after Friday, Wendlandt has a 52-point lead over second place Cory Johnston.