Wolfe Seizes Lead on Grand
Wisconsin pro takes 2-5 lead into final day of the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event
There was a lot of flip-flopping happening on the leaderboard on day two of the Costa FLW Series on Grand Lake presented by Evinrude and hosted by the City of Grove.
The day one leaders in first and second took a tumble and fell out of the top-10. In all, five anglers dropped out of the top-10 from day one and five new ones moved in to take their spots.
Yesterday’s top spots were taken up by locals, but today Wisconsin’s Jesse Wolfe moved into the lead. Wolfe brought in four bass for 19 pounds, 13 ounces on day one. Today he brought in a five bass limit, but they weighed less than his four bass from yesterday: 19 pounds, 7 ounces. Nevertheless, consistency is king in multi-day tournaments and Wolfe now leads with 39 pounds, 4 ounces.
Fishing extremely slow with a Super K jig has been the key for Wolfe to this point.
“It’s fishing fast, but slow is the best way I can put it,” Wolfe says. “I’ll cover water quickly, but when I get to the right kind of bank with the right kind of features, I’ll really slow down and pick it apart. The bites are few and far between: only four yesterday and six today. But they are the quality I’m looking for.”
Out of nine fish over the last two days, Wolfe has weighed in three over 6 pounds.
Wolfe added that his “extra two bites” today were the result of settling down and really focusing his effort in one general area.
“I lost my morning to running around too much yesterday,” he says. “I tried to run up river and get something going up there and it didn’t work out. So I came back down and settled down in one area in the afternoon. Today I went straight there and just settled in and went to work. I’ll spend as much as 30 minutes fishing one stretch if I feel it’s a good place. Patience is a big part of it.”
Wolfe will now carry a 2-pound, 5-ounce lead into the final day.
Meador leads co-anglers
In the Co-angler Division, Steven Meador of Bella Vista, Ark., leads with a two-day total of 27 pounds, 9 ounces.
Similar to the pro leader, Meador is fishing a jig and his bites are few, but his quality makes up for it. He has been one fish short of a limit the last two days, but yesterday his four-fish catch included a 5-pounder and today he weighed in a 6-pound, 11-ounce Grand Lake gorilla.