Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner Lyons & Ben Kennedy
Day one saw 26 anglers bring five fish limits to the scales which aligns with difficult bite talked about before the event began. With the event lining up with the fall transition with bluebird skies on the last day of practice and through the early part of the event, the fishing has been tough.
Some anglers have found success on docks while the majority have settled into one main area or are junk fishing their way to quality bites. Will the docks hold up, or will they reload?
Local angler Matt Looney is watching from afar and wishes nothing more than to be fishing this week with the NPFL anglers on a lake he grew up fishing. He predicted before the event started that docks would be a player but never expected the overall bite to be as tough as it is now.
“Many guys have said how tough it has been,” said Looney, who is on a work trip out of state. “It surprised me to see the weights and hear how the anglers were doing. As far as the docks, they can definitely hold up to the pressure. Eufaula is a big Crappie Lake, and there is brush everywhere; new fish will move in every day.”
With conditions staying roughly the same for this morning, the weights should be consistent throughout the week and one big bite could make or break an angler’s ability to compete for the win come Saturday.
AOY Race
Although it was a tougher day on Eufaula for the anglers atop the Progressive AOY, Todd Goade did enough to maintain his spot. He is sitting in 13th place after day one but gave up points to several anglers within the top ten. Will Harkins was in 5th place going into this event and sits in the top five after day one. Brandon Perkins began the event in 6th and is in 2nd place currently. Louis Fernandes maintained his consistent season and will be in good shape going into Lanier with both AOY and Championship qualifications on the line.
Mike Corbishley and Patrick Walters were in 10th and 11th respectively and both sit yet again within the top ten in the event, with Corbishley leading.
Lots of changes will occur over the next few days but it is interesting to take a look at how day one shook things up.
Here is a look at the top ten:
Mike Corbishley – 16-2
Brandon Perkins – 15-14
Trent Palmer – 14-11
Will Harkins – 13-15
Ron Johnson – 13-14
Marc Schilling – 13-0
John Cox (Florida) – 13-0
Reagan Nelson – 12-13
Patrick Walters – 11-13
Charlie Apperson – 11-12
Weather Watch
Anglers will once again launch with temperatures in the high 60s and clear skies in the morning giving way to sunshine and a high near 90 degrees in the afternoon. The wind is expected to blow south at less than 10 MPH.
How to Watch
Tune in daily for days two and three to watch daily action from Lake Eufaula, 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 Eufaula.
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 @ 3:00 pm CST.
Check out the results from day one, here!
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