Scenes from the water of the Big Bend

Early on, Greg Vinson found a wad of fish, but they were all peanuts.

Overcast skies met the 106-angler field on Day 2.

Aboard Ott DeFoe’s Nitro Z9 we find a Berkley Power Hawg ready to be pitched into the hay grass along the bank.

Ott also kept a Berkley Havoc Pit Boss handy.

Though he goes by Ott, DeFoe’s given name is Arthur.

Isn’t that sweet?

DeFoe makes a cast with a walking topwater bait.

There’s plenty of space in this Nitro.

Here’s DeFoe’s bow setup: Humminbird’s 360 Vision (left) with a chart and side imaging on the right graph.

Nearby, Arkansas pro Stephen Browning puts the screws to a bass.

It fell for a Carolina rigged Fluke.

But, it wasn’t the class of fish he was after.

He works the rig through some grass.

There was a chop on the slightly dingy water, but Browning’s WileyX shades cut right through the glare. Plus, if that tungsten Carolina rig sinker ever comes his way rather expeditiously, it won’t get past those lenses. That’s experience talking.

Browning sets the hook on another fish!

This is a hookset that no fish wants to be on the business end of…

…unfortunately for this short fish, it got hammered.

Browning lays into another fish! Wait, it was a limb bream. He gave it the piledriver nonetheless. Hooksets are free though, right?

Jacob Powroznik trolled about looking for bedding bass.

Chad Pipkens set down next to Powroznik, but both knew that the other had fished there on Day 1, so they chatted for a bit.

Pipkens slaps some grass off of his bait.

Aaron Martens gets another Fluke to rig on his Scrounger.

If he doesn’t use a Fluke, he uses a Bass Assassin jerkbait. Interestingly, the head is tin, not lead. “You can put a bigger bill on the tin ones. If you put a big bill on a small lead head, it doesn’t run right,” he says. Now you know.

Here’s a broad look at Martens’ Phoenix 921.

Martens works his Scrounger through some grass.

Hank Cherry always throws a jerkbait with one hand.

“I can throw it farther this way,” he says. There’s truth to that: with 17-pound test, he was throwing his jerkbait every bit of 40 yards.

Cherry hooks up, but it came unbuttoned.

Randy Howell uses the fame of his trolling motor to get a better view of he fish he’s trying to catch.