Hite Widens Lead As Bassmaster Elite Series On Lake Seminole Heads Into Final Day
The Bassmaster Elite Series season kick off on Lake Seminole wraps-up tomorrow. As usual, the tournament standings tell a tale of two tourneys. On one hand, the guys at the top of the lreaderboard brought some serious weight – 8 of the Top 12 had 20-plus pounds today. On the other hand, it took less than 12 pounds per day to cut a paycheck.
As the rest of the pack collects their pay and packs up to head to Palatka, Fla. for next week’s tourney on the St Johns River, 12 men made the cut to fish for the big money tomorrow. Among them, FLW Tour veteran/Elite Series rookie Brett Hite stands apart. Way apart. As in, nearly 10 pounds apart. The hottest angler on tour brought 26-5 to the scale today and ran his 3-day total to 71-11.
Strike King pro Mark Davis is the only other man to sack more than 20 pounds each day. He has been remarkably consistent with limits weighing 21-0, 20-13 and 20-02 for a total weight of 61-15.His consistency is unusual for a man who has relied on multiple patterns. Davis sight-fished the first day, but then went offshore with crankbaits the next two days.
That Hite is 9 pounds, 12 ounces ahead of Davis is testament to the strength of Hite’s pattern.
Hite has stayed ‘outside’ and caught staging bass, culling to five fat females per day. Then he has gone looking for new areas that fit his pattern, noting that he knows the right stuff when he sees it. Hite is dialed-in and will be hard to catch.
Hite estimates that if he can get 6 or 8 bites tomorrow, and execute on them, he will have 15-to-20 pounds. He is targeting what he calls ‘highways’ to spawning grounds. He noted, “The fish I’m getting to bite are all big ones.”
Weights tighten up quickly as Bernie Schultz is 5 ounces back of Davis, hoping to leapfrog him challenge Hite for the first Bassmaster title of his career.
Schultz is capable, as he has a solid game plan going. “Anytime you can catch a big bedding fish, that’s a plus,” said Schultz in reference to his 10-10 giant that came off a bed at noon on the first day and propelled him up the standings, where he has remained.
“My open water pattern is the staple for me,” continued Schultz. “That’s where I get my start each day. I’m fishing a grass edge about 3 feet deep with a red, 3/8 oz. Rip N Rap (lipless crankbait) a DT Fat square bill crankbait and a homemade bladed jig. The action doesn’t really start until 10 or 11 o’clock and even at that, I’m only getting maybe 10 bites, or fewer, each day.”
The bites Schultz is getting are the rigth ones. When the sun gets up he goes to his secondary pattern – looking at spawning bass. “I caught that big one on a Yamamoto Lizard. Green Pumpkin has been the dominant color for me this week but when a fish is dificult I switch colors to a junebug Yamamoto lizard.” He said it’s hard to remember but he thinks he caught the big girl on the junebug color.
Kevin Short has been right there with Schultz in the Top 5 all week and he is less than a pound behind now. Short has also fished ‘out’ this week as photos show him cranking near timber.
Aaron Martens stormed into the cut with 29-11 today. His Saturday weight represents nearly half of his 60-pound, 3-day total. Martens is currently in 5th place.
Shaw Grigsby rode the week’s only 30-pound bag – his 30-05 day 1 effort – into the cut. He fell of with 12 pounds and change on day two but rebounded with 16-09 today and occupies 6th.
Takahiro Omori, Byron Velvick, Todd Faircloth and Charley Hartley all rallied with better-than-20-pound-bags today and will fish tomorrow.
Andy Montgomery also caught Saturday’s wave of big bass momentum as he followed up his 15-11 and 15-10 limits with a 3rd day weight of 23-09 to sneak into the 12th spot of the eve of the final competition day.
Weather forecast for Bainbridge, GA tomorrow – starting out in the upper 50’s, topping out in the low 70’s, a southeast breeze will develop into a stiff southerly wind as cloudy morning skies bring an increased chance of rain toward mid day, culminating in thundershowers throughout weigh-in time which is 4 P.M. at the Earle May Baot Basin in Bainbridge.
