Oddly, the focus of the leader board is near the bottom, where Gerald Swindle is making a climb, one rung at a time, higher up the AOY standings.
On the top side of the tournament scoreboard is a surprise. In parenthesis is angler position going into today from the official leader board. According to BASSTrakk we have Alton Jones (7th), who finished third last week on the upper Mississippi River, now in the lead. Behind him is James Elam (8th). Jason Williamson (6th) is third and Tommy Biffle (5th) has moved into fourth place.
The weather conditions, somewhat like Day 1, are coming into play with boat positioning. Winds are forecast from the south at 10 mph. Most of the anglers are on the northwest shore, fishing in the wide open exposed water.
We don’t know the details of Jones’ pattern but I do recall a tactic he’s used successfully in previous interviews. Jones is skilled at understanding bass positioning on offshore cover under windy conditions. He applied that keen knowledge last week and likely is doing so here.
Today dialing into how the wind positions the smallmouth will be key.