MONROE, La. — Coby Carden took a gamble on Day 2 of the 2014 Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. Nation Championship on Louisiana’s Ouachita River, and it paid off.

“I did something completely different today,” said Carden after the Day 2 weigh-in. “Because I was near the front of the takeoff line, I thought I could be one of the first ones to Bayou D’Arbonne.”

His spot on Day 2 was nowhere near his Day 1 area, where he caught 11 pounds, 8 ounces and took the lead of the tournament.

But he knew he couldn’t count on getting that one big-fish bite in his primary area and wanted to cement his lead in the championship and earn back-to-back Bassmaster Classic berths.

It was a good call. Carden caught 11 pounds, 12 ounces in the bayou. Then, at 10:45, he was heading back down the lake. He found a great fish and got her to bite three times, but he couldn’t get her to commit.

He decided to move on, and that’s when his motor started acting up.

“My high pressure fuel pump had gone out,” said Carden. “I could prime the bulb and run for a quarter-mile, but then I’d have to stop.”

He called the tournament director and eventually the service crew for help. It took him almost the rest of the fishing day — three hours and 15 minutes, to be exact — to get his boat in.

“The service crews got me fixed up, and I got to go back out for 15 minutes, really just to be sure it ran fine. Then it was check-in time.”

It was frustrating for sure, but luckily for Carden, he already had enough fish in his livewell to keep him afloat for the second day in a row.

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