Hackney with a limit

Greg Hackey, our Toyota AOY leader, just put bass number five into the
livewell. That gives him in the neighborhood of nine pounds. He caught
this one on a jig, up near the bank. We're on a tributary of the Elk
River now, some skinny water. To get here Hackey moved about two miles
closer to the Tennessee border. We're less than five miles away from
the Volunteer state now.

It's sunny and 75 degrees. Any semblance of those thunderstorms we've
been expecting have been pushed to later in the afternoon.

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Tallying up Tak's numbers

Another move for Takahiro Omori, another lost fish. As our camera boat arrived, we saw a wild smallmouth jump out of the water just inches from our rail. Based on reports of all the lost fish this week, it looks like Omori's mini-streak of lost fish shouldn't be all that surprising.
I asked photographer Seigo Saito, who has covered Omori all week, if the Japanese pro has been losing this many fish the other days. He estimated he was losing about two per day.
No one in our boat is worried, even after this latest round of lost fish. John Crews and Dave Lefebre both have a good bit of ground to cover and a short time to get there.
Next, another look back at Takahiro Omori's career totals unearthed some interesting notes and nuggets (with apologies to Mark Zona).
Omori fished his first B.A.S.S. tournament way back in 1992. He caught 2.4 pounds and came in 304th at the 1992 Texas Invitational on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. But don't let his painful debut fool you.
Since that tournament in 1992, Omori has fished in 270 B.A.S.S. tournaments. He's finished in the money 138 times. This total includes 11 Bassmaster Classic appearances, one Classic win, four other B.A.S.S. victories and 40 Top 10 finishes.
The 2016 season has started off well for Omori. He's made the cut in all four Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments in 2016, and this is his third consecutive Top 20 finish. (Somebody alert the Fantasy Fishing prognosticators!)

Upgrade for Klein

Another upgrade for Gary Klein.

Photo by Bassmaster Marshal Doug Castro

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Grinding it out

It's a steady grind out here for Lefebre, he's now making his second round on some spots in his area. 

With the sun staying out for a good period of time and the wind rippling, Lefebre is going back to flipping isolated trees adjacent to the creek channel. The fish he's tricked into eating off the trees have been quality each day and later in the morning, early afternoon.

Culling time for Crochet

With his limit in the boat, Cliff is now on the hunt for "kicker" fish.   Looking for "two" more good bites for now.

Photo by Bassmaster Marshal Joe McElroy

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Time to cull

Gary Klein is culling!

Photo by Bassmaster Marshal Doug Castro

Surprise! Crochet frogging

It will surprise no one familiar with Cliff Crochet to know that he's been catching his fish on a frog this week. It's the Cajun Baby's favorite bait. It took Crochet a day to get dialed into exactly where to throw the topwater lure.

"The key was fishing reeds, isolated patches of reeds," Crochet said yesterday. "I figured it out about 11 o'clock the first day, but I really hadn't totally committed to it. Then Friday I had another good bag, and I sold out to it, concentrating on that. (Saturday) with the water up, the fish pulled up on cypress trees, and I caught a couple of good ones on cypress trees. I hope Mr. TVA pumps two feet of water into this lake."

That's not going to happen, but Crochet is making the most of a day that he didn't think he'd be fishing at the close of Saturday's weigh-in. The potential rules violation and appeals process concerning Luke Clausen put 13th place Crochet into today's finale, making it a baker's dozen instead of the usual top 12.

And Crochet is making the most of it. BASSTrakk currently has him in seventh place with 12-4 today. So he's continuing his four-day climb in the standings from 64th place on Day 1 with 11-2, to 46th place on Day 2 with 13-13 to 13th place yesterday with 18-1.

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Bite getting better for Kennedy

Steve Kennedy just cought another one, this one's about 3.5. The bite seems to be getting better now.

Photo by Bassmaster Marshal Dirk Goins

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