John Cox has had a solid start to the day, especially as it relates to the Progressive Angler of the Year race. But he also just had a bad hiccup.
Cox hooked a big, mean smallmouth a few minutes ago. After a brief but fierce battle, he lost the fish and did a masterful job not letting a half dozen cuss words spew out. What did come out instead, “That was a fiver.”
Losing a smallmouth in the 5-pound range three weeks ago on the St Lawrence would have been bad enough. But here, that fish may very well have been the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the day— Hank Cherry holds the unofficial lead for that prize currently with a 4-8.
Just for giggles, and to stress the importance of that lost fish, let’s do some math. Cox’s smallest bass right now is registered at 1- pound, 4- ounces. Say it was a 5-0 he lost. That’s a cull of 3-12. And that theoretical cull would have given Cox an even 13-pounds right now, moving him up to 13th place and 8 points closer to Brandon Palaniuk, who holds the current AOY lead.
Ouch.
