Scott Martin jumped 10 places in the Guaranteed Rate Basssmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake on Day 2 – from 13th to third. He wasn’t alone in his improvement. This tournament has been an interesting experiment in an unusual weather-dictated format – a four-day tournament after two days of no competition on a vastly changing Tennessee River fishery.
“We had to relearn this lake due to the weather and the water and the current,” said Martin after weighing a five-bass limit of 22 pounds, 13 ounces Sunday. “Those big fish are starting to pull up. I think you’re going to see a lot of big bags weighed-in (Monday). These fish are starting to set up, and these guys are starting to figure them out.”
Martin’s words were evident not only in his improvement from Day 1 to Day 2, but in the numbers from the 100-angler field as well. There were 6 bags over 20 pounds brought to the scales Saturday, and it doubled to 12 on Sunday; 51 anglers weighed-in a limit Saturday and 63 did so Sunday. Big bass jumped up a bit as well, from Clark Wendlandt’s 7-pound, 6-ounce largemouth Saturday to Hank Cherry’s 7-pound, 11-ounce largemouth Sunday.
Nobody had a famine-to feast-to famine story quite like Chad Morgenthaler. He weighed a single 3-pound, 1-ounce bass on Day 1 and was in 89th place. The Reeds Spring, Mo., angler rallied with 22-2 Sunday. However, it was one ounce short of keeping Morgenthaler in the top 50 cut. Paul Mueller took 50th place with a two-day total of 25-4; Morgenthaler finished with 25-3.
Adjusting to changing conditions will continue to be the key in this tournament. The Tennessee Valley Authority has managed to keep Pickwick Lake right at 414 feet above sea level for the past two days. However, the forecast at the TVA website is for a drop of about six inches a day for the next two days.