Down to the wire with Cox

John Cox made the hour-long run to a backwater bayou below the Rodman Dam full of confidence, after weighing in a staggering 31 pounds 15 ounces on Day 3. That massive bag of bass put him in second place going into Championship Sunday, just more than 3 pounds out of the lead.

Cox quickly pulled out his weapons for the day.

One of his lures was a swim worm that he skipped across lily pads that lined the bayou.

However, his main focus was to be bedding bass. Searching out spawning beds was how he put together his Day 3 limit, and Cox expected today would be even better.

He often had to clean his trolling motor prop after pushing into the pad-filled shallows.

Low water levels when he arrived really helped him be able to location spawning beds, despite the thick cloud cover that kept the light pretty feeble during the first hours of the day. “I’m having to pass them and see if they stay (on the bed),” Cox explained. “I want to go back to that 10-pounder so bad, but I’m afraid I’ll get sucked into it for three or four hours.”

He pitched a soft-plastic into beds lining the banks.

Cox marked new beds as he found them, and regularly checked his electronics to ensure he wasn’t passing up beds he found on Day 3.

The beds were scattered in lily pads, and Cox was often pitching baits right on the banks.

The tactic paid off quickly, although it wasn’t the bass he wanted. This was small male, but it broke the ice. He then spent another 40 minutes or so trying to get the female on that bed to bite before he gave up and moved on.

Cox’s PowerPoles were often drilled into the bottom so he could work a bed without causing too much disturbance.

The angler would look at a bed from different angles to try and get glimpses of any spawning females.

A push pole made moving around in the shallows much more stealthy.

The winding bayou was full of wildlife, including an owl that followed us around for about 30 minutes.

Cox found a nice female on a bed, and poled down to work it. He pitched baits to the bed for about 30 minutes.

After seeing a fish moving in the water just off the bed, Cox set the hook. Unfortunately, it was a big mudfish.

However, he moved to another nearby bed and pulled another male off the bed.

Cox moved back to the bed he left a few minutes ago and quickly set the hook on a solid bass.

The bass pulled off in the thick cover, leaving Cox to shake his head. ““If I can get my (stuff) together I might be able to catch 40 pounds today,” he said. But he was still confident. “I haven’t even got to the good stuff yet,” Cox said.

Cox picked up his swim worm to cover water between beds, and was rewarded with another keeper. However, it still wasn’t the size he needed to make a run at the lead.

Cox fished around a bend in the bayou, and I briefly lost sight of him.

I heard him set the hook, and when I came around the bush I found him contemplating what had just happened: His line snapped on a big bass. “It was just an 8-pounder,” Cox said. “But it’s OK. I’m trying not to cry, but it’s OK.”

After re-rigging, Cox was back to looking at a bed.

This resulted in another keeper, which rounded out a small limit of only about 8 pounds.

Cox’s frustration showed, and he reached into his rod locker to pull out another lure option before moving back toward where he had located the most bedding bass.

Rain moved back in, and visibility again was lowered.

Cox began swimming a jig through the lilies.

And was quickly hooked up with a bass that was a bit, although still a far cry from the 6-pound average he caught the day before.

The good news is that he was able to cull up a bit.