FLW PRESS RELEASE
Michelle ride huge lead to secure top position.
(Photo: FLW)
One thing that the 50 anglers fishing for a $200,000 payday at the Tackle Warehouse TITLE presented by Toyota have become intimately familiar with this week in Sturgeon Bay is change.
As if a 2-pound minimum weight, a catch-everything-you-can scoring system, penalties and alternating competition days aren’t enough to juggle, Wednesday brought with it the kind of change that anglers have had to adjust to their whole lives: weather and water conditions.
With an intermittent, shifting 10- to 15-mph wind pushing water around Green Bay and Lake Michigan – and drastically changing the bite in areas that the 25 anglers in Group A made hay on two days earlier – the second Qualifying Round of Group A competition played out like a rock-and-roll festival: something to look at here, a side attraction to look at there and a little bit of everything to capture your attention for a minute or two.
The leaders keep leading: Mitchell, Barnes, Scanlon, Buck, Stefan, Bohannan
After stacking 119 pounds, 10 ounces on SCORETRACKER® on the opening day of the TITLE, Kurt Mitchell knew going into the day that he didn’t have to catch a single bass to move on to Friday’s Knockout Round. The five anglers below him as lines went in on Wednesday – Evan Barnes, Casey Scanlon, Grae Buck, Matt Stefan and Greg Bohannan – also knew that they were pretty safe from falling out of the top 10.
All six of them held serve, and will fish the Knockout Round on Friday.
Mitchell spent his day thoroughly exploring his primary fishing area, putting just 8-5 on the board but finishing with a 37-plus-pound cushion over Barnes in second place. Barnes added 28-6, Scanlon added 32-5, and Buck, Stefan and Bohannan (18-11, 21-4 and 32-11 respectively) cruised on to the next round.
“I’ve done all I can here,” Mitchell says as he calls it a day 30 minutes before lines out. “This area is just four bridges and a couple little isolated areas, there’s not much else to look at. If they’re not biting, I want to stay here and figure them out. I don’t want to leave here, I know the fish live here. I’m going to stay here, and figure them out during the tournament.”
The big movers: Rusty Salewske and Jon Canada
Jon Canada headed out on Wednesday morning in the No. 10 spot, needing roughly 32 pounds of smallmouth to stay inside the Knockout Round cut. After making a move from Green Bay into Sturgeon Bay in the second period, the Alabama pro added 26 pounds in the third period alone, ending the day with 36-7 and finishing the two-day qualifying rounds in eighth place with 63-3.
TOP 10 QUALIFIERS BELOW
