As previously mentioned, we've been in another dead period for the past hour. But a dead period for leader Brandon Gray today has meant no more keepers, as he's continued to catch fish.
He's just broken the non-keeper string with his third largemouth in the livewell, and then caught another short fish.
As you can probably tell from the accompanying photo, shot by Marshal Jimmy Brown, Gray is using a deep-diving crankbait, in particular, a Norman DD22.
When I questioned Gray this morning about losing "Lucky," his favorite crankbait yesterday, he said, "Let's have a moment of silence for him."
Gray acted like he'd lost a good friend on the weigh-in stage yesterday, in describing how his line broke and "Lucky" apparently stayed hooked in the fish because it never floated to the surface.
In all seriousness, Gray is a crankbait specialist, who said he has a lot of old Poe's and Norman deep-running lures, either in styles or colors that aren't made anymore.
"That's my thing back home (on Kerr Reservoir/Buggs Island)," Gray said. "I've got a lot of money invested in crankbaits."
"Lucky" was a chartreuse-and-white Norman DD22 that Gray said he'd won quite a bit of tournament money on in the past.
Gray's three keepers today are all in the 2-pound range. He's caught 9 fish total so far.
Photo by Bassmaster Marshal Jimmy Brown
