Clunn on the board

Rick Clunn just landed a four pounder. That's his first keeper of the day, and a great way to get started. He's now got two spectator boats and two camera boats following...

Hackney has a limit, not much weight

Greg Hackney continues to throw a crankbait along a riprap bank near the Illinois Bayou dam, and he continues to catch fish. He just made his first cull of the...

Zen master says it’s the RC4

Rick Clunn's reputation as the Zen Master is partially based on the perception that he's keyed into all the natural elements in his surroundings. That he can feel and smell and hear...

Hackney cranking now

Greg Hackney has made a short run up Illinois Bayou to the dam and spillway, and he's switched gears, throwing a crankbait as he works his way up the right...

Clunn’s arsenal

This morning Rick Clunn is alternating between throwing a crankbait and a spinnerbait. He's working his way down the bank of Piney Creek now, with its rocky banks. It looks like both...

Still shakin’ that bush, boss

The headline is a "Cool Hand Luke" reference, if you didn't get it. And there are bushes shaking all around Greg Hackney as he flips his way up the left...

Shakin’ the bush, Boss!

Greg Hackney just flipped his way past a low tree limb that definitely had a tree-shaker on it. Someone has got a fish – probably a catfish — on a...

Hackney has three

Greg Hackney just caught his third keeper of the day, another one in the range of 2 pounds. Hackney has mentioned more than once how crazy the water temperature has...

Hackney has two

Photographer James Overstreet and I just caught up with Greg Hackney in Illinois Bayou, just in time to see him catch his second keeper. We're told his first one weighed...

Setting the scene

We're following Rick Clunn this morning. He sits less than a pound behind leader Greg Hackney. We're in Piney Bay, a wide and beautiful stretch of water with bluffs on one side...