Top Canadians are Chong and Brownridge in 15th
By Andrew Canulette
BASS PRESS RELEASE
Kris Lockard and Michael Morse said they knew next to nothing about Lake Hartwell heading into the Bassmaster Team Championship, but they made it look like their local favorite spot on Wednesday.
Lockard and Morse, who compete on the Lakeland (Fla.) Bassmaster Team Trail, caught a five-bass limit that weighed 17 pounds, 15 ounces to take the lead on Day 1 of the final event of the 2019 season.
The Florida anglers said they weren’t sure which strategy to employ on Hartwell, so they went “junk fishing” on Wednesday. Their limit (four largemouth and one spotted bass) was heavy enough for a 15-ounce lead over Adam Smith and Jayme Rampey, who live only minutes from Lake Hartwell and know it as well as any tandem in the tournament.
In all, 165 duos from 30 different states and two foreign countries are competing for a total cash purse of $87,200 in the two-day Team Championship portion of this event. The duo with the heaviest two-day total will earn a $20,000 Nitro/Mercury cash prize.
Lockard and Morse put themselves in good position to claim that cash. Their catches were spread throughout the day and covered ample water to entice their bites. That was the case for many teams, who scooted across Hartwell Wednesday, when skies were sunny and temperatures hovered near 50 degrees all day.
“We got lucky fishing this cold and deep water,” Morse said. “We’re from Florida, and there are no buggy whips or lily pads for us to flip here like we have back home. But we found some backwater spots that looked decent and were holding a little bait. We were able to get five good bites.”
