Kelly Jordon, one of the Elite Series’ most noted sight fishermen, jumped out front to claim top honors on the first day. He commented, however, that the big fish he’d seen during practice had vanished forcing him to make some adjustments on the fly.

Jordon wasn’t alone in noting the big bass’ vanishing act as several in Thursday’s Top 12 said as much. All agreed that with warmer nights the eager spawners would reappear, but none knew exactly when that might occur. 

With weather conditions perfect for sight fishing on Friday, and overnight temperatures much warmer than the day before, it seemed like the second round could be the day. However, as anglers began streaming across the weigh-in stage it became apparent that Friday was a grind.

When the grind is on, there is perhaps no one more astute at dashing dreams than Kevin VanDam, who crossed the stage Friday with the day’s heaviest stringer weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces. The 17-pound bag pushed VanDam up the board from 12th place into the lead with a two-day total weight of 32 pounds, 9 ounces.

Fred Roumbanis climbed aboard the grind train as well and rode it for an impressive 16-pound, 8-ounce limit of Smith Mountain bass, pushing his combined weight to 31 pounds, 11 ounces. Day One leader 

Kelly Jordon fell to third place after struggling through small buck bass all day en route to his final tally of 11 pounds and an ounce, giving him 31 pounds, 10 ounces after two days fishing.

Aaron Martens charged up the leader board from 33rd place into fourth thanks to his 16-pound, 11-ounce limit that boosted his total weight to 30 pounds, 13 ounces, and Matthew Sphar dropped two spots and ended the second day in fifth place after weighing 12 pounds, 13 ounces, which brought his two-day total weight to 30 pounds, 10 ounces.

Dean Rojas dropped down four spots to round out the Super Six with a combined weight of 30 pounds even after weighing a lighter-than-hoped-for limit of 11 pounds, 9 ounces. 

VanDam Grinds into First Place
Kevin VanDam is in perhaps the last place you’d want to see him in if you’re having to compete against him, though he pointed out that it was a chore to get there Friday. “It was a real slow day,” he said. 

“I started off real slow and went to a couple of the areas I was in yesterday, but it just wasn’t happening for me. I started running the same pattern in some different areas, and just ground it out.”

VanDam pointed out that stealth is required in the pattern he’s running – which is, more or less, a sight fishing deal, though he’s not focused entirely on beds. “I was real fortunate to catch the quality fish,” he said. 

“They’re in a real funny mood right now, but if you’re patient and see them before they see you, you can catch them. A lot of them aren’t on beds yet, and they’re suspending under docks or just cruising the shallows.”

VanDam is targeting smallmouth due to their larger average size in proportion to their green cousins. With brown fish accounting for six of the 10 keepers he’s weighed thus far, he revealed he’s having to mix things up to be consistent. “I’m throwing a few baits as I’m looking,” he said. 

“I’m just mixing it up and dealing with the conditions. I could get them to react a little better yesterday with the little breeze that we had. For sight fishing, obviously you couldn’t ask for better conditions than we had today.”

While weights were lower than most expected, VanDam is keenly aware that the weekend has enormous potential for big bags. “There’s going to be another wave of spawning fish that come to the banks this weekend,” he pointed out. “I really thought more would have today, but tomorrow’s going to be different.” 

Roumbanis is Moving Fast
Fred Roumbanis freely admits that he’s not a huge fan of bed fishing – particularly when there’s plenty of other ways to get the job done. “I never caught a fish that I weighed off the bed,” he said. “I really just went fishing, after wasting a lot of time trying to look at them.”

Fred’s goal for the second day was to remain in contention, although with only two small bucks to show for his efforts midway through the morning it looked like that might be a distant goal. “Everything changed on my third fish, which was a 5-9,” he said.

“I caught it on such light line that it was scary, that’s all I can say. I was out on the mid-lake and pretty much knew that it was going to be a good day.”

With 15 rods on his casting deck, Roumbanis revealed that he’s running a classic junk pattern. “I’m keeping the trolling motor on a hundred, just fishing slow real fast,” he laughingly said. “The water is so clear that you don’t need to sit there and work it every five feet. 

“You can make one 30-foot cast and cover a lot of water. Really, the deal is to try and catch those active fish.” 

The jury is still out on Roumbanis’ third day game plan. “I’m not sure yet,” he said. “Whatever looks good in the morning, and wherever there’s a little breeze, is what I’m going to fish.” 

