Bassmaster Live: 2015 Classic - Championship Sunday

look Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro yeah is being brought to you live by Lopez live to digress Bassmaster [Music] you know you take chances every time for the crossing so this could be my time biggest day in the sport of fishing everybody knows that because on this day someone will take home the classic trophy the world championship of bass fishing the Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro final day of three days and twenty five anglers left on the lake what a top ten all knotted up within about four pounds of one another right out on the lake right now Takahiro Omori things have been happening on this Lake Marcel all footage from early this morning in the last 45 minutes to an hour and look at Casey action right here for everybody waking up with us championship Sunday Casey annually with a limit in 40 minutes they see Ashley the tremendous local hero Randy Howell the defending classic champ will it be a new classic champ or will it be a repeat for Randy Howell there's a very strong chance of that all of this from today and Michael Iaconelli another former classic champ three up in the top four here today now we're out on the water live Lake Hartwell these pictures coming to you for the next four hours Takahiro Omori started this day with the lead gunning for his second Geico Bassmaster Classic it actually be a bit of a wall I guess live over to Michael Iaconelli something different with I can Ellie this morning I can Ellie started started right in the mouth Tuggle ooh River and every single day of this tournament so far he said he's been chasing that herring by chasing that herring bite this is a actually paid off over to Casey actually right now who's by far by far has caught the most keepers this morning right now your unofficial leader five fishing the boat a limit for Casey before 8 o'clock this morning what could be better than that day one leader Dean Rojas 21 pounds on day number one fell off the lead into second place for day two but certainly not out of it here we go hooked up now on Lake Hartwell live Casey Ashley asked driver driver you heard from Casey Ashley right there but Casey Ashley got a definite plan worked early for him yesterday working early for him today and here's something that was interesting definitely the size we need big striper right there for Casey got what he's looking for six keepers already today fishing a little fish head spin 3/8 ounce with a mini a small superflu superfood junior actually something that he said after the way and that was surprising he said he went to the juice yesterday later in the day this is how he's been starting every single day of this tournament Dean Rojas hooked up right now it looks like a keeper another striper um Casey said yeah let's go to the bigger striper right now one of the interesting things Casey said though was he is done looking for those shallow largemouth he said he is gonna live all day long throwing that fish head spin throwing a little swim bait fishing about 30 to 45 feet of water also covering Randy Howell I know he has one big fish in the boat gonna show it it'll stretch early as well um Casey said he doesn't know why that shallow largemouth deal has gone he said look I fish twigs small brush piles on corners with docks and goes I ran all of my best stuff on Hartwell and the only way I can catch him right now is deep I cannot catch one shallow he'll be dedicated to that today Randy Howell surprising all of us through this all two days so far of this tournament but basically taking the same approach he took last year Guntersville you know what I Randy's been he's fishing the mouth of the Seneca wait we're Ronnie right where I 85 kind of crosses over the lake correct that's the only one right here I'll wait in yesterday that Nitin comes from down there Randy Halligan the defending classic champ a big flurry at the end of the day put him in a definite position to win his second classic in a row back to Casey Ashley Casey Ashley a fantastic start to his day a limit basically in the first hour of fishing or even shorter period than that let's take a look at what happened early first light this morning exactly a 3/8 ounce fish head spin super fluke junior that is how he has started the tournament all week long really the first hour hour and a half chasing that herring bite and we're gonna really pay close attention because he said he's gonna stay with this all day today because basically he has quit every single day within an hour and a half he has been done with this place went up shallow he said it will not do that today like we said a limit early this morning Casey Ashley a true true local from 30 minutes away in Donald South Carolina and as you know if you follow the classic through the years there's been sort of a hex on true locals no true local as ever one guy go Bassmaster Classic break that one down with this effort on the final day hey come back and got it no that's decent fish everything coming together so much excitement for Casey Ashley in this first hour we heard him declare himself before 8 o'clock I already have a limit Oh gibberish it's a big bag kiss a lot of fish on this lake this is the day to do it these clouds and overcast it doesn't matter if he getting them deep or not they're gonna bite that's fish number five for Casey Ashley talking about the conditions for what he's doing and all the guys who were doing that sort of approach today couldn't be much better he made the comment all he needed to skip that school fired up he said that last night to us after the way and and that's exactly what happened really it was he caught a limit in about thirty casts after that school ignited like we said a 3/8 ounce fish head spin zoom super fluke junior and he's mixing in some small things I think that other side of it he said he was stunned he cannot get a jig bite out there if you look over his shoulder very very featureless right there back to live coverage right now with Casey Ashley it's going good you know I mean I didn't really feel like I was gonna sit there and catch 25 that would be too easy we got a good start I mean we've got we probably got close to what we weighed in yesterday right now I had 14 14 and a half something like that definitely ain't gonna win we've already got that in the bag ain't nowhere to go with us like I said today's all I'm doing now I mean I've caught fish out there in front of this thing you know real deep and then yesterday I caught my biggest one back here in the back and I've watched these birds you can see them right there those loons they've worked in this area I just gonna fish my way back yesterday I skipped all over this I just caught a striper so I know there's bait all in this area be nice to get back here and catch us another full pounder take back we did yesterday that's what I figured Casey Ashley hoping for more on this day we'll have to have more that's his assessment of things a great limit you know the day started out great you know we ran some shallow pockets this morning and I ended up with three fish three three nights keepers that's a great way to start today we're three spots in to the deep stuff without a bite yet but that's this fishings gonna be slow it's gonna be a grind out here I'm looking for five bites out here they're all gonna be bigger fish and that'll put me in contention this was earlier today Michael Iaconelli started the day in third place you know what eyes are looking at are some shallow drains and in those drains the Blueback herring go in there at night and basically that first hour of the day you can intercept them I'm throwing a suspending jerk bait by Rapala called shadow rat they're aggressive fish but it's a real short window so I was able wisent three thick notice that fish busted right over his shoulder 45 degree water and they're busting the surface that was actually not the fish he had hooked right there big one big one this is fish number three for Mike Iaconelli and like we said it's the first time that I can le capitalize on that herring bite early in the morning most of his bites have come between ten o'clock and our weigh-in so the first time he's capitalized he is anything he catches in the first hour will be a bonus boy when you can't get the hooks out you know you're throwing the right thing buddy VMC to the rescue huh yeah this is a perfect example of what these fish are doing this is a little drain or just a little ditch that runs up here real deep in the middle kind of II doubt you can see if you look at the bank you can see the shape of the bank and that's exactly what happens underwater and those blue backs at night they're tearing rate will go to the very backs of these drains and when that Sun comes up and the light cuts out the bass are waiting here at the mouths of these things that ambushed them and it doesn't last long it lasts about an hour but you could have some really fast and furious action for Michael Iaconelli back live to talk a hero more against starting this day with the lead not a big one but gunning for his second Bassmaster Classic would be a second classic title in the state of South Carolina the man who's got a shot to take both classics from South Carolina they're not pitching very far from our takeoff you caught ten keepers yesterday barely fishing about four miles away he's been really on the north side of Andersonville Island had a one-two punch been catching him drop shotting fishing vertical we actually seen a couple fish catches early this morning seen him miss a few fish vertical the other thing he's doing is throwing a three-quarter ounce jig and he said absolute featureless bottom earlier today one of those hook ups you referred to mark Jonah and the funny thing is when you see Takahiro load up on one fish and vertical he'll mark him on his graph drop down and just fishing a regular just a Yamamoto Chad shaped worm said when he gets a bite when he's dropped shot he knows some back reeling right there going old-school right there exactly right yes you're calm but to see him doing this to see him fishing this way pick big time surprised he said look man he goes the first classic I won when I was on Wiley I was fishing about a foot of water but I had to learn how to fish deep and he said he did he kept the river system on on Hartwell this was not happening said that's when he went lived in for everybody at home watching this though Takahiro Omori is really fishing one spot it's about a 200 yards stretch a few minutes after that first fish instantly hooked up and that's what he said once he gets him going he can go into a flurry that's going to whole school down I fight this morning those fish I have been so called so then never fight this good okay and this was earlier this morning on Lake Hartwell first Lurie of fish were talking here or more he started the day with the lead now about to his second keeper Takahiro Omori finish 38th place in Toyota Bassmaster Angler of year one of the last guys in qualifying for this classic certainly taking full advantage of the opportunity this return to South Carolina is bringing him now back to talk the hero out there live now and he told us he as you say he eliminated everything else before the tournament even even started anything totally commits a breakdown and let's stay on this for a minute real quick to break down exactly what he's doing he said he's fishing a roll from about 30 to 45 feet of water and he's on the inside of a very hard timber line the inside of that line and I asked him I said are you catching any of those fish in that wood in those deep trees he said absolutely not he said when I when I'll drop down he said the bottom is very very very clean he said the other the only thing that's there is bait and he said what I'll end up happening if you look at that right there you take a look at that bait you could see those arches he said it'll be barren it'll look like a desert out there from 30 to 50 feet of water and all of a sudden a school come in the other side of that is he doesn't know if they're gonna be spotted bass or largemouth he said every so often they'll mix up together I'll catch a spot and then I'll catch a big largemouth we're talking here Oh more to another former classic champ in fact the defending one Randy Hallock a very familiar look right there that's continuity from jalape-- back to Gunners you know I've got some fish trying to school under this bridge I don't know a bass or they're all strikers but I'm trying to make one bite look at that you see that good gosh I think they're stripers but it might be some bass in them you never know I'm gonna try to get one called a four pounder this morning to start then I jumped around and done some out of the ordinary things and some other areas and didn't produce but I did get that one four pounder so just feeling good shape man if some of these would be bass right here yeah ain't there strike they have got the bait pushed up under there it's dead calm this morning we have no current no wind that's not even though it's cloudy and low light little drill little drizzle it's still not great conditions for biting right now just because of housing no wind and their current on the hook there's got to be some big bass underneath these bait fish balls and these stripers I think I got to get down the town a different bait my school my schoolmaster I brought in the schoolmaster off and I'm not Andy how did the fish cast go this morning what were you thinking how are you feeling there's the fish catch we were referring to right there Randy Howell earlier today nice thank you Jesus thank you Jesus come on yes Lord whoops around that those points in that vicinity there it could be an area maybe some fish were there but then not typically biting but maybe I could get one to buy it since I pull it up that 1/4 pound I just choked that howler and then I thought I was gonna get some more than I didn't man that you see the activity going on here it's ridiculous come on they're just pushing that bait up like little Jesus they don't want my swim I'm fired up right here where I can you know bait I got to get the bait out in town welcome back maybe up chrome on Titus Livingston school masturbate on which is a good fit and bait for fish like this and see if I can make them bite they are right here and I don't know there's any uh there's any bass in them or not but hands are shaking so bad I can't oh wait look it over good gracious alive you may or may not be anybody that drives me nuts when you see that this bait I may get them to school master [Music] live action from the final day day number three of the Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro last year's champion from Lake Guntersville Randy housey and all the activity you could possibly want to see he's got to get some positive feedback of what's in that group of fish right there but man something else for him yesterday historia fishing in the mouth of the Seneca River and the one thing that Randy has had he has had quality almost everything that he has caught off of this bridge has weighed between three to five pounds he's lost a few critical fish but really Randy's entire tournament was saved at the end of the day yesterday right when we shut down Bassmaster Live when we were done headed to the arena Randy staying in this area the number one reason is because of the largemouth he has not chasing spotted bass but he went to a doc just around the corner of this bridge caught his biggest bass of the day right when we shut down yesterday and that's been the biggest problem for Randy and for Iaconelli not getting a ton of bites but when they do they're definitely good ones Randy's still one shy of a limit when he made that move yesterday at the end of the day you're right it's saved his day put him right there in position to win a second I think Davie Hite male that he really nailed it up here yesterday he said look he may be catching quality but the biggest thing that he's gonna have trouble with is catching five a day and that was definitely the case yesterday but he said right here in the mouth of the Seneca River they're just this whole 300 yard stretch just better than average size largemouth [Music] updated leaderboard unofficial of course here at the Geico Bassmaster Classic and Casey Ashley who started his day in fifth place with a great start to his day in the first hour of fishing moving up into the first position there Jacob Brosnan coming from down in the pack there a great start for him as well you can take a look at what he's done 12 catches so far today Mike Iaconelli hanging in there very strong Chris Lane moving up the board and our leader to start the day Takahiro Omori he's caught a few but he's lost a little ground to the pakis back in fifth place I'm talking hero now hooked up Dean Rojas currently in sixth place yeah okay let's say you get the shot I know how much it helps oh just caught my second one found a wad of them down there well it started off kind of slow and went into a pocket where I in practice there was a lot of bait a lot of looms a lot of everything in there just to an outer outer point out here right on a drop the screens all lit up right now I just call it hot one the problem is it takes forever to get down there because it's so deep but I can see them down there on the screen and it's hard you normally feel the bite it just it just loads up because you're it's I'm fishing 43 right now there's some brush down there I can see them down there on the graph but I'm just trying to mix it up you know I'm just trying I got I got one good one and I got the second one now and just trying to fish deep just trying to catch big ones here lost track being said one of the problems that he had yesterday when he had that monster bag on day one over 20 pounds almost all large mouthing he was fishing clusters of docks down near the dam he was purposely looking for docks that other guys were not fishing and he said that son even though it was I don't know it was like seven degrees he said that son it should have greatly helped that dock deal he said they would get tight to the docks throwing an eighth ounce shaky head in fact you're storing an eighth ounce alien Gamakatsu shaky head it's a new head said the problem that he ran into yesterday said there is no doubt in his mind the areas that he's fishing has big ones around it he said the cloud cover yesterday and we're seeing that again today he said the cloud cover will not put those fish on those docks and they just roam they won't tighten up in ten pounds yesterday he said I have to stay with what anyway what was funny was last night was how call me was he said look if they get back on those docks obviously we see him drop shotting deep right now if they get back on those docks I'm gonna win this tournament he said but I'm gonna stick to my guns in this area of the lake such an important day for Dean Rojas he told us before this tournament began this is it everything else is tiny in comparison to this one achievement winning the Geico Bassmaster Classic and for all these guys the same story Shasta up in Northern California early on in my career that's where I had to fish you know deepwater fish for spots learned how to do all that course fishing in San Diego you know always fish in 25 30 sometimes 40 feet of water so even though I'd be right up there throwing it for all you know fishing shallow sometimes you get a fish with the fish our atoms are out here right now nice little spot cool only letting off a few rounds I'm getting with Dean Rojas and this was not for everybody at home watching this was not his primary technique and and for everybody else that's watching us here's how he found that big school of large mouths that he caught on day one everybody says when it gets cold you got to go deep those fish that he caught he found those in practice he caught this fish just a second ago on a drop shot but those fish that he caught up shallow on day one he actually saw those fish he saw them swimming in schools even in that cold water throughout practice he said when the Sun came out they just tightened up on those shallow docks as you say again totally convinced that they are still there just got to find a way to yeah I'm a little bit a little bit surprised seeing being out deep right here I'm curious to see how long he does this for solid spotted bass he caught just a few minutes ago opened up with a big one today alright number two whoo ha ha that again just a few minutes ago Dean Rojas and keeper number two huh yeah ok back to our leader to start the day now having fallen down unofficially around fifth place or so Takahiro Omori live Lake Hartwell final day of the classic really a one-two punch with taki hero throwing a Yamamoto shad shaped warm and a three quarter round striking football head and he said there's really no rhyme or reason why he'll catch you know he said for a couple hours though by the drop shot that you have to back on yes 200 like a hero hooked up right now live be good I don't know they fight good today could be a four pounder more individual by individual big on you know not Google it spot yeah got it right here in a shed say palm I saw this guy another two and a half maybe another one down here right now yeah that's been a pretty common theme right there when he catches one he said his graph will light up and he just said right we're back I'm alive well there's another one down there in drawing fish to a man is broader that was the fourth keeper for talk to hero Morrie to five pounds by his reckoning and with five wins with the Bassmasters including a classic title I honestly think in all the years that we've covered Takahiro Omori this is the deepest we have ever seen him fish I'll be dead honest with you if you really kind of break it down I don't think that we have any footage of him catching a bass deeper than five feet of water at the 10 years that we see him talk at Dien with spinning reels and hedges little bit of a little s concern I would also say not the suspects that we thought that we'd see fishing 45 feet of water on the final day of the classic again Takahiro Omori throwing the Yamamoto shad shaped worm he said he will back off of these schools throw a football jig later on in fact a lot of his bigger largemouth yesterday an eyeful bulging with cotton you haven't noticed at Sigma well it was Takahiro Omori on day number two taken over the lead of the Geico Bassmaster Classic a hero Maury with a good day 115 pounds even backing it up with an even better effort on that second day Takahiro with ten