Posted  March 15th, 2008  5:23 pm CST

Jordon Blanks.....Sedgwick and Hudgins Make a Move

Story by Dan O'Sullivan - Photo by Mark Jeffreys

Lake Whales, Fla.  – Day three of the Bassmaster Elite Series proved to be a difficult day for many of the anglers who had climbed to the top of the peak at the Citrus Slam after the second day of the second stop on the Elite Series schedule.

Kelly Jordon of Mineola, Tex. and another Texan, Byron Velvick of Del Rio who are among the best at targeting bedding bass, dominated the top of the day two leader board. But as the conditions began to change and the amount of pressure on the Kissimmee Chain’s bedding bass population the dynamics of the leader board did as well.

The winds began to blow and the fish began to move, which opened the door for other tactics to play a role. When a tournament is on, Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich. is always a threat to climb any scoreboard. KVD rode the changing wave third place with San Mateo, Florida’s Big Show, Terry Scroggins close behind in fourth place, and Little Rock, Arkansas Scott Rook ended the day in 5th position.

As day three progressed it became evident that the sightfishing bite had blown away with the wind and anglers targeting post spawn fish had taken center stage away from the sight fishermen.

At the end of the weigh-in VanDam rode his offshore pattern to a 13-pound, 6-ounce limit to bring his total weight to 49 pounds, 1-ounce to grab the lead heading into the final day. Should the two-time Bassmaster Classic winner be able to hang on to his lead, he will keep pace with last week’s winner, Mike McClelland, who has won three Elite Series tournaments.

In second position was Rook, who matched VanDam’s daily weight of 13 pounds, 6 ounces to give him a three-day total of 47 pounds, 0 ounces. Behind Rook, in third place was Ray Sedgwick of Cross, S.C. who caught an 18-pound, 4-ounce limit to move him up from 20th place with 46 pounds, 4 ounces.

North Bend, Ohio’s Bill Lowen caught a 14-pound, 7-ounce limit to land in 4th place with his 44-pound, 12-ounce total for the first three days.

Second day leader Kelly Jordon failed to bring a keeper to the scales on day three, however, his two day total of 44 pounds, 3 ounces was enough to keep him in the top 5 heading into the final day.

The big mover of the day was Bryan Hudgins of Orange Park, Fla. who crushed a 20-pound, 10-ounce limit on day three to leap to 6th place from his day two position of 34th place.

The rest of the day three Elite 12:

7th Kenyon Hill 43-0
8th Rick Morris 42-15
9th Alton Jones 41-9
10th Bobby Lane 41-7
11th Terry Scroggins 41-5
12th Jeff Reynolds 40-13

VanDam: Fighting Big Winds
While he is usually a proponent of fishing big winds, they heavy gusts actually hurt VanDam on day three as he tried to fish the deeper grass lines on Lake Toho. “The fish are in very precise points along those edges,” he told The BASS ZONE. “The wind blowing as hard as it did today made it too difficult to stay on those spots to fish them effectively.”

The 12-time BASS winner said that he caught a couple of his fish, including his 6-pound, 10-ounce kicker on his deeper hydrilla edges this morning before having to run to protected water. “I would have liked to stay there and tried multiple baits at each of these areas because they are full of big fish, but I couldn’t control the boat enough to stay on them,” he said.

VanDam reported that he is using three baits primarily to target the edges and clumps of hydrilla in the seven to ten foot range of Lake Toho. “I am using both1/2 and 3/4-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad lipless crankbaits in a chrome Sexy Shad color, and have been catching some fish on a King Shad as well,” he said depth presentation is key. “The fish are coming up to eat these baits, so I am trying to fish them above their heads.”

He also said that the area is his best hope to close out his third Elite Series victory, so he will go back there tomorrow and try to fish them as best as he can. 

The other factor has been that he has shared the area for three days with Jason Quinn, who managed only four fish today and won’t be out there tomorrow. He is hoping that the success that Ray Sedgwick had today will mean that more fish are coming into the area. 

“Ray is fishing outside of the area that Jason and I have been fishing, and he had a good bag today [18-4], so maybe those fish are moving into the area I’m in,” he concluded. “I will be there all day tomorrow though, it’s all I have.”

Sedgwick’s Tough Practice Leads to “Depression”
Ray Sedgwick had a tough practice and did not expect to be in the Elite 12, but it was a depression in his area that has produced the majority of his fish. “I am fishing three and a half feet deep when the rest of the area is two and a half,” Sedgwick told The BASS ZONE. “I am doing a lot of different things, but they have to be slow, and around the area with pads and hydrilla mixed together.”

Sedgwick reported catching most of his weight on the first two days on a spinnerbait, a Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Worm and Z-Nail along with an Aruku Shad lipless crankbait. “I’m doing a lot of different things, but they all have to be fished slowly,” said Sedgwick. “The water is clearer on the edge of that hydrilla and I think the fish are relating to that.”

He reported that he is fishing within sight of 2nd place qualifier Rook, but that they are fishing different types of cover, and that he thinks the fish are a new wave of spawners moving in. “The moon is growing, and the two big fish I caught today were both full of eggs, so I think these are new fish moving up,” he said. “I just think I will have to keep fishing slow and fish the conditions as they come.”

