2018 FLW Tour Lake St. Clair Day 2: Chad Grigsby Cracks 50-01lbs!

Chris Johnston 19^th, Cory Johnston 42nd, Gustafson 80th & Richardson 124th

by Sean Ostruszka

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Grigsby leading smashfest.
(Photo: FLW)

Chad Grigsby figured his only chance at making the Forrest Wood Cup was by winning at St. Clair. He’s halfway there, but he’s far from assured anything with the way the lake is fishing.

The Maple Grove, Minn., pro sacked up 24 pounds, 4 ounces to retain his lead at FLW Tour stop No. 7, which is presented by Mercury. That weight has him as the only pro to crack the 50-pound mark after two days (50-1, to be exact), but he only has a 4-ounce lead over Dylan Hays going into the weekend thanks to even more massive bags behind him.

Weights typically drop on day two, and one would certainly expect that after a day one featuring 39 limits of more than 20 pounds. Instead, the fishing got even better. A total of 50 20-pound bags crossed the weigh-in stage today (36 pro, 14 co-angler), with Hays cracking the derby’s biggest bag at 26 pounds, 7 ounces.

That said, Grigsby is pretty happy with how his tournament has gone so far.

“I’ve had to adjust every day, but I feel like I’ve managed to stay one step ahead of the fish so far,” says Grigsby. “If a bait isn’t working within 5 minutes I try something else. You just keep rotating until they tell you what they want.”

Like he did on day one, Grigsby made a key bait switch to something he hadn’t even thrown in practice – a smaller-profile, “super-finesse” bait – and immediately the bass told him he made the right choice, as he had all his weight by 10 a.m.

After that, he went looking to see if he could find any other areas near his on the southern section of Canadian waters, but was unable to really expand on his pattern or area. Fortunately, his area is pretty large, with a few sweet spots tucked in it.

“I have some waypoints in there that I follow,” Grigsby says. “One of them – I don’t know why – but I’m pretty much guaranteed a fish every time my boat is right on it.”

2015 Bass Pro Shop BASS Northern Open Lake Erie Day 2: Derek Remitz Leads with 46lbs!

Persistence Paying off for Leaders.

By Craig Lamb

bass press release

SANDUSKY, Ohio — While some anglers would give up and move on to find new water, Derek Remitz knew better. He remained persistent, fine tuning what worked Thursday until it finally clicked today. As a result he leads the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Open presented by Allstate.

Remitz reaps another big bag.
(Photo BASS)

Remitz, of Grant, Ala., caught a 5-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 6 ounces. Added to his Thursday score the total weight is 46 pounds, 10 ounces.

Remitz lost at boat side what was a crucial 4-pound smallmouth about 10:30 a.m. Until then his livewell was empty. After regaining composure his renewed concentration paid off during a feeding flurry when he added four bass to his catch. Even then he didn’t leave. Staying resulted in another late afternoon feeding frenzy that sealed the lead.

“I got a late start but knew the bass were still in the area,” he said. “The biggest key is the wind, which is blowing so I can make controlled drifts across the best habitat.”

Ironically, the wind blew again from the northeast, although its predicted shift on Saturday could require making significant adjustments.

2015 Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division Lake Erie Day 1: Rhode Cracks 23-10 for Lead!

Big water equals big smallmouth. Johnston closer to AOY.

by David A. Brown

FLW PRESS RELEASE

He was hoping to preserve a special spot for later in the event, but when Jared Rhode realized he had to hit the sweet stuff, the fat smallmouth therein did not let him down. Sacking up a limit of 23 pounds, 10 ounces the pro from Port Clinton, Ohio, grabbed the day-one lead at the Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division event on Lake Erie.

“I have a spot where I’ve been catching quite a few fish, but I went there this past weekend and they weren’t there,” Rhode says. “I wanted to try to avoid fishing there today, in hopes that I could save my best spot.

Local knowledge propels Jared Rhode into lead.
(Photo: FLW)

“I fished elsewhere and I only had three bass, so I went to my best spot and caught them very quickly. There seems to be quite a few fish there and there are no other boat around, so I’m very excited about tomorrow.”

Fishing in the general vicinity of Pelee Island, Rhode’s first spot was shallow — about 10 feet. According to Rhode, this spot had kicker potential, but the fish didn’t cooperate.

“I only fished where I started for 10 to15 minutes because I could tell they weren’t there,” he says. “Once I went to my main spot offshore, I had my limit by 9 o’clock in the morning and I had most of my weight [shortly thereafter].