keepers yesterday alternating like we said living in one area 200 yards stretch north side of Andersonville Island really it's kind of where all the rivers split cut in the mid lake region Takahiro Omori said his areas not giant schools of fish that come through a lot of our anglers saying man when they catch him there's 30 40 50 bass but Akihiro did say when they come through pods of 3 to 6 bass Takahiro Omori would catch literally when he would get a school fired up catch 2 3 4 5 that was one of things he said there were small windows of opportunity on day 2 we saw all five of those keepers the back down background scenery never changed he was just glued to that spot making it pay all day long that's what we said right there that was one of his jig bites critical thing he said he has to get off of these schools after he catches him on a drop shot he makes him weary he gets off of the pulls off of the school that's when he'll throw that football team Takahiro Omori the classic winner from 2004 in south carolina now to another South Carolinian Casey Ashley this was just moments ago leave us another little spot yeah we'll take that spot Oh May long that take them like that yes sir check the good out on that thing proof that of coal one another rebounder we'll take them calls all day long we're getting everybody we're getting there I got to keep the ball over and get too excited yet it's gonna happen though three and a half again that was just moments ago Casey Ashley who filled out his limit two hours ago saying got 12 13 pounds that's not gonna get it today that's what needs to happen for there is a great look at Casey Ashley's bottom he said it is barren it's just like a desert no cover gave him a piece of break when I started this morning I just got back out here to the good area code again called another three and a half pounder it was a spot that's that's a good sign I hadn't caught very many big spots in here you catch big spots a small around this overcast day is it's gonna be the deal yeah when I got that fish to the boat I mean if I didn't have to cool I could have dropped anything down there and caught another one it's there just out there you know like I said earlier I had to fish so slow to keep this thing near the bottom because that's where they are I mean I can go 100 yards across this flat and you don't mark anything they're just hovering right to the bottom once you get one to commit to it it seems like the whole school just sharks behind it once one commits they follow them to the boat that's one reason I had to leave where I started from this morning just to let them let them regroup get settled back down hopefully we'll be able to plot there it gets a couple more big large man set a bike right there Casey Ashley again trying to be the first true local to win a Bassmaster Classic three wins for Casey and his career here Jordan Marie is first when is a rookie on Smith Lake up in Virginia not too different from this place really has thrown one babe all morning long - we're going to get into a 1 second there and they follow that fish up off the bottom please see the boat and they they scatter set to keep working around and here especially on cloudy days you know that's the aggravating thing about you know when you have to fish and it's not cloudy like this you've only got so much time so when you pull up to a spot you catch one and and the school you know scatters everywhere you can't just mill around there because you know times against you once the Sun comes up and they can they can see you it's it's pretty well over with but a day like today you know I can work around to 300 yards give them a break they'll group back together and you can come back and pick another one off Casey Ashley talking about his time management today Michael I can only had a similar thought he told us about yesterday it's so hard to keep moving as much as you need to move and yet not start to make a comment he said I'm fishing real slow very quickly and the reason why he said after his practice in December 1,400 waypoints and indeed waypoints pressures on in Italian what he was hunting for DP what he's really calls him is a submerged bluff 35 to 45 feet of water but he said it had to be steep in fact he related it since the exact way he fishes at Lake Amistad yeah you know we we spent the first part of the morning shallow and at about 8:30 we just I just said forget it you know two two-and-a-half pounders aren't gonna win and decided to come out here you know this is my best chance to win this event you fish the classic the win there's no points there's no consistency so I'm gonna stick it out out here the rest of the day I'm just looking for five bites five big bites out here I think it's gonna happen I think it's gonna happen yeah I've basically a net net morning blue back bite I'm fishing a suspending jerk bait when I get out here I'm fishing a 3/4 on a 1 ounce missile jig it's a football style jig lets me cover a lot of water lets me get the bait deep and lets me feel around on the bottom that's just as important as catching them is I'm able to feel the cover with the jig not lacking for confidence Micah like you know they told us he feels it on this one and he said he has to run different areas in fact yesterday said he ran probably 50 to 70 different deep water spots he said none of them are loaded and there's no rhyme or reason when they're gonna bite it's more of a timing thing and said I need to put odds in my favor and hit as many as these deep areas as I can you said when that rolls off from 30 to 40 feet of water the number-one key on a lot of his areas is bamboo piles that is an old-school South Carolina there's couple dudes that I that I trust me that I'm looking at that have sunk some bamboo piles the reason why that bamboo does not deteriorate down there okay and I can Nellie said if you could find a man-made bamboo pile out there at some time during the day they would get to it but he said the problem is it's just that big schools like Takahiro Omori so when they come through those areas that's three to five baths it's not 30 to 40 like Casey Ashley's on I can LA who owns a classic title from 2003 in Louisiana Delta New Orleans down there also Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the year title in 2006 you know something that I can Ellie said after the weigh-in days 1 & 2 he said one of the things with the jig that he's throwing a 3/4 ounce and a 1 ounce yesterday every bite came on that 3/4 ounce jig obviously you're able to fish great offshore right now with no wind on Wednesday it was horrible out there 30 to 40 mile an hour winds Casey Ashley hooked up again again with the limit 5 fish in the boat he's looking to upgrade with every cast you know sad when they're doing that there's a lot of it's so wild this exact spot this morning Casey Ashley fireworks instantly they were all largemouth the same exact area an hour later now all spotted bass now tell me what he meant by when they're doing that that that's a good thing well here's what he said he said when there's one spotted bass I mean they act just like a smallmouth they come through in schools they're not coming in in the individuals Casey Ashley said this time yesterday he was already up shallow throwing a jig on Botox and that is how we thought this tournament was going to be won with Casey Ashley said he is done with that technique day three of the Bassmaster Classic such an important day for Casey Ashley started in fifth place on this day and this local favorite this local hero put him in the box early a big move up the leaderboard to the top with a two-pound Plus lead over unofficially technics Iseman there's another guy who's moving fast up the leaderboard Mike Iaconelli holding his own in there Dean Rojas your day one leader Takahiro Omori your day to leader all remaining in the top five right there some big goings-on and we have got so much fishing left to go on this final day it's a far from over we will see that leaderboard change over we expect more than a few times before it's done but this is the big one this is the trophy you want the one you dream about since childhood if you're a competitive angler back to Casey Ashley again Casey Ashley throwing 3a sounds fish head spin with a zoom of super fluke junior and he's gonna mix it up he's gonna hit some other swim baits in there he said he'll throw a 3.8 hitech out there to the other side of that is looking at Casey Ashley yesterday he said I have no idea why I cannot get a jig bite at all on this Lake gonna commit to this all day long he said one of the things Van Damme noted too if you watch his retrieve with that fish head spin basically just slow rolling it then he'll flare it and this morning watching him you'd see him pop it you'd see those large my two two and then all sudden one would get it and he could keep that school going for about ten to fifteen minutes but he said when they know that he's there they are done gone Casey Ashley fished his first classic very first one here back in 2008 art well again right in his neighborhood a rookie at that time 38th place talk to girl Maury now live and there's the other one two punch taki hero's been doing this the first time today we're seeing him throw a jig every fish this morning that we've seen Takahiro Omori catch coming on that Yamamoto shad shape worm fishing vertical he said that then he'll pull off of those schools and launch that 3/4 ounce jig his bigger bites late in the day yesterday all came on that jig different from Casey Ashley Casey Ashley says look man I have plenty of spots to fish I will not run out of fishing areas Takahiro Omori fishing one spot 200 yards long something that's definitely something that's definitely happened in this tournament so far as Casey Ashley said the first day we got to see a lot of big stringers come shallow a lot of big stringers in fact over to Dean Rojas who caught one of those string magician up shallow ski Reese was fishing shallow on boat docks in Casey Ashley said that's fine that is fantastic I just need to sustain that first-day punch of the guys fishing shallow because there is no way those fish up shallow will reload in fact skeet said it after the weigh-in yesterday weighed in to bass caught those in the first half-hour and he said look man I was catching twenty to thirty fish in practice and I have no idea where any of those affect the only thing that happened after he caught those two fish yesterday he had one other follow the entire day a lot of the guys fishing shallow yesterday completely died off Dean Rojas a half his weight from day one yesterday this is his catch from yesterday take a look at this [Music] haha yeah nice one I spotted bass number two that's really all he's been doing the entire tournament eighth ounce shaky head we didn't see him go deep a little bit this morning which first time in two days that we've seen that Dean Rojas kind of getting back up shallow those look like a little deeper doc so it's a pretty steep Bank right there but the docks he caught him on the first day very very shallow slow tapering banks again that school that he caught on the first day of this tournament he said he visually looked at those fish in practice the experiment offshore for Dean didn't last too long here again he said he has total confidence that they're there here at some way to make a bike he made a comment yesterday I'm gonna say this real quick he made a make yesterday he made a comment he doesn't care explain that comment what you got from that watch out hates he was seemed made any interest for traying himself is calm I think he was still just a little keyed up because it is the best man all it tweaked yet not quite tweaked I said what do you mean by that he said look he goes I'm fishing where they live there's no doubt he said I've laid my eyes on him I put him in my life well I know there's more there if they set up on my docks I'm gonna win this tournament if they don't I'm going to lose this tournament if and he looked at us it was sitting there a Collins could be he goes it's as simple as that I can't give you anything else when he said it three times I don't care I just didn't buy it the first time because I'm or even the third got to the point that I didn't care Oh fascinating way to spend a Sunday morning final day ban chefs unless prayin ships Sunday looking at these live pictures from out there on Lake Hartwell I feel like I know the story and what's going on out there and we got a story coming up right here cavalcade of great guests continues here and today number three edwin Devers thank you so much for making some time for us today glad to be here I'd much rather be on the water but you know if I'm not gonna be in contention to win I might as well be here at least talking about it so in broad strokes give us your impressions of this tournament from start to at this point right now it's just so frustrating it's kind of like skeet today yesterday you know I felt like I had one of the best practices ever in my life for a classic in and the dock deal in the deep deal it's just like all of a sudden that stuff evaporated I I am amazed it's just a tournament of turmoil there's constantly changing constantly having to make adjustments and the guy that can do those things the ones gonna take this thing away you said you had one of the best Bassmaster Classic practices and we purposely did not pick you this classic because we pick you every since all year Edwin it's not number one and if we get any live catches we're gonna go out to them but walk us through what you were doing in practice to have such a great week last week you know like Wednesday my second cast idled over a deep gut and my second cast I saw him on my Lancer depth finder and it was a five pounder you know and I moved about a hundred yards further back just kept touching them how on a fish head spin gonna zoom super flick junior and just you know casting down on the bottom just crawling that thing on the bottom caught like three other fish there and you know I kept doing that I had a really good cranking deal going with the wind blowing and then the dock deal is just what really baffled me I mean it was amazing how many big fish were under those docks and shallow guys I'm talking water this deep on some of those docks and big ones I mean hold oh my goodness cold and shallow and eat I mean you get a jig up there next to him and they would eat it I mean it was all you could do to try to shake those fish off the shallower the dock actually the better in practice the shower it seemed that way you know the flat banks and and he'd go in a gut and he had real deep water but then he had herself and the end of the dock was sitting 810 foot of water they'd be on the back side that not explain what goes on every single day of this tournament there are fireworks man there are fireworks for literally the first hour and that hits somebody like it's a light switch and goes alright this lake is dead till one o'clock it's amazing I don't know if that if the bait just comes up or goes down or what happens there but it does it completely evaporate are those schools of fish still there waiting you know the first day of the tournament the second day of the tournament for me I idle around a long time in the mornings with my deaf miner trying to look for him and trying to relocate him and I just never did find him again I really don't know if I knew I'd be out there fishing today I promise you take a look live right now Dean Rojas sticking with his dock pattern I want you to talk to everybody at home that has never fished a lake with Blueback herring and what you need to know about this because literally it has changed the behavior from a largemouth bass to where he almost lives his life now acting like a striper it does you better have a lot of hair when you come to a lake like this because these fish are gonna make you pull your hair out they literally are so transient across the lake following those blue back hearing I'm amazed I mean it's almost like you just need to start each day like a brand new day as a practice day just go look idle around just as you wouldn't have practice day and I think you'd do better I really do don't go off what you found in practice unless you know like the doc deal is a deal I think those are resident fish for the most part but what happens is with these cloud conditions calm can't you know it's really clear right there were Dean's at and he has no wind clear water Casey Ashley seconds ago up with his tent fish of the day we'll see if it's a keeper just made a 2-pound call about 15 minutes ago there's a large master he got it perfect although we'll hit it like that we would have no trouble if he does help it'll be by ounces not even close not gonna be at all not gonna be an upgrade but man good to be in that position yeah it is he's still getting by 10 fish in the day I mean he's out there fishing deep it looks like he's on the right path okay almost everywhere we go throughout the country let's stay on KC actually real quick if we can everywhere we go there are certain areas where you catch spotted bass and there are certain areas where you catch largemouth bass on a lake like this they live together mm-hmm that's a neat thing about this like you know I was amazed in practice when I was here no wait a lot of those deep spots didn't have any spotted bass on them you know every deep spot that I caught him in o8 they were all largemouth when I came back this time a lot of more spotted bass and it seems like if I moved up the lake a little bit I had more largemouth on those deep stuff you know down the lake it seemed like all that deep stuff was spotted bass but it's just a nice mixture to be able to catch both of what you think has happened on Lake Hartwell we were here in 2008 it was good it was solid since 2008 they have grown a Marlin and the population is amazing you know in 2008 if you caught a 12 13 inch or it was a big spotted bass you know every now and then you know what do you think did that I think it's the herring has to be the herring you know I just think they finally took a really good hold you got a good population of them there it's very clear water it's very conducive to a spotted bass with all that food they're gonna eat it one of the challenges you guys are you are schooled to look for cover subtleties out there offshore you look at guys like Casey Ashley you look at a Takahiro Omori catching a mouth deep featureless areas until that you're not supposed to look I can tell you exactly that spot right there is efficient is where I started the o8 classic and it is a deep deep drain at 60 70 foot and it jumps to 30 to 40 foot it's a little shelf right there and it's where the timber Ian's right in the middle of a drain and those fish don't relate to those trees they are right there hugging to the bottom that was one thing that was so hard to pick up on the first time is they're really hard to pick up off the bottom they're so tight to the bottom you have to know what you're looking for I mean it'd just be a little indention it almost look like a rock on the bottom but when you put that high chip on your lawrence you could really pick them up off the bottom it made a big difference let's go quickly over to Michael and eikenella from Casey Ashley yeah I mean this is a typical spot that I've been fishing this week what you have here is we're on a point here's a creek channel behind me that touches this point and sitting right on the drop there's about six or seven brush piles if someone's planted and this is a this is a real typical wintertime pre spawn staging area those big fish like to stop on this stuff before they move up on the bank you know in a month from now they're gonna be up in those pockets up on that Bank spawning but right now water's still cold it's in the 40s they're out on these breaks this is just a great place to catch a big fish like the like and le who started his day not too far behind the leader Takahiro Omori finds himself somewhere in the region of six pounds back of our leader Casey Ashley talked about this with almost every single angler that's been up here when we go to a herring lake whether it's here Clarks Hill Murray why is a jig the most predominant bait that ends up winning the turn it's amazing I think it's maybe because those fish seem to be on the bottom so much I really don't know it's a great question it baffles me it must resemble something at that depth because you're catching them so David and it's almost like round jig - the bigger the jig the better yeah that's crazy another move for Dean Rojas we saw him out off shore a little bit back to his boat dock that's interesting to see where he winds up this time do you think that the I've heard of called an arctic blast I heard it called several things but do you think that that frigid weather that came in early this week is what ended up cutting that dock bite no doubt no doubt at all you know we had that really cold snow sleet that water was coming in the back no doubt at all it pulled those fish off those shallow docks moving them out it just wasn't Brigid anymore and the clouds the clouds really killed that pattern - you know I think I think this time of the year those fish wants and it's just like they crave it just like you want a soda or a coffee in the morning those fish crave sunshine early in the years so much and any time we have cloudy conditions I think it really hurts that great [Laughter] it supports you in this tournament too watching Dean Rojas right here we have seen very few in fact today is the first day that we have seen a jerkbait bite today was the first time the entire tournament that we actually got to look at footage with bass being caught on a jerkbait why did that never play I just like we talking about earlier how they're on the bottom and they're so deep you know I was talking with Jason about it a guy that our room with you know he's fished lots of FLW events here and there hasn't been any of the any event everyone here on a jerkbait that you can go back and I it has to do something with those fish being on the bottom it just the jerk baked by it doesn't play I threw the the snot out of it yesterday and I caught a bunch of fish but they're just two to two and a quarter pounders you know it they would eat it really really good but I was in a completely different section the lake water temperature was a lot warmer aza back over to Mike Iaconelli this again live from Lake Hartwell final day and for everybody that's watching at home that's not been the Harwell Edwin explain to them that there is a hard line