Southern anglers dominate; Arkansan barely misses cut
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Anglers from Alabama and Tennessee dominated the second round of the Redcrest Bass Fishing Championship on Friday at Lay Lake.
The 20 anglers with the heaviest combined two-day weights will compete today in the knockout round, starting with zero weight. The anglers with the 10 heaviest weights today will advance to the championship round Sunday. The winner will win $300,000.
Ryan Salzman of Huntsville, Ala., jumped from fifth place to first Friday by catching, weighing and releasing 10 bass that registered 30 pounds, 3 ounces for a twoday total weight of 65-14. Dustin Connell of Clanton, Ala., (9/25-4) winner of the 2019 Redcrest finished the day in second place with a two-day weight of 63-4, followed by Michael Neal of Dayton, Tenn. (4/9-4) with 61-13, Dalton Head of Moody, Ala. (6/17-5) with 61-11, and Jess Wiggins of Addison, Ala. (15/35-4) with 59-10.
The second round started with heavy rain, lightning, wind and hail. The weather cleared by mid-morning, but the dynamic conditions repositioned the fish. Many struggled to find fish, but anglers like Salzman kept up with them.
“My past experience guiding helped me make adjustments with rain and lightning,” Salzman said. “You have to move around and not be locked into one place.”
Salzman said that this is the first tournament in which he won a qualifying round, and that to do it in a championship event is especially meaningful. He said it is important not to get distracted by the lights of the stage and concentrate on the game at hand.
“A bass is a bass,” Salzman said. “He’s going to be on eddies and rocks. The only thing that changes is depth and amount of flow.”
Anglers knew that they didn’t have to catch a tremendous amount of weight to qualify for the knockout round, but some did it anyway. Salzman and Connell said they did pad their weights to intimidate their rivals.
“I did not plan to catch 60 pounds. I just couldn’t get them off,” Connell said. “They were eating it. Three of my fish had [the bait] in the gullet. That’s when I told my official, ‘We gotta go.’ ”
Head, 19, is the youngest angler in the tournament. He wears blue jeans and cowboy boots while fishing. Nevertheless, his poise and calm demeanor has clearly impresses the other competitors.
“You can spin yourself out,” Head said. “If you let yourself go the wrong way one time, you’re done. You’re gonna waste a period. These periods ain’t long. This day goes by fast. If I start getting in my head and start making bad decisions, I’m not going end up on top.”
Head said that he doesn’t intend to catch a lot of weight, but he said he only knows one speed.
“Someone can pull away, but not everybody’s going to pull away,” Head said. “You can tell yourself, ‘I just need to get to here. I don’t need to get to first. I need to get here.’ It’s a lot less stressful when you know any spot you pull up on you can catch 10, 11, 12 fish and bam, you’re right up there.”
Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs was the only Arkansan that flirted with making the cut. He was in 20th place late in the day until Nick LeBrun of Bossier City, La., knocked him out with a late catch.
“I was dancing in and out of the cut line all day long,” LeBrun said. “I was in 18th in Period Three because I caught a 2-15, and then one of the guys caught one and bumped me to 20th, and there was [Dakota] Ebare, [Matt] Becker and Shuffield right behind me. Any one of them could have caught a ‘scorable’ and knocked me out. I had some stone cold killers right behind me, but nobody caught anything, and I stayed in there.”
The key to winning a fresh tournament, LeBrun said, is to find bass that are moving up into the water column that have not been thrown at or caught over the last two days.