Perfect Champlain day puts Becker on top on Day 1

PLATTSBURGH | Day 1 of the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech Stop 6 Presented by VOSKER on Lake Champlain was a banger, and it featured the best of what Champlain has to offer. With a lot of anglers putting together stout mixed bags, 11 pros caught 20 pounds or better, and another nine managed 19 pounds or more. Leading the way, Matt Becker tallied 22 pounds, 4 ounces on Friday, and he's followed closely by Clint Knight with 21-11 and Cal Lane with 21-7. Becker makes all the right moves A time-honored path to success on Champlain is to whip up a good limit of smallmouth early, and then spend the rest of the day hunting kicker largemouth. In recent years, with unfettered forward-facing sonar use allowed, that strategy has taken a bit of a backseat, but Becker was ready to go back to the basics. "It was literally exactly how I dreamt it up when the schedule came out last year – to a T," Becker said. "I started the morning with 'Scope; I caught 19 pounds of smallmouth in the first three hours, and then transitioned to largemouth. I caught plenty of largemouth, and two big ones, a 4 1/2 and a 5-12, and that culled me up over 3 pounds and got me to my bag. That's the perfect day on Champlain." Weighing three smallmouth and two largemouth, Becker ran history for his green fish, and it worked out. "The largemouth stuff, I didn't fish any in practice," he said. "I just fished history and didn't really get to practice. The smallmouth, honestly, I expected more numbers. Maybe not more weight, but more numbers – it was a little bit slower, so that has me a little concerned. But, I've got a few other places I didn't go, where I could maybe catch a few solid ones." At least on Day 1, Becker had quite a bit of room to work with on his largemouth places, and he didn't have to burn too much of it. "I really only ran probably 25% of my best dock stretches," he said. "I probably fished five good stretches I was saving, and I caught fish on three of them, and then I didn't need more. You never know if they're going to be 3 1/2 or 4 1/2, so I didn't want to mess with that after I caught the 5-12." If Becker can manufacture a few more big largemouth bites throughout the tournament, he might be sailing toward a win. His skill set and history on Champlain are perfect for an event with limited 'Scope, and it showed in a big way on Day 1. Knight hammers the smallmouth While Becker put together a complete day, Knight simply blitzed the smallmouth for three hours. "It started off really good: first cast, 4.5, second cast, 4.3," Knight said. "Then I had to run through them quite a bit to get what I got. I pretty much burnt it to the ground – here, you never know if you're going to fish the next day, so I didn't leave anything on the table." While the forecast looks good for the remainder of the event, Knight has personally experienced a lot of wind on Champlain. In four trips here, he's never fished a full tournament. As for Day 2, that's a little up in the air, and he may need to rely on some largemouth. "I really don't know," he said. "I could catch zero, or I could catch 20. If I can get them to bite, they're pretty big, but historically, that area of the lake doesn't last for three days. I caught some no-'Scope, but they didn't help, and, I had some largemouth stuff in practice that could be good, but I didn't touch it today." Bass Pro Tour race shakes up on Day 1 When it comes to 7 Brew Angler of the Year, Banks Shaw didn't miss a beat on Day 1, weighing 20-6 to sit in eighth and retain his lead. Given two more days up to Shaw's standard, he looks good to take home a second consecutive AOY title. However, behind Shaw, things are tumultuous. The standings below show the points as they would stand if the tournament ended today, with the rank, the corresponding angler, their current position in the tournament, and then their points if the event was over right now. The anglers with their names italicized are set to receive Bass Pro Tour invites. Hypothetical standings 1. Banks Shaw – 8th in the tournament – 1136 points2. Ryan Lachniet – 10th – 11213. Drew Gill – 26th – 10984. Connor Jacob – 18th – 10825. Brody Campbell – 17th – 10746. Carter Nutt – 51st – 10737. Cal Lane – 3rd – 10568. Ethan Fields – 11th – 10549. Will Harkins – 42nd – 104210. Brody Luckey – 4th – 103111. Dylan Nutt – 102nd – 1026 One of the big takeaways from the day is that Dylan Nutt did a tremendous amount of damage to himself in the standings, catching only 12 pounds and finishing Day 1 in 102nd. He entered the tournament sitting third in the points, and if he wants to get back in the BPT mix, he's going to need a serious rally, but it's probably somewhat doable. The weights are not off the wall this week on Champlain, especially lower in the standings, so a 19- or 20-pound bag could move him up quite a bit. Everyone else who entered in the BPT picture is still in it, and with a huge Day 1, Lane has risen to take the spot that Dylan Nutt vacated. Since a bomb at the Harris Chain, Lane has fished lights-out. He'll have to keep catching them, though, and also closely watch what his competition does the rest of the way. Unfortunately for Lane, Dylan Nutt could move up quite a bit fairly easily, and Will Harkins also has plenty of room to improve on Day 1 and get up into the range for an invite. -Article courtesy of Jody White, Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit

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Perfect Champlain day puts Becker on top on Day 1

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