If a guy played catch up with bedding bass today, he probably won’t gain ground with them again tomorrow. Give the edge to the top few, who have gotten there on the strength of their offshore stuff. Still, we could be in for an exciting finish on one of America’s premier bass fisheries.
2014 Bassmaster Elite Series Lake Seminole Presented by Dick Cepek Tires & Wheels 3/13-3/16
Lake Seminole, Bainbridge, Ga.
(PROFESSIONAL) Standings Day 3
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$
1. Brett Hite Phoenix, AZ 15 71-11 100 $500.00
Day 1: 5 24-11 Day 2: 5 20-11 Day 3: 5 26-05
2. Mark Davis Mount Ida, AR 15 61-15 99
Day 1: 5 21-00 Day 2: 5 20-13 Day 3: 5 20-02
3. Bernie Schultz Gainesville, FL 15 61-10 98
Day 1: 5 26-14 Day 2: 5 17-10 Day 3: 5 17-02
4. Kevin Short Mayflower, AR 15 60-11 97
Day 1: 5 25-09 Day 2: 5 17-10 Day 3: 5 17-08
5. Aaron Martens Leeds, AL 15 60-00 96
Day 1: 5 17-05 Day 2: 5 13-00 Day 3: 5 29-11
6. Shaw Grigsby Jr. Gainesville, FL 15 59-03 95
Day 1: 5 30-05 Day 2: 5 12-05 Day 3: 5 16-09
7. Takahiro Omori Emory, TX 15 58-06 94
Day 1: 5 19-11 Day 2: 5 14-15 Day 3: 5 23-12
8. Justin Lucas Guntersville, AL 15 58-04 93
Day 1: 5 17-08 Day 2: 5 25-09 Day 3: 5 15-03
9. Byron Velvick Boenre, TX 14 58-03 92
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 4 17-04 Day 3: 5 24-08
10. Todd Faircloth Jasper, TX 15 56-15 91
Day 1: 5 20-15 Day 2: 5 12-04 Day 3: 5 23-12
11. Charlie Hartley Grove City, OH 15 56-00 90
Day 1: 5 19-07 Day 2: 5 16-01 Day 3: 5 20-08
12. Andy Montgomery Blacksburg, SC 15 54-14 89
Day 1: 5 15-10 Day 2: 5 15-11 Day 3: 5 23-09
13. Jared Lintner Arroyo Grande, CA 15 53-09 88 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-09 Day 2: 5 21-05 Day 3: 5 17-11
14. Jason Christie Park Hill, OK 15 53-06 87 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-05 Day 2: 5 18-05 Day 3: 5 20-12
15. Chad Morgenthaler Coulterville, IL 14 52-10 86 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-10 Day 2: 5 22-06 Day 3: 4 09-10
16. James Niggemeyer Van, TX 13 51-14 85 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-07 Day 2: 4 18-02 Day 3: 4 14-05
17. Alton Jones Lorena, TX 15 51-10 84 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-09 Day 2: 5 19-07 Day 3: 5 17-10
18. David Walker Sevierville, TN 15 51-09 83 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 21-04 Day 2: 5 12-05 Day 3: 5 18-00
19. Gerald Swindle Warrior, AL 15 50-13 82 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-15 Day 2: 5 18-02 Day 3: 5 15-12
20. Nate Wellman Newaygo, MI 15 50-11 81 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 5 21-05 Day 3: 5 14-01
21. Brandon Lester Fayetteville, TN 15 50-01 80 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-06 Day 2: 5 17-09 Day 3: 5 14-02
22. Randall Tharp Port Saint Joe, FL 15 50-00 79 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-00 Day 2: 5 20-07 Day 3: 5 12-09
23. Hank Cherry Jr Maiden, NC 14 49-13 78 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 23-03 Day 2: 5 14-10 Day 3: 4 12-00
24. Stephen Browning Hot Springs, AR 15 49-12 77 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-11 Day 2: 5 15-13 Day 3: 5 19-04
25. Morizo Shimizu Osaka JAPAN 14 49-09 76 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 19-02 Day 2: 5 17-06 Day 3: 4 13-01
