The love affair Derek Hudnall had with the swamp that looked like a similar place back home in Louisiana is over. He is moving and looking for new water.
What Hudnall doesn’t know is that he’s still inside the cut for Championship Sunday, despite only having one 4-pound keeper that he caught at 8:15 a.m.
“It’s blown out, too windy and I can’t detect strikes on the weightless wacky rig,” he told photographer Andy Crawford.
Calm, sunny conditions were vital to making the pattern work. That required making very precise, pinpoint casts to the bases of cypress trees, with strikes occurring on the fall as the bait sunk to the bottom and into the roots.
By his expression in this photo, Hudnall is hoping he can get back that loving feeling somewhere else. He needs it. At this point in the season what matters most is gaining qualifying points for the Bassmaster Classic. Hudnall is currently in 55 place.