Forrest Wood Cup 2011 Day 2: Jason Christie Takes Lead, Martin in 2nd.

By Luigi De Rose

Jason Christine using a noisy prop bait
on Day 2
(Photos: Rob Newell FLW)

Day 2 saw a few flips and some flops in the FLW Cup. Sunny skies still had fish shallow and the anglers willing to hunt for them did well. Off-shore anglers, who typically do well during the summer failed. Many are explaining the strongest pattern as a "bream bite". Bream is another word for panfish or sunfish. These fish are up shallow with the bass close behind. Typically, in April, May, June or even in early July, the sunfish are up shallow spawning and largemouth take advantage of the abundance of food. Considering Lake Ouachita has had water temps in the low 90F and it's mid-summer, many felt the fish would be all located in deeper brush. But those fish are reluctant to bite whereas the shallow bass are feeding well.


Who Flipped?
Jason Christine contiued to do well. He sits in first. Jason is a methodicial shallow water angler. He is also on a hot streak this year with two FLW wins. Remember he fished one stretch of bank for four days straight to win on Lake Hartwell. If he needs to work these shallow bass over he will.

Scott Martin nets another for co-angler Jeffery Cummings
who's Day 2 creel topped out at
17-11 pounds

Scott Martin, who was the Day 1 leader, fell to second. Interestingly, his Day 2 co-angler landed over 18 pounds from the back of Scott's boat. If Martin's luck was a bit different, his 11 pound creel would have been much heavier.

Randall Tharp, in 3rd, had a terrible Day 1 missing 7 big bass. He only brought 13-01 today, but he has the correct location. If his fish decide to bite, he might have a 20 pound plus bag and a Forrest L.Wood Cup for his effort. He has fished very well all year but has always come up short. This tournament might be his redemption. Andy Morgan is always deadly. Today, he brought the largest bag of bass out of anyone in the top 10. If he can continue this pace, he will move way up. Possiblily right to the centre of the stage with a huge silver cup over his head.

Who Flopped?
Larry Nixon did very poorly. He is a local boy and a deep water specialist. The stars didn't align for him. He, along with many others, were shocked at how poorly the deeper fish bit. His Day 2 total was 2 fish for 4 pounds. Jay Yelas only landed 2 fish, they were two good ones for 7 pounds, but a huge difference from 17 pounds on Day 1. Local angler, Rob Kilby had 12-08 yesterday. He only landed one bass for 2-12 today, which resulted in him falling right out of the race. His local knowledge didn't help him at this year's Cup, too bad it could have been a great hometown win. 

TOP TEN
Place/ Name/ Day 1 (# of fish)/ Day 2 (#of fish)/ Total
       
 1 CHRISTIE, JASON 18-01 (5) 13-06 (5)   31-07
 2 MARTIN, SCOTT 19-02 (5) 11-09 (5)   30-11
 3 THARP, RANDALL 16-00 (5) 13-01 (5)   29-01
 4 MORGAN, ANDY 9-12 (4) 18-15 (5)   28-11
 5 MEYER, CODY 14-02 (5) 13-01 (5)   27-03
 6 ROSE, MARK 14-09 (5) 12-08 (5)   27-01
 7 EHRLER, BRENT 11-11 (5) 15-04 (5)   26-15
 8 MONTGOMERY, ANDY 12-05 (5) 14-08 (5)   26-13
 9 WHEELER, JACOB 14-10 (5) 12-02 (5)   26-12
 10 COULTER, BRANDON 18-00 (5) 8-00 (5)   26-00