Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
With a two-day total of 33 pounds, 3 ounces, Texas angler Nick Brown takes the lead at the Chompers/NPFL Stop #5 presented by Bait-Wrx with a monster bag on day two. After being one fish shy of a limit on day one, he started the event with 11 pounds, 11 ounces. On day two, he caught the biggest bag of the event, anchored by a 6-pound, 5-ounce kicker, totaling 21 pounds, 8 ounces to take a 1-pound, 9-ounce lead going into Finale Friday.
On paper, Brown had a slow day one. With some misfortune, he found himself one fish shy of a limit and scrambling to make up ground on day two. But his confidence remained high as his starting spot this morning was a dud.
“Man, today was just one of those days where nothing I did was wrong,” said Brown. “Yesterday I should have had 16-18 pounds, and today I lost fish and could have been in the 25-pound range; it was incredible. I broke off some fish on dock cables, broke off fish while boat flipping them—anything you can imagine—and it worked out.”
Differing from most of the field, Brown enjoyed a fairly productive practice, actually catching a limit each day, despite not trying to catch fish. His goal was to locate the coldest water in Lake of the Ozarks, and he found what he believed was the spot.
“I fished this ‘area’ on day one and hardly got a bite,” he added. “I found the magic number temperature, and the fish in there are just ready to bite; I think they are actually coming to me. They are holding to a certain type of cover, and I can see every fish, or the target, they are holding on.”
As seen on Live Coverage, most of the top ten are targeting docks with some sort of plopper-style bait. Brown changed things up and, after his misfortune on day one, he completely abandoned the dock pattern, except for a couple of backup plans.
“This lake is aerated because so many guys fish a ‘plopper’ here—it is insane,” he laughed. “With the docks, you can only do so much, and with the cables and such, it’s just hard. I’m fishing a flat, just fishing around with a different bait. Today I got to explore more. Tomorrow I’m going to keep doing more of the same, but I have some backup plans where the fish have been schooling in the afternoons. LOZ is wild—you can think you’re on them, and the next day it’s a ghost town.Today, they were there.”
Brown launched this morning with one goal: to catch 13 pounds and move up enough to have a live camera on the final day. Now, his goal is to slam the door shut.
“I don’t think the fish move too far from where they’re holding. I caught 45 bass yesterday and only 25 today, but the right ones. We’ve got one more day!”
Perkins Charges into Contention
In a showdown with leader Nick Brown, Tennessee angler Brandon Perkins is making his own push. With the second-largest bag of the event—20 pounds, 6 ounces on day two—he staged an impressive comeback, moving into second place, and now sits less than two pounds behind for another NPFL victory.
Fresh off a win at the inaugural NPFL Championship in March, Perkins is already qualified for next year’s championship. With no pressure to fish for points, he’s fishing freely and came into the event confident in his approach.
“I’ve been here in the fall twice and learned how the fish respond to different weather conditions,” Perkins explained. “Yesterday I had more bites but smaller fish, and today I had fewer bites but better quality.”
After what he described as a “horrendous practice,” Perkins saw an opportunity with cooler weather and cloud cover this morning, predicting the conditions would play to his strengths—and he was right.
“I caught them on top, on a jig, and they were the right fish,” he said. “This fall has been unusual, but I know enough to fish the entire dock, cleaning up with a Buckeye Lures Mop Jig and Yamamoto YamaCraw, on a Rockohl rod.”
Noticing early on that the fish had repositioned on day two, he timed his adjustments perfectly, avoiding the growing pressure from anglers around him.
“Today I had four big ones and lost another over six pounds. They were exactly where I hoped they’d be,” Perkins added. “I’m not under pressure for points this year, so I’m going to fish hard tomorrow. I came in aiming for a check, and I think I’ve secured that. Tomorrow could be another strong jig day.”
Top Ten Anglers:
Nick Brown 33-3
Brandon Perkins 31-10
Joseph Webster 30-2
John Cox 29-3
Drew Cook 25-7
Zack Birge 25-6
Michael Stout 25-3
John Soukup 25-3
Dustin Perry 24-4
Kyle Glasgow 23-10
Progressive AOY Update
After day one, the leaderboard saw a shakeup in the Progressive Angler of the Year race. Kyle Welcher, who started the day in second place behind Drew Cook, dropped to 31st before climbing back to 13th with 12 pounds, 9 ounces. Cook, who began the day in 11th place, moved up to fifth. As it stands, Cook holds a narrow two-point lead over Welcher heading into Finale Friday. Be sure to check Ken Duke’s AOY Update tomorrow morning for more details.
