Bright skies and not much of a breeze greeted anglers on the second day of competition. Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., remains in the lead after Day 2 after weighing a five-bass limit for 15 pounds, 1 ounce. Martin’s two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 37 pounds, 11 ounces gives him a 2-pound, 9-ounce lead heading into the third day of the tournament.
“Today just boiled down to I didn’t get a couple of those bigger bites,” said Martin, who is the reigning Forrest Wood Cup champion. “I didn’t run around a lot today. Yesterday I ran both tanks of gas out of my boat. I caught fish in most of the places I went, but today I felt like, ‘You know what? I’m going to buckle down in a couple of areas, milk them for what they’re worth and make the cut.’
“I felt like I could still get a 17- or 18-pound bag,” Martin added. “I just didn’t get the bigger bites today. I had a couple of big fish caught around me, and my partner caught a big fish, so there’s still some nice ones in there. I feel good about it. I survived basically with a 15-pound bag and fortunately I had a big lead.”
Martin said the main area he was fishing Friday saw more boat traffic than on the first day of competition, but is optimistic the area will be productive Saturday after the field cuts to the top 20 and fishing pressure decreases.
Martin said he employed a Bruiser Bait, finesse worm, creature bait, crankbait and Chatterbait to catch his bass by “mixing it up.” He said the faster-moving baits weren’t as effective because of the lack of wind and indicated he was targeting both grass and wood in his approach.
Castrol pro David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., is in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 35-2.
Rounding out the top 20 pros that will fish Saturday on the Potomac River are:
3rd: Colby Schrumpf, Highland, Ill., 10 bass, 34-8
4th: Ron Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 10 bass, 34-5
5th: Clark Wendlandt, Leander, Texas, 10 bass, 34-3
6th: Jim Moynagh, Carver, Minn., 10 bass, 34-1
7th: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 10 bass, 33-11
8th: Clifford Pirch, Payson, Ariz., 10 bass, 33-0
9th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 32-10
10th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., 10 bass, 32-9
11th: Jim Dillard, West Monroe, La., 10 bass, 32-9
12th: Jim Tutt, Longview, Texas, 10 bass, 32-9
13th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 10 bass, 32-8
14th: Michael Williamson, Fort Smith, Ark., 10 bass, 32-2
15th: Bill Day, Frankfort, Ky., 10 bass, 31-15
16th: Wade Hendricks, Thompsons Station, Tenn., 10 bass, 31-9
17th: Gary Yamamoto, Palestine, Texas, 10 bass, 31-8
18th: Tim Johnson, Dallas, Ga., 10 bass, 31-8
19th: Marty Stone, Fayetteville, N.C., 10 bass, 31-6
20th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 31-4
Pro angler Roland Martin and co-angler Justin Thompson’s day two weight was disqualified after Thompson inadvertently put one of his fish in with Martin’s catch and their individual catches could not be verified.
Lucas won the day’s big bass award with a fish weighing 6-5 on the pro side to win $500.
Overall there were 705 bass weighing 1,949 pounds, 7 ounces caught by pros Friday. The catch included 135 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 35 anglers in the point standings from the six Walmart FLW Tour Major tournaments will qualify.
Marvin Reese of Gwynn Oak, Md., leads the co-angler division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 4 ounces, followed by Ronnie Baker of Providence Forge, Va., in second place with 10 bass weighing 32-10.
Rounding out the top 20 co-anglers are:
3rd: Greg Knick, Ansonia, Ohio, 10 bass, 32-9
4th: Chris Dillow, Waynesboro, Va., 10 bass, 30-13
5th: Nick Hensley, Cumming, Ga., 10 bass, 30-7
6th: Darrell Stevens, Roseland, Va., 10 bass, 29-8
7th: Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill., 10 bass, 28-13
8th: Ralph Mulleins, Cumberland, Va., 10 bass, 27-15
9th: David Lauer, Loxahatchee, Fla., 10 bass, 27-11
10th: Philip Jarabeck, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 26-12
11th: Nicholas Toman, Washington, D.C., 10 bass, 26-10
12th: Rob Hicks, Lula, Ga., 10 bass, 26-10
13th: Les Swann III, Lake Placid, Fla., 10 bass, 26-5
14th: J.R. Wright, Truckee, Calif., 10 bass, 26-5
15th: Kevin Spooner, Vero Beach, Fla., 10 bass, 26-3
16th: Hoyt Tidwell, West Point, Tenn., nine bass, 26-1
17th: Rich Dalbey, Greenville, Texas, 10 bass, 25-11
18th: Chad Billiot, Raceland, La., nine bass, 25-10
19th: Tim Guard, Waynetown, Ind., 10 bass, 25-8
20th: Jerry Reagan, Byrdstown, Tenn., 10 bass, 25-6
Reese won the day’s big bass award with a fish weighing 5-8 in the co-angler division to win $250.
Overall there were 486 bass weighing 1,209 pounds, 10 ounces caught by co-anglers Friday. The catch included 59 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week plus valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 35 co-anglers in the point standings from the six Walmart FLW Tour Major tournaments will qualify.
Takeoff is at National Harbor Marina located at 168 National Harbor Plaza in National Harbor at 6:30 a.m. each morning. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-ins will be held at National Harbor Marina beginning at 4 p.m.