26. Brian Snowden Reeds Spring, MO 15 48-14 75 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 20-03 Day 2: 5 14-07 Day 3: 5 14-04
27. Ott DeFoe Knoxville, TN 15 47-12 74 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-11 Day 2: 5 16-04 Day 3: 5 13-13
28. Bill Lowen Brookville, IN 15 46-07 73 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-03 Day 2: 5 16-15 Day 3: 5 16-05
29. Jacob Powroznik Port Haywood, VA 15 46-02 72 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-12 Day 2: 5 15-11 Day 3: 5 15-11
30. Matt Herren Trussville, AL 15 45-04 71 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-04 Day 2: 5 14-13 Day 3: 5 15-03
31. Clifford Pirch Payson, AZ 15 45-01 70 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-07 Day 2: 5 12-07 Day 3: 5 14-03
32. Kevin VanDam Kalamazoo, MI 15 45-00 69 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-09 Day 2: 5 14-08 Day 3: 5 12-15
33. Kotaro Kiriyama Moody, AL 15 44-02 68 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-03 Day 2: 5 15-13 Day 3: 5 16-02
34. Chris Lane Guntersville, AL 15 43-15 67 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-06 Day 2: 5 09-10 Day 3: 5 15-15
35. Skeet Reese Auburn, CA 15 43-15 66 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-07 Day 2: 5 11-01 Day 3: 5 16-07
36. Dean Rojas Lake Havasu City, AZ 15 43-08 65 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-09 Day 2: 5 13-04 Day 3: 5 11-11
37. Cliff Prince Palatka, FL 14 43-06 64 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 13-08 Day 2: 4 14-13 Day 3: 5 15-01
38. Greg Hackney Gonzales, LA 12 43-02 63 $10,000.00
Day 1: 2 05-00 Day 2: 5 23-15 Day 3: 5 14-03
39. Josh Bertrand Gilbert, AZ 13 42-11 62 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-08 Day 2: 5 13-10 Day 3: 3 11-09
40. Ish Monroe Hughson, CA 14 41-00 61 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-03 Day 2: 5 19-13 Day 3: 4 09-00
41. J Todd Tucker Moultrie, GA 10 40-10 60 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 18-14 Day 2: 2 08-06 Day 3: 4 13-06
42. Mike Kernan Wylie, TX 13 40-06 59 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 14-08 Day 2: 5 16-08 Day 3: 3 09-06
43. Russ Lane Prattville, AL 13 40-02 58 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 12-08 Day 2: 5 17-15 Day 3: 3 09-11
44. Kelly Jordon Palestine, TX 12 39-12 57 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-05 Day 2: 4 17-10 Day 3: 3 06-13
45. Jeremy Starks Scott Depot, WV 13 38-12 56 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 16-00 Day 2: 4 12-11 Day 3: 4 10-01
46. Davy Hite Ninety Six, SC 14 37-10 55 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 18-08 Day 2: 5 10-11 Day 3: 4 08-07
47. Kelley Jaye Dadeville, AL 15 37-10 54 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 15-03 Day 2: 5 14-00 Day 3: 5 08-07
48. Tim Horton Muscle Shoals, AL 12 37-00 53 $10,000.00
Day 1: 4 10-07 Day 2: 5 17-04 Day 3: 3 09-05
49. Kurt Dove Del Rio, TX 13 36-13 52 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 17-00 Day 2: 5 10-04 Day 3: 3 09-09
50. Tommy Biffle Wagoner, OK 11 35-10 51 $10,000.00
Day 1: 5 23-13 Day 2: 4 06-08 Day 3: 2 05-05
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Totals
Day #Limits #Fish Weight
1 81 479 1503-02
2 59 428 1268-11
3 35 227 760-02
———————————-
175 1134 3531-15
