Day 2 Clear Lake Midday Update

Cooling conditions may stir things up on the leaderboard

Day two of the Costa FLW Series Western Division event presented by Evinrude saw the high clouds of an approaching cold front reaching across Clear Lake and dazzled anglers with a cotton candy sunrise. As the morning progressed, cloud cover and slightly cooler conditions bespoke the kind of variance that could bring significant change to the standings.

As we’ve reported, the lake is far from its historic form, largely due to massive grass eradication and a recent fish kill. Nevertheless, several quality fish showed up at yesterday’s weigh-in and a few anglers found good ones this morning.

Fifth-place pro Jimmy Reese plucked a good fish from under a dock. The catch probably helped assuage the anguish of losing an estimated 7- to 8-pounder early this morning.

We followed day-one leader Bryant Smith early and saw him culling by 8:30. He’s fishing docks with an aggressive style that sees him tucking in close and making quick presentations to nearly every piling.

Docks seemed to be the real magnet today. Others spent time on tules, points and rock edges, but a lot of anglers were pitching to pilings. Smith says the clouds were muting the sunlight that he needed to tighten the fish to the structure.

Another angler who would’ve preferred more sun is local stick Paul Bailey, who’s currently in 12th place. True to form, Bailey’s choosing to forgo lots of action in the interest of nailing the big bite. He had three keepers in his well by 9:30, one of which was about 4 1/2 pounds.

Interesting to note that third-place pro Kyle Grover didn’t seem to mind the clouds. He’s fishing residential canals and catching his fish by punching pennywort mats and flipping docks, laydowns and any other cover he encounters. You’d think he would want more sun to better position his fish in predictable spots; but he says he’d had more action this morning than he during the same time period yesterday.

When we left him at 11:15, Grover had a limit of 13-14. If he continues plucking good ones out of his area, he could be poised to make a move at today’s weigh-in.

Yesterday saw the later flights of boat bringing in better bags and as our coverage team got back on shore the sun was beginning to warm things up quite a bit. Don’t be surprised if guys in the middle of the pack make a big move on the leaderboard today with the help of a late-day kicker.

Weigh-in starts at 3 p.m. PT today and will more than likely see lots of shuffling among the top pros.