Drew Benton spent the majority of the first two days sight fishing. He was either poled down looking at a bass on bed or standing on the trolling look for a bedding bass to sight fish for. Today, he’s swapped styles up completely, going with a squarebill. And it has paid dividends.
Short of what current leader Hunter Shryock has done this morning, putting four fish in the boat to the tune of 18 pounds, Benton has done the most damage. With 20 pounds, Benton has more weight in the boat than Shyock, but he started the day nearly 4 pounds back of our current leader. He’s narrowed that gap now to a pound.
Shryock is still in search of keeper No. 5, with whatever he catches going to the bottom line at this point. But Day 3 leader Kyoya Fujita may be in even better position. Fujita has done most of his damage late in the day all week. He’s ahead of his own schedule now, with four fish in the boat, two of those over 4 pounds. If he can add another that size, he’ll catch Shryock. Then it will be an all-out battle to cull up.
This is far from a two-horse race, with any of these guys still a threat to win. But Fujita and Shryock are closing in on what they have to do to hold off the field, put 22 pounds in the boat. If one of these guys can do that, they’ll likely get it done.
