7th: Personal Record for Dove

Virginia 2nd-year pro Kurt Dove had never caught a 27 1/2- pound bag before.
"I'm totally jacked," he said. "I think last year I had one that was 23 pounds or something.  I'm just really excited."

He didn't get on anything solid until the final practice day. He fished shallow prior to that and caught mostly small males.

"What I started to do was try to find areas that were a little deeper, where the big females would be coming from. I found three quality fish in one spot, and that's what clued me in to that type of area."

His bag didn't contain a fish over 6 1/2 pounds.

"It's like they were quintuplets – they were all identical.  Some of the guys who got big weights got a big bite, and hopefully I'll get one tomorrow and make up some ground on the leaders."

He doesn't plan to sight-fish tomorrow, but that could change.

"I like sight-fishing, but I like to do it when they're ready to eat the trolling motor. I've seen a lot of cruisers, but they weren't locked on.

"The reason I think I'm pretty proficient at sight-fishing is I don't play around with the ones that are going to be here today, then gone tomorrow."