At every Elite event a considerable amount of time is given to figuring out who to cover the next day and how to get it done.
It would seem easy enough. Cover the leaders, which is what we typically do. But on a lake the size of Champlain and it not be the final day, we need back up plans.
We always figure out something and normally we get pretty close. Probably isn’t going to happen today.
This is like one of those games you play at the Fair for a stuffed toy. Looks like fun but the odds are against you.
Just a quick glance at the standings shows us 19 anglers with some sort of variation of 18-pounds and something or another. The ounces that separate them place them anywhere from 8th place to 24th. All of them just a pound and half from being in the Top 4.
If you were competing in this event you would likely have a sense of excitement mixed with some threads of dread.
On one hand you need to go catch at least another 18-pound-and-change stringer on a lake that is spitting out 15-pounds like it was a consolation prize. One wrong move and you get a consolation prize, while the other guy gets 18, 19 or 20. And you are left strangely in the dust.
So we are headed to cover Todd Faircloth and Alton Jones, two anglers who hit the 20-pound plus mark, wondering if they can both recapture their first day’s catch. And they need every ounce of that to hold off the rest of the Elites, most of whom are just one big bite away from being on top of this event.