After Elite rookie Bryan New won last year’s St. Johns River tournament, a new rookie, Masayuki Matsushita, has worked his way up the leaderboard and has positioned himself well for a Championship Sunday berth.
After placing 41st on Day 1, the highly-skilled angler from Tokoname Aichi, Japan caught the second day’s heaviest bag — 23-5 — and moved into second. As of late morning, Matsushita was holding at that spot, about 2 1/2 behind John Crews, who has led since Day 1.
Interesting note on Matsushita: While Japanese anglers typically bring a dangerous arsenal of light line, spinning rod techniques, he’s been whacking big fish with a baitcaster in his hand.
Matsushita has also proven himself proficient with the finesse stuff, but doing a lot of his work in Crescent Lake’s shallow, cover-laden waters, he’s playing a smart game. The three quality fish he’s caught this morning came to the boat in short order.
Matsushita has caught most of his fish on a free rig — a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Finesse Worm with a tear drop shaped sinker hanging perpendicular to his line. A bobber stop a few inches above the hook gives the sinker room to move, thereby keeping the bait on the bottom, without limiting the baits movement.