Will Davis Jr and Jason Christie get the bites they’ve been looking for, though one fares far worse. Jason Christie has been grinding away with a frog most of the day, hoping on hope that he could lure another monster out of hiding. He got that bite a little over an hour ago. A 7-pounder sucked his frog under and proceeded to bury up in cover, twice. Christie kept pressure on the fish, wrestled it free and had it within reach, when the fish leapt from the water, opened its mouth and coughed up his lure. Christie lunged for the fish and came up with a handful of water that he returned to the lake with a closed fist.
That one hurt. Christie caught a 2-pounder just a few minutes later, never saying a word as the loss continued to replay in his head and heart. That fish would have given Christie the lead over Brandon Palaniuk, by a sizable margin.
Will Davis Jr has been grinding away all day as well, suffering the ill effects of slow current. Davis moved to the shallows and finally hooked up with a nice largemouth on a jerkbait. As he tried to boat the bass, one of the trebles logged in his hand. He grabbed the bass with the other and brought it aboard. “It was worth that,” Davis said, as he clawed his way closer to Palaniuk.
Half an hour later, at 2:07, Davis boated another 3-pounder to take the unofficial lead away from Brandon Palaniuk, by 1 ounce. Christie sits in third now, 3-12 off the lead, with a 1-4 as his smallest and a bad taste in his mouth. Bryan New has the biggest bag of the day in fourth, with 15-8. Jay Przekurat sits in fifth with the third biggest bag of the day, 13 pounds. Davis’s day is the second best, with 14-0.
Less than a half hour remains. Local Scott Canterbury finished this event in 11th, missing the final day cut by 10 ounces. He predicted 64 pounds to win midway through practice. Palaniuk and Davis are in a virtual tie, a pound and a half off that prediction. Will one of these two put one more solid bass in the boat to cull up to Canterbury’s guess? Or will Christie catch another giant to makeup for his miss? They’ve got 20 minutes to get it done.
