LA CROSSE, Wis. (May 19, 2017) – Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces Friday to capture the lead at the FLW Tournament on the Mississippi River with a two-day catch of 10 bass totaling 31-4. He now holds a slim 4-ounce lead after Day Two of the four-day event that features 160 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals casting for a top award of up to $125,000.
“This is my type of event,” said Morgan, a 19-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier and the reigning FLW Tour Angler of the Year. “It’s a slugfest, but it’s not. You have to get a couple of decent bites – a 4-pounder – and if you can get a couple of those you’re in the game. I’ve never been here before, but I know that the Mississippi River is one of the best shallow water fisheries in the country. You come up here and you get busy.”
Morgan said that he caught fish Thursday in both Pools No. 8 and 9, but the bulk of his fish Friday came from Pool No. 9. He weighed in a limit consisting of three largemouth and two smallmouth on both days of competition.
“It’s just kind of dumb luck when I catch a smallmouth,” he said.
“There are several guys that made the cut and we’re all kind of in one general area, and today they were just biting,” Morgan said. “I caught a bunch of fish yesterday, but today I only caught maybe nine. It got cold, it got tough, but the mud is the concern. It painted me into a little bit of a corner today where I didn’t have as much water to run, so that’s going to be an issue come Day Three.”
The top 20 pros that made the Buck Knives Cut and will fish Saturday on the Mississippi River are:
1st: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 31-4
2nd: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 10 bass, 31-0
3rd: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 30-14
4th: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 10 bass, 30-11
5th: Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 10 bass, 30-11
6th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 30-0
7th: Todd Auten, Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 29-12
8th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 29-11
9th: Matt Arey, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 29-7
10th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 29-5
11th: Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla., 10 bass, 29-1
12th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 10 bass, 28-13
13th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 28-12
14th: Larry Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., 10 bass, 28-12
15th: Joey Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., 10 bass, 28-6
16th: Jim Moulton, Merced, Calif., 10 bass, 28-0
17th: Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala., 10 bass, 27-15
18th: Clark Reehm, Huntington, Texas, 10 bass, 27-14
19th: Cody Meyer, Auburn, Calif., 10 bass, 27-12
20th: Michael Wooley, Collierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-11
James Watson of Lampe, Missouri, earned the Big Bass award on the pro side Friday, weighing a 4-pound, 10-ounce largemouth to win the $500 prize. Overall there were 675 bass weighing 1,629 pounds even caught by 153 pros Friday. The catch included 112 five-bass limits.
Cole Herb of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, won the co-angler division and $20,000 Friday with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 11 ounces, followed by Jeremiah Shaver of Holmen, Wisconsin, who finished in second place with 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 11 ounces, worth $7,600.
The top 10 co-anglers on the Mississippi River finished:
1st: Cole Herb, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 10 bass, 24-11, $20,000
2nd: Jeremiah Shaver, Holmen, Wis., 10 bass, 23-11, $7,600
3rd: Jamie Jacobus, Johnstown, Ohio, 10 bass, 23-2, $5,050
4th: Cody Wissink, Arcadia, Wis., nine bass, 22-10, $4,000
5th: Tim Beale, Hernando, Miss., eight bass, 21-4, $3,000
6th: Steve York, Bronson, Mich., nine bass, 21-4, $2,500
7th: Alan Bernicky, Joliet, Ill., nine bass, 20-14, $2,000
8th: Shawn Fulmer, Mount Pleasant, Wis., eight bass, 20-2, $1,800
9th: Jeffrey Clark, Hoover, Ala., nine bass, 19-15, $1,700
10th: Carlton Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C., eight bass, 19-7, $1,600
Bailey Boutries of Daphne, Alabama, earned $250 for the Big Bass award in the co-angler division Friday with a 5-pound, 6-ounce bass.
Overall there were 304 bass weighing 684 pounds, 8 ounces caught by 154 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 12 five-bass limits.