First it was Terry Baksay, then Glenn Browne, and now Michael Bennett. If your last name doesn't begin with a B, you apparently can't be a daily leader at the Lewis Smith FLW Tour in Jasper, Ala.
Bennett, the 23-year-old Californian who's already notched three Top 10s on the Tour, caught a 14-09 sack today and will take a 2-02 lead into day 4 in search of his first pro-level victory. That might not seem like much of an advantage, but it's a lot bigger at Smith than at most venues.
Rookie Scott Canterbury from nearby Odenville, Ala. sacked 12-07 today and looms as the leader's biggest threat. Florida veteran Koby Kreiger is 3rd with 11-07.
Washington's Luke Clausen, the last angler into the cut, caught 10-12 today and sits in 4th. Oklahoma stalwart Darrel Robertson came in an ounce shy of 10 pounds, but that was good enough for 5th today.
Here's a look at the field with one day to go (red numbers in parentheses indicate deficit margin from leader):
1. Michael Bennett: 14-09
2. Scott Canterbury: 12-07 (2-02)
3. Koby Kreiger: 11-01 (3-08)
4. Luke Clausen: 10-12 (3-15)
5. Darrel Robertson: 9-15 (4-10)
6. Greg Pugh: 9-11 (4-14)
7. Jason Christie: 7-11 (7-11)
8. Danny Pierce: 7-10 (6-15)
9. Glenn Browne: 4-05 (10-04)
10. Brandon Coulter: 3-15 (10-10)
Today was the second straight with no sun, and the sight-fishing conditions were again less than ideal. The water was dingier, too, following the hard rains of yesterday and last night.
It was the first day that Bennett didn't pull any of his weigh-in fish off beds, but he ended up with his best sack so far and just the fifth of the tournament that topped 14 pounds. Some of the other leaders had some success with the spotters, which are reportedly fairly easy to catch once they're located.
Tomorrow's forecast calls for sunny skies, which should help the sight-bite. Temperatures are on the way back up, too, so more fish might migrate toward the bank prior to quitting time.
The winner will be determined by highest combined weight over the final 2 days.
Bennett Came Up Big
Bennett has no good explanation for it, but just about every bite he got today was a better-than-average fish – by this event's standards, anyway.
"I got eight bites and landed five of them, and they were all pretty big," he said. "I think they'll replenish in my main area, and if they do, I don't think it'll be too much of an issue to catch five nice ones tomorrow."
He caught a limit of sight-fish on day 1 and jerked three off of beds on day 2, but didn't look at anything today. Four of his weigh-in fish came from the same bank.
"I fished it once and caught three big ones, and then I came back in the afternoon and caught a couple more. The smallest fish I caught was a little under 2 1/2 pounds, but the others were all 3 or a little better and the three I lost were all over 3.
"We'll have different weather tomorrow and the fish will reposition, and I'll have to go find them again. They move every day and today I was pretty fortunate – I hit it right on the nose where I thought they should have gone."
He said he isn't nervous and won't put any additional pressure on himself tomorrow.
"I'm pretty calm. I'm not going to look at it like I have a lead, but like I'm just going fishing.
"I just want to go out and have some fun and get some bites – and hopefully land them.