Two-man race emerges at Lanier

Baksay, Farley out in front of FLW Series

GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The lead margin tightened up at the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Lake Lanier Friday.

Lanier continued to crank out limit after limit as local Tim Farley of Lula, Ga., brought 17 pounds, 15 pounds to the scales to pull within 13 ounces of leader Terry Baksay of Monroe, Conn. The rest of the Pro Division pack is roughly 5 pounds off the lead.

Since weights do not start from zero tomorrow, things should be interesting.

Baksay still leads with a three-day total of 47 pounds, 2 ounces. He brought in his lightest limit of the week, 13 pounds, 4 ounces, today.

“Things shut down in there a little today,” Baksay said. “My loon didn’t show me any love. He was there, but he wouldn’t come in and feed like he did yesterday (which seemed to cause nearby bass to feed as well).”

Baksay has yet to reveal exactly how he is catching his fish. He did say a jighead worm was taking a few keepers each day, but it’s not his primary lure.

As to why so many quality fish are in his area, Baksay surmises that hordes of big striped bass have the bait and bass pinned up in the area.

“Occasionally the big stripers will come up schooling out behind me,” he said. “I really think the bass are scared to leave that pocket because those big stripers will try to eat them, and the stripers are definitely helping keep the bait from going anywhere.”

Farley rebounds

Farley closed up Baksay’s 5-pound margin today with his 17-15 string and has put himself in a position to win tomorrow.

“I got in too big of a hurry yesterday,” Farley said. “I tried to catch a limit too quick, started running around too much and it got me off my game plan. But I got back on track today, and things went a whole lot better.”

Farley is mixing spotted-bass tactics and largemouth tactics to score his bigger strings. He secures a limit of spots early on a Swarming Hornet Fish Head Spin and then goes to largemouth water with his own Custom Farley crankbaits. Today his crankbait produced a 7-pound largemouth that anchored his string.

“I’m going to do the exact same thing tomorrow,” he said. “I hope to get about 12 pounds of spots in the first couple of hours and then go largemouth hunting.”

Fukae rockets to third

Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas, moved from 10th place to third today on the strength of a 14-pound, 9-ounce limit for a three-day total of 41 pounds, 14 ounces.

Fukae said he got the big bites today that made the difference.

He is using a Yamamoto Cut-tail worm on 1/16- and 1/8-ounce jigheads to catch his fish in water from 10 to 20 feet deep.

If he is going to catch the leaders tomorrow, he’ll need another big bag, as he is just over 5 pounds off the lead.

Sisk fourth

Marty Sisk of Evansville, Ind., caught his best stringer of the week today, 16 pounds, 3” border=”1″ align=”right” /> ounces, to move into fourth with 41 pounds, 8 ounces.

“The largemouth suddenly showed up for me today,” Sisk said. “That was the main difference. I’ve been catching spots all week, and today I caught two largemouths, which helped me out.”

Sisk wouldn’t reveal what he is using, except to say he is not throwing a jighead worm.

“I’m catching mine closer to the surface,” he said. “I’m running about 20 points in a three- to four-mile stretch of the lake, and I’ll catch one here and one there. I need wind though. If it gets dead slick, I’m toast.”

Strader fifth

Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., moved up to his best position of the week, fifth, with a three-day total of 41 pounds, 7 ounces.

During the cloudy, windy weather over the last two days, Strader has caught his fish slow-reeling a Long A Bomber on the surface.

But today, that bite evaporated under clear, blue skies with little wind.

“I had to go to a Zoom watermelon finesse worm on a 1/16-ounce jighead, today,” Strader said. “I also caught two of my best fish on a Zoom Fluke under floating docks. There’s a bunch of big fish under those floating docks down by the dam, but getting them to bite is a nightmare – I reckon the water is too clear.”

Rounding out the top 10 pros that will be fishing for $100,000 in the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Lake Lanier on the final day:

6th: Tim Peek of Sharpsburg, Ga., with a three-day total of 40-2

7th: Jody Cordell of Flowery Branch, Ga., with a three-day total of 40-0

8th: JT Kenney of Daytona Beach, Fla., with a three-day total of 39-14

9th: Mike Auten of Benton, Ky., with a three-day total of 39-12

10th: Tom Mann, Jr., of Buford, Ga., with a three-day total of 39-10

The takeoff Saturday has been changed from Little Hall Park to Bolling Mill Park on Lake Lanier at 7 a.m.