Frank Talley fell one keeper shy of a limit yesterday, but he made up for it with the big bass of the day, an 8-pound, 3-ounce largemouth. His total of 15-10 put him in 14th place. No one wanted to qualify for this Classic in Fort Worth more than Talley, who is from Temple, Texas. He assured himself a place here last season with a 15th-place finish in the Angler of the Year standings, which included a win at Alabama’s Lake Guntersville.
Talley has been stuck with two keepers totaling 2-8 most of the day and was steadily dropping down near the 25th-place cutoff for tomorrow’s final day. However, Talley will definitely survive to compete on Day 3 thanks to a 5-pounder he caught at 1:10. It bumped him up near where he started the day in 15th place on BassTrakk.