Lake Eufaula Day 4 Coverage - Major League Fishing

Lake Eufaula Day 4 Coverage

It's almost over on Eufaula
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And in the boat she comes. A nice icebreaker for Morrow. Photo by Jody White. Angler: Troy Morrow.
May 17, 2015 • MLF • Archives

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2:25 p.m.: It's almost quittin' time

It's almost time to put this one in the books. Weigh-in starts at 4 p.m. CT. Tune in to FLW Live at FLWFishing.com to find out if Troy Morrow can hold on to his lead for one more day and walk away with his first Walmart FLW Tour victory.

Behind him is a murderer's row of bass fishing superstars – Shin Fukae, Clent Davis, Bryan Thrift, John Cox, and on and on – and they all want to steal his crown.

It's a hot summer day in the Deep South, but someone's going to win a cool $100,000. Join us via FLW Live to find out who.

 

Gussy watches this fish go airborne within feet of the boat after slamming his topwater.

1:45 p.m.: One hour left to fish

One hour remains, and not much has changed. An interesting deal is playing out for Randy Haynes, though. A school of stripers erupted out in the river channel behind him. He launched a cast and caught a white bass. "That's probably where my bass went, out with the stripers and shad," he said. Haynes' marshal, who's in a separate boat chasing the Tennessee pro, said that he was in 60 feet of water watching the action, and his depth finder screen was lit up with fish and bait. Maybe that's enough of a clue for Haynes to figure out where these fish have repositioned – possibly suspended out off the drops.

It's not too late to make a big move, especially since Zack Birge, Troy Morrow, Shin Fukae, Adrian Avena, John Cox and Wesley Strader have gone cold lately.

Bryan Thrift is catching a few. Gussy is still finding some willing surface biters. Troy Morrow has had a few bites this afternoon too. And Clent Davis has made a couple of strong culls.

We'll post one last blog update in about 30 minutes. In the meantime, stay tuned to the live On The Water feed for continuous updates.

 

1:05 p.m.: Morrow is slowly gaining steam

It's a sultry, sweaty day on Lake Eufaula. The heat has to be taking a toll on the top 10 pros. It certainly hasn't helped the fishing.

Troy Morrow did manage a couple more keepers. He's up to 12 pounds. Clent Davis and Bryan Thrift are still behind, though Thrift landed a 3-pounder about 30 minutes ago for a nice cull.

Right now this one's so tight that it's too tough to declare someone the leader. Our best guesstimate is that four pros are within a pound and a half of each other at the top.

Conditions update: There's no current flowing. The air temperature is in the upper 80s, with high humidity. A very light breeze is sweeping across the lake, but it's barely enough to ripple the water.

 

11:40 a.m.: Here we go! The action is picking up.

Get ready, because someone flipped a switch on Lake Eufaula. The action is starting to pick up. Tournament leader Troy Morrow just culled up by a pound. He's got 10 or 11 pounds now. Morrow is fishing a spot where, in practice, he saw two 8-pounders on his underwater camera. Wouldn't that be cool to see at weigh-in?

Jeff Gustafson is not getting a lot of bites, but he's getting big bites. He's got a 5 and a 3 in the livewell and lost another one that was 5 or 6 pounds. He's got a lot of time to get three more bites and possibly threaten Morrow's lead.

From the basement, Zack Birge is looking for redemption for Lewis Smith Lake, where he led going into the final day only to have 10th-place pro Dave Lefebre come from the bottom spot to win it. Birge has a 12-pound limit. He probalby needs 21 to 23 pounds to even have a shot, but this kid is more than capable of making that happen.

Also, don't forget about Clent Davis. He's already replaced two of his limit fish in the last 15 minutes. Davis has about 9 1/2 pounds, but if these offshore brush pile fish are turning on, he could sack up some giants in a hurry.

 

10:36 a.m.: This tournament is all knotted up as big bites are tough to come by

It's going to be a very close weigh-in today unless something drastic changes. The current flowed overnight and through the morning, but maybe the bass got all their feeding out of the way last night because they're not eating today. Right now, Troy Morrow has four fish for about 7 pounds, and Clent Davis has a limit of 8 pounds or so. Strader has four as well. They'll weigh about 8 pounds.

The only big fish reported thus far is the 5-pounder that Gussy caught this morning. Of course, he hasn't caught anything to go with it.

Now that the wind has died down and the sun is high, fish ought to be moving tight to the cover, but there's not much surface distrubance to disguise an angler's approach.

Fact is, this one's going to be a grind – but someone is still going to walk away $100,000 richer.

 

9:22 a.m.: Strader and Davis dealing with lost fish

How many busted-off fish have gotten away this week? We'll never know for sure, but it's certainly been a factor this week. Just about every angler in the top 10 has busted one off at some point in this tournament. The snaggy brush piles are surely to blame, either because fish have wrapped the line around a limb or because the limbs have abraded the line and weakened them enough to cause a break later.

Wesley Strader just lost his biggest fish of the day to a busted line at the net. Gussy broke one off on the hookset near a dock – another type of cover that is hard on line. And Clent Davis busted his line while trying to boat-flip a solid keeper.

These guys better tighten up a little bit if they want to chase down Morrow.

 

8:42 a.m.: Tough fishing for the top 10

Two stories are developing on Lake Eufaula on this Sunday morning. First off, the brush piles that most of the pros are fishing have been beat down to the point that they're not giving up many fish. In fact, Shin is the only offshore angler catching them right now, but he's fishing a little different pattern. Everyone else is struggling to piece it together. If the brush bite is a timing deal as most pros say it is, then when the fish start biting, the anglers must execute perfectly because every ounce is going to count for a lot today.

The other story to watch for is about the two pros at the bottom of the standings: Randy Haynes and Zack Birge. They're changing it up a little bit today. Haynes is hitting some new water, and Birge is up the river flipping grass. They know that they can't drop any farther in the standings, so they're swinging for the fences, and both are capable of catching mega-limits on this pond.

 

7:50 a.m.: Morrow and Shin catching them early

Troy Morrow has moved spots and is trying to time the brush pile bite. He's throwing a crankbait and a worm and has two quality keepers in the livewell.

Shin Fukae caught the most keepers yesterday and is at it again to day. He has four in the box and caught them pretty much one right after the other.

Zack Birge is in 10th place. He has a lot of ground to make up, and decided he'd swing for the fences with a different approach. He ran up the river to flip and picked up a 3-pounder a few minutes ago.

Clent Davis caught a small keeper pretty early, but we'll have to see how he recovers from a tough break. Davis tried to boat-flip a 4-pounder and broke off. That fish could cost him a lot of money.

 

7:00 a.m.: Can Troy Morrow hold off Bryan Thrift on the final day?

It didn't take him long. Troy Morrow started Sunday's competition fishing a brush pile directly outside of takeoff. Within 15 minutes, he had a 3-pounder in the boat, which he caught on a worm. He's the only pro to land a keeper in the first half-hour of competition on this top-10 day.

Morrow has a slim 4-ounce lead over North Carolina's Bryan Thrift, who's increased his weight each day this week.