This 5-pound smallmouth caught by Cole Sands would be the fish of a lifetime for most anglers across the country, those of us not blessed to live on the banks of the Great Lakes. Well, blessed is probably a stretch come December. Irregardless, for the next few weeks, a monster like this is a mere “keeper” for an angler looking to finish at the top of a leaderboard here.
Canadian Chris Johnston is that kind of guy. He put a 6-pound smallmouth in the boat this morning and called it his “first real keeper” of the day. His Day 1 bag of 28-3 held five good keepers for Johnston, and still fell shy of Bryant Smith’s 29-5. Let’s see who has a “keeper” so far this morning.
| Chris Johnston | 6-0 |
| Kyle Welcher | 5-0 |
| Matty Wong | 5-0 |
| Tyler Rivet | 5-6 |
| Bryant Smith | 5-10 |
| Cooper Gallant | 5-12 |
| Kyoya Fujita | 5-0, 5-0 |
| Bryan Schmitt | 5-8 |
| Jake Whitaker | 5-0 |
| Cole Sands | 5-0 |
| John Cox | 5-0 |
J
