11:30 a.m. ET
Of the top 20, most are in Pool 5 and a good portion of those are in the middle of the pool stacked on top of each other — obviously in a community hole.
The interesting thing will come tomorrow. One of the concerns is how beat up many of these places will get after a day or so of fishing.
Aaron Martens is leading that group and the tourney, but can it last for the next three days?
How the answer to that question plays out will be something worth watching. I’m sure it’s like a merry-go-round in some of those areas. But after each pass, these fish get smarter, more aware and that means these anglers have to react to that.
Martens is simply the best at coming up with new ways to catch fish on any pond. So he’s in pretty good shape. But what can’t be counted on is how many fish, if any, will continue to move up. All of these fish are being caught shallow and the weather continues to warm.
My guess, though, is these guys who have squirmed their way into one of these small places or have other areas to themselves will likely build a weight to carry them to the top or near the top of the standings. Then it becomes a ball game of timing and who actually catches the right kicker fish.
Jami Fralick is one of those guys who has a seemingly-special spot to himself. He just jumped into second with a limit totaling 14-12. Aaron Martens is still on top with 14-13, but I expect him to drop to second (I apologize for that, just couldn’t help it).
There’s still not a lot of limits. Fralick, McClelland, Jordon, Rojas, Mark Davis and Brent Chapman are the only limits on the board. Most of the standings are still the same from last report.
More than half the field has a reported catch. Here are the updated standings, unofficial of course.
Aaron Martens: 14-13
McClelland: 13-8
Dave Wolak: 10-8
Jami Fralick: 10-4
Dean Rojas: 9-8
Jordon: 9-3
Kevin Wirth: 8-12
Skeet Reese: 8-0
Edwin Evers: 8-0
Boyd Duckett: 7-2
Bryan Schmidt: 6-0
Fred Roumbanis: 6-0
Greg Pugh: 5-11
Brent Chapman: 5-8
Scott Rook: 5-3
Bobby Lane: 4-10
Randy Howell: 3-14
Terry Scroggins: 3-8
Mark Davis: 3-8
Terry Fitzpatrick: 3-7
Timmy Horton: 3-0
Bernie Schultz: 3-0
Matt Herren: 3-0
Brian Snowden: 3-0
Alton Jones: 2-8
Shaw Grigsby: 2-8
Todd Faircloth: 2-5
David Williams: 2-0
Kenyon Hill: 2-0
Rick Clunn: 1-8
Ken Baumgardner: 1-6
Michael Iaconelli : 1-4
Mike Burns: 1-0
Steve Kennedy: 1-0
Waine Pittman: 1-0
— Steve Bowman