Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Mike Corbishley takes the day one lead at Lake Eufaula with a 16-pound, 2-ounce bag including a 5-pound, 6-ounce lunker. Covering water like his roommate Trent Palmer, Corbishley is rotating through 30 Cashion Rods and fishing both looking at them on Active Target and visually with his eyes up in the dirt.
“Everything is situational for me right now,” he said. “I am junk fishing, fishing how I like to fish and covering all depths making decisions as I see it.”
Brandon Perkins
Tennessee angler Brandon Perkins finishes day one at Lake Eufaula in second place with a five-bass limit of 15-pounds, 14-ounce. Of all the anglers fishing the docks, Perkins may have caught less keepers, but his seven bites yielded a bigger weight.
“I knew I had some fish but it is tough and bites are hard to come by doing what I am doing. I can catch smaller fish, but I am fishing in a way where I avoid those bites,” he said. “I had a dead fish penalty today and lost one that would have given me a pound more in weight.”
Even though he focused his efforts on one smaller area, Perkins does have other places he can go and fish. He has a good track record in Oklahoma and will take it one day at a time for the rest of the week.
“I feel like I understand this a bit; I am confident banking on the docks and I enjoy fishing that way too,” he added.
Trent Palmer
With a 5-pound, 4-ounce lunker to anchor his day one bag of 14-pounds, 11-ounces, winner of Stop Number Four at Saginaw Bay, Trent Palmer finishes day one in third place at Lake Eufaula. Admittedly fishing a body of water that doesn’t necessarily fit his style, in the last couple hours of practice, Palmer located some key areas to get his tournament off on the right track.
“I didn’t practice at all how I ended is fishing today,” said Palmer. “That’s good and bad, but I will just have to go and practice each day and keep finding new fish. This is not my style of lake, but the way I am catching them is how I like to fish.”
After catching his day’s limit, Palmer went back to work expanding on his new-found pattern of running and gunning with a topwater bait in hand. He expects more pressure in his areas as the week goes on but is looking forward to getting back out there on day two.
“I’m sharing some water with Mike (Corbishley) and Pat (Walters), and some guys saw us catching fish, but we will need to end up finding some new water every day to make it last,” he added.
Will Harkins
Will Harkins came into the event wanting a shot to win Progressive Angler of the Year at the final event of the season at Lake Lanier. His 13-pound, 15-pound day-one effort on Eufaula lands him in the fourth-place spot and moves him up a few places in the standings after day one.
Coming into the event, Harkins knew there would be fish everywhere and he would need to sample as much Eufaula as he could in practice. The result was a morning stretch to get his day going and build confidence, and then moving to the afternoon areas to hunt for bigger fish.
“I burned a few things down but they are moving so you never know,” said Harkins. “I caught as many as I could, but most of my weight came in the last two hours, giving me not much time to practice for tomorrow.”
Harkins is sharing some water in the morning but believes his afternoon deal is split between him and another top-five angler. The outlook for tomorrow is more of the same.
“I got some morning stuff and just slowing down and taking what I can get. I will start back there to get the ball rolling and move around after looking for some bigger fish again,” he added.
Ron Johnson
Finishing day one in fifth place, Ron Johnson stuck with his best area and weeded through 20 keepers to catch his limit of 13 pounds, 14 ounces. With practice not getting off on the right foot, later on day two he discovered a bite and stuck with it on day one.
“I am not really fishing around other anglers and I am extremely comfortable the way I am fishing,” he said. “Seeing them on Active Target certainly helps and I can present the bait right where I need to to get bites.”
Johnson plans on returning to his main area and figuring out the fish every day.
The rest of the best:
Marc Schilling – 13-0
John Cox (Florida) – 13-0
Reagan Nelson – 12-13
Patrick Walters – 11-13
Charlie Apperson – 11-12
Join us for Day Two on Lake Eufaula with the launch out of Nichols Point @ 7:00 am CST. Be sure to catch all the action here and join us LIVE starting at 8:00 am CST with Luke & Fat Cat.
