Story by Justin Brouillard | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
As the defending Champion at Saginaw Bay, Georgia anglers Trent Palmer had all eyes on him this morning at take-off as day one kicked off. Despite the pressure, Palmer is delivering. At the midway point today, Palmer is unofficially showing 24 pounds, 10 ounces on the Weigh Live Tracker, last updated at 11:22 AM when he caught his last bass, a 4-pound, 10-ounce bass.
Palmer is working his smallmouth water flawlessly and working a commanding lead. As the conditions change going into the afternoon, with reports of the sun working through the clouds, and the winds seemingly dying, anglers can move around and cover more water.
Palmer, on the other hand, is practicing. He told OTW photographers that his bite is very similar to previous events on Saginaw Bay and that his only concern is that to reach his weight, he culled through several four-pound class fish, which may be harder to come by as the event progresses.
While more anglers may be fishing for the brown bass, there are several largemouth anglers doing work and getting off to a good start in the event.
Behind Palmer, Jesse Wise is the only other angler reporting over 20 pounds, while Zack Birge, in third place, and Kevin Martin are over 19 pounds on the day. Wise, always a threat and in contention for AOY is reportedly fishing for smallmouth, while Kevin Martin, who has averaged an eighth-place finish with the NPFL the previous two events on Saginaw, sits in fourth place. Rounding out the top five anglers, Nick Brown is over 17 pounds.
On or offshore?
According to on-the-water photographers Tanner and Travis Lyons, the action has been consistent. Aside from the offshore bite, the shallow anglers have locked in on flipping with heavy weights to catch largemouth.
The weigh-in this afternoon begins at 4:30 pm EST on TNPFL.com.
The top ten look like this:
Trent Palmer 24-10
Jesse Wise 20-2
Zack Birge 19-1
Kevin Martin 19-0
Nick Brown 17-10
Jason Reyes 16-8
Gary Adkins 16-5
Wes Logan 15-9
Craig Saylor 15-8
Brock Bila 15-4
Follow along on the Weigh Live Tracker for real-time unofficial updates from the water, here!
Check out the Morning Story, here!
