
All captions: Craig Lamb



âIt was the most unforgettable day of my career so far.â Indeed. On Day 2 Sam George moved from 98th to seventh place with a limit weighing 26 pounds, 2 ounces. A 10-pounder anchored the catch.


To finish 11th place Justin Lucas used this Berkley Dredger 17.5 crankbait that weighs 3/4-ounce, and is designed to run from 16-19.5 feet. He chose the Irish Gold pattern to catch his fish.

To finish 10th place Josh Douglas used this drop shot rig. âItâs my confidence rig for bed fishing and always works well on the Tennessee River lakes.â The choice was this 4-inch Biovex USA Kolt Fish Tail in the Ayu pattern.


âI went flipping and pitching far up the river, catching my bass from 6- to 8-feet of water.â That sums up how Wes Logan finished ninth on Chickamauga.


âBeing at the right place, at the right time, was everything for me this week.â Timing was good for Brandon Lester, who finished eighth at Chickamauga using this shaky head rig.


Wayne Hauser Jr. finished seventh place using this Carolina rig setup. His choice was a 6-inch Zoom Brush Hog, green pumpkin, rigged to a 5/0 offset hook and 1/2-ounce weight. Rig length was about 2.5 feet. He fished the lure around offshore ledges.

âI fished around spawning areas from 1 to 3 feet, looking for spawning bluegill and largemouth.â That sums up the tactic of sixth-place finisher Bill Weidler.


Chickamauga Lakeâs spawning conditions set up perfectly for the bed fishing skills of Ish Monroe. All week he used a lure of his own design to be released by River2Sea.


No surprise. Shaw Grigsby finished fourth by doing lots of sight fishing. He targeted a network of beds marked as GPS waypoints.


Hunter Shryock posted a second Top 12 of the season with a third-place finish at Chickamauga. âI went with my go-to rig, my confidence bait, for spawning bass anywhere in the country.â


Michael Neal was a threat to win on his home lake all week. He came close with a runner-up finish. This big swimbait was the key. âI threw it out, let it hit bottom and then wind it back, stop and keep doing that type retrieve back to the boat.â


John Cox led the spinning rig parade with this weightless setup. The water was so shallow that âtheir backs were out of the water,â he said of the bass coming from less than 1 feet of water.
