The Block Party Continues at the McDonald’s Big Bass Splash - Double digit fish hard to come by, first day leader still in charge and the fishing continues - By Patty Lenderman / The Lakecaster

With the second of three days now in the books for the 26^th Annual McDonald’s Big Bass Splash on Sam Rayburn, Randy Turner of Lufkin, TX still leads the event with his 1^st day bass of 9.15 lbs.  The winners of the 2^nd Annual Miss Big Bass Splash beauty pageant were crowned and the Block Party continued with music, fishing seminars and Expo’s.  $580,000 is guaranteed to be paid out in cash and prizes on Sunday. Will a double digit be weighed or will Randy Turners catch hold up? Stay tuned!

The morning started out cool, the lake was glass without even a ripple.  Spectators began to gather with the first light of the day in anticipation of what was to come. 

Each day the first exact weight bass of 3, 4 and 5 pounds wins $5,000.  Any unclaimed exact weight prize money goes into an open drawing for the contestants on Sunday.

Starting off the second hour on Saturday, Shawn Webb of Onalaska brought in the first exact weight of the day at 5.00 lbs to win $5,000 in addition to his hourly check. 

The contenders continued to roll in, and with it a dense fog.  Visibility was less than 50 yards on the lake, and caution as well as GPS units were well advised. Several bass just missed the exact weights of 3 and 4 pounds for the $5000 payday, creating sighs from the crowd and laughter from the fisherman.

Anglers were reporting a good bite all morning, catching lots of fish – but it was hard to find the really big bites they were looking for.  Rumblings among the staff and crowd were confident in Sam Rayburn to give up at least one of its double digit assets.     

The overall top 5 after all three days will receive additional cash and prizes at the conclusion of the event.  Cole Brewer won top of the hour, and his fish nudged into the top 5 overall weights.

Temperatures remained very pleasant, but radar indicated the rain was not very far off.  Sound checks on the entertainment stage were made and the winners from the beauty pageant declared.  Joe Lofton caught an 8.75 lb bass that made a presence in the top 5 overall.  Etoile, TX angler Luther Cook caught the 3.00 lb exact weight bass for a $5,000 reward.  This only left the 4.00 left to be weighed for the last exact weight bonus of the day.

Anglers were gunning for the last 4.00 exact weight prize, many just missing by 1/100ths of a pound.  That is merely a few drops of water!  The aroma from the various delicacies the concession stands were offering made everyone migrate that direction to get some good food to eat!

The last big rush of the day flooded in the final hour with everything left for the contestants to weigh.  Again, the 4 pound exact weight bass eluded them all, although too many to count were way too close to the mark.  With no 4 pounder weighed for the second day in a row, that makes the drawing for all registered fisherman all that more important as they could potentially  walk away with one of the two $5000 prize drawings.

9.15 lbs is still holding the lead going into the final day!  Don’t miss the grand finale of the tournament as well as entertainment from American Idol top 10 winner Michael Sarver with many more surprises to come!