BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Day 1 of Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Powered by OPTIMA Lithium was a good one, with a lot of bass caught by the whole field. Taking the early lead, Michael Neal tallied 52 pounds, 9 ounces for 21 fish, and Dalton Head worked his way into second with 44-6 (17). Those totals won’t really matter on the weekend, but barring something very surprising, most of the Top 10 pros after the starting day should be able to practice with a fairly clear conscience today.
Outside of the Top 10 is where things get really interesting. Today, there’s a severe thunderstorm watch until 10 a.m. in Columbiana, and it looks like a wetter, more dynamic weather day overall than Day 1, which was slick and unseasonably warm.
The REDCREST Outdoor Expo is Friday-Sunday at the BJCC, with doors opening at 11 a.m. today. At the expo, there are hundreds of giveaways and the free event features over 225,000 square feet of tackle, boats, gear and fun. There’s even at least one retailer there with some hard-to-find baits like a Jackall Drift Fry and Rapala CrushCity Freeloader in stock – you may want to get in line.
The MLFNOW! live stream will run Thursday through Sunday from 7:20 a.m. to 4 p.m. CT for full coverage of the championship event.
5:45 Stefan “all-in” on the river
Sitting in 20th and right on the cut, Matthew Stefan caught eight spotted bass for 20-11 on Day 1, and he did it up the river, largely with a prototype Core Tackle swim jig. Though he put together a good day, the conditions were not cut and paste from practice.
“I decided I would use my half hour to run way up and work my way back,” he said of Day 1. “The river just keeps falling, it dropped today, almost a foot, probably 8 inches. It’s probably down 4 feet for sure since the first day of practice. The current flow is down drastically, the water is warming, the water is clearing. Things are just changing. I had several really good current seams that I found the last day of practice, that were coming right off the bank. I showed up today, and there was no current seam, and the nearest current was 50 feet off the bank.
“For me, it was a whole new learning curve,” he added. “Some of the stuff had fish on it, a lot of it didn’t. When I got down closer to Beeswax during the third period, I was expecting that to be my best period. I didn’t have crap until I ran 15 miles back up river, and then I caught two keepers on a place I caught fish on in the morning.”
Though Stefan didn’t keep up with the frontrunners on Day 1, he believes that zeroed weights for the Knockout Round and Championship Round can keep the up-river bite in the game.
“I had four other keepers on today, including a 4 ½ I had within 2 feet of my hand,” he said. “But, you’re fishing heavy cover, heavy current, it’s just tough to get them out sometimes with mean spotted bass. With weights resetting, anything is possible. I found one spot that had a wad of fish in it. The current positions the fish, and it replenishes. I think I can maintain throughout the tournament, but if you find that one seam, at the right time, I think you can win.”
Either way, Stefan is going out swinging, fishing his way. At home on the flowages of Wisconsin, he’s probably one of the best in the field at reading current, and going toe to toe with feisty bass in flowing water is in his blood.
5:30 Cox breaks down the shallow bite potential
In 12th after Day 1, John Cox, everyone’s hero, weighed 10 bass for 26-9. He started out “just fishing,” but had to buckle down and catch fish with his eyes to actually put weight on the board.
“Today was a grind, I thought I was going to catch more, to be honest for you,” he said. “I fished for them, and I couldn’t get bit, it was terrible. Then, like every one I caught, they were actually fry guarding. They took forever to catch. I had one little spot, I sat there the entire day, I picked the Poles up like three times, just push-poled around. There were like 15 in that pocket, and they all had hook holes from someone the day before.”
After a day that saw forward-facing sonar take the cake again, could Cox or someone else make it interesting up shallow? In the opinion of Cox, one of the best bed fishermen of all time, a push of prespawn fish is necessary.
“Today there was no movement, where any of the prespawners came in, they were stagnant all day,” he noted. “If you get that movement of a prespawn bite, you can hang with the guys, but I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. I’m going to try to hang every day, and if the window opens where the prespawners decide to slide up and cooperate, then we might blast them.”
According to Cox, the highest probability of that happening is on Sunday – so, keep your fingers crossed.
5:00 Morning update
Good morning folks! It’s not raining yet, but this could definitely turn out to be a day impacted by weather, as the forecast does not look good for the afternoon, which could be stormy, windy and wet.
Today, Michael Neal will go out in the lead, with Dalton Head right behind him – both saw most of their success on Day 1 with a minnow and forward-facing sonar. Of the 50 pros in the field, only the Top 20 will make tomorrow’s Knockout Round, and that particular race is super tight. In 16th, Gerald Spohrer has 22-15. In 20th, Matt Stefan has 20-11. In 25th, Nick LeBrun has 17-5. So, a fish or two either way could send someone above or below the cut line, and it’s likely we’ll have drama around it all day.
From the current side of things, the Lay Lake Dam is running five generators and spilling, as it has been for most of the event so far. Up the lake, the Logan Martin Dam is running only two generators and not spilling this morning – that could be good conditions for fishing the tailrace there.
So, buckle up for a fun day of bassin’, however much the weather allows.
The post REDCREST live blog: Day 2 of the Qualifying Round on Lay Lake appeared first on Major League Fishing.
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