Hartman
ended Day 1 by stopping on a rocky point close to the tournament site and
catching a 4-pounder 10 minutes before the 3 p.m. weigh-in began. Friday, he
started on this spot and quickly lit up the BASSTrakk leaderboard by securing a
solid limit of smallmouth in less than two hours.
“I took a lot
of pressure off this morning in the first hour and a half, I had 18 1/4
pounds,” said Hartman, a New York native who moved away from his home state to
pursue a career in professional bass fishing. “Then I figured I only needed two
more 4-pounders, but it took all the way to the last two hours to do it.
“That spot was on my way to a big flat I wanted to fish in the lake’s north
end, so I just said I’m going to start there and see if the fish were there,
and they sure were. Hopefully, they’ll reload and I’ll get on them tomorrow
morning.”
Having fished
this spot in years past, Hartman said his nearly immediate bite on Day 1 told
him the point held greater potential than he had anticipated. With Friday’s
calm, clear conditions contrasting Thursday’s partly cloudy and increasingly
breezy complexion, he started Day 2 expecting fireworks and the bass mostly
cooperated.
Hartman caught
those early fish on a Carolina rig with craw bait on a 3/0 Owner extra-wide gap
hook. He used a 1-ounce weight and a 3-foot leader, which helped him keep his
bait above the grass.
“The spot had
scattered grass and rock, so the Carolina rig was absolutely perfect, and my
hookup to landing ratio is really good,” he said. “I said I was going to put it
in my hand this week before we started because I lost so many fish last week
[at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the St. Lawrence River]. I said I’m going
to swing with the big one this time.
“I was using a
steady retrieve and whenever I’d come through a patch of grass, I’d pop the rig
to snap it out of that grass. They’ll whack it every time when I do that.”
By midmorning,
he decided he was not going to upgrade on his starting point, so he made a move
to avoid burning up too much of the spot’s population. Heading to his northern
flat, he focused on scattered grass in about 10 to 15 feet.
“I didn’t want
to keep hammering my starting spot,” Hartman said of his plan to manage the
bass. “I didn’t even go back to it on the way in. I didn’t want to catch
another one off that spot; I need them for tomorrow.”
When the Carolina rig failed to produce, Hartman went to a 1/2-ounce Riot Baits
Lil’ Creeper jig with a swimbait trailer. He was again targeting smallmouth but
ended up making a key cull with a largemouth around 2:30 p.m.
Seth Feider of
New Market, Minn., is in second place with 41-8. After anchoring his
fourth-place Day 1 catch of 20-1 with a 5-4 largemouth, Feider added a limit of
21-7 Friday that included another huge largemouth that went 6-6.
Feider caught
Friday’s big fish by targeting boat docks with milfoil and flipping a 5/8-ounce
Outkast Tackle jig with a chunk-style trailer. While largemouth on marina docks
produced most of his Day 1 weight, today told a different tale.
“I did most of
my damage this morning on smallies; I ended up weighing four smallies and one
buckethead (largemouth),” Feider said. “My smallmouth spot was a grass point in
10 to 12 feet on a big flat. I caught two on drop shot and two on a crankbait.”
Koby Kreiger of
Alva, Fla., is in third place with 40-1. After posting 18-1 Thursday, he added
22 pounds on Day 2. Noting that a Heddon Super Spook Jr. and two jerkbaits — a
Lucky Craft Pointer 100 and a Megabass Vision 110 — produced his fish, Kreiger
said today’s calm, sunny conditions plus a cleaner performance yielded a better
sack.
“It slicked
off, which made it easier for me to see the fish and for them to see my bait,”
Kreiger said. “Yesterday, I jumped off a couple and today, I fished clean.
“I’m fishing a
great big flat in 10 feet with isolated rocks and isolated grass patches on it.
I can see them pretty far out with my Humminbird 360; that shows me what’s in
front of the boat when I’m drifting.
Feider is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-6
largemouth.
Saturday’s
takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET at Plattsburgh City Marina. The weigh-in
will be held at the marina at 3 p.m.
Live coverage
of the event will be available starting at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster LIVE at
Bassmaster.com with simulcasts on ESPN2 and ESPN3. Check local listings for
ESPN2 times.
The tournament
is being hosted by the Adirondack Coast Visitors Bureau, City of Plattsburgh
and Clinton County with support from the Office of the Governor of the State of
New York.
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