More phenomenal fishing on Day 2 of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite on Lake St. Clair. Day 1 was astronomical, with all 102 Elite anglers catching a limit. Day 2, every angler again brought a limit to the scales. Those 510 fish on Day 1 weighed 1,963 pounds even. Day 2, the total weight rose to 1,995 pounds, 5 ounces. This means Elite Series Tournament Director Lisa Talmadge literally lifted all but one ton of bass onto and off of the scales on Day 2. They are absolutely smashing them this week.
Those were the official numbers reported from weigh-in. But let’s take a look now at the data we collected through BassTrakk. There were 998 bass logged into BassTrakk on Day 1, 944 on Day 2. Here’s the breakdown of those catches by time of day.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | |
| 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. | 92 | 130 |
| 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | 187 | 178 |
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | 187 | 183 |
| 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | 141 | 129 |
| 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | 131 | 109 |
| 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | 83 | 64 |
| 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | 70 | 74 |
| 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | 64 | 55 |
| 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | 43 | 22 |
| Total | 998 | 944 |
For those that watched the LIVE show yesterday, it’s no surprise to see what the data reveals here. The bite was much better early on Day 2 as compared to Day 1, due to sunshine to start the day versus early cloud cover on Day 1.
Interestingly, this shift early led to a slower midday bite relatively speaking, or so it appears. The total catches entered dropped from Day 1 to Day 2, with far fewer being reported later in the day. However, this data could be a little skewed.
Not every fish is entered into BassTrakk by the anglers and/or their marshals. After a ridiculous Day 1 and strong morning on Day 2, anglers were likely a little too jaded (and busy catching fish) to enter bass less than 3 pounds later in the day, opting to only input bass that had a chance to cull.
So, although the total catch number may lead one to infer the fishing was tougher on Day 2, we can look towards a more reliable number to get a better gauge. Let’s look at the number of bass over 3 pounds entered into BassTrakk on Days 1 and 2, which lands at 585 and 613 respectively. So, the quality bite was in fact better on Day 2.
Digging a bit deeper to try to see when the best big bite came, let’s look only at the bass over 4 pounds that were logged on Days 1 and 2. There were 151 such bass caught on Thursday, with 196 coming on Friday. Here’s the breakdown by weight.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | |
| 4-pounders | 140 | 183 |
| 5-pounders | 10 | 12 |
| 6-pounders | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 151 | 196 |
And here’s the breakdown of those bigger bites by time of day.
| Day 1 | Day 2 | |
| 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. | 7 | 16 |
| 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. | 10 | 22 |
| 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | 21 | 24 |
| 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | 21 | 28 |
| 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. | 26 | 19 |
| 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. | 17 | 19 |
| 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. | 19 | 29 |
| 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | 21 | 22 |
| 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | 9 | 17 |
| Total | 151 | 188 |
Again, we see that better morning bite show up. But when looking at these big fish numbers alongside the total catches entered, we can see that the fishing was better on Day 2, with 37 more kickers making it to the boat and a strong and steady big bite all day, with particularly impressive flurries happening between 10 and 11 and 1 and 2.
Trying to translate all of this to Saturday is fairly futile. The biggest factor that has led to the fantastic fishing and that has helped determined the bite windows is tucked behind heavy cloud cover today. The sun has played the biggest role in activating the bigger bass, helping them see the baits. The bite has been strong today, but based solely on the weather, it will likely fall off today, even with the best half of the field left on the water.