Jordon is Betting on the Come
With the heaviest stringer weighed thus far in the week keeping him in the hunt, Kelly Jordon is upbeat about what he saw on the water more than what he was able to do. “I fished for a four pounder for an hour, but I finally had to tell her that I’d see her tomorrow,” he said. 

“I know right where she is, and I was fortunate to find another five pounder that was uncatchable. There’s finally some things that are starting to happen.”

“I finally started to see some big females moving up late this afternoon that are ready to go on the beds. Tonight is going to be warm, so the bank might be full. I don’t count on that happening, but the afternoon bite should be strong.”

Martens Hunted Hogs
Aaron Martens essentially strolled into the top five by adding nearly three pounds over his first day’s catch, and he made a pretty tough day at Smith Mountain look like a cakewalk. “I just put it on high today,” he said. “I probably saw 70 keepers today, and was able to get my limit real quick.”

Though he lost a three-pound bed fish that would’ve certainly helped things a bit, Martens pointed out that everything worked as he’d planned. “I pretty much just went hog hunting today,” he said. “There’s not a lot of them, but I bet there’s some more coming.”

Martens pointed out that during practice, with conditions being overcast and windy, only the “real easy fish” were discovered. Subsequently, the obvious beds have been picked clean. “Now that we have the right weather for seeing down deep, I’m only looking for the harder-to-find beds where bigger fish are holding,” he explained.

“I’m not saying I can get a limit of four-pounders, but they’re definitely out there and it’s only going to get better.”

For Saturday, Martens plans to “hog hunt” as long as he can bear. “There’s going to be a lot of locals sticking them too, which is going to make things harder,” he said. “I’ve swapped all my batteries out, so I’m planning on hauling butt and trying to see as much as I can.”

Sphar Doing the Dock Talk
Matthew Sphar has increased his yield with each return visit to Smith Mountain over the last few years. In his fourth trip, which has all the makings of being his best yet, the wheels nearly came off on the second day. “It was a major struggle for me,” he said. 

“The fish, obviously, didn’t bite all that good.”

Sphar pointed out that though he’s not sight fishing, he did spend an hour trying to coax a four-pound female into biting late in the day. Fortunately, his best bite came in first thing in the morning. “After that first fish, I really struggled to get a limit,” he said.

“I was finally able to cull a couple of times, but they were all small fish.”

Sphar pointed out that the fish were biting differently today than they have throughout the week. “I know that I had a couple of bigger bites that chomped the bait, and then spit it,” he said. “One of them, I know, was a four pounder because I saw it under the dock. Hopefully they’ll turn on for me.”

Focusing on docks, Sphar pointed out the tomorrow will be another grind of covering water trying to locate where the better fish are holding. “I actually fished a totally different area today,” he said. “You have to find the kind of docks that they’re on, and then just fish a bunch of them in a day. That’s the key.”

Rojas Needed the Big Bite
Dean Rojas was sure after Thursday’s first round that he would bring another quality sack to the scales Friday. While he wasn’t able to post the same level of consistency, he did maintain enough quality to remain in the race less than three pounds back from the lead. 

“I never had any big bites today,” he revealed. “I had two fish, that were big ones, found today but I just ran out of time this afternoon.”

Rojas commented he’d found a seven-pounder late in the day Thursday, but she wasn’t ready yet, so he returned Friday with the same unfortunate result. “I caught the male, but she would never jump on the bed,” he explained. 

“She just stayed off to the side. I probably should’ve messed with her some, but I thought I would run across more during the day. That’s really what bed fishing is all about – making the right choices, and I probably didn’t make the best one there.”

Rojas set the all-time single day record at Toho by sight fishing, and he’s looked at everything he’s weighed this week. Still, his overall reputation isn’t due to his bed fishing ability so everyone assumes that his trusty Spro frog will make an appearance. “I did throw the frog a little this afternoon,” he said.

“I had one big one come up and look at it, which is the one that I worked on right before weigh-in. I finally got her to nose down on the bait, but I just ran out of time. It’s tough because when they’re like that, you know that they probably won’t be there tomorrow.”

Dean commented that the biggest change from Thursday was in the quality of his fish. Still, he’s confident that he’s still in the hunt. “I’m scouting new areas, and just giving it everything I’ve got,” he said. 

“I’ve got some new fish located, and I still think I can catch a big bag tomorrow. We’re only halfway through this thing. I just have to stay focused. Sunday is going to be the crucial day, and that’s all I’m trying to do.” 

DAY TWO STANDINGS