Patterns now range from bed fishing, to dock fishing, to shad spawns to fishing out deep for post spawners.

A little more wind today seemed to help those who are fishing out while hampering some of those who are counting primarily on sight bass.

One common denominator seems to be few leaders have been able to find a true wad of bass out on the main river where bass will eventually congregate in the coming weeks. Instead, smaller, shallower breaks back in the bays and pockets seem to be holding a majority of the post spawn bass.

Now leading the event is Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich., who was in second on day one with 26 pounds, 3 ounces but added 23 pounds, 4 ounces today to overtake the top spot with a two-day total of 49 pounds, 7 ounces.

This is Nelson’s first trip to Guntersville and sometimes seeing a lake with a fresh pair of eyes, void of any previous memories, is an advantage, such has been the case with Nelson.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I don’t really feel like I’ve figured the fish out here,” he said. “I came here really wanting to ledge fish and that’s what I worked on all during practice. But I could never get anything going, so I went to the bank looking and I found a couple of areas that have some decent spawners in them.”

While Nelson has sight-fished a couple of bigger bass over the last two days, his main strategy has been to locate beds, mark them well and then ease back into the bedding areas first thing in the morning when it’s dark and make “blind” casts to specific areas where he has seen fish on beds. That tactic has worked for the majority of his weight.

Other than that, he has also mixed in some dock fishing and laydowns that have produced the rest of his fish.

“Each day I keep trying that offshore stuff I found just to see if they are going to show up,” he added. “When I don’t catch anything out, I always end up going back to the bank looking for new bass and fishing docks and wood.”

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