Alabama’s Shaye Baker brought 19 pounds, 6 ounces to the scale today. It was more than 10 pounds off the blistering pace he set on Day 1, but as the day’s 4^th biggest bag, it was enough to actually expand his lead heading into the final day of the Bassmaster Classic Wildcard tournament presented by Star Tron on Lake Okeechobee.

Baker now has a total weight of 48-14.

Chad Morgenthaler moved into 2^nd with a limit that weighed 18-13. With a total of 43-1 he trails Baker by 5-13.

Bassmaster Open angler Jesse Tacoronte of Orlando, FL followed up a solid Day 1 start (20-6) with 19-9 today. His consistency has landed him in 3^rd place with 39-15.

Russ Lane fell from 2^nd to 4^th with 14-6 today. His 25-pound sack on Day 1 keeps him within 10 pounds of Baker (39-6 total).

Most agree that anyone more than 10 pounds off the lead with one day left to fish is, well, very much ‘behind the 8-ball’, as they say in the billiards hall.

But don’t tell that to the rest of the top 12 who get to fish tomorrow for a chance to win the final spot in the 2014 Bassmaster Classic to take place on Lake Guntersville in February.

Flipping, pitching, and punching through dense matted vegetation has been the deal this week. Sight fishermen didn’t fare well. Shaw Grigsby had 3 big ones located for Day 1 but they were all gone yesterday. That put him in a bad position with less than 8 pounds. Today he did 10-11 and finished out of the money at 36^th.

Roland Martin also said he had banked on some bedding fish. There are acres of them on the big lake right now. Apparently, they’re all small.

Waves of bass are, reportedly, making a big push into spawning areas. Some anglers intercepted them along the broken reed lines and clumps of bulrush by pitching jigs.

Jeff Holland, Opens pro from Central Florida, nearly made the leap into the 12 cut. With 17-4 today (29-1 total) he placed 14th. He used bedding bass to his advantage, not by catching them necessarily, but by gauging an area’s potential based on spawning activity. He then hunted for big girls nearby.

“As the tournament went on the wind died and it got sunny,” explains Holland on his Facebook page. “That raised the water temp up to 72-74, the prefect temp to get them spawning!

“Today I went in shallow until I found beds and then flipped everything around. I also used speed worms and caught over 40 two-pound bass. It was an amazing day.”

The biggest bass seem to prefer some form of overhead cover right now. Baker mentioned hyacinth as a major player in his game plan.

As usual, the 470,000 acre lake is fishing small as a farm pond. A lot of the top guys are sharing water. And Baker had even more company today, including guides and tournament anglers. He said he stayed around to guard the hyacinth patch where he plans to start tomorrow.

Watch the live weigh in on Bassmaster.com Saturday at 3:00 P.M. Eastern.

Your 12 final anglers shooting for a spot in the 2014 Classic:

1          Shaye Baker         5         29- 8        5       19- 6     10    48-14

2        Chad Morgenthaler       5      24- 4    5          18-13   10     43- 1

3      Jesse Tacoronte 5            20- 6    5          19- 9    10          39-15

4        Russ Lane         5          25- 0    5          14- 6    10          39- 6

5        Gary Clouse      5          17-15   5          18- 9    10          36- 8

6          Jeff Kriet         5          18-10   5          17-13   10        36- 7

7          Greg Hackney 5          21-15   5          14- 7    10        36- 6

8          Derek Remitz  5          12- 1    5          23- 8    10        35- 9

9          Arnie Lane      5          14-11   5          20-10   10        35- 5

10        Keith Poche    5          16-15   5          17-11   10        34-10

11        Drew Benton  5          14- 5    5          16- 7    10        30-12

12        Cliff Prince     5          17- 0    5          13- 7    10        30- 7