GRAPEVINE, Texas — The leader blanked and two challengers ended up in a tie for first place, forcing a fish-off in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open at Lewisville Lake.
Pro division leader Bradley Hallman failed to catch a keeper Saturday and dropped to third place while Elite Series pro Brent Chapman weighed in three keepers and Josh Bertrand brought one keeper to the scales and both finished tied for first with 20 pounds, 9 ounces. They will compete in a fish-off from 7 a.m. to noon CST Sunday with the takeoff and weigh-in at the Lewisville Lake Park at 100 E. Lake Park Rd.
Bassmaster.com will have our eyes in the anglers boats Sunday and provide live updates of all the on-the-water action. Join us for coverage even before the anglers launch.
Chapman had the best quip of the frigid day that had ice forming on anglers' gear. When learning he and Bertrand would get another day on the water for the fish-off, Chapman said, "How about we go into Bass Pro and have a fish-off in the tank there?”
No such luck. He will need to go back to his best spot, in the back of a creek that he found in practice.
“I knew it would have a lot of boats in there but I felt like if I could just get in there and put my PowerPoles down and camp on that one spot I figured I might be able to catch a few,” Chapman said. “I was real fortunate I got in there and had four quality bites and put three in the boat and was off to a good start (the first day). I went in there yesterday and spent almost the entire day in there and never had a bite.”
Since his partner caught two fish there, Chapman knew the area still had fish. Then on the way in he caught about a 2-pound spotted bass to keep from blanking Friday.
“Today I went back in there and I knew it would be good because there wouldn’t be that many people in there," he said. "I caught two in the first hour and fished the rest of the day and had one other bite.”
Bertrand caught his biggest stringer (18 pounds) the first day on an Alabama rig with Pro Swim Bait 5-inch Pro Minnows.
“Today I had to slow down a lot,” he said. “The wind was really blowing hard in the area I was fishing and I couldn’t fish it. So I pitched boat docks the rest of the day and caught one pitching a drop shot with a Roboworm.”
Rounding out the top five on the pro side were Hallman with 20-4 in third; Brad Lankford, 18-1, fourth; and Mike McClelland, 17-7, fifth.
Keith Glasby won the non-boater division with 11-8 and took home a $35,000 Skeeter ZX190 bass boat/Yamaha 150 hp outboard package. The other top five finishers included Rick Parker in second with 11-1; Brent Haggard, third, 10-5; Kenneth Moser, fourth, 10-5; and Christopher Warren, fifth, 8-6.
The Luck “E” Strike Heavyweight Awards for the heaviest stringer of the tournament went to Lankford in the pro division with an 18-1 limit and Haggard on the non-boater side with an 8-12 catch.