Two days down at Dardanelle and the leader, Sheldon Collings, has a surprising weight at over 30 pounds. Not trying to jinx the guy but there have only been 6 limits over 15 lbs weighed in the entire boater field and he has weighed two of them. I'd call him a local as he's from Grove just over the border on Grand in Oklahoma, however I bet his stomach is in knots, guy has never won, only two top 10's in 32 events....interesting to see if he can close the deal for a whole lot of cash and a berth into the All American. Couple really interesting notes, I don't think a single Arkansan made the top 12 cut even though a bunch of them qualified through the Okie. Scanning down the leaderboard of guys that seem to have a shot at the win watch Roger Fitzpatrick down in 4th, although he hasn't wont in 6-7 years, he has won, actually several times on several lakes, guy to watch. Day 1 leader, well I think I jinxed him some, he was only able to put 4 in the boat for 9 pounds, less than half his day 1 weight. Our sole Texan fishing today is Lew's pro Dicky Newberry, creeping up 2 places to 8th. We talked last night, he's catching same size fish everyday, however the little area he's in has produced some 5-6 pound fish in the past, he's the most accomplished guy in the top 12 in both BFL and Costa series events, but again, he needs some luck with a big bite or probably two to make up a pretty big deficit. He does however have every chance to get into the top 6 and get another All American berth, which I know from talking to him was his #1 goal.

Day 1 is in the books and from talking to my buddies that fished yesterday the lake seemed to fish as tough as it always does this time of year, however surprisingly there were over 30 limits weighed on the boater side, and not at all surprisingly only 3 on the co side. Leading the boater side Jeffrey Smith out of...wait for it, Knob Noster, Missouri. I really hoped that the name was a play on Knob Monster and that there were tons of Bigfoot in the area, but alas Noster is Latin for "our", so it's "Our Knob", the hills in the area being the Knob, totally boring. Don't know  the guy, but he has a couple BFL wins, this year as a boater and a win at the Costa level as a co-angler interestingly on Dardanelle last year. He has a big lead but it's three days and Dardanelle will just get tougher everyday, will see if he holds up under the pressure. Surprising mixture of locals and guys that drove a ways in the top 20, couple KenSmithFishing notable buddies, Toledo guide and damn handsome man Stephen Johnston (running Humminbirds!)  in 9th with 12-12, George Clooney look-a-like and Lew's pro Dicky Newberry right there poised to make top 12 cut for tomorrow sitting in 11th with 11-15, BFL Cowboy AOY from Bossier City Nick LeBrun with 4 quality fish (hey, it's Dardanelle) sitting 17th with 11-0, and Okie stick, and unfortunately Oklahoma football fan, Chris Jones hanging around at 18th with 10-14. Like to see all those fishing tomorrow, so good vibes their way.

With the Ram Series coming to Texoma in a couple weeks I know a lot of guys will be heading that way soon. I spent the weekend up there and the fishing was pretty good. Water temp 68-72, which should trigger the topwater bite but I could not get one going. I was catching most of my fish on chunk rock banks where they start flattening out, and a good number of schoolers on sand drop points. Especially anywhere the wind was making a current. My go to baits were the Crush Mini25 mostly in the Citrus Shad color and on a hard head, however I have found trying both that I get more bites throwing an old school Yamamoto Hula Grub, the big one (5") on a 3/4 ounce head. I have trouble getting a hook in a lot of fish with the Biffle Bug, and I don't have that problem and think i may actually get more bites on the Hula. Been sticking with really subtle colors, mostly a couple variations of watermelon. The summer boat traffic is almost gone up there so the fishing is about to get good! 

The folks at Yamamoto are hard at work and bringing out some interesting new stuff. The newest bait just became available this week, the Sanshouo Salamander available at that link. One of the things I have really come to believe is that fish get to the point where they will not bite a bait that they have been caught on repeatedly before. I reaffirmed this recently with a trip to a clients private lakes where the first day the fish just crushed a YamaFrog, and then each subsequent day after the first they got harder and harder to catch on it. So I'm interested to throw something they have never seen before, which they absolutely have not with the Sanshouo. HOPEFULLY right behind this will be the Zako....which if you haven't heard of you have not been watching the Bassmasters on TV. A google search of Zako will show it was a player at Toledo, Cayuga, the Potomac, Hite designed it and has been whacking them with it, along with several other pros that are not Yamamoto guys, if you watched the footage you saw others quietly using it as well. Little birdie tells me it will be available to the rest of us within the next two weeks!