there is a hard line of trees on this Lake and what's weird about it is you were talking about this a minute ago they really don't relate to those trees as much as they do they treat it like an inside weed like where they like to be on the barren area basically when they built the lake they cut every tree from 30 35 foot in so when you get to 35 foot it's just like a forest out there just like any other lake just standing timber and those fish they they use that inside edge kind of like a grass line or a weed line and I think they pin those herring up against them but you're not going to really see them out in the trees they're gonna be on that bare stuff inside from 35 foot here you think that there's school schools of largemouth bass on this lake that it's plenty clear enough room to spawn out there in 15 20 foot of water there's spotted bass the whole nine yards that live deep year-round and it's such a big like there's schools and bass out there such an awesome Lake I mean it's just such you look at the bass track right now there's no but really on top of each other I mean there's people scattered all over the lake and and there's areas of this lake that that aren't getting touched it's got tournament winning fish in it looking at Takahiro Omori live right here and he said that he's got one spot I think in some way that on the final day of a classic you're the leader you have nowhere else to go that at times but that's a benefit it could be because you're gonna make the most of it you're not gonna be spending any time running around you're not gonna lose fishing time and you have confidence in that spot where you've caught in the previous two days it's kind of like deer hunting you know when you only have one deer stand and you sit there the entire season when that big one comes by you're gonna kill him if you have like five deer stands and then you have a camera on that one he comes by the day that you're at one of the other stands so it could be the same thing does this get tweaked up on the final day of the class I don't know what these other guys are doing how much does the brain take over the bad part of the brain take over and say look I got to make something I can't be sitting here watching this you know just reliving you know last year at Guntersville knowing what these guys are going through you know the years at the Red River I mean this is what we all fish for it all year long is to be in contention the final day it's all you want and I'm telling you their emotions are empty you don't sleep hardly any you may thank you sleep tonight before you're wanting to make the catch one on every cast so bad just for an opportunity to move up the stand is an opportunity to win this tournament just emotions cannot be described what's going on right now with these guys what a lot a lot of the places that we go with in a deep-water term let's just throw a Grand Lake out there for instance or a Table Rock those fish will stay there they don't roll very far that is not the case on this Lake it's not this with the herring and the openness of it and and you know like I said they don't relate to the brush and a lot of that stuff out there on these points especially like we're talking heroes fishing and it takes so long to get your bait to that depth I mean that's another thing you know they want a lightweight bait that you have to move very slow and any wind movement any boat movement it can move your bait off 510 feet when you're trying to get it down to 20 30 feet it's just very very time-consuming very nerve-racking like I can le live on another one of his what eleven twelve hundred points he has marked out you're not on the way that was interesting to me as he made the comment I have to run as many deep spots as I can fish and he said I'm fishing Amistad style I'm fishing underwater Bluffs deep underwater Bluffs talk about that it's a really good pattern in the wintertime because you know those fish have really close deep water access yep shallow water access to feed and a lot of times those are those bait fish will get pushed up against those Bluffs and you know a dam state it was really really popular I can Nellie did really good at Hampstead down there doing that but it's just it's one of those deepwater techniques that you look for in the wintertime I mean it on a lot of lakes all across the country those underwater Bluffs azure is a big key you know one of the funny things great tournament you had here in 2008 I remember some of the images I mean we were camped out we had our set out at the lake how different this lake looked this - right talk to me about something here do you basically scrap your knowledge from 2008 just because of the water level change being ten feet lower than I did you know cuz it looked completely different and you know the way I looked at it you know in o8 I didn't win you know I so I fished a completely different River arm this that you erase your waypoints I think I did most of them I kept a couple of them I wanted to keep and I tried I didn't end up fishing in iam there's actually a few fish on a few of them but it just it wasn't worth it I just wanted to start over I think if I could come to a new lake and start completely over you know you might have a chance to win and then going back to stuff where you didn't catch him Michael Iaconelli over to talk to Hiro Mori both these anglers not catching them as steady I'm running it out like they see Ashley something that changed you know Saturday and Sunday you know Friday we had a ton of current in this lake when you ran up to Seneca River there's current just boiling across them bridges you know I think Randy ended up catching those fish on one of those bridges and the currents completely died so that's probably really changed things for these guys and unfortunate thing about here at Hartwell I couldn't find anything online about when the current was going to run and when it's not gonna run so you know you couldn't really go out there and say hey they're gonna turn the generators on at ten o'clock of its at the next day I'm you don't know that so it's just kind of a a guess in the dark when the generator is going to come on whether or not or even if they are being on the weekend if they click it on who does that benefit the most you know like talking hero right here is fishing the head of an island it's gonna be a really good diversion for that current coming down the lake I have to think you know like Randy or some of those guys are up in those narrow or areas of the lake where the currents more you know channelize is gonna really help them to it's gonna really help anybody but anybody out towards the main lake main Lake points it's definitely gonna have a benefit on talking about Takahiro Omori and being role aha so those two guys seriously are those two guys that you thought you'd be honest with never in a million years we got the Frog man and you know talking hero what's neat about him you know I remember a few years ago I was in a campground with him and you raised the rod Locker and he had two baits written across the rod Locker and both of them were shallow power baits you know square bill and brush hog those are the two baits and then the third one says you know go back to one and two that was his to bait said he was gonna fish the entire year because that's what he felt like he could win on in every tournament and that's what he looks for here we go South neat I'm gonna go from Takahiro to someone we haven't checked in for a few minutes several minutes right now Randy how the defending Bassmaster Classic champion what an amazing two first days he had at this Bassmaster Classic and a shot of him a little bit later we're gonna see that makes us thinking we're back at Guntersville again had a deja vu right there everything but the church bus in place for this one exactly he's been fishing really kind of a mint lake section right where the lake kind of collects into the river doors into one area if he is going way up into the Seneca fishing a bridge up there never did we see another competitor around Randy Howell that was the only other guy up there I don't right underneath that bridge that he was fishing and actually the very first bite I had in practice was up there it was just amazing that that I just I had a so dialed in that's a problem being stand-up standing up here you're so dialed in but you can look right there those are all current related points on that bridge you know anywhere that currents ripping around those free is where he's gonna be catching those fish on those crankbaits day to a different situation with reference to the current did not have as much as he had on day number one the water color also as a result looked a little different to him besides you got it just did he did it just he did really really well the second day you know I was amazed I thought that he would not catch him the second day when I got a 30 min heaviness or last no I did not you know because in practice my whole pattern if there was without the current and then you know for him to catch those with the current and then the second day I was amazed when he caught him without any current up there so he definitely had something figured out up there and I looked for him to be a guy to being in contention today because he can make those rights and right adjustments here's an amazing thing yesterday when we got off of our live cam Randy Howell sitting on for fish went to one certain boat on one MODOK after crank in that riprap late in the day yesterday Randy Howell with a critical huge bite really to save his chance at this past master classic yeah the textbook guides it all off praying the Lord yes sir yes sir thank you Lord that's a big yes sir easy come on Jesus come on geez that's a big oh my gosh Jesus in the name of Jesus got him got him yeah thank you Jesus whoa that's awesome mmm million that's awesome praise the Lord y'all skip it under that dog that line went to the right yeah man that fires me up five and a half pounder baby in the first master classic at the end of the day you never give up just like I can Nellie said you never give up thank you look at that being pretty girl very fired up Randy Howell there on day number two with that fish he jumps back into the top five in fact just a pound behind the leader Takahiro Omori to get in right into position to win this Bassmaster Classic back now to Randy how lot rocks my rocky banks so far I've been very engaged no current no wind very stagnant looking this morning changed up a little bit here and fish some docks this is a good slick day for a big one to get up under docks I'm gonna hit a few of these docks and just run a run that a little bit and see what happens [Music] I'm gonna buy it somewhere [Music] [Music] these look good yeah these dogs I never fish them but they look right you want to look for this time of year on dogs a real shower dogs that are laying on flat clay or flat sandy banks just warm up in fact the basket swim up and get up under them [Applause] hmm they're under him it's no no fishing them long slow just skip it under there and get it under every open hole and they hit it on the fall and you pick up he's already got it in his mouth instantly so it's a real fast way to cover water you don't have to waste any time doing it there's thousands and thousands of docks on this lake but I thankfully chose the right couple yesterday in a short amount of time and caught that one five pounder but that's a sign that there was more doing that I believe we must turn they're not under the Front's of the docks where it's deeper at their back there in that shallow platform closest to the shoreline get used to fishing with this glove on I'm doing this skipping here he's made that change again Randy Howell not gonna go through numbers anymore he started a pound behind the leader now I find himself ten pounds back desperate measures he's got a four pounder in live well he needs four bites this is the way to win in my opinion you're not gonna get very many bites don't like we're doing but if he does get a bite it's gonna be a large mountain it's gonna be a big one the problem is it's hard to cover water quickly you have to do it slow yet methodical and try to cover water you know you can't move that jig very fast you can't even take it off the bottom you know bringing that jig out from under those docks you need to keep it on the bottom drag it as slow as you can but I like it I think this is how you have a good chance to win everyone how hard is it in a Bassmaster Classic on the final day when you when you have a prayer or not winning this thing to fish fast except tell yourself it's slow it is so hard and especially because you're wanting to cover water you know the more docks you cover the better the chances are to get more bites [Music] she wouldn't be under this amount here definitely good location [Music] well this has really been this has really been the theme of the entire week looking at what Randy Hall's done here we've seen so many fish catches every single heart pounding every time because you just just hoping when you pick up you feel that heavy weight on there just holding it swimming with it like that five pounder yesterday I picked up and it was it's going to this to the right real slow that's a great great feeling especially in the classic that's the warning might be on right there shai alit's one last one [Music] low yeah I love I love skipping dogs anytime I can do it and catch them doing it I love to do it is it's a real fast-paced way to Ken it's a good way to catch a big one too if he's there he'll buy it right away he's you know waiting fishing at five ten minutes or nothing [Music] Randy Howell trying to make up the ten pounds that's opened up between himself and a leader Casey Ashley back to eikenella Clive like alike in LA this is from yesterday from brandy Howells position up on the Seneca River we're going down south down the route down the lake to this point right here exactly he's really kind of lived from the lower end of Hartwell but there's this area called Sadler almost every single one of his deep bites came from about ten o'clock on and when I can only got bit it was a good one jaian jaian jaian jaian jaian oh my god wow that spot almost four pounder look at the size of that spot look at that belly Wow keep the head in the game keep the head in game man well Buddhists call let's call look at that call I can Ellie on his way to a 16 plus day - and we forgot to warn you about ear protection she's very hard to go into my golf voice my Sunday championship around golf I can le live right here one thing we're gonna talk about this one second Mike I can le live right now yeah you know the way I'm fishing out here deep you know the bites are kind of few and far between and you go sometimes an hour two hours almost three hours yesterday without a bite then all of a sudden you pull up on the right spot and you get a couple big ones or one or two big ones really quick so it's one of those deals where you just got a P persistent I've got to keep my head down I got to keep fishing have an open mind and I know my bites are gonna come today at some point and would one one comment that you made it was so and here's what's interesting if you really look at the footage that we've gone through so far we can Randy Hall efficient Botox crank and riprap you see Takahiro Omori throwing a drop shot out at 45 feet of water Casey asked Ashley throwing a fish head spin like a metal he's been jerk baiting this morning you said it is so random and hard to gain momentum it is very very random it you know I learned in a tournament that you cannot go back to the same docks even though you should finish off the orders I really like Randy going to a new set of docks he said he's going to a new set of docks this is the guy that can cover new water today it was just very hard throughout the week to go back and to duplicate anything and I think it all relates back to what we were talking about that herring but I can tell you guys this is going to come down to the wires just so exciting watching this I just I've got goosebumps watching these guys because I just know how tight it is right now it's gonna be an exciting name and an interesting thing looking at today it is just like it's been the first two days of competition explosion right off the bat I'm talking dozens of fish catches in the first hour and then it is done it is done till one o'clock and then it's on again it's just like all of a sudden they start biting again and I just can't wait to see who the last man standing I think it's gonna be on since it's going to separate these guys and legitimately the top ten all have a chance to be in this absolutely Casey Ashley now with what seems like a commanding lead six pounds ahead of eikenella and Rojas bear in mind those guys still are two fish left to a little head change instantly it's going to be tied up in a matter of two minutes yeah it is by no means over it looks really good right now for Casey but like you're saying these guys have more fish and putting they're liable to get to the limit I don't think those are big ones just a little guy dr. Amaury live ken that wouldn't kind of paint that picture over his shoulder that Timberline is on the left-hand side that is not what he's concentrating on he said I like the slick area inside of that wood I think those fish pin those bait fish up against that slick stuff there's nothing for those bait fish to hide you know they come out of that timber they're able to pin those fish to attack them to chase them and you know this this spot right here I believe is the head of an island and it's just a good diversion or that currents it's going down the lake it's just clean Boyd but it's like a feeding table so to say okay so you see these guys throwing drop shots real finesse style and then you'll see Takahiro Omori pick up that football jig see i kennelly doing the exact same thing they're fishing the exact same areas for hours it seems like they say finally when one decides to bite it it's an amazing Buy explain that it's like those fish where he's fishing right now they're not there and then all of a sudden one of them comes through that area on that feeding table that he's you know figured out a spot where he can get a bite when they come through man they see that jig and there's usually a group of them you know there's two three four fish and it's that one's charging up there to get it before the rest of them get it and it's just such a good buy big ones back to Takahiro Omori started the day with the lead he's hooked up now live it's a heavy big one for pound Oh pounder with a spinning rod I just cannot believe my secrets there's a new it's a big one yeah and it's just a qualm it's a little skinnier but uh-huh I take it oh yes three more down here right now maybe more than three right now what three more it's like you're still not even halfway through our day but things are changing on that leaderboard talking hero Mora was down six pounds back look at him moving up into second place ahead of Jacob Peraza who's made the biggest charge other than our leader Casey Ashley on this day still one more fish to go to a limit is pounding right now because he knows he just made a big jump and listening to what he said right there this is a critical moment number one that is a solid spot at bass but every time hockey heroes caught one today his screen has lit up you can hear him say I see them all over now where they eat drawers that school to them it's amazing it's just like that one fish fight up in the water column everything else sees it they think something's going on and then all of a sudden you see them below your depth finder I'm not gonna lie seem Takahiro in 45 with a 50 feet of water what is it what's the max max or class he must be 6 and I'm feeling well he's having to go really slow cuz that's not you know status quo we're talking here at old school back really [Music] down here right now 42 feet 42 feet right now it's got a couple fish down here and fishhooking my bait down there god that's a good fish that's a good fish your fish it's a good fish down here ah ah ah I can see you can see my Lawrence grew up right down there the big spots just hang around and a tree they all over can you guys back off Pritam all please thank you okay all over and uh I gotta catch him right now Takahiro Omori definitely back in the mix right now I started with the lead in the rain starting out on Lake Hartwell predicted to have some showers on and off through this day back to our leader Casey Ashley something that we've seen so far looking at Casey Ashley early this morning the largemouth were eating the first half hour to 40 minutes it was all most all largemouth since then it's been almost all spotted bass he's that lead dog right now and everybody's starting to catch up to just a little bit each fish those people are starting to get you know pounds and ounces closer [Music] Casey's been throwing a three a silence fish head spin with a zoom super fluke junior looking like he's slowing down a little bit right now said he was gonna throw some swimbaits been throwing a chi tech a 3.8 bad impact swim bait big time bait down here on these herring lakes on still we're gonna go back to it the one thing he said he's amazed by he can and that's how he dominated the FLW tournament here he cannot get a jig bite at least one maybe that is really strange you know for this leg because it is such a dominant deal I don't know if something's gotten into his head cuz we see some other people catching fish on jigs or you know if it's just an area that he's in it that they're just not feeding on those Jiggs Casey Ashley over to Dean Rojas last update he still was to to a limit so he can make a big change in his standings with a quick flurry here you see how calm it is out there so that's really you know especially these guys fishing down on the lower end it's just really really clear he's having to stay a long ways off that dock making long cast of that spinning rod you know that's going to be his best chance to get a bite there but you know people back home you need to realize this water right here you can see down 10 12 15 feet in different parts of the lake so it's really really clear and we've got calm conditions it may be cloudy but it's still at that calm it's just like looking into a glass of water bath water it makes fishing really really tough big morning big changing mantle on the move on the first hour falling out coming back in and we are starting to hear in our air that if you're looking at math track you can live