All 50 will remain to fish Sunday; however, what will happen beyond that is still up to Tournament Director Trip Weldon. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the weather for Monday, assuming the 12 cut would fish on that day, looks to be a repeat of Friday’s.

Missing grass, and a lake that’s still at summer pool, has resulted in cramped conditions at Wheeler thus far. An incredibly strong current, a result of the steady efforts of the TVA to maintain the lake level, is particularly noticeable in the feeder creeks much of the field is grouped in after learning that a Decatur Flats without grass is, well, just a flat. 

Predictions coming into the week were that 12- to 13-pounds per day would be required to make the Top 50, and that a 17-pound average would be a strong contender for the win. That early prognosis has held true as the leaders were grouped tightly around that mark. 

Alton Jones stormed to the lead Thursday by boating almost 18 pounds of Wheeler bass, but surrendered it to veteran pro Tommy Biffle, who brought 19 pounds, 14 ounces – the heaviest limit of the week so far – to the scales Saturday, pushing his two-day total weight to 36 pounds even.

Staying in second place, where he started the day, was 2004 Classic Champion Takahiro Omori with a combined weight of 33 pounds, 9 ounces, after toting 16 pounds, 1 ounce to the scales Saturday. 

Brad Hallman moved into third with 30 pounds, 14 ounces overall, after placing 17 pounds, 13 ounces on the scales, and Mark Tucker ended the second day in fourth place by boating a five-bass tournament limit weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces, pushing his two-day total to 30 pounds even.

Mike “Ike” Iaconelli was in fifth place with 29 pounds, 13 ounces, after weighing five bass for 12 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday. Rounding out the Super Six was Todd Faircloth, who brought 14 pounds, 4 ounces to the stage to give him 29 pounds, 13 ounces overall.

The man on in the bubble when everything was said and done was Jared Lintner, with 22 pounds, 4 ounces overall. Based on Saturday’s fishing, look for Sunday to be an all out blitz as anglers jockey for a possible last chance to climb the leader board. 

1st Place: Biffle is Right at Home
Don’t look now, but Tommy Biffle has the lead in this one. With that in mind, you know that there’s a strong flipping bite making him hard to beat. With a limit in the boat by 8:30, he explained that things came “pretty easy” on the pond today. 

“I probably caught 30 fish today,” he said. “I’m throwing a little bit of everything and fishing the way that I like to fish.”

Biffle relayed that he broke off one fish in a tug of war that he would like to have seen make it to the scales. “I really don’t know how big it was,” he said. “He was down under a log and was pulling hard. I was pulling hard right back, but my line must have hit a sharp place under the tree.”

Many anglers were unable to locate their fish because the water came up so much but for Biffle, it was the perfect scenario. “This is just what I like – it doesn’t get any better than this for me,” he said. 

“I wanted to fish so badly yesterday because I’ve been here before and caught them like this, and then they dropped the bottom out of it. I think they’re going to leave it now because they left it alone last night.”

Fishing alone in dirty water, Biffle again reiterated that it’s just like he wants it. “I’ve kind of been staying in the same area for the last two days because I haven’t had to move,” he said. 

“I know of some other areas just like I’m fishing, and feel like I could go to any of them and catch a good stringer.”

With plenty of water in reserve, Tommy explained that he plans to give his primary spot until noon tomorrow before he makes any changes. “As long as the water (level) stays where it is, I think it’s going to be a good day,” he said. “Hopefully there’ll be some more bluebird skies and a little wind.”

2nd Place: Tak Holds in Second 
Takahiro Omori might not be a renowned flipper, but he’s certainly putting pressure on one of the world’s best. Just two-and-a-half pounds from the lead, he explained that his bites may be coming slow, but they’re all good. 

“I only caught six keepers today, but they were all the right size,” he said. 

With his water rising two feet since Thursday, Tak was forced to make some critical changes to maintain a hold on second place. “Yesterday, I caught everything on one bait but today I had to use four different baits and move around a lot,” he said. 

“Fortunately I made a good adjustment.”

Fishing shallow, Tak has followed his fish up the bank. “I’m fishing on the back of a major creek,” he said. “I’ve had a good two days so far, so hopefully I can have one or two more.”

Tak revealed that he had his limit by 1:00, but lost his lower unit shortly after that. Fortunately, fellow pro Jared Lintner played good Samaritan and brought him in. “I was going to check another place, but I hit something hard enough to cause my lower unit to go out,” he said.

Not really knowing what effect the rising water and changing weather will have on his fish, Tak explained that he’s holding some water from practice just in case. “I have some water that I’ve been saving,” he said. 

“Since I haven’t been in there in three days, everything might have changed, so I don’t know. 

3rd Place: Hallman Fought the Urge
Catching 15 fish a day, Brad Hallman said that he may be the odd man out in terms of quantity, but not quality. “I’m not catching that many fish,” he said. “I had a limit by 10:30, and culled through probably 12 keepers, but that’s kind of the game right now. 

“You can go out there and catch 50 fish and have to wade through 2 pounders, or go out and catch 15 good ones.”

Based on the conditions Hallman saw at launch, he made a change to fish new water. “I didn’t go in there the first day because the bite just wasn’t as good for me up there during practice. Based on today though, I’ll probably go back in there tomorrow.”

