Posted March 30th, 2007  11:12pm CST

Jordon Busts Out 32 Pound Limit.....Sits in Second

Story by Brent Conway & Mark Jeffreys / Photos by Mark Jeffreys 

Still, as anglers gathered in the bag line, there was little doubt that Friday’s weigh-in would be one for the ages. The only real question was who among the 108 pros gathered in line would be around to fish Saturday, as all agreed that while Friday was amazing, the weekend was going to simply be freakish.

Ending the second-day speculation was day one leader Greg Gutierrez who crossed the stage with another massive limit, this one weighing 33-13. The limit – one pound heaver than Thursdays - gave him the lead by almost 11 pounds heading into Saturday’s 12-man cut. 

The staggering weight brought his two-day combined weight to 66-10. “Like I said yesterday, I’m on fire right now,” the full-time firefighter exclaimed. “I’m just catching fish all day long, laughing and having fun.”

Kelly Jordon brought another stout bag to the scales, with Friday’s coming in almost 10 pounds heavier weighing 32-8. The improved limit shot his combined weight to 55-11 allowing him to jump 25 places into the second-place chair. In third place Friday was California pro Skeet Reese with a two-day total weight of 54-5, anchored by Friday’s limit weighing 27-9. 

Peter Thliveros started the day in third place, but fell to fourth Friday with a two-day total weight of 54-2. Pete’s limit weighed 25-7, and put him a scant 12 pounds out of the lead. Rounding out the top five was Ish Monroe, also from California, who weighed 20-7 Friday, giving him 53-0 for two days of fishing.

With a record-setting 50th-place cut weight, two people tied for the coveted spot, which guarantees no less than $10,000. Todd Faircloth and James Kennedy each wound up with a two-day combined weight of 41-11. Co-angler Jim White weighed the largest single-day limit ever brought to the BASS scales at 33-8.

Gutierrez: Running his Game
Greg Gutierrez is past the point of simply being on fire. The fulltime fireman is literally a raging inferno right now he’s so hot. It’s almost cliché to say, but he’s so dialed in going into the last two days of the tournament that it’s not even funny. “First thing this morning I figured that I had a good enough take off position that I could run straight to the state park,” he said. 

“I pulled up with a swimbait and right off the bat whacked and eight-pounder. That’s pretty much how my day started right there.”

As he did on Thursday, Greg said that he’s keying on pre-spawn almost exclusively. “I’m working the jig in staging areas, and while I am starting to see some fish move in, I feel like I’ve got enough pre-spawn to last,” he said. “Besides, at worst if they move up, I’ll have to sight-fish – I can do that too. I really don’t feel like I can keep the pace up with pre-spawn fish exclusively.”

Should his pre-spawn fish run out, Gutierrez isn’t concerned in the least. If it comes to sight fishing, he’s confident that he has a prime area pegged. “I found one dock this afternoon that has 10 fish under it that will go 100 pounds,” he exclaimed. “If that doesn’t get your blood going nothing will.”

Jordon: Bed Fishing…Sort of
Kelly Jordon spent the day making up the ground that he knew he would need in order to be in a position to win come Sunday. Jordon focused on bedding bass – but wasn’t looking at any of them. “The ones that are in the biting stage are what I’m going for, regardless of whether they’re on a bed or not,” he said. 

“I have a really good feeling that I can go out tomorrow and just kill them. I saw every fish when I hooked it, but I wasn’t looking at a single fish today.”

While bed fishing wasn’t on the agenda for the first two days, Kelly has keyed into some healthy fish that are locked on should things change. “Tommorrow might be a different deal, and I’m okay with that,” he said. “The areas that I’m in are just loaded with fish that will be locked on in the next couple of days.”

“It would be nice to have one or two spots where you could just camp out and let the fish come to you, but I can’t do that here. It won’t work that way for me.”

“I’ll probably run to 40 or 50 spots over the course of the day, burn a ton of gas, and waste a lot of time running only to pull up and make a few casts,” he added. “It’s going to be interesting because there were literally tens of thousands of fish moving up. In the last hour of the day I must have seen 100 bass over eight pounds.”

At this point, there isn’t really any question that Preston Clark’s four-day record will be broken…it’s just by how much. “Records are going to fall,” Skeet said. “I’m on the pace to do it if I have 30 pounds over the next two days, and it’s possible at this lake, but I’m not going out each day with a ton of confidence. 

“I’m just scrambling around getting what I can. A bite or two can make the difference in a really solid bag or a so-so one.”

Peter T.: One Bite Away
Peter Thliveros started the day in third place, and ended it in fourth. That’s not too bad usually, but considering that he’s now 12 and-a-half pounds out of the lead it left him with a lot of work to do Saturday. “I dropped about four-and-a-half pounds today,” he said. “I broke a fish off today on the hookset that may have been a two pounder, or it could have been eight or better. 

Ish: Practice Mode
Ish slid down the leader board four place Friday, and admits that it amounted to only one bite – and the amount of time he spent looking for new areas for the weekend. “I didn’t get the big bite like I had yesterday,” he said. “I also spent a lot more time looking that I did yestereday because the water slicked off. I also didn’t spend as much time throwing the big swimbait for that same reason.”

Ish has his eyes on Sunday. Anything short of that will be a huge let down for the California pro. “My goal was to be in contention heading into the weekend, and I’ve done that,” he said. “Now it’s all about Sunday, and it’s very possible to make it because anything can happen here.”
 

Day Two Standings

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