While we played bumper boats in the lock yesterday morning Rich Howes wished me luck. The good luck I wished upon him seems to have stuck.

With a decent start (12 pounds, 6 ounces) on day 1, Howes put himself in a good position Thursday. Today, with the tournament’s second-largest sack so far (20-2) he took the lead over 197 others who hoped to win the Bassmaster Southern Open on the Kissimmee Chain of  Lakes. Only his closest 11 competitors have a shot at him in Saturday’s final round.

“I made a long run south,” said Howes of nearby Oviedo. “I caught my best fish early. I only made one pass through the area and I hope there are enough good ones left for tomorrow.”

Day 1 leader Daniel Lanier brought only two fish and they weighed a combined 2-11. But with his opening round weight of 27-11 he has a two-day total of 30-6, good enough to land Lanier in 6^th place, safely inside the cut.

Lanier’s first day fish ate topwater lures. Today was mostly a mat flipping fest as high skies and abundant sunshine dominated right from the chilly start. Tomorrow should see similar conditions.

The leaderboard is tight. Bradley Jones, the last man in the cut at 12^th place, is only 5 pounds, 4 ounces off the lead. That’s one solid keeper in these lakes . . . if the solid keepers will turn on and feed. “I’m a little concerned that Toho, which is always so good, is fishing so tough that everybody is locking through and heading south,” said Gerald Swindle who won the last B.A.S.S. event here in 2011 by camping on a spot in Toho. What does he think is the problem? “They sprayed all the grass.”

Some of the co-angler weights are impressive. Brian Kelley leads with 22-9. Johnny Pittman is riding that 3-fish, 19 pound day 1 effort to a two-day total of 22-8, just an ounce off the lead he held yesterday. Matt Fair has been the picture of consistency with daily weights of 8-0 and 7-15. Fair is currently 3^rd heading into Saturday’s show down.

Some first-hand observations: I have been on the lake for 4 straight days. Practice was good for nearly everybody. Competition rounds have been tough for nearly everybody. The weather shut down the bite. Bass want to be in the open water and when they get out, as they did early yesterday and again for perhaps an hour very late today, they are feeding aggressively, but the weather put them under the mats and when they bite there are a lot of short strikes.

Smart competitors will spend a lot of time with a flippin’ stick in hand and then, when the bite turns on, they will target feeding fish on the flats with a Gambler EZ Swimmer. I figured I had the bases covered with other versions of the swimming worm/small swimbait but I got my butt handed to me two days in a row – well, for a brief feeding period each day, by partners who threw the EZ Swimmer. Danny White caught them on it before the skies cleared Thursday morning. This afternoon, due to a late flight draw, I was out with Kazuki Kitajima until 4:40 p.m. During that last hour the mid-sized bass started feeding and Kazuki put on a clinic. It got to the point where I just stopped and watched him to see what I was missing. He was able to generate a second strike with that same EZ Swimmer if a fish missed it the first time. That’s when you have the right lure working.

So . . . to fish the Kissimmee Chain right now you need two rods – one rigged for flippin’ and another rigged with a Gambler EZ Swimmer.

Catch the conclusion of the Bassmaster Southern Open Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Orlando Bass Pro Shops location or on line at Bassmaster.com.