Justin Kerr ended Day 1 in a tie for 22nd place after weighing a 13-pound, 6-ounce limit. The BASS Nation champion from Lake Havasu, Ariz., has only one fish today, but it’s a 7-pounder. It has jumped him into 10th place in the BassTrakk standings with an unofficial total of 20-6.
There were 32 5-bass limits caught by the 54-angler field on Day 1. Two anglers had limits in the first 30 minutes yesterday, and I’d guess that at least 20 of those 32 limits were caught before 10 o’clock. Today at 10 a.m., there wasn’t a single limit on BassTrakk. Obviously, the two-hour weather delay is the major factor there, but within that is how important the early shad spawn bite was in the numbers game yesterday.
A big bass is always crucial in a tournament. But when the overall fish-catching numbers are down, a big one is even more important, as Chad Pipkens and Justin Kerr have shown today.