TICONDEROGA, N.Y. – It’s Thursday at beautiful Lake Champlain. The sun is shining. The bass are biting. And 332 EverStart Series anglers are competing on this amazing fishery to make the cut and collect the biggest chunk they can from this Northern Division tournament’s $210,000 total purse. Despite what the economists are saying, it seems that everything is just fine with the world.

Anglers hauled a near-record 180 five-bass limits to the scale Wednesday. Expect that trend to continue Thursday as competitors gun for a top-20 position to qualify for Friday’s semifinals. With the two-day cut weight estimates in the Pro Division hovering anywhere from 26 to an eye-popping 30 pounds, anglers will be pulling out all the stops to notch a hefty five-bass total on day two. Co-anglers might need as much as 19 or 20 pounds in the opening round to advance.

Thursday’s weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. at the Ticonderoga City Ramp located at the end of Fort Ticonderoga Road. The four-day tournament goes through Saturday, when the pro winner will receive $15,000 and a Ranger boat, and the co-angler winner takes home $6,000.

Today’s conditions

Sunrise: 5:35 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 61 degrees
Expected high temperature: 77 degrees
Wind: from the southeast at 3 mph
Relative humidity: 66 percent
Day’s outlook: mostly sunny

Day-two link:

Pairings