Canadians: Chris Johnston 6th, Cory Johnston 7th, Kung 14, Gallant 20th & Gustafson 49th
 |
Alabama's Andrew Loberg maintains the lead on Day 2 of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller with a total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces. (Photo: Seigo Saito/ BASS)
BASS Press Release
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Growing up on the California Delta, Andrew Loberg is plenty comfortable fishing shallow, and that has been on full display so far this week at the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller.
With a total of 35 pounds, 13 ounces, the 31-year-old pro leads the 101 boat field after two days of competition. Loberg backed up his 17-9 Day 1 bag with 18-4 on Friday, giving him a 12-ounce advantage over Texas pro Keith Combs. The gap between Combs and third-place Bob Downey is over 4 pounds.
“Fishing the Delta, you have to run a tide and most of the time you have to have a big flipping stick,” Loberg said. “The water fluctuation on Tenkiller correlates to the tide a little bit. It makes sense to me and I can run around and see what looks good.”
The style of fishing in Oklahoma has suited Loberg in his first two trips to the Sooner State. He claimed a second-place finish at Lake Eufaula last year during the 2024 St. Croix Bassmaster Opens presented by SEVIIN throwing a square-bill and a jig.
“There are big largemouth and they like to stay shallow,” Loberg said. “Even offshore fishing, they stay in 10 to 15 feet of water and that’s still shallow. I feel comfortable doing a lot of that type of stuff. The reservoirs aren’t gin clear. I don’t know, there’s something about these lakes I get honed in on.”
While the lake level stabilized some, falling at a slower rate than it did between the day off and Day 1, the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pros battled heavy rains and thunderstorms the majority of Friday morning. Despite the adverse conditions, the entire field caught a five-bass limit for the second day in a row.
Building off of his Day 1 performance, Loberg power fished in the shallows the entire day. Along with a flipping bait, moving baits like ChatterBaits, swim jigs and squarebills also produced key bites. Loberg even caught a bass on a buzzbait and a frog.
His best areas have had a shad present.
“I’ve been just rolling into a stretch, seeing what it looks like and then throwing whatever I think will work,” he said. “When something looks good, there is more bait than in other places.”
The water has dropped out of some of Loberg’s areas between Day 1 and Day 2, and the water has cleared up. He doesn’t know, however, how Friday’s heavy rainfall will impact the lake.
Loberg started the morning fishing a shad spawn around a marina, and lost a 4-pounder early in the morning, a fish Davy Hite speculated was caught by fellow Elite Series pro Chris Johnston several hours later. Despite the missed opportunity, he was able to fill out a limit quickly.
From there, he fished stretches of shallow bushes and flooded cover hunting for bigger bites. “Yesterday, I ran the whole lake. Today I only ran half of it,” Loberg said. “I feel like I have a better zone to go to now. I just dunked around, caught a few here and there and dodged a few thunderstorms.”
His biggest bite came around 11 a.m., a 4-pound largemouth he landed on a ChatterBait.
“I was running around that area, and I saw something that looked good,” he said. “When something sets up right, you are going to get a bite. I got fortunate with a good bite. I’ve been fortunate to get into the right rotation.”
If the lake continues to fall, Loberg has a feeling he will have to adjust his strategy. He said he had a fairly productive bite offshore during practice, giving him confidence that he can continue to manufacture bites.
“So if the shallow thing is a total bust, I will go out deep. I do have a lot of stuff marked that I haven't touched yet,” Loberg said.
Combs, meanwhile, has been mixing up offshore and shallow patterns. After landing 15-15 on Day 1, the Texan landed 19-2 on Friday, the Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag of the Tournament thus far.
In 2019, the three-time Bassmaster champion notched a 7th-place finish at Lake Tenkiller. While fishing is much better this time around, he said, a lot of the same concepts are coming into play this time around.
“I did the same thing in 2019. I would fish places I never fished and catch one,” he explained. “It seems like the lake is set up to do that. If you see something you think a fish should be on, better check it out.”
Early in the morning, Combs landed 13 pounds around a shad spawn, including a 4-pound smallmouth to start the day. From there, he evaluated the conditions and pieced together quality bites. His best bite, a 5-pound largemouth, came flipping.
“After that, I started mixing it up on some mid depth, offshore holes and hopefully found a little something for tomorrow.”
Downey remains in third place with a two-day total of 30-12. The Detroit Lakes, Minn., pro has caught a mixed bag each day, backing up his 16-2 Day 1 performance with 14-10 on Day 2. The three-time Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour qualifier landed his initial Day 2 limit at 8 a.m., fishing around shallow cover with a swim jig and a flipping bait.
When the heavy rains moved into his areas, the bite turned on, and he landed a 4-pound smallmouth and a 3-pound largemouth. Both of those baits came on a specific winding bait, but Downey is unsure that pattern will continue.
“That is really what made my bag,” he said. “That’s what happened yesterday too. I don’t know if we are going to have that tomorrow, so it has me a little concerned. If the water stabilizes or even comes up a little I think I can flip all day long. I have been catching some nicer ones winding a bait and without that rain, I don’t know if that will happen.”
Leesville, S.C. pro Bryan New landed the Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Day, a 5-1 largemouth that also controls the overall Phoenix Boats Big Bass of the Tournament.
Canadian pro Chris Johnston leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 601 points, a three point advantage over second-place Jay Przekurat, who missed the Day 3 cut in 51st place. Illinois pro Trey McKinney is third with 588 points followed by Bill Lowen in fourth with 553 points and Kyoya Fujita in fifth with 547 points.
Georgia’s Paul Marks leads the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race with 502 points followed Tucker Smith in second with 451 points and Easton Fothergill in third with 435 points.
The Top 50 anglers will launch from Chicken Creek Boat Ramp beginning at 6:30 a.m. CT and check-in at 2:30 p.m. Weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. at the Cherokee Casino in Tahlequah. The Top 10 at the conclusion of Saturday’s weigh-in will advance to Championship Sunday.
Bassmaster LIVE coverage of the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller will be available on FS1 from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. before heading to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon. Day 4 can be seen on FS1 from 8 a.m.-Noon with afternoon action to follow on FOX from Noon-3 p.m.
The Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller is being hosted by the Oklahoma Ozarks Tourism Association.
No comments:
Post a Comment