David Mullins is having his best year on the Elite Series. Based on the Day 1 standings, where Mullins was 5th, he’s now second in Bassmaster Angler of the Year points. Unlike the three guys at the top of the leaderboard, who have a specific pattern they’ve found, Mullins has no clue whether his bag of 17-1 is repeatable today.
“It ain’t like it was easy,” Mullins said. “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing. I’m just bouncing around all over the place.”
The 38-year-old Mt. Carmel, Tenn., resident said he had two fish at 11:45 yesterday. “The biggest fish I caught in practice was a 2 1/2. I had no clue. The second day of practice I didn’t even catch a keeper. I thought if I could catch a limit (Wednesday) that would be huge, and I thought 10 pounds would be pretty good.”
His five bass included two caught punching the grass, two on a football jig and one on a deep crankbait. He said he’s got 15 rods on the deck.
“It’s September,” Mullins said yesterday, when it was still September. “You might be out there and they come blowing up behind you, and you catch them on a Spook in 30 foot of water. You don’t know.”
Mullins undoubtedly expressed a common sentiment from the 85 anglers in this field after one fall day on Lake Guntersville, when only 46 of them weighed a 5-bass limit. Keep an open mind and keep grinding – that’s Mullins’ game plan.