It’s a bridge party

Koby Kreiger has joined Brett Hite at the North Grand Island Bridge, and for just a few minutes, Hite wasn’t real happy to see him.

Kreiger pulled up here at about 11:15 and landed his first keeper of the day – a 2-6 – at 11:24. Hite was battling his sixth keeper at the same time, landing a 2-3 just a minute after Kreiger landed his. After weighing the fish, Hite cranked up to “go have a word with Mr. Kreiger.”

It was all friendly. Hite asked him to stay to one side and give him the middle bridge pilings, where he’s been all week. “I’ve got a chance to win this thing,” Hite said. Kreiger agreed to do as asked.

Hite’s doing some practicing now that he has culled up to 13-4 for the day. He’s using his sonar to explore the areas around all the middle bridge pilings, trying to make sure he hasn’t missed anything.

As to the depths in here, Hite said yesterday, “It’s 10 to 17 or 18 feet deep around most of these pilings, and there are some deep dug out holes.”

Using his Humminbird 360 scan, Hite said he’d been able to find some key structure. 

“Using my 360, I’m able to see where the rocks are, and that’s a big deal,” he said yesterday. “On one of them, there’s a big ol’ ridge, and then it drops off. That’s where I caught my biggest one (Wednesday), right on that ridge.”

It was a 3-pound, 11-ounce smallmouth, which is the big bass of this event so far.