FLW BASS TOURNAMENT

Tennessee angler reels in leaders

NWA Democrat-Gazette/Michael Woods --04/24/2015--w@NWAMICHAELW... Pro fisherman Andy Morgan from Dayton Tennessee holds up a pair of fish caught during day 2 of the Walmart FLW tournament on Beaver Lake. Morgan moved into 1st place for day two with a total weight of 28 pounds 9 ounces.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/Michael Woods --04/24/2015--w@NWAMICHAELW... Pro fisherman Andy Morgan from Dayton Tennessee holds up a pair of fish caught during day 2 of the Walmart FLW tournament on Beaver Lake. Morgan moved into 1st place for day two with a total weight of 28 pounds 9 ounces.

ROGERS -- Storms delayed the start of the FLW bass tournament Friday on Beaver Lake, but it didn't stop Dayton, Tenn., angler Andy Morgan from making a big second-round move.

Morgan went from 15th to first, catching 5 bass weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces to boost his two-day weight total to 28-9.

Stetson Blaylock of Benton crept from ninth place to fourth with five bass weighing 12-9 for a two-day total of 26-4. Larry Nixon of Bee Branch moved up from 29th place on Thursday to seventh place with five fish weighing 13-4 for a two-day total of 25-3.

Luke Dunkin of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., won the co-angler division and $20,000 with a two-day total that weighed 18-2. He caught five bass Friday that weighed 10-11.

The top 20 pro anglers will fish today, and the 10 with the heaviest cumulative three-day weights will fish Sunday in the championship round. The angler with the heaviest four-day total will win $125,000.

Morgan won the Beaver Lake tournament in 2007 and finished second in 2014. He said the delayed start made him anxious, and his anxiety grew over the next three hours as he struggled to catch a keeper bass. He said he caught a 3-plus pounder on a spinnerbait, and then caught a 4-plus pounder off a spawning bed. Another 3-pounder gave him three keepers at about 1 p.m. He caught his last keeper about 3 minutes before check-in time for the weigh-in.

Morgan said that reducing the field from 308 anglers to 20 should broaden his opportunities, but that his style of fishing is high-risk, high-reward.

"I'm rolling the dice on success or failure," Morgan said. "What I'm doing is real volatile. I could catch a 20-pound bag, or I could catch two keepers, or no keepers."

Matt Arey of Shelby, N.C., maintained his hold on third place by catching five bass weighing 13-9 for a two-day total of 27-2. He's only 12 ounces behind Darrell Robertson of Jay, Okla., but he said he's running out of bedding fish to catch. That was obvious by 1 p.m., when he had only 8 pounds in the livewell.

"I'm going to have to expand to new areas and try to figure out something different," Arey said. "The nice thing about Beaver is I've been here seven or eight times. I know where they live. I've got to figure out how to catch them."

Thrift fell from second place to fourth. He said he caught a lot of fish Friday, but they are getting smaller, and keepers are rare. He said it will take big fish to win.

"As long as you're fishing, you always have a chance on Beaver," Thrift said.

Blaylock said he spent the day confused, but he made his decisions minute by minute and culled his last keeper on the day's last cast.

"When you do that, you're doing the right thing," Blaylock said.

Like Arey, Blaylock said he has run out of bedding fish, and that he'll have to fish a different pattern today.

"I still caught three of my better fish off beds, and I caught two off the same bed, but they're done," Blaylock said. "I've been fortunate to get where I am on a few bedding fish. Now I have to get away from that and go fishing."

Sports on 04/25/2015

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