The pros are having too much fun on Murray right now. And we have a front-row seat to it via Bassmaster LIVE, as the giddy anglers all but squeal when they hook into big ones.
The only way this could get any better, is if Steve Kennedy (who would definitely go to squealing) could make it into the Top 10 and be LIVE on camera tomorrow. That’s the only possibility that there could be a more jovial angler to watch than what we’re seeing in John Cox and Hunter Shryock.
Shryock has been quoting Will Ferrell for the last two days, hosting a little shake-and-bake and meatloaf movie trivia while battling big ones into the boat. He just called his last 5- pounder “Terry the bush troll”. Pretty sure that one is more of a Hunter-ism than something he heard the curly-headed funny man say.
John Cox is being John Cox. Sponsored by PURE Fishing, he is ironically as pure as fishing gets. Just a joyful soul that loves to chase a bass. And he’s great at it. He’s been staying on the trolling motor until he can locate one on bed. Cox boated his fifth keeper a little while ago.
“That’s five,” said Cox. “Let’s get rid of them dinks now. I’m feeling good about this moving-around deal.”
Cox is confident in his pattern, but questioned one of his habits mid-fish catch earlier, as he finessed a 5-pounder to the boat. He had finally swapped over to a spinning rod after trying to tempt the bedding bass with a baitcaster for several minutes.
“I don’t know why I fight the spinning rod deal every time,” Cox said, explaining that he almost always gets the fish to bite as soon as he inevitably drops back to spinning gear.
Where Cox has stuck solely with looking at them, Shryock has used a two-punch approach: skipping a wacky rig and buzzing a topwater. Shryock just put his third 4-pounder of the day into the boat, and went to cull.
“This is how we do it back home,” Shryock said, as he lifted every compartment lid on the back deck of his Phoenix Boat.
“We barricade it. No funny business,” Shryock said, as he did all he could to ensure no bass could leap from his open livewell and back into the water. “We got a dang bag again.”
Shryock and Cox are simply enjoying themselves today, as are many of the other anglers. The big bass have been reluctant to bite the last two days, causing frustration to abound among the Elite field. With more favorable conditions on Saturday, they are biting much better. And the collective tension has eased.
