Strike king Pro Keith Combs nearly won a big tournament in Texas this time last year, falling to fellow Strike King pro-staffer Phil Marks who used the (at the time) brand new 10XD crankbait to pile up 30-plus pounds of bass in the final round.

The year before that, Combs tied Mike Iaconelli for the 3-day lead at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Lake Conroe with a total of 76 pounds, 12 ounces. Combs won the sudden death fish-off to claim the 2011 TTBC title.

Flash forward to 2013 and Combs is right back at it. So is Iaconelli. Combs holds the Day 1 lead with over 24 pounds. Ike is about 3 pounds back of him in 2nd. And they both have one of bass fishing’s hottest anglers on their tails – Jason Christie is 3rd, a pound behind Iaconelli.

Ike and Christie agree that Combs is the guy to beat on Conroe. He has hundreds of quality waypoints – ledges, points, brushpiles – and combs has demonstrated his superior skills with deep diving crankbaits on South Texas lakes that have no grass. Beneath the surface Coroe is a moon scape except for some boneyards of old timber.

That Combs caught big bass on his first 2 stops and his biggest of the day on his 3rd, underscores his strength in this tournament where Iaconelli had to rally late to catch what he ended up with and Christie owes a lot of his success to one big bite.

Here are the Top 10 so far:

1. Keith Combs: 24-8

2. Mike Iaconelli: 21-8

3. Jason Christie: 19-12

4. Jacob Powroznik: 18-00

5. Bobby Lane: 17-8

6. John Crews: 17-4

7. Mike McClelland: 16-8

8. Kevin VanDam: 16-4

9. Shin Fukae: 15-4

10. (tie) Fred Roumbanis: 15-00

10. (tie) Cliff Crochet: 15-00