2018 Forest Wood Cup Lake Ouachita Day 2: Wes Logan Leads with 23-13lbs!

3 Canadians Out of Top 10
by Sean Ostruszka
FLW PRESS RELEASE

After two days of fishing, pros are usually pretty dialed in on their patterns. Not this week. You’d be hard pressed to find a pro who feels confident in any sort of pattern on Saturday at the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita.

Mixing shallow and deep working for Logan.
(Photo: FLW)

Case in point, day-one leader Alex Davis brought a lone fish to the scale today. Nick LeBrun, who was in second on day one, only caught three keepers. He was fortunate one of them weighed more than 6 pounds, which helped him stay in second.

At this point, even new leader Wes Logan is unsure if he’ll catch another fish with how random and tough the bites have been on Lake Ouachita. His catch thus far is 23 pounds, 13 ounces, including a 12-pound, 4-ounce bag that was the largest of day two. He has a 1-pound, 2-ounce lead over LeBrun going into the final day

“I’m just going with my gut, and so far it’s been right,” Logan says.

The Springville, Ala., pro has been running a two-pronged attack up shallow and out deep.

Two key offshore spots in 17 to 25 feet of water have been more consistent. He’s been able to catch multiple keepers there each day.

The shallow pattern is a lot more random. He doesn’t know where he’s going to go at any given moment.

“I must’ve hit 50 spots today,” Logan says. “I burnt a good amount of gas. I’m just running anywhere I see. No real reason to it. Just covering water.”

The end result has been him catching 10 keepers each day.

As for Sunday’s final day of competition, Logan doesn’t even know where he’ll start. While the deep bite has been more consistent, he’s not getting any big bites out there, and it seems to be better in the afternoon. That leaves him probably going shallow, but where is anybody’s guess.

The “anybody’s guess” part could be said about who’s going to win this event too. With such unpredictability in the bites and weights, most every pro in the top 10 has a shot to win if he has a good day.

Still, considering he’s a rookie who’s never been to Ouachita, Logan is just quite pleased to be where he’s sitting.

“I’m obviously excited [about leading the Cup],” Logan adds. “But you want to be leading after the third day, not the second.”

TOP 10 PROS

1. Wes Logan – Springville, Ala. – 23-13 (10)           

2. Nick LeBrun – Bossier City, La. – 22-11 (8)        

3. James Niggemeyer – Van, Texas – 20-14 (9)         

4. Zack Birge – Blanchard, Okla. – 20-6 (10)

5. Jason Lambert – Michie, Tenn. – 20-3 (10)          

6. John Cox – DeBary, Fla. – 19-14 (9)        

7. Bradford Beavers – Summerville, S.C. – 19-5 (8)  

8. Brandon Cobb – Greenwood, S.C. – 19-2 (10)     

9. Justin Atkins – Florence, Ala. – 19-0 (10)

10. Clent Davis – Montevallo, Ala. – 19-0 (10)        

2018 Forest Wood Cup Lake Ouachita Day 1: Alex Davis Leads with 13-10lbs!

Cory Johnston in 4th!
FLW PRESS RELEASE

Alex Davis best them all on difficult first day.
(Photo: FLW)

Alex Davis was talking with his dad, Jeff, before the Forrest Wood Cup about who was going to win it.

“I told him whoever was going to win this thing would do it on luck,” Alex says. “By God, that’s exactly what happened today for me.”

He’s not lying. The Albertville, Ala., pro went from a single 1-pounder at noon to a day-one-leading 13 pounds, 10 ounces through a comedy of randomness.

Setting the scene, Alex figured he had some solid stretches where he could catch them shallow on topwater, and they certainly showed they were there, as he had seven blowups throughout the morning. He only landed the lone dink, and he lost another three on a worm.

“I have no idea how,” he says.

Finally, he made a move and caught a pair of small fish. Another move prompted a fourth.

“My dad told me before I left today, ‘Don’t come back with four,’” Alex says. “I knew of one brush pile. So I went there, made one cast and the second it hit the bottom I set the hook. So then I had a limit and decided to head in.”

However, there was still a little time left before the 33-year-old had to check in. He decided to stop on one more area. First cast he caught a 3-pounder on something “special” he didn’t want to discuss until tomorrow.

Again, he was “done,” but he still had a little time left. So with 10 minutes to go he stopped at a random cove he’d never even been in before.

“My last cast I caught my biggest fish of the day,” Alex says. “I slung him in the boat, pulled up my trolling motor, tossed out my smallest and checked in. How crazy is that?”

Obviously, luck can be fickle, so when it comes to day two the pro has “no idea” what he’s going to do or how well.

“I may just go throw topwaters again tomorrow,” he says. “I had all those blowups. I do know I’ll check that one special thing. Everyone will see it tomorrow on live, but if it goes it could be awesome.”

TOP 10 PROS

1. Alex Davis – Albertville, Ala. – 13-10 (5)

2. Nick LeBrun – Bossier City, La. – 13-5 (5)

3. Zack Birge – Blanchard, Okla. – 13-1 (5)

4. Cory Johnston – Cavan, Ontario – 12-8 (5)

5. James Niggemeyer – Van, Texas – 12-2 (5)

6. Wes Logan – Springville, Ala. – 11-9 (5)

7. Bradford Beavers – Summerville, S.C. – 11-6 (3)

8. John Cox – DeBary, Fla. – 11-3 (5)

9. Jason Lambert – Michie, Tenn. – 10-0 (5)

10. Justin Atkins – Florence, Ala. – 9-14 (5)