With calmer conditions and on Day 2 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Buffs Island, the 224 boat field found it easier to navigate and continued to catch impressive numbers of bass, with 157 limits making their way to the weigh-in stage.
But only a couple anglers managed to find the quality bites they needed to make a jump up the leaderboard and gain valuable Elite Qualifier points. Powell Kemp took a commanding lead on Thursday, adding 16-12 to his 19-8 performance on Day 1 for a two-day total of 36-4.
He leads second-place Casey Smith by over 7-pounds. But in an event where bass over 4-pounds aren’t the easiest to find, someone in the Top 10 could easily capitalize if Kemp slips on the final day.
The water levels on Buggs Island are still about 3 feet higher than full pool, but it has stabilized and allowed the bass to get comfortable in the conditions. Down towards the dam, anglers have reported mostly clear water conditions, but as you move west the water starts to get dirtier.
The nights have been chilly here in southern Virginia as well, which has stunted the progression of the bass and shad spawn.
Here is what some of the top pros had to say about their experience on Day 2 and what water conditions played out the best.
Powell Kemp (1st, 36-4)
Kemp extended his lead on Buggs Island by continuing to throw a spinnerbait and a flipping bait around flooded cover. He fished in clear water and then later in Day 2, he moved into the dirtier water and caught an important keeper.
“There is definitely some stuff churned up with mud. But up in the dirtier water, and I haven’t fished up here a lot, but it seems like they bite better. The few times I have been up here I catch more fish. That kind of has me torn as to what to do on the final day. It seems like they are easier to get to bite, but it may be that they are doing that later in the day. They may be jamming in the morning, I don’t know.”
Casey Smith (2nd, 29-0)
Smith rebounded from losing a couple good bass on Day 1 and caught 16-4 on the second day to lift him into second place. Smith, who won the Northern Open on Oneida last year, was running and gunning around Buggs Island looking for any shallow water that looked good and fit the conditions.
“I ran completely new water both days and I will do the same thing tomorrow,” he said. “The wind from yesterday allowed me to catch what I caught today. It is hard to fish even in protected areas with wind that hard.
“It was like Oneida last year. Based on what the wind and sun are doing, that is where I am going next. I don’t know where I am going next and I don’t know where I will catch my next one.”
Jack Dice (3rd, 28-14)
A former College Series champion, Dice has been running all over his home lake and on Day 2, he landed 16-2 to jump into the Top 10. On the first day he benefited from an early shad spawn before the winds really kicked up. On Day 2, he caught his biggest bass around that shad spawn, but pivoted to targeting postspawners with a wacky rig in the afternoon to achieve his tally.
“It has gotten a lot colder and I thought that could hurt me today, it could have been one of the reasons certain things I was trying didn’t quite work out. I am constantly checking the water level too. If it was warm and rising, I would be focusing more on the bank. Because it’s cold, it makes them not want to come up, but the rising water does. And because of that, my bite has been all over the place.”
He added that he is doing different things based on the water clarity. On Thursday, Dice ran into the dirtier water and was able to generate bites.
“Those fish get acclimated and they can’t see your bait as good and bite it better. I caught a couple that way,” he said. “Where the water is mixing, I caught some key fish there.”
Shayne Berlo (4th, 28-12)
Berlo caught the biggest bag of the second day, landing 17-13 to jump into the Top 10. Most of what he wanted to fish on Day 1 was unfishable due to the wind, but he went to those areas on Day 2 and found the bass were ready to bite.
“The water is clear. Clearer than here (at takeoff),” Berlo said. “The sun definitely positioned the fish where I wanted them. It just panned out.”
Joey Cifuentes (5th, 28-12)
Cifuentes has been using forward-facing sonar to locate fry guarders on Buggs Island and on Day 2, he caught 14-9 to push him into the Top 5. He can distinguish what is fry on his graph and from there target the bass lingering beneath. His biggest bass today was one he hooked and lost the first day.
“She was sitting on a stump guarding fry and I was watching her on LiveScope,” he said. “I caught her on a shad style bait. Yesterday I had a couple quality fish flipping. I didn’t do that today. I stayed offshore because the weather was nice. That was what I wanted to do in this tournament. Just fishing stumps because there are a lot of fish guarding fry and they are sitting on those stumps. I have a good area with some better quality fish.”
Had the water stayed lower, Cifuentes believes his pattern would be much more productive.
Evan Barnes (6th, 28-11)
Barnes has been one of the more consistent anglers in the field this tournament, adding 14-0 on Day 2 to his 14-11 first day mark, despite never even hearing about the lake before it was announced as a destination for the Opens. The Arkansas pro has been fishing a shad spawn around bushes and then flipping bushes in the afternoon. He benefited from a 4-pound bite today that came with a little adventure.
“I flipped into this bush and I let it sink. I picked up on it and it wasn’t moving at all. I didn’t know for sure if it was a fish, so I set the hook and it just stopped. I thought I got the log or something so I gave it slack and I went to go bump it off the log. All of a sudden I have a 4 ½-pounder on there. I knew once I caught that fish I would have a good shot at making the cut.”
Barnes thinks if the water drops a little bit, his bite might get even better.
Ryan Broughman (10th, 27-4)
With a 15-2 Day 2 bag, Broughman snuck into the final spot for Championship Friday. After getting in what he called a bad rotation on Day 1, the North Carolina pro fished his areas in a different order on the second day and achieved a quick limit. In the morning, he fished dirty water and then moved into clearer water in the afternoon.
“I was on a little shad spawn deal and the shad are still there, but I don’t know if the bass backed off of it or what. Today, I ran some stuff close to takeoff first thing and got a limit pretty quick. I went back down to where I had been fishing and let the sun get up. The temperatures have been so cold at night and it is backing them off and then they follow the shad up when the sun beats on the cover they are on.
“It seems like they are in the green bushes now more than the trees and vertical structure.”
