Make the most of what you’ve got. That was the prevailing them me among the leaders from Day 1. Chad Pipkens settled into an area and cycled through it again and again, hoping to pick off a fish every hour. He did this well on Day 1, to the tune of 14 pounds, 7 ounces and the lead.
Hunter Shryock made the most of what he had to work with as well. After a tough practice, and with a late boat number, he decided to fish close to home and keep his line wet as much as possible. With nearly 10 hours to fish, he was able to grind out 13-2 for second, fishing “rock, wood, grass…whatever was in front of me.”
Kenta Kimura sat in third place after the scales closed yesterday. He, too, made the most of what he had to work with. But unlike Shryock, his best hand was played a hundred miles from the ramp. When he got to his main area, the recent rains pleasantly surprised Kimura with high water, more than he bargained for, and 13-1 was the result. Expecting the water to recede and the place where he found them to be dry by Day 2, he caught everything he could and doesn’t plan to even go back.
With these guys junk fishing and or making the absolute most of their areas, their game plans don’t bode well for consistency. It sounds like Pipkens has the best chance to post a repeat performance of some kind, though 8 pounds seems like a more likely high-end success story if his spot can reload with a couple more quality bites above 2 pounds.
Shryock‘s junk fishing pattern could pan out again, but even he noted his good fortune of getting a few of the random right bites. And if Kimura really scraps what he did on Day 1 entirely, it’s back to the drawing board. And the drawing board on Sabine can be a challenging one to write on.
