Morgan grabs lead after Day Two of FLW Tour on Mississippi River
May 20th, 2017 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified May 20th, 2017 at 12:00 AM
Livingston Lures pro Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tennessee, caught a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces Friday to capture the lead at the FLW Tour on the Mississippi River presented by Evinrude with a two-day catch of 10 bass totaling 31-4. He now holds a slim 4-ounce lead after Day Two of the four-day event that features 160 of the world’s best bass-fishing professionals casting for a top award of up to $125,000.
“This is my type of event,” said Morgan, a 19-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier and the reigning FLW Tour Angler of the Year. “It’s a slugfest, but it’s not. You have to get a couple of decent bites – a 4-pounder – and if you can get a couple of those you’re in the game. I’ve never been here before, but I know that the Mississippi River is one of the best shallow water fisheries in the country. You come up here and you get busy.”
Morgan said that he caught fish Thursday in both Pools No. 8 and 9, but the bulk of his fish Friday came from Pool No. 9. He weighed in a limit consisting of three largemouth and two smallmouth on both days of competition.
“It’s just kind of dumb luck when I catch a smallmouth,” he said.
“There are several guys that made the cut and we’re all kind of in one general area, and today they were just biting,” Morgan said. “I caught a bunch of fish yesterday, but today I only caught maybe nine. It got cold, it got tough, but the mud is the concern. It painted me into a little bit of a corner today where I didn’t have as much water to run, so that’s going to be an issue come Day Three.”
The top 20 pros that made the Buck Knives Cut and will fish Saturday on the Mississippi River are:
1st: Livingston Lures pro Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 31-4
2nd: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 10 bass, 31-0
3rd: Matthew Stefan, Junction City, Wis., 10 bass, 30-14
4th: Jeff Sprague, Point, Texas, 10 bass, 30-11
5th: Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 10 bass, 30-11
6th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., 10 bass, 30-0
7th: Todd Auten, Lake Wylie, S.C., 10 bass, 29-12
8th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 29-11
9th: Quaker State pro Matt Arey, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 29-7
10th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 29-5
11th: Quaker State pro Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla., 10 bass, 29-1
12th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 10 bass, 28-13
13th: Alex Davis, Albertville, Ala., 10 bass, 28-12
14th: Yamamoto Baits pro Larry Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., 10 bass, 28-12
15th: Joey Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., 10 bass, 28-6
16th: Jim Moulton, Merced, Calif., 10 bass, 28-0
17th: Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala., 10 bass, 27-15
18th: Clark Reehm, Huntington, Texas, 10 bass, 27-14
19th: Cody Meyer, Auburn, Calif., 10 bass, 27-12
20th: Michael Wooley, Collierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-11
For a full list of results visit FLWFishing.com.