Jesse Wiggins is likely to have a plethora of first-time experiences during his first year on the Elite Series. The 27-year-old Cullman, Ala., resident had one of those, after landing his third 3-pound smallmouth bass of the morning. With his 19-1 second-place total from yesterday, he’s assured of making the Day 2 cut to the top 51 and earning at least $10,000.
“I just won $10,000, if I get back to the boat ramp,” Wiggins said. “I hadn’t ever got to say that before.”
Wiggins now has a limit of smallmouth bass weighing at least 15 pounds. He started on the same sweet spot that he found on the last day of practice. He spent more time protecting it than he did fishing it yesterday.
“I got lucky, starting on one of the best places on the lake, I feel like,” Wiggins said yesterday.
With Cherokee Lake’s reputation for fish moving, being here one day and gone the next, Wiggins is proving that not to be the case for him. The key may be the combination of rock structure on the bottom and bait all around it.
“You can’t see them [on sonar] here like you can at Douglas,” said Wiggins, who fished an Open there last year. “There’s so much rock here, and you can’t tell how many are there. At Douglas, it’s clay and you can count ’em. Here bait is the key, but you want rocks around the bait.”