Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
The fish are biting at Lanier with 45 limits hitting the scales on day one. Anglers are dealing with low water levels and fall turnover and the fishing is good, but not as good as it could have been. Still, for those who figured it out, the bigger fish are there for the catching, and getting the bite in the boat seems to be the biggest challenge for the leaders.
Atop the day one leaderboard is Will Harkins with 20-pounds, 13-ounces, who narrowly missed his first NPFL victory at Lake Eufaula in October. Harkins and Fernandes tied on the final day and Fernandes took the win due to the tie-breakers of biggest bag. At the age of 23, Harkins is quick to forget and did what he needed on a body of water he has some experience.
“You have to have a short-term memory in these events and just roll into the next one,” said Harkins, shortly after the weigh-in. “I have a lot of history here and it is fishing tough, the key is execution. We may have 10-pounds, or we may have 20-pounds (tomorrow).”
Behind Harkins, Patrick Walters is hungry for another victory and sits at 19-pounds, 13-ounces. Both Harkins and Walters each brought a kicker to the scales which seemed to be the difference in day one weights. Right behind Walters is his roommate, Mike Corbishley with 17-pounds, 15-ounces of Lanier bass.
Todd Goade did his job on day one with 17-pounds, 10-ounces which puts him tied for fourth with local anger Trent Palmer, who is also in the Walters/Corbishley house.
Check out the full day one leaderboard.
AOY Race
Of the top ten in Progressive AOY to begin the event, five have settled in the top ten after day one at Lanier with Goade still leading over Jesse Wise. To begin the event, Will Harkins was in third place, 29 points behind Goade, and 17 back from Wise. With Harkins doing all he can leading the event, and both Goade and Wise in the top ten, things only slightly narrowed.
Harkins only gained four points overall on Goade, who sits in fourth, and nine points on Wise who sits in tenth. Goade extended his lead over Wise by six points.
Unofficially, the AOY Race looks like this: Todd Goade, with an 18-point margin over Wise (2nd), and 25 points on Harkins (3rd).
Weather Watch
Anglers will launch into partly cloudy skies with temperatures upper 50’s, giving way to high near 80 degrees in the afternoon. Winds are expected to be light and variable.
How to Watch
Tune in daily to watch the daily action from Lake Lanier, with Live Coverage here and on the FREE PHYX TV App.
Follow along and watch the daily LIVE Leaderboard, LIVE Blog, and on-the-water photo galleries and blogs of the anglers on Lake Lanier.
Under the Go Live Tab, choose LIVE Broadcast or check out the real-time leaderboard on the Weigh Live Tracker with estimated weights entered by the anglers on the water and join us for the LIVE Weigh-ins, here!
Check out the results from day one, here.
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