Day 1 on St. Johns II

We caught up with several anglers during the afternoon of Day 1 on the St. Johns River, including Aaron Martens.

It was no surprise that Martens was catching fish on a drop shotâ¦

â¦but he was disappointed he didnât have 25 pounds in the live well.

Billy McCaghrenâs Day One Marshal got a good look at this fish as it came into the boat.

And then he let us get a better look.

Nearby, Ott Defoe was culling again.

Then we turned to see Hank Cherry down in the boat to land a fishâ¦

â¦one that would help his overall Day One weight.

Cherry moved to the back of the boat to put the fish in the live wellâ¦

â¦but first let his Marshal snap a quick picture for the blog.

We witnessed Jacob Powroznik catch several fish during the dayâ¦

â¦then quickly return to looking for the next fish on a bed.

David Walker tired of fishing in a crowd and idled away from the area.

We moved north on Lake George and found another group of anglers that included Kelly Jordan and Kevin VanDam.

Shaw Grigsby was fishing there, too, and he and Kevin VanDam both agreed a little sunshine would help the sight fishing.

Thereâs usually airboats moving about on Florida lakes, but the ones we saw today kept a respectable distance from the anglers they were near.

Kevin VanDam shared an area with Ken Iyobe for a bitâ¦

â¦and Iyobe boated a fish not long after he arrived.

VanDam congratulated Iyobe on his fish catch.

The fish helped Iyobe upgrade, as he got rid of a smaller fish in the live well.

And then the forecasted rain began to fallâ¦

â¦which was something the sight fishermen in the field didnât need.

But it didnât stop the ever present ospreysâ¦

â¦from spotting fish and catching them.

But even the ospreys seemed to be fishing in a crowd today.

VanDam would reach for his Huk rainwear several times before the end of the day.

Shaw Grigsby munched on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and never stopped fishing.

VanDam trolled back by and caught another fishâ¦

One that made him smile.

He and Grigsby agreed that was a nice cull.

It was a cull that would help VanDam accumulate 20 pounds, 9 ounces by the end of the day.

Elite Series rookie Adrian Avena said he spent way too much time during the morning fishing for two big fish on beds.

He moved into Lake George during the afternoon to try and finish out a limit.

You can see from the American flag on Bobby Laneâs boat, the wind began to strengthen in the afternoon.

It didnât stop Scott Rook from putting more fish in the boatâ¦

â¦nor Micah Frazier.

Frazier caught one of his better fish late in the day.

In an area that had seen probably half of the field on Day One, there were only a few boats left as anglers began to make their run to the weigh in.

Greg Vinson boated his final fishâ¦

â¦then took a moment to allow his Marshal to snap a photo.

The anglers left on the bottom end of Lake George were looking at a wet ride back to the weigh in site in Palatka, FL.