The bigger largemouth bit best in the waning hours of Day 1, we’ve been hoping to see the same today. The window seems to be opening. Drew Benton, Jacob Powroznik, and John Cox all boated keeper largemouth moments ago. None of these fish were considerably large, but with only 9 anglers reporting limits currently, three keepers caught that quickly is likely a sign of things changing on the water.
Only 25 of the 55 anglers fishing today will qualify to go out tomorrow. Kenta Kimura sat in the 25th position after Day 1 with 9- pounds, 4- ounces. Most of the time, we can double the weight and even add a little to come up with a fairly close estimate on the Elites for what it’ll take to make a cut. Something tells me that won’t be the case today.
It’s the Classic. And the combo of Fort Loudon and Tellico is fishing tough right now. Points don’t matter and everyone gets paid. Most of these guys aren’t as concerned with making the cut as they are with having a shot to win. So if they were sitting around 35th last night, they didn’t start the day hoping to catch a limit. They’ve spent all day trying to catch 20 pounds to have a shot to win.
Somewhere around 17- to 18- pounds for two days seems like a fair estimate to make the cut at this point. BassTrakk currently has Taku Ito sitting just above the bubble with 14- pounds, 15 ounces, with two hours of fishing to go. Look for a big bite or two to propel a few anglers above that line and into Championship Sunday.
