After Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, moved into first place Saturday in the FLW Tour bass tournament on Lake Tohopekaliga, he said he had found a productive place in the 18,800-acre Florida expanse but probably needed another one for the final round.
“I’ve got a good little spot – I think I’ve weighed in 14 of my 15 fish (for three days) from it – but I’m really pushing it to its limits,” Gross said in a Fishing League Worldwide release. “I keep looking for another spot, and I think I may have found one this afternoon.”
By late the next afternoon, however, the total from the one spot was 19 of 20 and Gross was $102,700 richer. His four-day weight of 85 pounds, 12 ounces produced his second FLW Tour career victory.
“I can’t believe this place that I caught these fish at held up. I really believe the Lord just blessed me,” Gross said in FLW’s Sunday release. In the same area where he caught five-bass limits by 10 a.m. Thursday and Friday but needed until noon Saturday, he had “18 or 19 pounds” by 9 a.m. in the 10-man final round.
“After that it was a grind,” he added, having weighed 23-12. “I worked a long time between bites, but I upgraded two more times – maybe three – at my spot.”