Keith Combs not only continues to lead the Bassmaster Elite Series Falcon Slam, he widened his lead today with a 28 pound, 1 ounce limit that gives him a 2-day total of 62-14.

Edwin Evers brought 28-15 today to run his aggregate to 55-7, good enough to make him Combs’s closest pursuer, 7 pounds, 7 ounces back of the leader.

Jason Christie (25-1 today) climbed a little and settled into the 3^rd position with 54 pounds total.

Cliff Crochet made a giant leap forward with the tournament’s biggest bag yet – a 35 pound, 3 ounce effort. He is one skinny ounce behind Christie. With 18-12 on Day 1 Crochet was not even on pace to cut a check at Falcon Lake. Given the size of bass that swim the Mexico/US border lake, things can change in a hurry.

Crochet’s biggest fish weighed 10 pounds and an ounce. It was not the big bass of the day. That honor goes to Matt Greenblatt with his 10-13.

Cliff Prince and Josh Bertrand each weighed more than 30 pounds yesterday and were 2^nd and 3^rd, respectively, on Day 1. They fell to 5^th and 6^th, respectively, on Day 2. Prince has 53-9 (22-12 today), Bertrand 53-5 (23-0).

There was major movement up and down the leaderboard. Several pros who started with 20-plus pounds the first day failed to make the top 50 cut today and will not fish tomorrow; will not get paid this week.

Then there are guys like Crochet, Cliff Pirch (31-12 today) Kota Kiriyama (32-7) Rick Clunn (32-9) Clark Reehm (30-12) and Skeet Reese (32-4) who rocketed from way back in the pack to make the cut today.

Combs is camping on some prime real estate but he’s not alone. Jonathon VanDam and Fletcher Shryock are right on one of his best spots with him, often casting side by side with the leader. Rumors of turf wars have leaked but it seems the guys are getting along for the most part. Falcon bass, stacked on small spots as they can often be, have caused tempers to flare in the past. Even once-good friends are bitter about it to this day in some cases. Gamesmanship and intimidation may be part of the plan this week. When a very specific cast is called for, the guy who bows out of prime position may go fishless. Of course, there is an unwritten rule of tournament angling that says one should bow to the leader. The younger guys don’t hold to that rule as often as their tournament elders do. It will be interesting to see how they all work it out this week.