2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three, Notes

Coming out of practice, Steve Kennedy had located both sight fish and swimbait fish. He chose to target the swimbait fish first, but struggled because the cold nights had pushed them down.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three, Disappearing

After two days of 100 Elite Series anglers picking over the bedding bass on Smith Mountain Lake, many experienced disappointment when few remained on Day Three.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three, Blurry

A number of circumstances, both natural and man-made, conspired to keep some of the anglers from seeing their finned quarry.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three, West Coast

Heading into the third day of competition, five of the top twelve anglers in the standings were either born in California, raised there, or at some point called it home.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three

It's like Groundhog Day, a broken record and déjà vu all over again rolled up into one.

An open letter to Brent ‘Brody’ Broderick

A couple weeks ago I did a story with Brody Broderick about how his father, Skip Broderick, had suffered a serious heart attack. About an hour or so ago, Brody called me to tell me that just after talking to me earlier today he got a call from his sister in Ohio and was told that his father had died.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Two

"The whole thing was humiliating," Swindle said. "I had the trolling motor on high and the boat was swinging around while I was fishing a dock on my tip toes from the front of the boat, looking for fish. The boat hit the dock and I did a front flip, X-Games style off the front deck into the water."

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, VanDam

VanDam was running a defined pattern in different areas, primarily focusing on smallmouth bass. He mixed in sight fishing — a technique used by many in the top tier of the field — along with a number of blind casts.

2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl

In a timed sport, where minutes on the water often translate directly into dollars in the bank, valuable time spent on a fish that ultimately doesn't find its way to the weigh-in is the worst type of sunk cost.

Floating fish

"Floaters" can prove to be the ultimate frustration for anglers, because those fish can be impossible to catch. The best chance is that those fish will move up shallow to spawn.