Several flops created big flips. So now up is down, and down is up.
A topsy-turvy first round in the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifier on Lake Okeechobee scrambled the EQ standings, with five anglers climbing inside the Top 10 who advance to the Elites.
Behind his eighth-place start, Fisher Anaya, a 19-year-old from Eva, Ala., took over the point lead with 259. He began the event tied for third with 170 points but climbed with the help of the day’s Phoenix Boats Big Bass, an 8-pound, 13-ounce lunker caught on Bassmaster LIVE.
Sam Hangii, 24 of Knoxville, Tenn., climbed from ninth to second (249 points) behind his event-leading limit of 23 pounds, 15 ounces. He landed a 7-15 and added a 6-pounder in his final minutes of fishing.
The biggest mover of the day was 20-year-old Colby Dark, who at 22nd with 130 points came in as a long shot to make the Elites. He believed he needed the winner’s 95 points to gain the estimated qualifying total of 223.5. Dark, of West Monroe, La., got close to that mark after weighing the third-best bag of 18-12, catapulting to 10th with 223 points.
Others moving inside the Top 10 were Austin Cranford (4th, 241 points), Matt Adams (5th, 237), Tristan McCormick (6th, 229), and Pake South (8th, 225).
Those falling included previous points leader Matt Messer (now 15th, 212), Aaron Jagdfeld (13th, 216), Grae Buck (12th, 219) Jace Lindsay (11th, 223) and Bailey Gay (16th, 206).
Messer, 23 of Warfield, Ky., brought in two fish for 5-6 Thursday to stand 61st while Jagdfeld, 24, of Rochester Hills, Mich., is 56th with four for 5-13. Buck is 49th, Lindsay 38th and Gay 51st. Each can climb back into contention with a stellar Day 2.
Conversely, those who moved into the Top 10 need to hold serve or risk falling out.
Cranford, 30, of Norman, Okla., moved up from 12th in points with 19-1, good for second in the event. McCormick, 27, a two-time Classic qualifying from Bon Aqua, Tenn., bumped up 10 spots from 15th in points with his 15-7 limit putting him fifth.
Adams, who missed making the Elites last year by one spot, had 15-0 to start sixth. That moved the 42-year-old from Guntersville, Ala., up from 11th. South, 21, of Winnsboro, Texas, was 14th and jumped six places by starting 11th with 13-1.
Along with Anaya and Hanggi, three others remained inside the Top 10. Alabama’s Russ Lane, 53, weighed 12-3 to start 14th, moving from fifth to third in points with 248. Jack Dice, 25, of Lynchburgh, Va., placed 18th on Day 1, moving from 10th to seventh, one point behind Lane. Missouri’s Brock Reinkemeyer opened in 27th place with 10-7, dropping a spot to ninth in the standings.
There is little room for error in the tight leaderboard for the final Elite spots. South and Reinkemeyer are tied with 225 points, with South holding the tiebreaker with most weight on full-field days, 86-0 to 82-11.
Dark and Lindsay both have 223 points, but Dark has a 91-14 to 80-13 weight advantage.
Most of the Elite berths should be decided after Day 2, but with so many in the hunt and the opportunity for enormous bags on Okeechobee, there’s a chance several spots could come down to Championship Saturday.
More flops could create more flip.
