Ish Monroe was a good pick to win this tournament before it began. But if you talked to him after the Day 1 weigh-in, when he had the 7th-place total of 22-2, you would have liked his chances even more. Ish said he's found "The Land of the Giants."
"Giants are swimming around everywhere," Monroe said. "I was fishing for a 7 (pounder) when I saw an 8. I caught the 8. Then I lost the 7 after I hooked it. I've got another spot where two of them about 7 or 8 are just sitting there. I'm cruising down the bank, when one that looks like 8 or 10 comes swimming at me. I pitched to that one. She disappeared, then all the sudden one comes waking after my bait.
"I had one in practice about 8 that followed my bait. I went back there (Thursday) and skipped my frog in there and she ate it. I just couldn't turn her. She was between 8 and 10. I saw a lot of big fish today. I'm just going to hunker down in my area (Friday) and hopefully come out with a big bag."
Monroe said he is catching some fish on a frog, but it's bass-egg-stealing bluegill that he's trying to imitate most of the time. Post-spawn bass like to feed up on bluegill too, and make for easy pickings now when the bluegill camp on their May full moon spawning beds.