One of Sedgwick’s big fish was the day three Purolator Big Bass, a 7-pound, 7-ounce kicker that fell for the ultra Vibe Speed Worm. He reported that the wind made it difficult to slow down, and was forced to turn to the Aruku Shad lipless crankbait some today as a result.

Lowen: Hampered by Wind
Lowen said that his day could have been much better today if the wind would have allowed him to land what bit him. “I should have had a limit in about10 minutes this morning, but I lost two good fish because the wind is pushing my line everywhere and I can’t get a real good hook in them,” he said. “They were also not eating very aggressively today, they were biting behind the hook on my bait.”

The wind also forced Lowen to move around the corner to a secondary area that he feels don’t present as good an opportunity to win, and hopes that the wind will cooperate tomorrow. “It’s not that the other area is dirty, it’s got a nice sandy bottom, but it loosens everything up and I can’t move my bait through there easily,” he said. “If the wind dies down a little bit, I can go there, and I hope it does, because it is loaded with fish.”

Lowen said that he was not ready to reveal the actual technique he is using, but said that he is not flipping, as he did to place high last week at The Harris Chain.

Jordon: Had a Tough Day
Jordon, one of the best sight fishermen in the game looked like he fell flat on his face trying to force his sightfishing program today, but it was not the case. Despite the fact that he weighed in no fish at today’s weigh-in, he had caught enough the previous two days to remain in 5th place. 

The BASS ZONE had been following Jordon most of the morning and reported him catching a 1-pound fish fairly early. What The BZ didn’t know was that Jordon actually let that fish go in hopes of enticing the 10-pound female he was nesting with to bite. 

“I went in where I found the big fish yesterday and fired a Senko up there when the line jumped,” Jordon said. “I thought it was her, so I set the hook, but it was the 12 ½-inch male.” So after waiting a few minutes to let the nest cool off, Jordon released the little fish to try and make the female comfortable enough to bite again, but she never did.”

Instead of trying to force the program on Toho, Jordon ran to Kissimmee to fish around his roommate Zell Rowland who had a 17-pound bag on day two [Rowland finished 14th]. “Zell told me I could come fish down there around him, so I went and threw a Chatterbait, but missed six bites on it this afternoon,” he said. “But, that’s just how things go, and I’ll have to see what I can do tomorrow.”

Hudgins: Itching for Tomorrow
Hudgins spent much of the morning trying to find bedded fish and it resulted in the depletion of his trolling motor batteries; which cost him in the afternoon.

“I couldn’t fish much this afternoon because of low battery power, and I wish I would have had some more power, because I think it cost me,” the Orange Park, Fla. pro said. “I could only fish for about a half an hour this afternoon, but I caught most of my bag in that time.”

The area Hudgins is referring to is an area that he likes to use as a go to when things get tough, and despite his confidence in the area; today was the first time he used it. “I had so many other things going here that I didn’t go there,” he said. “But, I will be there all day tomorrow, I can assure you that.”

He reported that the area is a point of gator grass that filters out of a spawning area, and when the wind is not a factor, he throws a Carolina Rig, but in today’s wind, he caught most of his fish on a Spro Aruku Shad lipless crankbait. His big fish today was a 6-14, but he also reported losing an eight to ten pounder this afternoon as well.

“I’m dying to get out there and get started tomorrow, that’s for sure.”

Additional Notes

Kenyon Hill [7th place] didn’t have the kind of day he thought he would after yesterday, but is happy to be fishing tomorrow. “I went to my best stuff and was only able to get a small limit, so I picked up a Zoom Horny Toad and made bunches of casts,” the Norman, Okla. pro said. “The wind made it hard, but I had some good bites and hope I get to go out there and do it again.”

Bobby Lane [10th place] didn’t expect his weight to hold up to make the Elite 12, but said he had a lot of fun catching bunches of fish today. “I caught probably 20 fish today, just not any big ones,” Lane said. “I was a little surprised I didn’t get some big fish flipping the reeds outside like I normally can, but I sure had a lot of fun not catching big fish.”

Terry Scroggins [11th place] scrambled to catch what he did, saying that he should have spent more time doing homework on the sightfishing pattern. “I only found the sightfishing stuff with about two hours of practice left,” said Big Show. “But, I know Dean [Rojas, who finished 21st with 37-5] spent three days looking for bedding fish, and I finished with more weight than he did; so I’ve got to feel pretty good about that.”

Gerald Swindle chose not to fish the third day of the Citrus Slam after making a huge leap from 83rd to 44th place on the second day. Swindle left to be with his family after his brother Tony passed away from his long battle with cancer. 

Tony Swindle’s passing is the second such event to hit the Elite Series family in the past two weeks. Elite Series pro James Kennedy’s father passed away last week as the Elite Series was fishing their season opening event at the Harris Chain.

The BASS ZONE wishes to extend our condolences and thoughts and prayers to both families in their time of sorrow.

DAY THREE STANDINGS

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