SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The opening day of Bass Pro Shops REDCREST Presented by Mercury & Lowrance lived up to the pre-tournament hype, with Table Rock Lake yielding scorable bass of all three species (four if you count meanmouth, the smallmouth-spotted bass hybrid). In fact, Drew Gill accounted for all four by himself among his 29 scorable bass.
Gill got off to a strong start Friday, using forward-facing sonar in Period 1 to grab an early lead. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. But the 23-year-old electronics whiz actually extended his advantage after locking up his transducers. The net result was a 70-pound, 7-ounce total that has Gill 15-5 ahead of Zack Birge in second place and more than 30 pounds clear of the Lucas Oil Cut Line. The leaderboard is tightly bunched from there, with Jacob Wheeler and Wesley Strader both over the 50-pound mark and within 5 pounds of Birge.
Full results can be found here.
Gill in his comfort zone
Anyone watching on the MLFNOW! livestream could tell Gill enjoyed himself Friday, and not just because he held the lead for much of the day. He fished in his wheelhouse, throwing a jighead minnow while using forward-facing sonar and a variety of finesse worms without it. Catching an estimated 45 total bass (including every species Table Rock had to offer) was icing on the cake…