Jones had wanted to spend the first half of the day sight-fishing, but the fog delay threw a monkey-wrench into that plan.

"I went out and just fished, and on the way in I stopped at my sight-fish, fully expecting them to have been exploited," he said. "Two were still there – a (3 1/4-pounder) and a 4-05, and I caught both of them. That took me from 15 pounds to more than 17,"

The runner-up at Amistad 2 weeks ago has ended each of the 5 competition days of the current season in 3rd place or higher. He and Chapman frequently work together and he said their patterns are similar.

"The key for me is knowing how the females are positioned. Some are on the beds and some aren't.

"I had a fair amount of company today, but I've saved some stuff and I'm guardedly optimistic that I'll have fresh water to fish tomorrow – they're out-of-the-way-type places. But then the whole deck is going to get shuffled with that big cold front coming in tomorrow night." Read More