On Saturday, Brent Chapman returned to the school
of bass that produced 25 1/2 pounds for him Friday. He milked it again
for 16 pounds, 5 ounces and captured the lead for another day in the
Bassmaster Elite Series Toledo Bend Battle.
He’s hungry to nail down
his first Elite Series win. But his 59-pound, 14-ounce total over three
days left him anything but certain it would come Sunday. Even if Marty
Robinson was not just 1-5 behind him in second place with 58-9, and even
if he had a bigger cushion than the 10 pounds he does have on the
angler sitting in 12th place, Chapman was not feeling easy. He knew what
Tim Horton’s 27-9 sack of Saturday meant.
“This tournament is going
to come down to the guy who catches a big bag of fish tomorrow, and I
just hope that’s me,” said the pro from Lake Quivira, Kan. “Anybody in
the Top 10, maybe the Top 12, is going to have a shot at winning this
thing.”
Horton was third with
58-1; Day 1 leader Cliff Pace was fourth with 57-12; and Matt Herren was
fifth with 56-11. The field was cut to the Top 12 for Sunday’s
competition. The prize is $100,000 and a Bassmaster Classic entry in
2013.
Chapman had hoped for
another 25-plus pounds like he had on Friday, but conditions changed. He
wasn’t sure exactly why more of the big bass in the deep school he’s
been working didn’t bite Saturday.
“My theory is that maybe
they’re generating electricity on a weekday, and that allows those fish
to bite a little better, and on a weekend it doesn’t,” Chapman said.
“I don’t know what to expect for tomorrow. I
am going to stay there until about 8:30, then I’m going to make a move.
I’m not going to sit there and hope. This is too good of a lake, and
there’s no reason not to go to another spot where they’ll bite later in
the day.”
He said he may have
stayed on his spot too long Saturday — he left about 11 a.m. — because
he got no additional bites after the first-light flurry. He had his 16
pounds in his livewell by about 8 a.m.
He said he has four other
places to go to if his sweet school shuts down. He caught a few
good-size fish on them in practice and thinks they have potential.
“As much as I’m hearing that these fish are
moving around for everybody, there’s nothing to say I couldn’t pull up
on one of those and find a giant school of big ones there,” he said.
“I’ve got an opportunity here to win.”
Second-place holder
Robinson sacked 21-5 Saturday. That pulled him up from sixth. Like
Chapman, he’s got a shot at his first Elite win.
Robinson of Lyman, S.C., has about six spots he’s been working all week.
One, which yielded a 5-pounder, he swore off Friday as depleted. But
Saturday morning, when the wind shifted to come from out the south, he
decided his 5-pound spot might be worth one more stop. He was right.
“I don’t know for sure if
that’s what triggered them today, but the big ones were biting there. I
caught a 4 and two 5 1/2’s,” he said. “Obviously there’s some good ones
there, but they’re picky.”
Robinson said the key for
him Sunday will be making the right decisions: “When to leave, where to
go, how long to stay — those are the three biggest.”
From Muscle Shoals, Ala., Horton rocketed into
third place from 21st with his 27-9 sack. It included an 8-15, but that
wasn’t the Carhartt Big Bass of the day. That honor went to Florida’s
Terry Scroggins for a 9-3.
Horton said the genesis
of Saturday’s big catch actually happened late Friday afternoon. He had
only about 10 pounds with an hour to go. He checked a place he’d fished
at last year’s Elite event on Toledo Bend. What he saw was a nice
surprise.
“The bass were stacked on
it,” he said. “I only had 15 minutes to fish it. I couldn’t wait to get
there this morning. It was a bass on every cast for an hour.”
When the bite stopped, he had about 22 pounds.
Then he made a 40-mile run to a spot he’d been on earlier in the
competition. That’s where he caught his 8-15. He said it was a single
fish holding on a rough, gravely spot on the bottom. It bit a 10-inch
Carolina rigged Yum worm.
“Maybe that magic spot
will put something special out again tomorrow,” said Horton, the Toyota
Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year in 2000 — his rookie year. His
Bassmaster record includes an Elite title taken on Lake Champlain in
2007.
Besides the Toledo Bend
title, Elite pros are competing for Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of
the Year points. Those count toward postseason and Bassmaster Classic
qualifications, as well as the AOY title.