by it a little bit but there are major changes happening on this lake right now people that we were not looking at this morning there's times that people are entering those numbers on bass track maybe in a camera boat that aren't actually in the boat you know that could be the case with some of these guys you know I've had it in the past manipulate bass track do you know no I am saying my marshal is a hundred yards away you know in a vote and he's trying to enter a fish in it from a distance they're smaller than they communication breakdown neighbors always a joy to have you on set with us a wish that you were out there today a lot more to come on this final day of the Toyota the Geico Bassmaster Classic one look at our leaderboard we thank Edwin for his service here to us and Casey Ashley a man on top Takahiro Omori started the day with the lead and he has pulled himself much much closer so many changes up and down that leaderboard at the end of this day someone's gonna take home the number one trophy and the sport of bass fishing someone's life will change immeasurably so much drama yet to come we've got plenty more live coverage on the way we'll take a quick break just a few minutes we'll be right back [Music] Yamaha v-max Sh oh the game changer the pros new right out of the first hole shot that the v-max sh o is the real deal Vmax sh o exceeds two-stroke performance delivers four-stroke efficiency and is packed with legendary Yamaha reliability it's the 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champion from Auburn California I'm skeet Reese who will you be your boat's painted and ready to go you're gonna love it what's that exactly oops sorry wrong customer u-boats over here there she is she's beaut right don't stare too long she's so sorry sorry sorry and we I can Geico for your bow be sure to stop by your local Geico agent grant Sims office in Greenville to find out how much you could save [Music] [Music] come on now that's a nice one the competition is fierce and the prizes are huge the only thing missing is huge fantasy fishing presented by Toyota sign up for free and faced fans from across the nation grand prize winner receives a Triton Yamaha package including a Triton 189 TRX MSRP of thirty seven thousand two hundred ninety three dollars the classic and each individual elite event winner will receive $2,500 Bass Pro Shops gift cards a new for 2015 winners who rbass members will receive an additional $500 Bass Pro Shops gift card sign up and pick your team today advance master fantasy comm pens landing on the Delaware River in Philadelphia PA never before a Bassmaster Elite Series venue till the summer of 2014 and the City of Brotherly Love turns out in force for a show of love to the area's favorite bass fishing son Michael Iaconelli he's a former classic champion and a Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the year and the extremely vocal crowd was there for the extremely vocal mr. eikenella they'd support him either way but all the same he'd better win after the first day it was not looking like a cinch under 10 pounds and outside the top 20 day two though the field was turned upside down and I shot to the top looking for 14 for to take the lead nine pounds of 250 first way to number one to watch an angler go to work on the water he knows best spending just enough time on the abandoned barges old bridge pilings he found through the years picking apart the creeks he'd walked as a kid on the Jersey side and dominating the Delaware according to plan three panelists are today it was the Ike show I'll suck your face all day baby look at that thing Delaware River giant right there guys and I gave the Philly fans just what they wanted [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] okay that was billion last summer this is today the most important day in the sport of bass fishing final day of the Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro someone today will put their hands on that trophy that signifies the best in the world the world champion of bass fishing welcome to our headquarters today for our live coverage presented by Lorentz plastic Expo no outdoor show quite like this one one of a kind presented by Dick's Sporting Goods big crowds here just to worry yesterday people up here enjoying every bit of this thing and it's such a pleasure to be up here getting to see these all well hey sorry about that heck so you decided to come back yeah Tommy sent decision mark zona Tommy's actually here yet Kyle carpenter who we had at the weigh-in yesterday and I'm telling you that was one of the most incredible moments of my life the story of Kyle and he's hanging out at the expo and talking smallmouth bass oh good stuff well we got a lot of changes up and down the board this final day of the Bassmaster Classic it rarely fails to deliver this one looks like is Edwin ever said it's gonna come down maybe to the last fish at the last moment oh it's a lot almost it's a lot like Lake Guntersville was last year a couple of unforeseen anglers starting to catch them and like I said you can look at bass track guys are catching fish don't live by bass track because we're starting to get some reports that maybe there was some sandbagging in some weights are a little bit bigger than we had thought always unofficial it's never official till we put it on the scales and of course that big weigh-in all the pageantry of the final day weigh-in coming I love playing don't you I know you do you always ruin OSH Epsilon's going to be a banquet for you later today when that Dave Mercer gets that weigh-in underway what strikes you so far about today as as topsy-turvy as you expected it to be or or maybe maybe that the worst is yet to come or the best I'm gonna go out on the water right now live with Takahiro Omori but back before our commercial break Takahiro Moore with a very solid spotted bass and hooked up right now Takahiro Omori live Oh goddammit week get out a tree oh yeah he got out two three you're going to I guess all this is being right here hmmm number 5 this is all over this tree right now it's 2 pound for us five yeah you wanna you want to get him now I'm gonna feed those fish so okay [Music] two-pounder you heard Takahiro Omori that's gonna finish out his limit right there he's at five and looking to cull looking to improve his lot throughout the rest of the day back over to Casey Ashley get in Casey Ashley came out firing real real quick this morning starting with largemouth and then throughout the morning upgrading with big spotted bass in fact we've seen a lot of spotted bass today that least the better than average size that we did not see earlier in this event another thing you can tell so far this morning that we did not see yesterday I mean basically when we were sitting up here yesterday after I clocked it after 921 the light switch was off gonna move right now back to Takahiro Omori switching from a drop shot to a football jig right there less than a pound separating first and second Jake depositing right in there as well again totally unofficial we don't know exactly where we are but we're at his room but I know I'm gonna hold with that for a while and talk to Hiro Mori certainly had fallen down to sixth place or below and now he's back up right in second place you know that was my number five right yeah he is my favorite well I can't like I start like it now not that they've gotten this time technically but I just don't want to do it it's so boring you think so I think so one of the most boring way to catch fish top sorry he is man I got where my lifetime in the rain jacket now looks like yeah better where I've I mean rain jacket Takahiro Omori talking about this being a boring way to fish I think he'll put up with a boring when the possible reward is that Bassmaster Classic trophy second one for him if he can pull it off back over to Dean Rojas live hooked up right in this wreath he's a little guy it'll work number three I want you to look at the big difference between the docks that hold these spotted bass from Lake Hartwell very vertical banks very steep banks compared to the largemouth docks he's been fishing all week long slow tapering docks very shallow water ate through the water and less but these docks right here definitely you can look at those and know that is a spotted bass area you know it's a smaller nurse off of a dock though so I haven't see them on the graph down there I'm gonna be back in there again hey take him away and get him right now Dean Rojas and his third fish right there a terrific day one where he led and then his production fell by half a day number two over to Randy Howell the Grammy Hall of a very very slow morning so far started off great it's a little slow out here fishing is pretty slow for me I tried to some docks tried some rocks clay banks points I've done a little bit of everything this morning it seems to be pretty dead I don't know what it's like on the other end of the lake for the rest of the guys but the by it seems to be real inactive right now and I caught one four pounder right away and then I didn't get hadn't really had any more good bites we have no current again still and it's a pretty day out here to fish but it just never worked no breeze I don't know yet I'm gonna keep changing it up mixing it up a little bit and hopefully off I don't hear the right right thing here soon and do the right thing being the right place when they start biting that's gonna be the key they may start to feed every day they fed pretty you know pretty much the best they've done all day it seems like from twelve thirty one o'clock till it's time to come in and hopefully that will happen for me today and I'll be in the right place I won't cast here I'm gonna try some more you know all my all my focus all over the country watching this now I need to get praying it's Sunday morning go to church and he prayed prayed at Randy catches some big ones today after lunch and before lunch that would be nice be nice not have to wait so long to catch soon I prayed I'd catch summer early and I almost almost did but only that one good things the one I call is a four pounder it's the right size and then we'll we'll add to that you only have to have five fish to win today the restaurant can catch a hundred but if I catch five they're a little bit bigger that's all that matter Casey Ashley this is live hooked up on Hartwell I think as big as I thought it was still a good one three pound screen riddle I mean the screen lit up JC Ashley a culling mode for the last three hours just slow and steady some catching along Tommy see catching motion any moment perhaps more importance in catching the only one of our guys who's been this steady in the catching mode all day long exactly right to take a take a look at an updated leaderboard right now I want to tell you I think Edwin either said it best this one is going to come right down to the wire just like it did last year at Guntersville absolutely of course anytime you got the final day of the Geico Bassmaster Classic The X Factor there's always a big one the presence of a big one a big bass so at this live I'm gonna be pin the classic presented by Lorentz why not introduce the big bass specialist ish Monroe a thank you so much for joining us here guys got well technically glad to be here rather be out there with those boys but definitely glad to be here we're seeing a lot more fish catches today than we got to look at yesterday yesterday really at about 921 this place was done until one o'clock is it just getting more stable on the lake today with the weather I don't think it's as stable I think it's the front that's brewing as its building that fronts building and building and building so every single day the fishings gonna get better when I saw the weather tip today high 50s a little bit of rain and overcast I figured these guys are going up the list all right let's talk about Dean Rojas and let's talk about Takahiro Omori both of them using spinning rods fishing very methodical not what we are used to seeing on the Bassmasters yeah you know when I figure Dean was out there throwing you know a shallow running Craig May same with Takahiro you know you look at these guys spinning rods I mean the fish are in that winter pattern so they're not really doing too much and you gotta finesse those fish in the biking we're looking at Dean Rojas live right here is we're seeing guys that are fishing shallow you looked at Dean Rojas caught I'm shallow day one skeet Reese caught him shell on day one being able to duplicate that on day number two is there a prayer that that can turn on again today or do you think that is done I honestly at first I thought that shallow bite would really be on but once again they're not getting that Sun they need to warm up the water a little bit more I mean we're talking one degree can completely turn these fish on shallow so that's why I think you know you look at Dean with the spinning rod he's catching spotted bass he's not catching largemouth he's catching spots and the guy needs to catch some largemouth to win this deal and if that Sun don't pop out I don't think he's gonna catch any large amount other side of it is on Hartwell and it kind of explained why this is we've asked everybody's come up here we come to this lake it always seemed the lower end of this lake dominates compared to up in the river systems this time of year well up in the river system those fish are scattered you know water's starting to come up starts to move around you're not going to be sure if they're on the piece of brushes on the bank or the piece of process out at the end of the dock and so trying to cover all that it's randomly hot very random and then yeah there's I you know once again fishing a spinning rod these guys are out there using their Lawrence electronics fishing deep they're finding where these fish are you know one thing that amazes me is I would've dug it in this tournament because they're fishing bear nothing banks they're fishing spots that are completely bare me I'm a guy I wanted these be throw into a rock or a piece of bread out there or to see something but up yeah let me see somethin see something my mother and shooting but if I'm not seeing anything even if I'm seeing fish it's hard for me to fish for those fish these guys were out there that don't spin arrives covering water another thing I noticed any time we go to a lake that has Blueback herring in it you have a tendency to ignore that style fishing and that style bass yeah the blue backs man they are one of those very fickle fish that they're there one day and they're gone the next you know they're like ghost they pop up and then they're gone and I don't like fishing for those fish I'm a guy like Jason Christie yesterday I'd have been that guy caught that big bag one day of the event because they showed the large amount were there and they were biting and I knew they lived there it was just getting the bite though do you purposely just try to get away from that area of the lake also yeah I mean I feel like those fish that are out there roaming around out there on those bare nothing banks it's it's a love bite and I don't like the fish luck I like to be something that I know that they live there I'm gonna figure out how to catch them and that's run away up those rivers fishing that dirty water fishing the dock with the bass live at turn but hey back out the Takahiro Omori inhabiting second place started the day with the lead just moments ago we watch dr. Hiro looking to fill out is a limit exactly in Takahiro has been really throughout this entire tournament fishing one area 200 yards long inside of a tree line this one right here you actually heard Takahiro say got this one hung up in one of those trees and he said what's been funny about almost every bass he's caught throughout this tournament fish and this is interesting to me he said they're not in those trees they're close to him but they like the slick areas around am not in the cover well I think what's happening is those Blueback herring are roaming out of those trees on that flat spot with nothing out there and indefinitely get to eat them the blue back here and kill harden those trees in the bash though you know want to chase them out there they've stayed out there but when they go up in that bare spot game on there that was the fourth fourth fish just a few minutes ago we're talking here or Mauryan that after a pretty good drought after his first three but that was number five that was number five excuse me that was it's not a fish another thing that we're seeing today different from yesterday and the day before back to live right now with Takahiro Omori we're seeing a lot bigger spots today where you would have thought the coldest day the sunniest day I mean they act just like a smallmouth bass man you would have thought day number one we would have seen the biggest spots so far today has definitely been the best yeah you know once again that overcast just probably has those bigger fish and that is more active mode I think what happens is those fish that were sitting there on the bottom they were all on the bottom now these bigger fish are actually roaming up a little bit they're suspended and they go down they eat something the little ones would just kind of disappear [Music] these guys are doing a lot of videogame fishing it's awesome actually Takahiro Omori last night after the way and I looked at it and I said how deep are you fishing he's out fishing from about 38 to 55 feet of water and he looked at me and he said I'm smallmouth bass fishing so I'm fishing the same thing y'all do up north and I said to you do you like fishing this way oh no no no not at all I would have asked him if he had enough line on this reel to fish that deal Takahiro more very versatile guys one in Texas one in Florida and here in South Carolina where he's won a Bassmaster Classic interesting thing looking at is look at electronics right there's something you said ish that you struggle with how bear in that bottom is I mean you are trained to look for structure look for objects that these bass relate to that is not the case you almost want to look for nothing just serve in deepwater flats you know and coming coming to this event if you didn't know that those fish were gonna be out there you wouldn't look for that you would've pulled out saw those barren and you would have left and so now guy like Casey he's toned in on that he's using his new L'Orange in three and he's finding those parents moms and catching those boss again Casey Ashley here our tournament leader final day of the Geico Bassmaster Classic this is his day yesterday highlights from yesterday when he really put himself into position but every single morning with Casey Ashley the first hour of competition 3/8 ounce fish head spin with a zoom superfruit junior and when he gets one bite basically that school will ignite and he will load him up in a hurry yesterday he was : in 30 minutes the exact same thing happened today another interesting thing I'm abroad to you ish Munro looking at this fish catch from yesterday they came up schooling in 44 degree water which is what makes these herring lakes totally different from anywhere else we go in the country yeah usually in 44 degree water then usually in 44 degree water if these fish don't want to move but when those Blueback herring like they say it's just I candy for these bass they'll do that carry swim by they get fired up on them you ignite one of those fish unite them all throwing a fish had spent three a sounds with that super fluke Junior he made the comment they play volleyball with it they'll sit there and bat it around until one will commit to it himself what's going on behind it I don't know this having fired up over there was when they when they'll come into it he said I can catch the entire school but I have to get one to bite back to Randy owl live but one thing Randy's run into trouble with today his numbers are way down and you would think that they would be up with the type of way he's fishing in these conditions Randy who started the day less than two pounds back now finds himself ten pounds out of the lead going to be a pretty dramatic final half of the day for him to get back in the conversation to repeat his Geico Bassmaster Classic champion Randy Howell fishing up the Seneca River surprised you in this tournament he's been fishing riprap scattering it yesterday he caught a giant off boat docks late in the day surprised you that he's had this predominantly to himself no because once again it's a you know high reward factor but those fish was so scattered Randy's a great angler who can cover a lot of water fast I'd be scared if bambam was up there cuz he's in the clover twice as much water as everybody else and catch those big fish [Music] mike iaconelli here you watched him yesterday sort of committed to what he was doing very committed to what he's doing you like what he's doing here well Ikes I said this all along you give that guy the snip of a wind he is on it he is fishing his young Irish jig so crank bait I think they think they're up I think they got up on us and then we're gonna and then I want to come back and hit this place with a crankbait I know we tried it but I just keep seeing them up and that's one thing about Nellie that a lot of people don't know he's constantly watching his unit he's constantly looking down there and going what are these fish doing they go down he fished the jig they flip up he grabs that crankbait and a lot of guys won't do that you know you've seen Randy crank you see Casey fish with that fish head spin and they're not really changing Ike is jig crank bait Oh spinning rod shaky head and he's so good at all of it it's just scary they made this statement yesterday I'm fishing slow very quickly explain what he's talking about fishing slow very quickly means you pull up to a spot you throw the bait out there and I mean you dragging it or you're moving in as slow as you possibly can but you only make a couple casts and did you pack up and move and he's moving around bunching fishing a lot of spots but once he gets to that spot he fishes it SuperDuper slow the other thing said he was looking for was talking about this throughout his pre practice in December when he graphed all this stuff he said I was looking for man-made bamboo piles and that is a big deal in this part of the country well you know one thing about the new technology that we have out there you can actually distinct the certain types of structure that are out there but explain the difference between a bamboo pile for the people