Mark Hewitt & Ron O’Keefe, of Michigan, have figured out something that nobody else in the tournament has been able to do. Each of the first two days, they were the only team to figure out how to make the bigger bass bite, to bring in more than twenty pounds of bass in their five bass limit. Today they extended their lead over the 45 boat field by bringing in a limit that weighed 21.08 pounds. After two days their total now stands at 41.11 pounds. If they can continue that pattern for tomorrow, they have a good chance of taking home the Ranger Boat, Evinrude Motor package, valued at $22,995.00.
Moving up a couple of spots after Day 1, into the second place position was the team of Lee Wubbels & Chris Wood of Nebraska. Yesterday they started with 17.00 pounds and today they added another 13.11 pounds. They begin the final day with 30.11 pounds to their credit.
Third place today belongs to Mark Rahn & Ryan Ortega, from Illinois with 29.13 pounds. Thursday they began with 10.10 pounds and Friday they added another 19.03 pounds. That stringer today was the second largest bag of fish on Day 2. They also claimed the biggest bass on Day 2 with a giant largemouth that tipped the scales at 7.00 pounds.
Rounding out the top 5 was Stanley Pearson & Aaron Fasel with a total of 27.15 pounds and fifth place was secured by the team of Kent Stingley & Casey Clark with 27.08 for two days.
The wind blew again today, rather strongly at times, but not near as relentlessly as it did on Day 1. The anglers still weighed in plenty of fish with nearly 365 pounds of fish and 15 limits weighed in on Friday. Hopefully the final day will be calmer so the anglers can get around the lake a little better. However the temperatures are supposed to drop to nearly freezing tonight and only struggle to climb into the upper forties on Saturday. Coupled with the increased weekend angling traffic, it should make for an interesting finish to a great week at the NBAA Championship. Weigh in begins tomorrow at 3:00 pm at KY Dam Marina.