Of course, his “new” water wasn’t quite new. “I fished the FLW a year ago and lost by an ounce in there,” Hallman explained. “I guess since they put that tournament on TV it kind of changed, because there were about 25 locals in there and two or three tournament boats.” 

Hallman’s running a strong pattern between a handful of spots. “I’m fishing four or five different places,” he said. “When I get into a spot that’s just right, it’s 50/50 if I get a bite. When I do though, it’s a good one.”

Fighting to urge to go find some bushes to flip, Hallman explained that he’s confident he’s around the right fish and will stay put. “Believe me, if I knew where any bushes were in the water here, I’d go flip them,” he said. 

“The high water really made me wonder exactly what I should do, and if I would’ve known where some bushes where that’s probably what I would’ve wound up doing. But I think that my fish are there for a reason, so I’m going to stay put.”

4th Place: Tucker Made the Right Adjustment
Mark Tucker made the painful decision to have surgery on a torn bicep in the off-season. By the look of things, it appears to have been a raving success, as his flipping arm is in good form. 

“It’s a love-hate relationship with the jig,” he joked. “I should’ve had that much the first day, but I wound up putting the jig down.”

Running the same pattern he did at the Amistad event, Tucker pointed out that his bite from practice has slowed but he’s still around some quality. “The fish are doing the same thing here as they were at Amistad, and I’m running the same deal,” he said. 

“The first day of practice I could’ve caught probably 30 pounds. It’s slowed way down from there, but the quality is still there.”

Tucker explained that he simply “went fishing” Saturday, but relied on the jig to start with. “I caught my limit pretty quick and then changed up,” he said. “I went to some areas that are a little bit different from what I like to do.

“On my first cast I caught and eight-pound drum. On my next cast I caught a six-pound bass and backed that up with back-to-back four-pounders.”

With a bite that turned finicky around 1:00, Tucker revealed that it’s likely a positive sign and will adjust Sunday. “There was a lot of pressure on the water,” he said. “The problem is that the water is warming up more and the fish are starting to move. If I can move up a little shallower tomorrow and fish fresh water, I might have a chance.”

5th Place: Ike in Need of Quality Bites
Ike told The BASS ZONE Thursday that he was running a classic junk pattern. He pointed today that nothing has changed with his program. “I’m covering a lot of water and running a lot of banks,” he said. 

“I’m catching fish from really shallow to way out deep.”

With 30 to 40 keeper bites over the course of the day, Ike was unable to connect with the quality he was sure would materialize. “You’d think that with the kind of numbers I’m catching, eventually you’d get a big bite,” he said. 

“I caught two-pounders until I was blue in the face, but never got a big bite.”

The added boat pressure from a full field of competitors and all of the local fishermen didn’t help matters, Ike explained. “Definitely there were a lot of times today that I wanted to pull up to spot and there was already someone on it,” he said. 

“You don’t cut someone off, so you have to just go on to the next one. But what are you gonna do? That’s just tournament fishing on the weekend.”

As for tomorrow, Ike explained that it all comes down to getting the right bites. “I need to just get a couple of big bites, and I really think with what I’m doing that will happen,” he said. “A five-pounder will go a long way.”

6th Place: Faircloth Went Fishing
Todd Faircloth is back to doing what made the ’08 TTAOY race so interesting – by showing up near the top of the leader board in every event. As he pointed out, he’s doing it thanks to key bites. 

“I’ve caught two good fish each of the last two days, and that’s been the difference,” he said. “If not for that, I’d be sitting down around the cut line.”

Todd changed up his game plan and just went fishing Saturday. In the process, he caught close to 30 keeper fish. “I changed up today, and every fish that I caught today would’ve been on dry land Thursday,” he said. 

“Maybe I figured something out today by just covering a bunch of water. I had a good time, and just caught a bunch of fish.”

With the water coming up, Faircloth pointed out that the anglers most comfortable with a long rod have a pretty distinct advantage. “You can just look at the lead board and tell what’s going on,” he said. “Those Oklahoma boys that grew up with a flipping stick in their hands are pretty strong right now.”

Todd revealed that he has two or three other places that he wants to check Sunday. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess. “Who knows, maybe tomorrow I’ll pull up on the right stretch and catch 20 pounds,” he said. 

“I really think it’s out there. It all depends on what the weather’s doing.” 

7th Place: Rick Morris
“They were biting kind of funny today because of this high pressure. I caught probably 20 fish today but they were all just barely hooked. Fortunately, I only lost one that would’ve helped me, and that’s because I bounced it off my boat as I was swinging it into the boat.

“I never had a big bite, and never really had a chance to change up what I was doing to try and go for a big bite. I was thinking that they’d cut to (the Top) 12 today, so I just tried to catch everything I could today.”

10th Place: Gary Klein
“The most important thing is that I, like everyone else, thought that these fish were going to come up. I think I spent too much time (in practice) trying to find a shallow bite. I’ve totally bailed on that and had to go find something deeper.

“I caught 50 today, and my partner said that I caught 62 yesterday. It’s a strong pattern that I’m running, but I’m having to go through a lot of little guys. Every now and then a big one will show up.

“I can’t sit on anything, but I’ve got a technique figured out that’s working. Everything I’m fishing is on the way in to a spawning area with transition banks.”