outside of the Carolinas like Michigan it kind of explained the difference of a bamboo pile well the bamboo pile is a lot harder wood it doesn't deteriorate as fast in stays there a lot longer and one thing about a bamboo pile is it stays they don't move it around much the one thing about a standard brush pile that you would just go and cut a tree down these guys will come out there put their brush piles and move on once you found them those bamboo piles are so big that you can't move them so that's why he's keying in on those places where the fish are gonna be pretty much all year long and they live there just in case you're wondering all this sound and fury in the background we are the busiest no idea that is the business the Bassmaster Classic Expo presented by dicks and man things just get tweaked up all day long the assignment level like that on the lake is big real quick ish everybody that we've covered today KC ashy Ashley I can le Randy Howell everybody is fishing a different technique they're really right now is no dominate whenever we have a classic like last year lipless crankbait a crankbait that was the major player a little bit of vibrating jig this is so all over the map and random that's the thing about Lake Hartwell and one thing about having a bash master class here which makes it so great is you can fish any style any pattern you want with an opportunity to win you got guys fishing deep you got guys fishing shallow like you said you got guys fishing every single bait across the board there have an opportunity to win does the herring do that to this Lake or does the time of year do that to this Lake the lake does that because of the versatility you've got shallow water you got deep water you actually have warm water coming into this place which I don't think a lot of these guys played that attention to which is kind of dip weird but it's just the lake in itself is so versatile that you can fish any style any way you want and catch the winning fish the one note though is what we have realizes KC has not caught a big fish and he's in contention to win which means down to the wire one bite changes the ballgame early on he said he had a limit when he first filled out his limits and I got 12 maybe 13 pounds that is no way gonna do it so what gets backing up what you're saying is what gets me though is that he hasn't made a switch to go catch one big one he's been calling ounces not pounds and in order to win this event you got a call pounds why do you think he dominated the event here last year the FLW tournament this with it with a jig I mean he basically threw a jig the entire event throughout this event he's been throwing that fish head spin with the super fluid junior and yesterday at the way after the way and he was sitting in in the green room and he said I have no idea why I could not get a jig bite and he said look I know the spot on the spot of where these fish live and I cannot get one jig bite where he goes when I do get a jig bite it's about 10 to 12 inches long why does that not transpire I don't know for me if I'm doing what Casey's doing and I'm catching limits and I'm only culling ounces but I know what a jig can do one this Lake I would be fishing the jig for that one bite because that's gonna be the bite he needs to win [Music] that's a great shot right there man that something we have not seen a lot throughout the first two days marking them on your graph dropping down on it it seems today the ones that you mark on your graph have definitely been oh my goodness that would be me right there something is to drop a cheetah on her job hey or a spoon you know in our Iraq [Music] is looking at Casey right now live on the water with a huge morning did it surprise you what a lot of people thought to be the toughest day of this tournament everybody thought that Friday was gonna be the toughest day by far did it surprise you how well the large-mouth bid on that day yeah it did you know I wouldn't you know you're looking at the coldest possible temperatures largemouth don't like cold you know you northern guys you like cold southern boys they don't like it cold and I don't think these bats like to call but man they caught those largemouth really good but the Sun was out and that's the key is that Sun being out you would not think that I mean I'm not gonna lie you would have walked out of your hotel this morning cloudy warm and you at the Oh this is a masher day definitely different from the first day of this tournament but those fish that are relate to the docks you know they want that shadow and that Sun brings that shadow you know you saw it yesterday with skeet Reese sets him up yep sets him up and he'd make the cast of shadow side but not to the other side unofficial leader board again unofficial till we get to the weigh-in in Casey Ashley maintained in that lead but not by much over Takahiro Omori Dean Rojas briefed fish get a little bit higher there Jacob Brosnan may be dropping down so so Dean Rojas certainly not out of it Takahiro Omori right there right behind Casey Ashley [Music] Takahiro Omori throwing a Yamamoto shad shape or a very popular drop shot worm we see it so much throughout the year on the elite series then go on a three quarter round Strike King football jig the Yamamoto hula grub trailer what dictates when you're gonna I mean basically we've seen yesterday his biggest fish came on a jig later in the day we've seen almost live with a drop shot today well you know when you get out there and you can't get a bite on that jig you got to keep your confidence your nerves or would you not think in all honesty would you not think that he would say you know what I got a limit right now I'm gonna throw a jig the rest of the day and try to put this thing out you you would think that I mean but once again this is the Bassmaster Classic it is the biggest tournament of the year you don't get to think straight all the time I wish I wish I can explain that explain what you just said right there you've got boats following you you've got you know the craft this is out there it's your nerves around your knowing that this changes your life and talk to your Oh a guy who's won the classic already knows what it means to win it and so you're thinking again man if I win this again how much bigger how much will my life change how much more can it be it was can I make it rain yeah skit and it's a scary thought and so sometimes you kind of back up and like I got to relax I got to relax and so that drop shot is being consistent for him and it helps him to relax but if he kicks it into gear to go fish for that one big bite on the jig or KC kicks into the gear its whoever decides to make that decision to catch that big one it's a guidance we like making it rain to don't love let's make it rain on right here the other thing that makes it so different this single tournament the fact that during the year I finish is good second places have always said nobody remember second place and as one angler put it yet people do remember saying and second place is a great finish in the Bassmaster Classic it's just so far behind first you can't even measure only if you're Aaron Martens second place for Aaron beads you've missed it four times three times I mean every good speech and I would have to count the classics that the classics that your fist and fished a pile of them when you know that you're fishing a tournament to win it do you practice for those differently than you would in a regular Elite Series event you know that's kind of my new philosophy as I want to win every single event I fish till I fish to win I know there's tournaments where you can break out a drop shot and catch fish consistently but I would be that guy I probably wouldn't have a spinning rod in my hand I'd have that jig in my hand I'd have that swim bait in my hand trying to win and I'm either going to blow this thing out or I'm gonna be the guy sitting here at the show today big crowd here classic Expo presented by Dick's Sporting Goods we are in a host city Greenville South Carolina also Anderson our host city down at Lake Hartwell two fantastic places to be for this world championship let's give it up for championship Sunday real quick now sir real quick number one number one you just made a comment you said give me a hat please okay I'll make you a deal if you can name right now I'm gonna give you two seconds who won last year's Bassmaster Classic Randy how good job man give it up for folks with that being said who had the most weight at the last Bassmaster Elite Series angler of the Year tournament of the year last year who had the most weight he did not but I'm going to give you the hat anyway go down there and do a couple of them with oh yes if you please fish there we go I like I like the yes I'd like the oh oh come on come on up here who is your favorite angler Casey Ashley oh no he's definitely say yes Monroe come on now come on I got a cool one what is the name of Mark zonas fishing show [Music] awesome that's gonna be I'll take that I'll take this um in some weeks it's not what I'm gonna do I'm gonna do one over here hold on real quick hold on hold on hold on hold on wait somebody over here is waving if you're gonna like this one okay who was worth waving her hand okay you ready now I'm not gonna make this that ease hey Mark mark keep him up there all day long ready which one of you knows more about the Bassmaster Elite seriously you do the last time we were at Lake Okeechobee who won miss Monroe well done friend well alright well so we have out here take a peek each pixel you you ready okay how many and I just saw this dude walk by how many Bassmaster Classic says Kevin VanDam one two over here what somebody over here somewhere over here talk about the pretty lady right there hey I'm not gonna ask the same question but I will ask how many angler the year titles disc AV they have seven correct on that absolutely right ah a pile of them and you're his best through a couple more let's see what do we got here what do we got here the lowest winning weight of a classic good question who knows the lowest winning weight of a classic raise your hand the lowest winning wait you got it twenty-one pounds wrong your high clothes your clothes he said 1211 he's close oh did you already get a hat 17 is not it Louis winning wait fifteen eight still high no still high no how about this where was it at you're wrong you're gonna get one citizen completely there we go was it was Pittsburgh Pittsburgh that was the winning way to Pittsburgh we didn't get the winning weight yet get off your iPhone get off your iPhone I caught you right not see but I totally caught you dude we got it smart for out of here absolutely I want to let him find out now how many of them are South Carolinians oh never before has a true local won the Bassmaster Classic we have a chance to do it this time I want to hear one third on the sound meter and see how many people think Casey Ashley can get it done be the first true local this new bucks head now I'm gonna throw it to one more question but who would like to see some fireworks from a Mike Iaconelli I want pretty-pretty 30 well evened up well here is the interesting thing and this is fantastic I can ally did say that if he won this tournament that all of you are invited to the lobby to party at the Hyatt tonight I roll it I do not know if that's true but I wanted to throw that out there because that's what I'm gonna be doing tell us because it's just hard to imagine how it changes your life as an angler to win the Bassmaster Classic I've had so many dreams about it I've had fantasy of fast cars after winning the classic going to Disneyland swinging by bass hanging it out at the ESPN I mean it's everything that you possibly can imagine dating supermodels right definitely you win the basket right get to date supermodels I have no idea it's it's it's the biggest thing in sports Bassmaster Classic is it how many people agree with me it's it's I mean winning tournaments changing your life but winning the Bassmaster Classic winning the championship being the best of the best Randall farmers put it out there I want to beat the best and that's what the Bassmaster Classic is from every guy from the club level to the team level to the college level to the professional ranks you beat the best of the best when you win the Bassmaster class a long time I'm going to go back to the days I've watched you in Bassmaster Invitational do you still get the the the same Drive that you had 15 years ago every day I'm at home I wake up and I turn on Bassmasters television I have every single episode TBD vote or videotape or I'm finding it on Bassmaster calm I am it's my motivation every morning I mean to just live life Bassmasters is it I live and breathe bass masters you know and bass fishing it's just the ultimate sport to be out there all right back out live to Lake Hartwell Casey Ashley our tournament leader at this point hooked up again fishing fish it's not gonna call back we've seen a lot more fish today but she's not gonna call for Casey Ashley 3/8 ounce fish head spin with a zoom super fluke junior so far today really he has lived with this and one thing day one of this tournament we were sitting there watching him we were watching his retrieve real slow almost like your slow roll in a spinnerbait bud he'd Flair it and he Blair it and he said that's when they would ignite on it explain what's goes are actually tracking that thing almost the whole way it's a triggering factor what it is is you got to remember this water is so cold you're talking mid to high 40s and when you actually Flair that bait that blade flashes that tail kicks a little bit it looks like it's gonna die and before it dies that bass is gonna eat it you are the BBS aren't you yes sir you are the big bass special yes sir and I apologize because I have I brought Keith combs into that level with you I've even called him like a look a mini okay it's fair to say any mean any me and I know you have claimed that bette that name why have we not seen one of these anglers that's out there fishing deep just like Casey Escher why are we not seeing any deep swim baiting not not thrown and under spin not thrown efficient spent why we not seeing that play in this tournament because once again you're in the Bassmasters Classic you're not thinking about you're thinking about how to catch big ones but hey you're getting bit your nerves are rattled you're you know I wish I could fish the Bassmaster Classic like Kevin VanDam fished it and it's like ice cold it's like there's nothing running through his veins like killer instinct there's actually right there Kevin Kevin's killer yeah he's killer instinct on the carpet right there right yeah I mean walk why can we shouldn't Lee's put it in the classic for some reason because next year we got a deal with them we got to deal with the grizzly bear solicit if I collect now I just slide it appears that they're rising up and suspended fish are always tougher to catch and I can't I can't figure out a way to trigger the bike it's pretty frustrating I can't get the dirt babe I it's China at this point rally something else up real quick but I may have to just get back out there deep and just commit to it I got a fish to win I got to stay out there figure out how to catch him we had such a nice start to know take two more guests ish is talking tell us what he's saying he said that they're not on the bottom they're rising up and how he's trying to just right now from that jig to what he's doing well I think the barometer is changing the water temperature is changing it's something a little different that's got the fish starting to pick up and move a little bit maybe the baits starting to move around a little bit more there's something happening out there that's got some accidents going from the bottom and moving suspended up but the one thing that I'm watching with ice is he keeps talking about I need to go back out deep but do you see he's still up there trying it because he knows if he can trigger one big bite doing something else he's gonna win this event surprise you that he has not got jig bite at all today yes it does I mean you saw Takahiro he caught the majority of his big ones on a jig yesterday it's just weird that's it like rooming with him it's it let's take the water I would say with the water I'd like rooming with him well I room with him John Cruz and Fletcher chiraq that is so weird it is because Fletcher is a mini version of Ike Ike is actually mellowed out now and then John Kruse is the guy that keeps it motivated and I'm just a cook understand over to Randy how live like we did just heard I say I got a fish to win now I got to catch the big ones same story for Randy Howell both these guys have find themselves 7 to 10 pounds unofficially back of our leader Graeme a Holley rifle pounder chloroformed pounder early this morning literally was the first 15 minutes but Davie heights at up here yesterday and he said it this will not last the way he's fishing will not hold out this whole event yeah but think about it he has it all to himself and that's a key factor he's thrown a crankbait Skeets throwing a swimbait like that up shallow those these are my guys that I'm going to say that have the best opportunity to catch in a giant to win this I want to drop some news new that nigga's on you write the Neman news note the nigut okay Coby Carden said one of the problems he has had the entire week Casey Ashley hooked up right now talk about it one second beginning me we obtained it if the jig case he get the jig that would be your advisement [Music] let me ask you about radar about awareness of what the scores are these guys do not know literally the other guy's score but how intuitive are they about that does Ike know he's got a make up six or seven pounds knowing that he's got seven or so pounds in the live well now one thing about guys like Ike is I don't think he even thinks about what the other angles are doing which makes him so effective he's thinking about catching the biggest bass that he possibly can on that lake and he can beat everybody by doing that I'm gonna go back to these new two million three okay ready yep now Koli Cardin we got to talk to last night had a great stringer yesterday big bag of largemouth fishing very shallow this is what Kobe card and a federation angler said to us you ready here's his biggest problem in this tournament his best spot is still under ice he said his best pocket folks I'm not kidding his best pocket throughout practice is frozen and he's not able to get to the farthest back reach of that pocket he said my biggest ones he goes he goes I've caught him around the edge and he goes they're very very lethargic around the edge of the ice I'm dead serious are lethargic are you when you get around ice it all depends on what kind of ice you're talking all right I mean good enough [Music] once again pick up the gin Casey it talked about that he's caught him he's caught him he's caught more fish in this tournament than anybody he's got the bait to catch fish that's the easy part he did his job in a tough tournament was a found how to catch those fish now he has to go to his instincts and how to catch a big that's what separates the guys who win are specialists Casey Ashley still trying to upgrade still trying to come up and has been doing so for four hours back over the Dean Rojas right now I probably got about eight pounds I think probably eight and a half maybe nine pounds and got one big large mouth and three spots right now and I'm just trying to fill out my limit here real quick and I'm gonna change tactics here shortly and see if I can't catch some bigger fish these fish are just not not the size I'm looking for their only pound a half-hour but you know the potentials here to catch a big largemouth or a big spot that's what keeps me in and around these docks as I know what look what could happen real quick yesterday I came up on this dock yesterday and a caught one and then it was just a whole school of them a whole group of them you know they came out with it and that's what happens when you just gotta keep hitting the docks and it's one of these times you're gonna hit one that big ones there and I'm not hitting like him like individual dogs like this one at that one and just I'm not hitting like the groups the groups have been you know hit or miss for me it just seems like if they're on one of the docks you know the bigger ones are there the bigger ones had been there and so I'm just trying to work through it and on all the time is it's 11:30 right now I got for almost four hours so three and a half hours so I still got plenty of time playing time to catch some big fish you know and that's that's what my plan is but I've got one more they'll get a limit then we'll move from there Dean Rojas leader on day number one weight went down half on day number two back in third place Casey Ashley still up by two and a half pounds if she I'm gonna ask you one question about the N Rojas are you a better frog fisherman than him seriously seriously oh yeah you know me and D you try to drama drama Zeke what is dramas wait did you tell me walking across a parking lot a few years ago what did you save it to us just in case store everybody knows next time we have footage I am the big bass probably get to know these an excellent frog fisherman you know Dean takes it to that next level you're better this week yes there we go did you want it yes I am better because I believe I'm better you got to believe confidence folks you got to have confidence see Dean and talk to Hiro with this participating gear with all this Ali's versatility that we're seeing on parade right here I mean these guys proven that they're the best in the world and look how they still struggle on a tough tough test for the world's best you to me the best tournaments that we covered I mean this I love sight fishing tournaments I do it's fantastic but the problem is there's no diversity there really isn't the only diversity you get is when you throw a giant bait in something cool like that interesting thing about tournaments like this to me is it really comes down to what technique is gonna win speed those are the best tournaments you know watching these guys catch them who knows it's deep right alongside it first day that was like key that's where all the big large now for at haven't caught a large-mouth on a donkey I think they've dispersed and and I just want to hit these last couple ones here and then we're gonna move and just keep shaking I'm just I'm fishing like the mouths of the crease not so much inside the creek