1. Brent Chapman Lake Quivira, KS 15 59-14 99
Day 1: 5 18-01 Day 2: 5 25-08 Day 3: 5 16-05
2. Marty Robinson Lyman, SC 15 58-09 98
Day 1: 5 15-08 Day 2: 5 21-12 Day 3: 5 21-05
3. Timmy Horton Muscle Shoals, AL 15 58-01 97
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 14-01 Day 3: 5 27-09
4. Cliff Pace Petal, MS 15 57-12 96
Day 1: 5 23-02 Day 2: 5 16-10 Day 3: 5 18-00
5. Matt Herren Trussville, AL 15 56-11 95
Day 1: 5 20-00 Day 2: 5 22-00 Day 3: 5 14-11
6. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 15 55-03 94
Day 1: 5 17-08 Day 2: 5 17-02 Day 3: 5 20-09
7. Casey D Ashley Donalds, SC 15 54-14 93
Day 1: 5 20-13 Day 2: 5 18-06 Day 3: 5 15-11
8. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 13 52-12 92
Day 1: 3 09-15 Day 2: 5 23-10 Day 3: 5 19-03
9. Paul Elias Laurel, MS 14 52-01 91
Day 1: 5 19-12 Day 2: 4 13-12 Day 3: 5 18-09
10. Chris Zaldain San Jose, CA 15 51-03 90
Day 1: 5 16-01 Day 2: 5 19-10 Day 3: 5 15-08
11. Yusuke Miyazaki Forney, TX 15 50-09 89
Day 1: 5 18-03 Day 2: 5 13-13 Day 3: 5 18-09
12. Mark Davis Mount Ida, AR 15 49-15 88
Day 1: 5 20-03 Day 2: 5 15-10 Day 3: 5 14-02
13. Scott Ashmore Broken Arrow, OK 15 46-13 87 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-09 Day 2: 5 14-09 Day 3: 5 19-11
14. Ott DeFoe Knoxville, TN 14 45-12 86 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-09 Day 2: 5 20-09 Day 3: 4 07-10
15. Todd Faircloth Jasper, TX 15 45-06 85 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-14 Day 2: 5 14-03 Day 3: 5 13-05
16. J Todd Tucker Moultrie, GA 13 45-02 84 $10,000.00
Day 1: 3 04-08 Day 2: 5 18-06 Day 3: 5 22-04
17. Edwin Evers Talala, OK 14 44-05 83 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-03 Day 2: 4 09-07 Day 3: 5 17-11
18. Jeff Kriet Ardmore, OK 15 43-09 82 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 09-15 Day 2: 5 25-00 Day 3: 5 08-10
19. Denny Brauer Camdenton, MO 15 43-02 81 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 22-08 Day 2: 5 11-08 Day 3: 5 09-02
20. Terry Scroggins San Mateo, FL 15 43-02 80 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-01 Day 2: 5 11-08 Day 3: 5 18-09
21. Fred Roumbanis Bixby, OK 15 43-01 79 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-11 Day 2: 5 13-10 Day 3: 5 10-12
22. Terry Butcher Talala, OK 15 43-00 78 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-01 Day 2: 5 14-08 Day 3: 5 12-07
23. Keith Poche Pike Road, AL 15 42-11 77 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-05 Day 2: 5 13-11 Day 3: 5 16-11
24. Kevin Ledoux Choctaw, OK 14 42-11 76 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 08-12 Day 2: 5 23-03 Day 3: 4 10-12
25. Aaron Martens Leeds, AL 15 42-04 75 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-02 Day 2: 5 17-13 Day 3: 5 09-05
26. Brian Snowden Reeds Spring, MO 15 41-15 74 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-13 Day 2: 5 17-04 Day 3: 5 12-14
27. John Murray Phoenix, AZ 15 41-06 73 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-14 Day 2: 5 10-13 Day 3: 5 17-11
28. Shaw E Grigsby Jr. Gainesville, FL 15 41-04 72 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-00 Day 2: 5 11-11 Day 3: 5 15-09
29. Jami Fralick Martin, SD 15 41-01 71 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 09-14 Day 2: 5 14-09 Day 3: 5 16-10
30. David Walker Sevierville, TN 15 40-10 70 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-00 Day 2: 5 14-07 Day 3: 5 16-03
31. Britt Myers Lake Wylie, SC 15 40-10 69 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-00 Day 2: 5 15-00 Day 3: 5 09-10
32. Chris Lane Guntersville, AL 15 40-02 68 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 11-14 Day 2: 5 13-03 Day 3: 5 15-01
33. Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI 13 38-11 67 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-07 Day 2: 3 11-06 Day 3: 5 14-14
34. Brandon Palaniuk Rathdrum, ID 15 38-10 66 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 21-02 Day 2: 5 08-14 Day 3: 5 08-10
35. Bradley Roy Lancaster, KY 15 38-07 65 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-02 Day 2: 5 12-03 Day 3: 5 08-02
36. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 15 38-07 64 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-01 Day 2: 5 09-04 Day 3: 5 15-02
37. Brandon Card Caryville, TN 15 38-05 63 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-13 Day 2: 5 11-02 Day 3: 5 10-06
38. Dean Rojas Lake Havasu City, AZ 15 37-02 62 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-01 Day 2: 5 15-02 Day 3: 5 08-15
39. Davy Hite Ninety Six, SC 15 37-01 61 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-02 Day 2: 5 14-05 Day 3: 5 12-10
40. Alton Jones Woodway, TX 15 37-01 60 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-14 Day 2: 5 11-14 Day 3: 5 11-05
41. Nate Wellman Newaygo, MI 15 37-00 59 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-01 Day 2: 5 14-13 Day 3: 5 12-02
42. Michael Iaconelli Pittsgrove, NJ 15 36-13 58 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-09 Day 2: 5 14-00 Day 3: 5 09-04
43. Jared Lintner Arroyo Grande, CA 15 36-10 57 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-10 Day 2: 5 13-04 Day 3: 5 12-12
44. John Crews Salem, VA 15 34-09 56 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-08 Day 2: 5 12-12 Day 3: 5 11-05
45. Pete Ponds Madison, MS 12 34-09 55 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-15 Day 2: 5 12-13 Day 3: 2 06-13
46. Takahiro Omori Emory, TX 15 34-05 54 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 10-10 Day 2: 5 12-04 Day 3: 5 11-07
47. Russ Lane Prattville, AL 15 32-00 53 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-13 Day 2: 5 10-15 Day 3: 5 08-04
48. Rick Morris Lake Gaston, VA 10 31-11 52 $10,000.00
Day 1: 2 03-10 Day 2: 5 21-14 Day 3: 3 06-03
49. Fletcher Shryock Newcomerstown, OH 8 26-03 51 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-15 Day 2: 3 10-04 Day 3: 0 00-00
50. Ish Monroe Hughson, CA 10 22-09 50 $5,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-06 Day 2: 5 10-03 Day 3: 0 00-00
