opens

Social media roundup: Watts Bar Open edition

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Captions by
Shaye Baker
The St. Croix Bassmaster Opens anglers have rolled into Watts Bar for the 7th stop of the Opens EQ schedule. Casey Scanlon has setup shop for Open #3 of Division 3. Let’s take a look around social media to see how practice is going. 
Kyle Austin is setting up camp too.
JT Thompkins is out early and ready for the rising sun
Greg Bohannan enjoys a nice sunrise.
Kyle Patrick graphs around. You can check-in on how Patrick’s practice has gone by watching the video interview we did with him from on the water on Tuesday.
A beautiful rainbow shot from Trevor McKinney.
There’s been a lot of talk about all the catfish in Watts Bar. There are so many that this lady is feeding a school of them from her dock.
The length limit is pretty large here this week. A smallmouth has to reach 18 inches to keep.
Largemouth and spots have to measure at least 15 inches.
These can’t be weighed no matter what.
This one would keep for Blake Smith.
A note from Smith:
 
“To say fishing is tough is an understatement. Many of these fish don’t know if they want to be in summer or fall transition. So what I’ve been trying to do is look for normal summer patterns, but also those classic feeding up spots that make fall fishing so great. I’ve been trying every finesse tactic I know. Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on a dropshot with 8-pound Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon, or a wacky rig Senko just to try and pick up some extra bites. Flipping a Flappin’ Hog also has put a few  in the boat. You have to cover a lot of water if you want to succeed this week.”
Brad Luethener with a stud largemouth. A 4-pounder will be big here this week, based on what the anglers are reporting. And 12- pounds will be a strong bag.
There are lots of little ones here. And with the length limits of 15 and 18 inches, keepers will be hard to come by.
Clark Reehm with a 22-inch smallmouth. Pure gold on Watts Bar.
Matt Henry with a nice largemouth.
And another. These are the kind Henry will need to keep his 2024 Elite Series hopes alive. He sits in 7th going into this event, needing to stay in the Top 9 to qualify for the Elite Series.
JT Thompkins with a nice one on a jig. Thompkins leads the Angler of the Year race headed into this 7th Open of the season.
Trevor McKinney with a good one as well.
This one fell for a vibrating jig. And apparently something else along the way.
Watts Bar has a few big spots in it as well, as is evidenced by this solid spotted bass caught by Joey Nania.
Nania with a big smallmouth as well.
And we leave you with a solid largemouth from Kyle Patrick. Tune into bassmaster.com Thursday to follow along with the Opens action. And don’t forget that the final day (Saturday) will be featured on Bassmaster LIVE.

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