and all that deep we'll see on the outer edges that's where the fish are hanging out oh good look right there I mean that is a fantastic look at what he's targeting he said he is staying away from rows of docks he wants to fish little clusters of him because he thinks they've been ignored yeah you know people pull it in a spot they want to fish a row of docks they want to get just fish as far as they can he's hitting isolated pieces of structure looking for that one big bite but like he said the largemouth haven't seemed to be on the docks do you think this is a case of the clouds just not letting these fish set up on these docks today yes I mean the cloud cover came over and they started roaming they don't have to be in the brush pile they don't have to shade their eyes anymore because the cloud covers there so they're roaming around the big largemouth are probably sitting somewhere between that dock and where Danes boat is roaming roaming I want to get to know more about you friend what about I do what about you no more single view and I understand the part understand Tommy's as odious yes exactly right that exactly do you go to court do you like tournament could the the cold cold weather tournaments or is that not here is that not your gig I'm from California I wanted 800 million degrees I want to be in the south I'm hoping that someday you know the great dividers up there at Bass decide to take the classic back to the summer because boy it's game on grass frog in and flipping I mean you are not into when it's 3035 degrees at all these last couple of classics have been excellent events we've caught some great fish but I just really want to be in sim shorts and flip-flops just one foot pops I want to be in flip-flops and shorts but your Western guy first day coldest day ever of a Bassmaster Classic three of the top five Western anglers I mean what do you tribute that to their style of fishing you know the diversity you know Western anglers Dean getting the fish the Delta Clear Lake Shasta Orville Havasu same thing with skeet Reese you know it's just one of those things where the Western anglers I feel are very diverse and they can slow down and catch at a time it was yes yes thanks for making it fun thanks for your expertise in your take on this whole thing issue we appreciate it so much thanks guys for having folks give it up miss Monroe got a lot more to come there is so much more fishing it is not decided yet the World Championship the Geico Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro Casey Ashley that early limit still looking very very important looming large for the rest of this field but he hasn't put enough ground between himself and Takahiro Omori Dean Rojas Brett Hite now we see him moving up into the top five Jacob Feroz Nick from outside the top ten made it in there early this morning got a lot more to come we're gonna take a quick break three minutes or so and be right back if time is a measure of how good something this then Evan Williams Berman has something really good going seriously good since 1783 Evan Williams has proven one thing that a good bourbon is bourbon many years and many barrels later people are still reaching for the smoothness of Evan Williams that means something doesn't it Evan Williams seriously good bourbon and for more of a good thing try the smooth flavor of Evan Williams honey reserved [Music] speed and acceleration you can rely on it's good to have mercury behind you are you ready to go grab life by the gills maybe take a road trip to a place with no roads would you like to make an investment you know we'll pay off then you belong at Bass Pro Shops we're great gear great prices and the great outdoors all meet up Bass Pro Shops your adventure starts here [Music] nitro built to run built to fish built to win introducing the Nitro C pro high performance package get 2 9 inch touchscreen graphs with structure staff am in Kota 36 bolt trolling motor a 4 bank 40 and battery charger an 8 foot power pole blade and much more for a limited time save up to $4,000 available only on the Nitro z8 and nitro c9 nitro bose champions aren't born they're made he's fished here for decades he knows every hump every drop off every contour he's dedicated his entire life to understanding this single body of water and he didn't know squat about it until two hours ago Auto chart live lets you build your own high definition Maps anywhere in the world in real time only with onyx from hummingbird that feels like a bash come on stay hooked up me [Music] look at that one that's a nice one [Music] awesome for more than 40 years more folks have gotten more out of bass fishing by doing one simple thing becoming a member of bass it's still the way to go join today and get all this free gear including a bass tackle bag and cap a DVD with Pearl angler tips plus our 2014 bass essentials all that plus dozens of other benefits in a year's worth of Bassmaster magazine unmatched for gear techniques destinations and tournament stories over half-a-million Bass members will tell you it's worth it join bass today it was special covering Randy Howell last year at the 2015 Bassmaster Classic jumping from 11th to first but what was more special to me was knowing there was fishing for someone else as well I'm a big time preparation guy an organized guy and I like to have everything in order and right now it's not quite there yet try to hang a lot of the baits that I'm going to use throughout the seasons to the hollering I won the classic last year on bass fishing is a team sport for Randy and Robin Howell who use their classic title but make 2014 a year of giving back this man has definitely changed our life I can't even imagine how it would be to win two of them because one has just been a phenomenal day a big one just one of those days you dream about the fish were just biting better never lost one today yes it just became a magical day yeah whoo yeah that's what I came back here for I shed a lot of tears driving that hour and a half drive back to Birmingham and I thought I'd got it all out before I got there but I did al's dramatic come-from-behind win last year was witnessed by a special Birmingham cheering section and they announced that he won we all jumped out of our tears it was amazing Gina lives here in Kings home south of Birmingham you know I was scared I didn't know what to do I was shaking in the corner she's a victim of domestic violence who agreed to appear on camera to let everyone know about the impact Randy has had on her life and so many others who come here suffering from domestic violence we don't know what we would do without Randy things that he does for us when I came to King's home I still didn't know what you know what path I wanted to be on and they taught me how to be an independent person they taught me how to live what is he M ffice eyes to you you've been you taking with you every day do not give up she had been there since she was 15 how this young lady could function and talk with a smile on her face and loving her hard you know that came because of I've heard so many bad stories from so many of those kids that have been through stuff that it never should have happened Halla not only supports King's home with his words but also his wallet giving way for votes including last year's Triton classic winning boat raising nearly half a million dollars over four years this is a classic champion in every sense of the word [Music] this is not the most important thing in his life and his career I would put down there around third not only is he the Bassmasters Classic which doesn't make you a great person makes you great angler but what Randy's done awful is really missing so the next time you're watching the Bassmaster Classic knowing these guys are out here braving the elements fishing for their lives and a lot of money's on the line knowing that some of them are fishing for something else as well [Music] best master classic live presented by Lawrence we are coming to you from one of the greatest sporting shows outdoor shows in the whole world the classic Expo presented by Dick's Sporting Goods here in our host City of Greenville South Carolina another host city down there at Lake Hartwell is Anderson South Carolina Lake Hartwell is the test to find the best angler in the world this year how do you rate at mark zona if difficulty technical difficulties all these guys a 1 to 10 how hard is this like well here's the best way to put it you know coming into this tournament if you were to read pre turn oh my gosh I'm staring at Roland Martin right now it is coming into this tournament a lot of people said well it's gonna be so cold there's nobody nobody's gonna catch a bass as always the lake has shown up in a big way Lake Hartwell has an unbelievable population of largemouth and spotted bass and the other really the other side of it is the spotted bass in this lake where we're starting to see today becoming a major major factor we've seen a lot of three and a half pound spotted bass and bigger so far this morning and and really the other side of it and we were talking with ish Munro about this to me the best tournaments whether it's the Elite Series the Bassmaster Classic is when you have a lake that has diversity when you have a lake where guys are cranking jerk and throwing little swim baits jigs those are the best tournaments to cover because it comes down to that decision and that game plan to win that event did you have the best technique you have the best game plan and we're seeing that transpire because really if you look at the guys in the top 10 they're almost all doing something different yeah it really comes down to being the world champion chicken a lot decision-making done friend what do you got oh we talked about this real quick all right I loved walking outside this morning and it being 45 degrees it felt it tropical it reminded me of Michigan it's freezing in Michigan the beautiful thing when you walk out it's 45 degrees s after being 5 degrees it feels summertime back to love coverage red ears talk a hero more a former Classic champion from right here in the state of South Carolina that was when he was 34 years old he's 45 now lives in Texas lake fort area and talking hero Maury just a few pounds two and a half pounds behind our unofficial leader Casey Ashley Takahiro Omori fishing right now in the mid lake section of Hartwell on the north side of her Andersonville Island he said it's about a 200 yard stretch we're gonna keep hitting this he does not have anywhere else to fish he said I am committed to one area I've got it to myself living there all day long drop shot and caught a lot of fish early back to Dean Rojas trying to figure out how to catch those large mouth that he weighed in on day number one been throwing an eighth ounce shaky head the entire tournament and Dean Rojas somewhere through this final day he cannot catch another ten pounds like he did on date number two look at that menagerie oh my word now here's a little here's a little new nutrient second time today Tommy's yeah house at least I have been in Mike Iaconelli spell oh yeah I have been in there it honestly is like I hate to say this when I go fishing with my children and they take lures off and just throw them in the bottom of the boat when they were 8 years old it is it is a little bit here's the best way to put it being an eye canalis boat is organized chaos from the minute he starts till the minute he gets off the water I've never seen his rods that organized I mean that's an exceptional day for him in that respect Randy Howell Randy Howell knows he's got a long way to go and we're starting to see exactly what we looked at yesterday on day number 2 this Lake Hartwell throughout this event something happens in the midday range which is very very typical for this time of year where it literally just shuts down the first two hours the last two hours have been by far the most productive [Music] over to Casey Ashley at a big morning Casey Ashley about one big bite he's about one big bite from putting this thing away Randee now hooked up don't do that don't do that oh he's going crazy come on take it lower just enough of a ripple I just sit at your bass he gave me a heart attack he was barely hooked with this one hook and then when he ran down he got rehook again it's about a two and a half pounder almost bad a lot better than all the ones I haven't caught today so we're gonna take him and say thank you lord let that be the start of a new good time here our man it felt good to get him pike oh and y'all just don't know how that feels in the Bassmaster Classic when you you want to win so bad and you know what it feels like to win and you just try so hard and they can't make it happen you just got to be patient and have faith who's listening keep trying to listen the Lord was giving me that feeling to come back here and it paid off and hopefully scream felt more that's not gonna be the only one man when he got on there to begin and I really thought was a big one because he had that he just had the back hook when they do that and their mouths wide open all that water's going through their through their mouths that makes them feel like a really big fish see that little bit of ripple on the water and we ran into here I could see it I don't know if it's just starting or if it's just this side of the lake we got on that's more of it over here that's it that's definitely eNOS help I caught one right there first today you can catch one there yesterday back up try to duplicate that cast he was right where they there's another one there he is come on go that's the big one there it feels like come on Jesus whoo oh yes come on go he came out that was a big one yeah bleep what in the world it happen for he was trying to take me to that bridge pile and I was trying to pull him away don't go right there man just like that last time just barely gotten that back I'm gonna yeah back up I'm gonna get over there I'm gonna go back over there just barely got that back hook again sluggish sluggish bike not wanting to eat it gosh that was heavy man I was pulling hard on him trying to get him away from that bridge piling yeah you never I never expected one to get off when I get one on always and getting me in quiet shot gets off I hear you line it up here that's good they're either starting to bite when it's wind that's getting them turned on but all of a sudden I'm feeling better thanks to losing one right there there everything you can write reap ties so many times and do all you can do to control something but you can't control how far they get it in their mouths got the best date she hopes you can get the sharpest bait hooks can you can't even tell you back on without hooking yourself that Bastille and get it in knots down he was out there deeper too that's why it really surprised me because I had stopped hitting the bottom and all of a sudden he got feel like it got home even on a good day the first day would current here I didn't get the one bite on each place so that's good get to two right there on that one side it means it's a bunch of fish around here when it's cold and tough like this and you get two bites that close together there's usually a lot more around somewhere there sorry West I couldn't bring down a round of that side I saw he wasn't hooked good I was getting ready to yeah yeah well I was I was thinking about it though if he had his hauling hooks really good I was going to god I can't bleed out and got off when in Dagenham roll tide studs his owner would say daga Merle Todd studs the other side other side's gonna be good to our coke that's why I caught one the first days on the other side [Music] hmm hey give it up fine already hell championship Sunday hang up in the expo Tommy sander and I'm gonna folks come on give it up a little more than that can we about the Randy Howell fighting for his life back there hey how much are you sure we have had some great guests all week long we've got to have a returning oh man yeah we rarely get a great guest returning but we're lucky to have KVD Kevin VanDam let's give it up really now for the number-one man Kevin VanDam you made a comment on the first day of this tournament with the live coverage you said we will get to see this tournament won or we will get to see this tournament loss talk about what just happened right there well you know the first day we watched Randy Howell lose a big fish about a four pounder maybe even in the same spot he was fishing a bridge like that too when you're cranking like that that's part of the cost of doing business you're gonna have some of those fish come off in this cold water you know they're not wanting to eat the bait Randy's fishing that crankbait making it deflect off those rocks and they're just reacting to it and just barely getting it you don't really feel the bite he just lost another big fish and it's hard to come back from that in the Bassmasters Classic one of the things looking at his raw - and I mean it throttled him Randy Howell catches a keeper second fish of the day gets a little bit of momentum going right here because it's a solid literally just Oh lower just enough from a ripple I just said it's a mass gave me a heart attack he was barely hooked with this one hooked and then when he ran down he got rehook again about a brutal day after he caught that first big fish that was his second keeper of the day things were starting to happen for Randy Holland didn't this happens this this really hurts you know in her biggest stage of the class have this happen oh yes come on going hang on that was a big one yeah he whirled it happy for he was trying to take me to that bridge pile and I was trying to pull him away Kevin talked about that right there here's the thing if you looked at his rod when you said heavy fish you know you could see that he was just right around the corner of that piling right there and the fish wanted to swim downstream as soon as it as soon as it bit and it was going to take his lying around and he took a chance he had to pull hard and the fish came off and those are the moments that you either win or lose the classic win it's hard to come back from that it took about a minute and a half really if you were watching when he lost that fish he went right back into mode he was in game mode and then you could see about a minute and a half to two minutes later Manulife its what just happened yeah it's it's hard I mean the amount of emotions that you go through because you know Randy was was there and he won the classic he knows what it means he knows how important it is he's on this the biggest stage there is and he's right back in position again and then to have that happen on the final day when you're in contention that's tough you watched with us on day number one Randy doing this exact same thing with a lot more success you sizing it up he's got a little bit of current in these pinch points it's working somebody that's like good oh you just come off right there leave those two fish right there he's gonna be thinking about for a long time Oh such a mouth bite and he's been so solid so back to Randy Howell live right now if something happens if some current appears out of nowhere if the surface gets broken up I mean he's still three fish to a limit if things start popping for him could he get it done the tough thing about today we really thought that the conditions were going to be a lot better in the fact that we have this front come through we had some rain the temperatures are warming but what we're really lacking out there if you want a power fish like Randy Howell is right now is when you got to have something to break up the surface of the water to get that light penetration knocked down and that'll move those fish up shallower in that zone where you can hit them with a crankbait so I know these guys are hoping that you know this afternoon they get a ripple I mean a ripple is better than anything Kevin white today really if you look at the first day of this tournament that's what the biggest largemouth really were caught why a lot of people said that the third day of this event that's gonna be the day why have the big largemouth not showing up today I think it's just the lack of wind you know I mean this front kind of just layed in and which is Canadian there well the wind is definitely your friend the most important thing you can have even though it's cold this time of the year the surface temperature is not relative to where those fish are at you know even six eight feet down ten feet down where his crankbaits head that is not going to be affected by these cold nights that water temperature is way overrated this time of year explain though people put way too much emphasis into that surface temperature when it's not that big of a factor it really isn't again down in the depths especially where some of these other guys like Casey Ashley and Mike Iaconelli their fishing deeper that water temperature doesn't change these fish are are definitely affected by the fronts they feel the low pressure and the high pressure but the water temperature they're used to it it's been stable and you can get these fish to bite and move in bait like that they'll watch it Randy Howell live a critical critical miss a few minutes ago Kevin before this tournament we were talking about how this Lake was going to set up and the first day of this tournament guys were catching fish on boat docks five foot of water two feet of water all the way into about ten inches and you made the statement I do not care how cold the water is throughout this country when we have longer days they're coming yes those matters it's all about the time of the here you know this is the time of the year when the fish are staging and they're setting up they're thinking about moving up to spawn and they're gonna be up there even when the water temperature is cold I mean we had the first really hard patch of winter this past week I mean these are record all-time lows for this area and yet these fish are still up there that just goes to show you that you know that water temperature is really overrated the fish know what they need to be doing they're just gonna wait out these fronts but they're not leaving they don't leave especially large miles they're gonna stay in the area a lot more spotted bass are a lot more apt to move they travel a lot they're like our small mouths that we have at home but these large mouths once they make that transition up to that shallower zone they're not swimming back out to 50 foot of water again they're gonna stay up there around the bank until they actually spawn Michael