Looking towards the Day 1 weigh-in, and the Day 2 Bassmaster LIVE show from on the water tomorrow, should we expect to see any surprises? I suspect so. There’s a virtual four-way tie for first currently on BassTrakk, with Kenta Kimura, Chad Pipkens, Alex Whetherell and Jacob Powroznik all within an estimated ounce of 11 and 1/2 pounds.
Chances are, one of these guys has closer to 13 or 14 pounds. And if forced to guess who that would be, Jacob Powroznik seems very conspicuous. Powroznik trails these other three anglers by an ounce on BassTrakk, but he has four solid fish in his bag and his guesstimate weights for them are 2-0, 2-0, 3-0 and 3-0. I’ll go ahead and guarantee you all of these bass don’t weigh 2 and 3 pounds on the dot. And I’ll guarantee you he’s not rounding up when relaying his estimates to the marshal. Whether it’s Powroznik or some outlier that’s either without service or intentionally sandbagging on BassTrakk, I’m still thinking someone will push or exceed 14 pounds today.
Another possible surprise I feel comfortable throwing out there, one of the leaders on camera tomorrow will be relying heavily on their forward-facing sonar (or perhaps Humminbird 360). Though this fishery certainly doesn’t setup well for the use of these technologies, with the majority of the fish shallow and near the bank, these guys are too good and their electronics are too powerful for someone not to crack the code.
Think back to just one event ago, when Brandon Palaniuk almost upset the hometown hero at Lay Lake using his Humminbrid 360 in less than 4 feet of water to catch a large number of his fish. And not to take anything away from Will Davis Jr at all, but Palaniuk actually did catch enough weight to win, and then suffered defeat due to a dead fish penalty. If electronics played that big of a part at Lay Lake shallow, they’ll play a pivotal role for someone here in the Top 10.
Or, maybe they won’t. And maybe 11 pounds will lead at the end of the day. Who knows? But I do enjoy a little pontification.
