With Todd Faircloth leading the charge on Thursday with a 31 pound limit, talk turned to the possibility of seeing the 100 lb mark surpassed. Gentle George Cochran came the closest back in ’04 when he won with a four day tally of 99.7 pounds. However, Cochran’s win came in February of that year and his sack was full of Alabama pre-spawn fatties.

This year, the majority of the field is targeting post spawn bass in the grass located on the main lake. A combination of fast moving baits are being ripped through water column in hopes of triggering the winning bites.

Bites are not the problem. Aaron Martens started the second day tied for fourth with Ken Cook after boating more than 130 fish on his way to a limit of 29-2. With 488 out of a possible 495 fish total brought to the scales on Thursday, the bite is on. This week, two 20 pound limits will not make the money cut.

As the weigh-in got started on Friday, it appeared the unbelievable performance of day one was just a sign of things to come. Five of the first ten anglers to cross the stage brought 25 pounds or more to the scales.

Mike McClelland, a guaranteed contender in every tournament he enters, has been disappointed in his performance this year. 44th in the AOY standings, McClelland hoped to start the second half of the season off better albeit on a lake he has finished no better than 46th. 31-10 on Thursday left him just six ounces behind Todd Faircloth, the day one leader. 

A day two weight of 26-13 was enough for Mike to overtake Faircloth, but not enough to hold off Aaron Martens. Martens brought another 29 pound limit to the scales to post a two day weight of 58-14.

Second day cut line moved to 41-10 keeping Oklahoman Terry Butcher in the race, but ousting Gerald Swindle by just an ounce. Clark Reehm made the monster move of the day. Mired at the bottom of the leaderboard on day one with 15-9, Reehm weighed an impressive limit of 28-14, anchored by the big bas of the tournament at 9 pounds, 2 ounces, to jump all the way to 32nd.

Martens Leads
Aaron Martens has an Angler of the Year Title and three second place Classic finishes. However, this highly talented angler has yet to post a victory outside the State of California. The west coast phenom relocated to Alabama and is hoping to earn a victory in his new home state. “I just fished about 6 hours today,” he said.

The rest of the day, Martens played a little defense. “I would go through an area and catch a 5 pounder. By the time I culled it, I had drifted off the area and another boat would come through and make a cast in the area,” Martens said. “A couple of times today boats would be watching me and I would get a bite and have to free spool my reel so they wouldn’t see it. I’ve lost 4 of my spots to meat fishermen.”

Martens will have to adapt to keep ahead of the pack. “I’ve looked for new places everyday and I have found a couple more areas that might work. I’m doing some off the wall stuff and that lets me fish areas that are already getting pressured.”

McClelland Adjust, Still in 2nd 
“I worked hard to get my weight today,” McClelland said about his 26-13 pound limit on Friday. “I didn’t have the huge bite today, just a good solid limit.” 

Mike McClelland is another angler trying to adjust to the moving fish and has been fortunate to have the chance to look for new areas each day. “I’ve been lucky to have a good weight early enough to spend time looking for fresh water. A big fish goes a long way on this type of water and once I’ve got a decent limit, I will just go hunt and peck for the better bites.”

McClelland is staying flexible in his lures choices. “I’ve gone through two or three different color lures depending on the light conditions,” he said. “I haven’t picked a jig up yet, but if the wind lays day I definitely will.”

Not trying to fix what’s not broke, Mike plans to continue his pattern on Saturday. “I’ve got a really good starting area that is producing 20 pounds a day,” he said. “The early bite is a shad spawn deal; later in the day I’m keying on current.”

Faircloth Slowing Down
Todd Faircloth brought 31 pounds to scales on Thursday and backed it up with 24-15 on Friday to stay in the top three. “It was a lot slower for me today,” he said. “The fish moved off to the side and they just wouldn’t bite like they did yesterday.”

Faircloth believes the lighter current played role in the slower bite. “When they are pulling the water hard like they were yesterday, the fish get up real shallow. Today, they weren’t pulling as much water and the fished moved deeper.”

Like Thursday, Todd moved to his secondary spot, but I didn’t work as well. “I made one pass through there yesterday and caught 20 pounds,” he said. “Today, I didn’t catch a fish out of there.” Is second area is made up of deeper grass and Faircloth is still confused as to why the fish didn’t bite. “I spent two hours in there and couldn’t find that school of fish,” Todd said. “I moved around quite a bit, but they were there or wouldn’t bite.”

The TVA is predicting even less current for the weekend and that does not bode well for the Texas angler. “In order for me to have a shot at this, I’m going to need 30 pounds. If they don’t pull water, then I’ll fish the grass, but my better fish have come off the hard bottom areas.” 

Byron Velvick in 4th
“This is like Falcon Lake all over again,” Byron said when referring to his battered hands. “They’re wasted.” Lifting more than 55 pounds of fish in the boat over the course of two days can play havoc on you hands, but sitting in 4th with just two days left can ease the pain. 

Velvick had his weight by 10:00 in the morning and couldn’t cull up after that. “They were all 5 pounders,” he said. “Yesterday, I had a big fish but today they were all clones.” 25-14 was his weight on Friday, four pounds less than day one. 

Velvick believes he will need a late day surge to be successful this week. “I’ve got to get an afternoon bite going if I want to win this,” he said. “I’m going to talk to a couple of guys and see if I can figure out how to catch them later in the day.”

His bite is dependent on the shad spawn and once the sun gets up, the bite dies. “I had a limit by 6:45 a.m.,” he said. “I did catch another pre-spawn bass which means there are some fish moving into the area.”

Ike Makes the Right Moves
Ike book ended his day one performance of 27-5 with the identical weight on Friday. A two day total of 54-10 left him just 4 pounds off the lead in 5th place. “Today was awesome, but not as good as yesterday,” he said. “I caught 120 bass on Thursday and just 80 today.” Although the bite might have slowed some, Iaconelli didn’t change his game plan. “I basically catching them on two different plugs”, said the Runnemede, New Jersey angler. “The fish did move a little today; sometimes I would have to travel 50 yards to half a mile to find them.” 

He said the fish are transitioning from spawning areas to river ledges and are really “fluid”. “I sat on one of my spots today for 20 or 30 minutes and couldn’t figure it out. I looked at my GPS and found the next spot out where the fish should be and it was half a mile away. I went over there and they were there. That just shows you how much they can move overnight.”

Mike believes it will be the angler who can adjust and keep an open mind that will prevail this week. “The key is getting the real big bite, seven or eight pounders,” Ike revealed. “This is my style of fishing.” 

DAY TWO STANDINGS