More Notes Before I Stick a Fork in It

*photos by Andy Crawford, courtesy of Bassmaster

A tournament as great as Lake Fork merits more than one set of random notes. I did not see all of the live coverage, but every time I think about what I saw or what I read, it sparks new excitement and reminiscing.

Here are 11 points I failed to include the first time around:

• Six anglers missed the cut to Day Three by less than 2 pounds. On a lake where there are baitfish that big, and a 40+ pound limit is clearly possible, how painful is that, especially if you’re fighting for a Classic berth or just to requalify?

• Has any angler not named KVD or Brett Hite ever done as much for the fortunes of a single lure as Chris Zaldain has done for the Megabass Magdraft?

• With all of the big bait madness surrounding the tournament, I loved seeing in the Bassmaster “Top Lures” gallery that a big part of Chris Johnston’s success came dropshotting a 4-inch straight tail worm.

• Is it odd that the one cut Scott Martin missed was in Florida?

• After winning the first tournament of the season, Bryan New is mired in 6th place in the Rookie of the Year race, a competition in which Josh Stracner has a not-insurmountable 32 point lead as the tour heads to his home state.

• Right now rookie Pat Schlapper is the Classic bubble boy.

• Seemingly lost in the “local boy makes good” storytelling was the fact that we had two Minnesotans in the top 10 (and three Canadians in the top 30).

• Despite all of the modern advances in walking baits, that Saltwater Super Spook continues to gobble up space on bass anglers’ decks.

• Even at $200+ apiece, I bet the Tater Hog dude is gonna be backed up for months now.

• Ditto for the 3:16 guy.

• Lee Livesay likes dogs, redheads, Michelob Ultra and big bass. Enough said.