After Day 1 at Norfork Lake there were 28 anglers bunched between 12-0 pounds and 11-0 pounds. The top 50 cut takes place after today’s weigh-in, and one ounce will most likely be the difference between a $10,000 check and a chance to fish on Day 3, or no check and an early departure for Alabama’s Wheeler Lake, the next Elite Series stop.
There was a three-way tie for 49th place yesterday, all with 11-1, which included Mike McClelland, Paul Mueller and Bernie Schultz.
Quick, precise culling is crucial in tournaments like this, where anglers are having 30- and 40-fish days, and many of those bass are just an ounce or two heavier than the smallest one already in the livewell.
Biggest one-day bag is the first tiebreaker; if those are equal, second-biggest bag becomes the tiebreaker. Five anglers finished with 11-15 yesterday; five more had 11-5.