Tenn-Tom Elite 50

John finished 7th in the tournament and is covered in the main story.

I didn't do squat. I threw a frog and buzzbait all day long, and caught three fish that weighed 2-10. It was calm and sunny, but they caught them better today. Most of them are flipping real shallow hyacinths and grass mixed, and that's really hard for me. I hate fishing that way. I just don't have the patience for it. I get too aggravated because about every time you pull it out you have some junk on it. This time of year it's hard for me not to fish fast.

I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm real undecided. I'll probably stay close and just fish around – do ignorant stuff (laughs). I might just pitch a tube on rocks right here close by. I've locked through and gone down both days and every day of practice, and haven't found anything worth doing. And I'm not going to fish that matted stuff.

John made the Top 12 cut and is covered in the main story.

I caught three that weighed 5-08. The fish didn't know it was my birthday today, was the problem.

It's tough. A few people zeroed, and a lot had two or three fish. I had three bites all day. Actually four bites. I lost one on a frog, the only bite I've had on a frog since I've been here, but I saw it and it may not have even measured.

Several guys caught a limit. I don't know how the heck they're doing it.

I'll just have to go down there and throw a buzzbait all day long, I think, regardless of the heat. I got two good ones today on it, and one boiled on it. It's the only way I know to make a comeback.

John is in the Top 5 today and is covered in the main story.

I went down and started early again, about 7:30. I caught about a 6-pounder right at 10:00. I had 5-6 keepers and that one good one.

I'm catching one here and one there. I don't know how it will be tomorrow, fishing late. It might get good in the afternoon. I don't know. I have a couple of areas to start in. I'll go where I caught the big one just because it looks good. And to get in the Top 12, you have to catch a big one.

I had about five bites – the best day I've had, but still pretty hard. All I can do is go out and fish, and it's my birthday tomorrow.

I know what I'm going to do tomorrow – fish like hell (laughs). I'll pretty much bear down on two small areas. They're the only areas that have shown me any potential, and I'll just bear down on them and hope I can catch five. Actually, I hope I can catch anything. I don't feel real good about it.

I do think I'm a good river fisherman, but all that rain messed the river up bad. I was hoping they'd all be on their summer deal out on the river drops, but it's so muddy that I haven't been able to catch them out there. Maybe some people have, but I haven't been able to.

Mud hole is a good description. I've pretty much seen it all, and I think I had six keeper bites yesterday and nine or 10 today. I've been setting on everything because I want to see what the sizes are. Most are pretty small, a pound and a half or smaller. And most of the best action is before 10:00 in the morning.

There seems to be a few fish, but they're real scattered and real small. I've mostly been flipping and throwing a topwater a little bit, but I haven't found anything overly exciting yet. I still haven't seen one section. I'll look at that, then for the tournament I'll probably pick a creek and fish. I don't have anything too solid to go by, no groups of fish, but it sounds like everyone is in the same boat.

Mentally, I'm okay. The pressure's off now. I wanted to do well at Kentucky Lake, and in these I did bad in the first one, so I'll just fish hard and see what I can come up with. I'm just enjoying being here.

I'm struggling. I had three yesterday and two today. I'm having a hard time with them. I've fished here twice, but (other than that) I've always fished below here. I always thought that second pool down was the best one, and I always went there because it was closer. But I've fished the Tombigbee enough to where I should be able to catch them, but I've not been able to figure them out.

I'm sure I've been around some fish. Maybe they're holed up. I don't know. The guys I've talked to act like they're having a hard time, but I'm sure somebody's caught them. Everybody says that, and then someone brings them in pretty good. In a (recent) local tournament several 15-pound stringers were caught, so they're out there to be caught. But it looks like we have more rain coming.