2018 Bassmaster Elite Classic Bracket Day 2: 6 Battles for 3 Classic Spots.

Final 6 ready to fish 

BASS PRESS RELEASE

The picture is steadily growing clearer at the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster Classic Bracket on Carters Lake, with the two-day semifinal round now complete and six anglers qualified for Friday’s finals.

A trio of head-to-head matchups on Friday will pit Gerald Swindle vs. Scott Rook, Chris Lane vs. Greg Vinson and Adrian Avena vs. Shin Fukae. The anglers’ weights will start back at zero, and they will fish from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET with the winners of each match advancing to the 2019 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.

Lane had one of the most impressive days Thursday, landing three big spotted bass that weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Combined with the 2-3 he caught Wednesday, it gave him a two-day total of 10-12 that was more than enough to win his match against Michigan angler Chad Pipkens, who finished with 7-11.

“Knowing I had a little bit of a lead allowed me to fish with an eye toward tomorrow,” said Lane, a former Bassmaster Classic winner who lives in Alabama. “Tomorrow’s going to be amazing with a Classic berth on the line. It’ll either be really exciting or really disappointing.”

Lane’s biggest bass came at 8:18 a.m. when he landed a gigantic 4-10 spotted bass near a boat dock. He added two more fish on a Whopper Plopper the rest of the way to seal the win.

Pipkens caught a nice bass on a jerkbait with just over 30 minutes remaining in the morning session to keep pressure on Lane. But it wasn’t enough.

“I don’t think I would have made any different decisions today except maybe picking up a jerkbait a little earlier,” Pipkens said. “But that’s the way it goes. I’m already looking forward to next year.”

2018 Bassmaster Elite Classic Bracket Day 2: 12 Battles for 3 Classic Spots.

Stingy lake mean every bite counts

By Brian Brasher

BASS PRESS RELEASE

Twelve anglers took part in six head-to-head matchups during Wednesday’s semifinal round of the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster Classic Bracket on Carters Lake.

The lake was stingy — and that’s putting it mildly.

After a bright full moon that likely caused the bass to feed heavily throughout the previous night, Arkansas angler Fred Roumbanis turned in the biggest weight of the morning session, landing five bass that totaled a modest 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

That was more than enough to give the top-seeded Roumbanis the lead in his bracket-style matchup with 12th-seeded Scott Rook who zeroed for the morning. The seeding order was determined Tuesday during a one-day fish-off.

“With this full moon, the fish are feeding all night long and that makes them really finicky,” Roumbanis said. “Using Garmin LiveScope, I can see the bass down there and I can see exactly what they’re doing. But you still have to trick a fish that’s full into biting.”

The morning session featured six anglers in three head-to-head matchups that lasted from 8-11 a.m. ET. Roumbanis started early with a 13-ounce keeper and then finished his limit with a 1-11 spotted bass at 10:43 a.m.

“I’m just following big schools of bait in about 20 feet of water and catching suspended bass,” Roumbanis said. “It’s not easy to force a bite.”

Rook, who has already announced his intentions to retire after this season, focused primarily on topwater fishing and failed to put a keeper in the boat.