2009 Elite Series Blue Ridge Brawl, Day Three, Cut
James Niggemeyer, Jeff Connella and Skeet Reese each acknowledged that it would take a superhuman effort to erase Kevin VanDam's nearly 7-pound lead.
Please enter your details.
We cannot find an active B.A.S.S. Membership for the information you have provided. Please renew your membership here.We cannot find an active B.A.S.S. Membership for the information you have provided. Please try again.Scheduled maintenance. We'll be back shortly. If you continue to have trouble please contact customer service at 877-BASS-USA.
James Niggemeyer, Jeff Connella and Skeet Reese each acknowledged that it would take a superhuman effort to erase Kevin VanDam's nearly 7-pound lead.
If there was a technique Kevin VanDam hasn't quite mastered, most would agree that sight-fishing would be it.
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.
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.
A number of circumstances, both natural and man-made, conspired to keep some of the anglers from seeing their finned quarry.
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.
It's like Groundhog Day, a broken record and déjà vu all over again rolled up into one.
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.
"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."
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.
Membership Includes 1 Year Bassmaster Magazine, Plus $50 in free gear.