Iaconelli live out there needs about seven eight pounds in order to gain the lead started out this day in third place just really less than a pound and some ounces out of first place he's another angler that he knows what's going on he knows the time of the day he's feeling the pressure and he's fishing with a lot of intensity I mean one or two bites I mean what what happens when you get that opportunity can change that the whole day for you you know we saw that the first day you know Mike finally got into an area he caught a couple of good fish and then it just it changed his day there's a bunch of these around here next to a tree places will hit I'll set up like this any more breaks yeah where you know after that last fish I'm making a commitment now to just do this we're gonna stay out deep we're gonna keep this jig in our hands if I don't get another bite this is what I need to do to win you know this is this is the classic that's in the points tournament I'm not worried about filling my limit out with two pounders I need two or three four to five pounders I've got three hours to do it this is my best chance brutally slow for Michael Iaconelli but the good side for him is he still short of a limits they've got some more Headroom as they say in his score to get himself back into a Casey Ashley's still on top two and a half pound leader for Takahiro Omori I got a look Brett Hite still hanging in there in the top five not making any big move but Jacob / rasen 8 coming from outside the top ten that's a shocker there and and really just a very fast work for him early this morning sacked Lee right if you look at Peraza Nick he throttle them yesterday and today that first hour window and that we basically lost that on day number one I will tell you the angler up there that got hurt the worse by the delay in this tournament was Jacob posnick yeah we talked to him you know after practice and he knew that he had to be there right out there early that was his best opportunity he was getting a lot of bites quick and he's really made it happen you know the leaderboard right there shows what it is but I think his fish might be just a shade bigger than that I think that leaderboard know basically what he said is that you've already heard something yeah we he's he's got a really good bang we got Randy hooked up now to a tree yeah Kevin this morning Casey Ashley we talked about Faraz Nick yeah we finally got to see that line go that way Mike I can only caught a fish on it there a jerkbait that deep Rapala shadow wrap those were the first fish we have seen the entire week on a jerkbait why is that never transpired well the biggest thing is is we haven't had any wind in any one of the days and you know for the jerk bait to be really strong for me this time of the year you've got to have some wind or you got to have some current you got to have something that's going to get those fish up in the water column hit the bait moving and and that just really hasn't Trane's transpired at all and I really thought today we were going to have a little more wind we might even have some rain and that's when the jerk bait was really gonna come into play I I expected the guys that were that were power fishing that were fishing down the bank the way skeet was fishing cover in those stocks the way Randy's fishing to really have a good day but they conditions are just not I mean they're not just good enough these fish can see so well on a cloudy day in this clear water with no wind they really see that bait real well and in Randy's head you know some success he's been getting some bites but the fish are not eating the bait well they're just barely hitting the bait there's the bites are mushy and and they're just not taking it real deep and it's hard to land him like that he lost a big fish a little while ago he lost him on the first day and like I said when you're a powerful man like that that's just part of the cost of doing business all right Kevin you have been in this position before in tight tournament in fact one of the tightest classics we've ever had talked about what is going through the mind of guys they know and here's the thing the anglers that are in the top five right now they know they're in the top five there are little things that go on on the water in these tournaments what is going through their head what's the process right now well I can tell you we're sitting here watching it live and I'm feeling it too so yeah I know they're feeling it I can see it in their body language they all know that they're right there and it's just one decision one one spot one bite that can turn the tide in their favor and they all know or a lot of those guys know how important their they know what the stage is right here and what it'd be like to win the classic you know Casey Ashley a lot of pressure on him coming into here being the favorite and yet he's persevered every single day he's been solid every day Jacob Brosnan I mean he's he's our rookie to our tour but he's he's not a rookie and he knows I mean he's grown up watching the Bassmasters classics he knows how important it would be and what it would do for his career of course Randy Howell and Mike Iaconelli both of those guys have one before skeet Reese they've won they know the intensity of what it takes and what you have to do mentally on the final day to get it done okay so you've been able to look at the techniques you're looking at the players that are in it right now who do you give the nod to with the weather that we have going on on the water right now well this guy right here is is one that you know I picked him from the beginning I saw what he was doing the first day and every day he's been consistent the thing for Casey is that he's just got to get that bigger bite you know he's just got to be able to get a four or five pound fish to add to his creel and it's going to be you know game over lights out I think but some of these other guys are fishing a lot shallower where there's more largemouth fat and if you get if you pull into the right area the right pocket where there's some herring at and those fish are moved up you can get well in a hurry that's exactly what skeet did the first day out the beat Rojas now may see actually there [Music] [Music] I'm Steeve trying to work something out out there we're gonna go back over Takahiro Omori like the first time Takahiro has actually made a move today Takahiro Omori living the north side of the Andersonville Island does it surprise we that left with a guest that we've had seen Takahiro Omori fishing out in 35 to 50 feet of water I really expected him to be up the rivers you know crank throwing a crankbait he's a power fisherman that's his that's his strength that's a style but I think there was so much you know thought about with Casey winning the FLW last year and the last time the classic was here when Alton Jones wanted out deep that a lot of guys spent their practice period looking for those deep fish and if you got one or two bites it gave me the confidence to kind of roll with it so he changed his game plan I'm sure he looked at the long-term weather forecast and said hey with us cold weather I want to I want to try to find a deeper pattern and it's paid off on we kept hearing the word yesterday and at really after the day one weigh-in everything's random it is so hard to gain momentum and confidence what you're doing this week yeah no doubt the thing that I've noticed just looking at the background since I've been here is you know there's not any wind there's not a ripple there's no sea gulls flying around there's there's no activity going on you know it's just it seems like Mother Nature is dead today you know they just know it's just a time to kind of wait where the other day there was birds diving around there the you know guys were talking about these just life there's just like there's life I mean they're bait fish their best blowing up I mean even in this cold water there was fast chasing bait to the top that just hasn't happened today [Music] again a brutal day for Michael Iaconelli desperately needing something big to happen this was earlier today one of the things Van Damme just talked about fish points him in the middle this pocket Kevin talked about that first hour what we're seeing earlier today Mike Iaconelli oh you know fish just chased I mean up on the top and blew up right in front of him that's the golden opportunity that you're looking for he he threw his jerk bait out there and just immediately caught that fish and he knows he's got a short window to get back out there and hopefully get another one right out of that same school so these fish are up and down quick and this is the first time this week that I can le actually capitalize on that airy bite from there Dean Rojas abandoning his docks the lower end of the lake catches a solid drop shot fish but he has never really located those big large Bob from day number one yeah that's that's the thing here is with these blue back carry these paths they move around so much you know he was in the right area everything happened and when it when it happens it happens real fast you can pull in and in catch these fish in a hurry if they're up and feeding get anything in front of them they're gonna bite and you know he just hit the right window at the right time and they know that it's a crime you know it when it happens to they said hey man I got to really capitalize on this this chance and we may see Casey is is the guy though that has been catching the most fish you know he's got a ton of knowledge he's got a lot of spots he's fishing a lot of areas that have big schools and fish and you know that's why I kind of gave him the edge just going in thinking that he knows so much so many places he keeps moving around he's gonna get on the right great spots and and find a big school like this and that's a really good fish that he's got earlier this morning Casey actually once he got that school fired up 3/8 ounce fish head spin with a zoom super fluke shoo once he got that school fired he was calling within 30 minutes they see Ashley gets so much damage done early on on this final day of Bassmaster Classic trying to be the first true local to ever win a classic they see Ashley new he's got to have a lot more than early my fast would yield for him he's gonna have a couple more of those in order to feel comfortable in his mind he's got a shot at winning it to loot and Takahiro Omori took the lead into this final day super consistent actually upping his way from day one to day two and for him a bit bit slower considerably slower than Casey Ashley definitely hasn't predominantly this morning a drop shot throwing on yamamoto cut tail shad the other side of that is he has not found that jig bite that call all of his bigger ones late yesterday a lots gonna happen in the late afternoon today you know I mean it's this is what's exciting you know as a fan and I'm the ultimate fan to be able to have this live coverage to be able to see what's going on exactly how these guys are fishing you can see the lures they're using you can see exactly how they're presenting them how slow they're fishing you see everything that's going on it's the first time we've ever been able to do that and then to have a race so tight going into the final day of the Bassmasters Classic into the final hours it's going to be a shootout it's going to make for a great weigh-in and Randy Howell after some last-minute last couple of hours heroics on day number two to put himself right back into the conversation for a repeat classic victory started out this day pretty nice with a great fish to start his day but that would definitely definitely be the highlight for him so far it got slow after that Randy Holliday that's how you want to see him eat it right there and and unfortunately as it gets later in the day it seems like the bite is there's been a lot tougher and he just lost that one fish literally that just happened about 30 minutes ago he's trying to lead that fish around that bridge pile and he's pulling as hard as he can you can see it's a really heavy fish and then oh just that's brutal for anybody to watch right now the angler with the best shot of Casey Ashley overtaking him as this man Takahiro Omori started the day with the lead and he has done a good job of staying in touch with that top position all day long Kevin something almost every one of our anglers that's fishing deep and I'm not they're not concentrating on that hard line at timber which that's what a lot of people would you come to this lake you feel a while just get out in 47 feet hammer the inside that timber it's the slick areas inside of that timber from 30 to call it 43 feet of water why do they get on that featureless stuff more than the cover well they're on that transition where they're starting to move in and it is an inside edge there you know the bait moves along that same edge inside that timber especially because we had that ice melt off in that rain melt off earlier you see a lot of these guys fish in these shallow drains these ditches these little short creeks where we had that freshwater coming in so it moved a lot of those fish that earlier I mean when they came down before the off-limits before Christmas time there was a lot of fish out over that timber these fish have moved in it's getting towards spring and again that fresh water coming in the lake was a big part of that the first thing when we were watching Randy Howell on that bridge you could see the current member out of that those pilings and it had those fish concentrated there you know every one of those bridges is a pinch point and it's moving the bait through there the baits drifting through there and the bass were ambushing and that's why he had such a great start we've seen a couple of our anglers in the top 20 of this tournament when we started were it just has disappeared Dean Rojas right now one of those anglers that happened to you in 2008 where you were crushing them through our practice and the first day explained what happens moving over right now that lied with I can le yeah you know I mean when we were here that time I thought if I was ever gonna win a classic it was going to be that when I had a great practice I was catching my fish on a deep crankbait in the in the clear end of the the lake down near the dam and yeah that's what you want to see on your graph right there you know that's Mike has been fishing very specific spots you know he's he's spent a lot of time with his electronics and practice looking for these little ditches and things and you see he's getting real birdie right there you know he's feeling it he knows he's got his jig in an area where there's probably a bunch of bass and he's just trying to make one of them bite when you see the activity on your graph like that but he's fishing these little ditches that go into these drinks these drains into these flats and there's a lot of cover in them there's a lot of brush and and some timber that's there in a lot of these areas he's been getting hung up some for sure what is between a ditch and a drain just curious is it the same thing you know that the difference really is is what part of the country you're from understand powdered and heard that in the last 10 in in Texas they call them drains and probably it you know up by us we call them ditches you know what do you call it drains riches it's a depth change and that's the way the bass move in and out to the banks and you know they'll sit and the last cover that are in those little drains waiting to move up to the bank and that's what he's concentrating you said you're given the nod right now to Casey Ashley especially with all the knowledge he has on this Lake yesterday after the way and we got to talk about it a little bit earlier Casey actually said he cannot figure out why he cannot get a jig bite that he can use at all yeah I saw Casey last night and he would he had gone through the weigh-in he'd rerigged his tackle and he was getting ready to shut it down for the night and I saw the look in his eye and he knows the opportunity that he has right now I mean he knows that he's in position to win the Bassmasters Classic it's hard to get yourself in that position and and I saw that kill zone look in his eye last night and he it's just a matter of capitalizing on a quality bite he's going to keep moving and you watch in the last couple hours one of these anglers is going to hit that right area that there's some activity that the bait and the bass collide and it's it's going to change the classic it's going to change what happens I'm hoping to see it right now definitely the case on day number two what did end up happening is when we shut down and we were headed to the arena some of the biggest mass of the day yesterday came between 1:30 and weigh in [Music] alright this is some of the action from yesterday's day to Geico Bassmaster Classic weigh-in and Casey Ashley obviously a huge ovation here in the heart of Casey Ashley country Greenville South Carolina as he enters this arena never been out of it been right up there with the leaders so far in this thing staying right there Casey Ashley remains in the top five 15 pounds 14 pounds I should say and 11 ounces to keep him right in the middle of things all his fans knowing he could get it done from there your 2014 Bassmaster Classic champion Randy Hall he did not catch a lot of fish one critical one on the right hand side right there Randy I'll catch you met at about 1:30 yesterday they solid solid a to keep him in contention Mike Iaconelli so many fans also in the crowd for him upgrades his total from 14-7 on day number number one to 69 on day number two I can le on a roll man I have a shot put me about put me about 2 to 4 pounds out of first gone into tomorrow and look out baby look out I hop out from Lake Havasu with an enormous first day over 20 pounds of ass Dean Rojas struggling a little bit on day number two he could not find those big large amount that he was on on day one solid weights going to keep him in the midst just over ten pounds second place Dean Rojas for me it mean everything you know it's something I've worked my whole life you know it's the childhood dream to hold hoist that trophy and become a work cut out for tomorrow but move down my mind I can do it a down day for Dean Rojas but he knows he still had a shot especially at that point still does out there on the lake and the man who took over the tournament on date number two a former classic champ from right here in South Carolina Takahiro Omori 15 pounds on day one and all the way bumping it up to 16 11 on day number two and Takahiro Omori knows that what he's doing is the vehicle that could take him to a second Bassmaster Classic title here in South Carolina don't whine I want a 2004 it's being like good every year number two it's great now is this the time I'd got enough fish left for championship Sunday that's a good question I also the big one the granddaddy of all the way it's coming up today and a kevin vanden I'm glad to hear you say you think it's gonna be some drama at the end and maybe we won't see it live because our broadcast ends at 1:00 o'clock Eastern Time but when we get to that big one that Super Six it could be some surprises quick question for you Kevin VanDam we're looking at Casey Ashley live right now and you said this tournament something's gonna happen there will be fireworks by the end of the day and they're jumping back to Randy Hall have you ever talked about talking here Oh Maury after he weighed in we were talking to him in the green room and I said how deep are you catching us 35 to 45 and I said you like fishing out there no he said absolutely not what is that you have watched every Bassmaster television show in the history of TV what is the deepest you have ever seen Takahiro catch a bass on camera I've never I've never seen him do anything except when we go up north smallmouth fish and he might be drop-shotting out there in 20 25 foot of water but that it's amazing because normally guys are gonna do their best they're gonna be you know in contention when they're fishing their strengths talk to hear oh he's outside his comfort zone but obviously when you get some bites like that to start your day it gives you a lot of confidence so he knows the opportunity that's in front of them too you know he's a former Classic champion it's amazing to see so many former champions in contention on this final day is that what really happens at a classic when you go to it you're gonna do everything you can to fish your strength well once you've won a classic nothing satisfies like wanting to be back there on that stage on the final day and it changes your mentality so you really have to to roll the dice you have to come up with a game plan that you feel confident in that just gonna give you a shot and you got to be able to to take the Quandt the consequences if you don't do well you know I can tell you when I go out there I'm not afraid to go out and bomb if I think my game plan is going to give me the opportunity to have a chance to win you've got to take chances this is an all-or-nothing event it's for all the marbles it's the biggest stage ever this is our Super Bowl and you got to lay it out there there's any tournament that you specifically all the classics you fished is a tournament that you this differently for than the rest of the year and 100% you try to think of all the variables that you can control you know one of the things that that I always think about is how the lakes going to set up for the conditions at the time of the year but the other things that you have in the classic better that are magnified you know the boat traffic things like that out there how it's going to set up look at the long term forecast come up with a game plan and go from there so you know right now this is one of the tightest classics we've had you look at that leaderboard anybody I mean any one of those guys going in today into the top ten had it you know had a chance and you know Bobby Lane is he's made a move up there and again we we know Brett Hite he's a solid fisherman he's a great deepwater fisherman he's right there any one of these guys can get that you ain't changing bike still oh yeah only thing with Jacob Rossler keeps was more than likely about max style I mean he's got a you know he's got a really really solid bag of fish he needs a giant to make a difference for him where some of these other guys you know if KC catches a six pounder it's going to be a huge upgrade to his bags and you know but so far Randy Howell to me is the guy that's got the you know the