Bradley Hallman of Norman, Oklahoma led the first FLW Tour event of the season on Lake Okeechobee by 8 1/2 pounds going into the third day of competition, but catching only four fish today could have hurt him. Instead he caught the right fish, anchoring his bag with an 8 1/2 pound monster for a day 3 total of 14-3. As a result Hallman actually expanded his lead to more than 13 1/2 pounds going into the final day of competition! The big fish was crucial, but it also didn’t hurt that with third place a distant 16 pounds back going into Saturday Hallman’s main competition was Alex Davis of Albertville, Alabama – the only other angler to exceed 20 pounds on days 1 and 2. While Davis weighed five fish they totaled a disappointing 9-2.
It’s been a tough tournament all along but weights were decidedly down on day 3, with no anglers coming close to the 20 pound mark and only two bags over 15 pounds. One of these bags belonged to Chris Johnston of Peterborough, Ontario who managed 17-15 to move into fourth place. Shinichi Fukae of Palestine, Texas put together the second best bag at 15-3 to move him up to third place.
Three day weights for the top 10 anglers who advance to the final day follow:
- Bradley Hallman (Norman, OK) – 64-10 (14-3 today)
- Alex Davis (Albertville, AL) – 51-15 (9-2)
- Shinichi Fukae (Palestine, TX) – 47-8 (15-3)
- Chris Johnston (Peterborough, ON) – 45-11 (17-15)
- Michael Neal (Dayton, TN) – 45-2 (12-12)
- Brandon McMillan (Clewiston, FL) – 44-3 (12-2)
- Charlie Weyer (West Hills, CA) – 43-7 (9-1)
- Billy Shelton (La Crosse, VA) – 41-11 (11-7)
- Joshua Weaver (Macon, GA) – 40-5 (9-5)
- Clark Reehm (Huntington, TX) – 40-0 (12-11)
For complete results visit: http://www.flwfishing.com/results/2016-02-04-lake-okeechobee
It’s too early to call the event for Hallman, but with his closest competitors almost 14 and more than 17 pounds back, respectively, it would take a perfect storm of events to push him off the winner’s podium. Hallman is committed to flipping in search of big fish one more day, and so for anyone to catch him his big bite would have to dry up and they would have to land a sack full of hawgs!