opportunity there to to really make a big move you know he's caught some good fish we've saw him lose a couple of big fish if he can hook and land a couple of those fast in the afternoon is going to get better for him to you know that last hour is gonna be critical and he knows it you look at him at this time yesterday a very similar situation deadly slow for him makes it turn around in the last couple of hours to put himself right back in it who's to say that couldn't happen again very close to be right there that's bigger than that you know one of the thing that I one of the things I've noticed is the spectators are really giving these guys a lot a lot of room and in this clear water that's real important you know you don't want the extra noise the extra sound around you and you know they're really giving them a wide berth and a great distance how do you especially coming off the last year's classic at Guntersville not as many spectators this year because of the weather obvious reasons right now how do you deal with that coming into a classic and how you're gonna fish that Classic knowing you're gonna have the biggest flotilla out there on you yeah it's definitely something that you have to deal with you know you always think how you want to approach an area you know most of the time I have to shut down way back in I Lynn so you're not really just washing it out you know when you got 75 80 boats following you it definitely can create a disturbance so you know I plan for that it's something that is is part of our sport now and especially with this live coverage now you know people are gonna be able to know where guys are at and what's going on bass track has helped with that too and in the fans they know what we're you know what we're trying to do out there and they know what's on the line and believe it or not it's been better than than ever the last several years do you purposely hold back certain areas through a tournament and not show the spectators everything the first day well it you try I mean that's in your game plan they'd be nice you know to go out and catch a giant sack the first day of the classic and try to hold back and save a spot or two that you that you don't go to but really in reality you can't you've got to catch as much as you can every single day look at the first day skeet and Dean Rojas both had over 20 pounds they capitalize on that opportunity when they had the chance they got in an area where the big fish are at and they were biting and you got to wrack up the leaderboard when you can so you can have a little cushion if you have a tougher second day and that's exactly what happened for both of those guys and you know the number one thing I said going into this well before this event is consistency over three days is going to be very hard to do on Hartwell and that's why but you're here hi yeah Andy Howell I've just took one up on a block yeah get that fish fried going on that picker okay where he's supposed to be team I'm sure that really got it going right there you know he's been fishing hard that has been a great spot for him then what to get a bite yeah I know it's about to be he was five pounder with facing him up on them rocks and he grabbed my bait trying to get out of the way I saved his life and now I'm gonna get that fast I know I know if I could just just make some of this stuff happening I say I thought I'd I didn't think I thought it got off it and I was reeling fast I could I'm the tail my line was still coming to me fast as I could wind it oh it has to catch [Music] now the raindrops are coming Kevin he's basically stayed he's really stayed with one bait the entire week on these bridges that right there tells you that he has a ton of confidence in what he's doing you know I mean he won the Bassmasters Classic blessed you're doing the same thing and it really surprises me because he knows especially this particular spot right here he's caught a lot of his fish right there that he hasn't thrown a jerk bait or or really you know fish to jig a lot you can see looking at you know the the deck of his boat he's got some other rods out he's got several different crank baits to cover the you know all the depth owns there but he's throwing the same color he's not even showing him a shad color bait as opposed to that Red Cross you know so that that surprises me a little bit but the fact that he has so much confidence and you can tell I mean that that's what he knows is going to be the bait for if he's going to be able to win for somebody that's a at home right now watching this obviously it's been all over the map how these guys are catching up these areas these pinch points that he's concentrating on here what he did at Guntersville they're their own environment they have everything fish need no doubt I mean the big difference here is you can see again it is just as still as as glass out there there's no current on those bridge pilings at all and there's no reason for this bass to congregate as much around this area there they're not going to leave that area they're gonna be around but when you get some current and and the wind will create that or if you had them you know generating some power there it's gonna pull those fish up on those rocks in the zone where they're gonna bite the bite lasted a lot longer it really did the bite lasted a lot longer today went to almost almost 11 that lock we have very very consistent bites yesterday it was 921 and it was finished but the window this morning was definitely longer than it was on day two yeah the cloud cover really helps with that you know this time of the year these herring are the most active at night so you know early in the morning right at sunrise there's a flurry you know these bass are attacking these pods of bait that time of year you saw that earlier with Mike Iaconelli the bass came up busting right in front of top even in this cold water you know chasing bait all the way up and that winds down you know I mean the clock is ticking after sunrise and it's slowly going to go away this time of the day is that low and again you're gonna see a little bit of flurry or you're gonna see some activity again late in the day right near the time when these guys got to check-in we're watching Casey Ashley right now I want to just stay on something that you've watched all tournament with him you talked about it on day number one throwing a 3/8 ounce fish head spin zoom super fluke junior you said the retrieve with this bait the retrieve it's the number one key with this water temp no doubt and that's the thing that is so cool about this live coverage is you can really focus on exactly what these guys are doing how slow they're turning the handle how they're shaking the rod tip I noticed that with with Dean Rojas he was really shaking the rod tip on that shake he had a lot more than I would thought you know you would want to be doing in this cold water but that's but that's what it took for him to trigger these fish so you know you can really see it exactly what's going on how these guys are adapting as the as the conditions change during the day and and what they're trying to do you know Mike Iaconelli has been fishing extremely you know persistent in these areas you know he's got a lot of confidence out there and he's been fishing real slow back to our leader Casey Ashley again we're getting close to hitting the final 2 hours within 20 minutes we'll leave the final two hours of fishing Lake Hartwell and start down tighten up just a little bit but a lot can happen as you pointed out KPD well the big thing you're noticing is these guys are feeling the intensity too they're doing a lot less talking at this you know stage of the game you know the first day everybody's talking a lot they're telling what's going on they know they got a live camera they know everybody in the expo is watching what they're doing now they're so laser focused on trying to get that one key bite that they're really quiet they know they want to be ready for that moment Casey Ashley almost every single area he's fishing between call it 25 feet of water and 40 he said it's slick there is nothing there the clay bottom is believe it or not is is what a lot of these fish really like to relate to and when it gets conditions like this when they're pulling them up off there you can see the clay drip off their bellies they'll be they are flat on the bottom we've seen chanson of their graphs with them right on the bottom like that and these fish are just waiting there in that transition time we see the clay worth having you were exactly I mean the clay is sticking to their bellies that's how tight they are on the bottom and you know he's just fishing that bait real slow and you know when he finally gets one cloak you know get some close to one pops it up just a little bit they're reacting to it you know early in the morning those fish might be up a little bit and moving around now he's just doing everything he can to try to get a good bite Casey Ashley who's been preparing for this tournament basically his whole life fishing something he's comfortable with here Dean Rojas maybe we've seen him fishing outside of his comfort zone and this the same story for pet for a few of our other anglers and it's just it's it's a test of skills and versatility really Rojas is the same position that Randy Hall was in the yesterday just getting to that five bass limit right now so critical on his final day yeah but Dean has a lot of confidence you know he grew up in Lake Havasu it's it's very similar to this it's it's a it's a desert Lake it's got real clear water to it and you fish a lot of drains and ditches out there too so he's you know this is right up his alley even though we normally were seeing him up there around the bank he loves to throw a frog and he loves to flip and he's a shallow-water fisherman for the most part he does have a lot of experience fishing this way [Music] where to Mike Iaconelli still got some Headroom they're still shy of a limit he can make a big impact on his score with one good hookup one thing to go back to 2008 Alton Jones throwing a half ounce jig he was trying to get that thing to fall as slow as he could in that cold water then I can le throw in a 3/4 and a 1 ounce explain that well one of the things when you have clear water like this is the rate of fall can really make a difference and get in fish that are neutral to react so Mike is fishing a heavier jig and a lot of his bites are gonna come on that initial fall so the faster fall that one ounce jig a lot of times they'll trigger a bass it's gonna fall quick if he can get it to land close to 1 they'll just react to your body and you know that's what he's trying to go for so I'm sure he's mixing it up and each day you got to figure out what it's going to take in your retrieve and the rate of fall on your lure that these fish are gonna want so you know he's got several rig down the deck of the boat and he's trying to you know just trying to get a clue as what's the best way to go on this given day you know and it's a challenge you know right now all these guys are really intense and it's tough you can see there's no activity out there there's no birds flying there's not a ripple on the water you know it's it's just at that time of the day where it's a grind and you're just hoping to get yourself in a good area and anything you can get this time of the day is a real bonus they know that the window is closing and and they're trying to do everything they can to put themselves in the position for that final hour another thing I can only said throughout practice going head back to Dean Rojas he said some of the crawfish that these baskets spit up for the size of lobsters being Rojas mother and just trying to get to number five Dean Rojas catches a five pounder he takes over the lead see these brutal days but these guys are hanging in there well they know it's just one bite you know they're one bite away from immortality two-three pounders four I he takes over the lead as a fan this is what you want oh no I mean this is he I've been watching the Bassmasters Classic since I mean is I mean since I was like a little kid and you know I mean always you know I want to be there and I want to be in contention but if I'm not I want to see a race like this and to watch it unfold right in front of your eyes on the final day it's incredible do you like winning the close ones or do you like blowing them away Kevin I tell you it's a whole lot funner like it was the last time in New Orleans when when you you know you know before the tournament even over you know in the end you put it away early that's right all your competitors are right there with you the one after that excuse me right before that you and the guy who is your chief competitor could see each other you kind of knew what was happening there Pittsburgh had to be a different story Pittsburgh was the most intense experience for me in my career you know because everybody knew there that one two pounder could could make the difference so and this is kind of similar to that you know we've got a really tight leaderboard everybody's real close together and and they're just trying to make it happen you know it's amazing you know Randy's kind of getting away from his his bridge pattern a little bit and you know he's trying something different he's trying to make something happen here he knows that his window is closing and he's just trying to make something happen this was about the time yesterday when Randy Hall decided to go to some of these shallower docks you notice on any one of these docks the slope of the bank and throughout this tournament the biggest fish have been on the shallower boat docks yesterday Randy Hall with an enormous one at one thirty starting to see a little bit of sprinkle on the water there I mean gosh the best thing that could happen at this point is to get a little bit of weather to get a rain you know a good rain shower something to trigger these fish to get them fired up just a little bit you know I mean all these guys are just they're just looking for for that clue when that window of opportunity is going to open up they see Ashley in the lead again he's trying to be the first true local to ever win a history the Bassmaster Classic on his home lake [Music] still alive and back to Michael Iaconelli 2003 Classic champion these guys are killing me right now I just I'm just dying to see something happen you know we're all just it's just I could I can watch this every day all day I want to tell you something that this is pretty cool is it is exactly what has happened all tournament long it's like the whole lake turns on at one time and you start to see shots fired boom boom boom and you see the leaderboard switch up and when this Lake has shut off during this event everybody slows down you know one thing you don't you don't really think about is what these camera guys in the backs of these boats go through and the crew that we have on the Bassmasters is incredible I mean they travel the circuit all year long boy that he was getting twitchy there but our camera guys are the best in the business they have to have that camera on their shoulder all day long with the trigger Paul because they're not gonna they can't miss that moment they don't want to miss that hook set when Mike Iaconelli catches a five pounder or that fish bite so these guys are just as intense at their job and what they have to do they got to stay on on point and be focused all day long - it's tough because you know they're moving around they feel the same things that the anglers feeling in front of them they feel that intensity looking at the weights right now Tim we may go up a little bit you say by the end of the day we're definitely gonna go up and wait to win this thing has it surprised you did you think more or less coming into this I guessed based on when we had the conditions that we had that I thought it was going to take about 16 pounds a day you know I mean before that if we had a little you know a good warming trend or a you know you know a trend where we had some wind you know some good weather coming in that it's gonna make the fish a little more active I thought it might be you know a pound or two higher than that but this lake is full of three and four pound bass but it's hard to catch a five and a half or six or even a seven pound bass there's just not a big population of a big you know truly giant fish like a Guntersville has so it's gonna make for a you know should make for a tighter race and that's exactly what's happened that we're starting to see a lot of different things happening right now Takahiro Omori have been out drop shotting throwing the jig really the entire tournament the first time we're starting to see that as you say Kevin a decision is gonna change it yes exactly I mean you know he is he's not gone to the bank and done this yet obviously you can see the you know the the coverage at night he's seen how the other anglers are fishing this is talk the hero strength right here this is what he loves to do this is how I expected him to be catching the fish you know when I saw the first day you know that Takahiro had a solid day I thought he was throw to crankbait someplace because that's what he loves to do and here is you know making that change [Music] we've had some of our anglers saved our our experts on stage say hey you need to be fishing something new every day of this classic do you you subscribe to that theory well the biggest thing about Hartwell is it it definitely is a specific spot type Lake but it's also a pattern Lake and that you can fish the conditions you know if you do get the wind you can you can move around the baits going to move around and you know those anglers that that keep themselves moving have a greater shot or I believe you know in my mind I have a better shot of getting myself into an area that has some activity in it and you know right now all of our anglers are just trying to make something happen they're all moving they're all trying to do some different things and just trying to get a clue of something that that'll tip them off that they can you know that they can go this last bit of the day and make a move without this front without the front that hit earlier in the week where we lost literally seven to nine degrees a water temp were you looking at twenty pounds a day I think you had the potential for you know four guys to catch twenty several days and then half 18 pound day for sure you know it's just it's hard to be consistent at that level to you know to find one area that's going to hold up like that you're not really going to do it on one spot it's amazing to me I'm already surprised that Takahiro has done so much damage off of one spot you know but you can see that the conditions have changed enough each day that it's it's changed his game plan you know it's really slowed down for them so one of these guys is going to make something happen in the wee hours of the Bassmasters Classic and like I said it's going to be game changing and it's going to be the difference that's the guy that's going to hoist the trophy [Music] [Music] the one like that that just Alan like it's quick bigfooting happening or that's the spot [Applause] you saw that graphic with Randy al not only did he go from 11th to 1st place he was more it was 9 pounds the lead to start the final day of that classic there which just shows you dramas out there he knows that it can be done and I'm sure that's what he's thinking about right now he knows he needs to get you know he's got to catch some vision in the in the we in the closing hours here and we talked to heroes in the same boat you know he's he's changing it up I think he's trying to make something happen here you can bet though that he's going to visit his his favorite spot you know and hope that some activity some fish move in I mean late in the day and these guys know they know the guys in the top five Kevin they know I'm one bite from winning this thing [Music] they're not saying a word anymore no GracePoint for an hour it's been like that right it's just the intensity you can feel it literally in the last hour we have not heard a single hurt nobody breaking down their patterns nobody given their thoughts about it they all know that this is the time of the day that you make or break your classic [Music] starting to rain and Takahiro doesn't even care he's not gonna take even time to put his crane suitor on or anything you know he's just he is so focused right now just trying to do whatever he can to get a bite folks we're going to probably start heading to the Rena a little bit let's give it up here in the expo all these anger is it there's been so many of these people that have hung here all weekend long with those Tommy Sanders and I'm gonna tell you Kevin you said it on day number one and I mean this I had never experienced what we got to experience covering this tournament it's been trial error failure success but I can tell you somewhere what happened here this week covering this will change the way I promise it'll change the way we call return of it no doubt about it this live coverage is just you know it's it's it's amazing you know it's it's incredible you can see things that you just don't normally had and immediately in the first hour of the first day of the mass master classic we already had drama I mean we already had game-changing moments and you and we're seeing that again to this point I mean I'm still tingling is there any shot you would consider retiring and being a commentator with Sanders and myself you know be honest this is enjoyable because I'm a fan but I don't I don't really want to do this whole time take a look at the legal leaderboard as we wrap up our live coverage from the Bassmaster Classic Casey Ashley took that lead over early this morning in the first hour of fishing and he hangs on to a two and a half pounds but look at position number two Bobby Lane from down the bottom of the top ten has risen all the way up to within a pound or so of him talk to hero Mori hanging in there at 43 three still well within the grasp of Jacob ferocity Dean Rojas my guy came out like Brett Hite and could all do something pretty spectacular and get right up there as well we were hoping to see that breakaway moment happen before we finished our coverage here KBB

Channel: Bassmaster

Views: 2,770,767

Rating: 3.8482454 out of 5

Keywords: BASS, B.A.S.S., Fishing, bass fishing, Bassmaster, Bassmaster Classic, Lake Hartwell, Bass Live

Id: M_2PSRIs8LE

Length: 239min 2sec (14342 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 07 2018