Exactly 1 pound separates Omori (31-11 total weight) from the reigning Bassmaster Classic Champion, Randy Howell, who is in 4^th place with 30-11.

Between the two former Classic champs are Dean Rojas in 2^nd with 31-9 and Mike Iaconelli in 3^rd with 31-even.

Casey Ashley is 5^th with 29-14.

Can Howell repeat as Classic Champion? Considering that he is closer to the top going into the final day than he was last year when he launched from 11^th to win it, the smart money says ‘yes’.

And he’s running the same pattern that paid off on Guntersville last year – riprap around bridges. Howell is covering the lake. He was spotted as far up as Clemson University today.

Ike made a move up the standings on the strength of a simple game plan that he says he’ll run again tomorrow – “I’m fishing shallow for about the first hour then I’m going deep for the rest of the day.”

Ike’s deep strategy revolves around brush in 40-to-50 feet of water. All different types of brush are in play from sunken whole trees to bamboo stake beds to the more typical man-made brush piles.

He doesn’t spend much time on a spot. “I’m positioning my boat about 204 or 40 feet away and trying to just make contact with the brush. If my lure goes through and doesn’t get bit, I move on. If I catch one, I throw back in quickly to see if there’s another in there. But I’m not trying multiple lures or anything like that.”

Bobby Lane did 17 pounds, 4 ounces to move into the cut. “I caught them in 22 feet of water, 32 feet, 44 feet, and then my biggest fish came from 4 feet,” said Lane.

Lane is among a handful of anglers that have found their biggest fish in shallow water this week.

But the biggest bag belonged to the biggest mover, Coby Carden, who was the only angler to approach 20 pounds with his 19-13 effort. Carden jumped to the 7^th spot on the leaderboard.

Like Lane, Carden is catching quality bass up shallow. In fact, he’s catching all of his fish up shallow. He plans to do the same tomorrow.

Cut weight was 22-3 – held by Mark Davis.

Aaron Martens had the day’s big bass at 6 pounds, 11 ounces.

Day 2 Standings:

1.  Takahiro Omori         Emory, TX               10  31-11    0
Day 1: 5   15-00     Day 2: 5   16-11
2.  Dean Rojas             Lake Havasu City, AZ    10  31-09    0
Day 1: 5   21-02     Day 2: 5   10-07
3.  Michael Iaconelli      Pitts Grove, NJ          9  31-00    0
Day 1: 4   14-07     Day 2: 5   16-09
4.  Randy Howell           Springville, AL         10  30-11    0
Day 1: 5   15-05     Day 2: 5   15-06
5.  Casey Ashley           Donalds, SC             10  29-14    0
Day 1: 5   15-03     Day 2: 5   14-11
6.  Brett Hite             Phoenix, AZ             10  29-07    0
Day 1: 5   15-07     Day 2: 5   14-00
7.  Coby Carden            Shelby, AL              10  29-00    0
Day 1: 5   09-03     Day 2: 5   19-13
8.  Paul Mueller           Naugatuck, CT           10  27-15    0
Day 1: 5   13-12     Day 2: 5   14-03
9.  Bobby Lane Jr.         Lakeland, FL             9  27-14    0
Day 1: 4   10-10     Day 2: 5   17-04
10. Skeet Reese            Auburn, CA               7  27-01    0
Day 1: 5   20-02     Day 2: 2   06-15
11. David Kilgore          Jasper, AL              10  26-11    0
Day 1: 5   14-01     Day 2: 5   12-10
12. Chris Lane             Guntersville, AL         9  26-01    0
Day 1: 5   14-00     Day 2: 4   12-01
13. Jacob Wheeler          Indianapolis, IN        10  25-08    0
Day 1: 5   12-10     Day 2: 5   12-14
14. Brandon Lester         Fayetteville, TN        10  25-06    0
Day 1: 5   11-00     Day 2: 5   14-06
15. Mike McClelland        Bella Vista, AR          9  25-06    0
Day 1: 5   12-02     Day 2: 4   13-04
16. Jared Lintner          Arroyo Grande, CA       10  25-03    0
Day 1: 5   10-09     Day 2: 5   14-10
17. Clifford Pirch         Payson, AZ               9  24-06    0
Day 1: 5   11-13     Day 2: 4   12-09
18. Justin Lucas           Guntersville, AL         8  24-02    0
Day 1: 3   08-04     Day 2: 5   15-14
19. Jacob Powroznik        Port Haywood, VA         9  24-02    0
Day 1: 4   09-02     Day 2: 5   15-00
20. Todd Faircloth         Jasper, TX              10  23-15    0
Day 1: 5   14-06     Day 2: 5   09-09
21. Jason Christie         Park Hill, OK            8  23-14    0
Day 1: 3   07-06     Day 2: 5   16-08
22. Ott DeFoe              Knoxville, TN           10  23-07    0
Day 1: 5   10-06     Day 2: 5   13-01
23. James Niggemeyer       Van, TX                  9  22-10    0
Day 1: 4   08-10     Day 2: 5   14-00
24. Keith Combs            Huntington, TX           7  22-06    0
Day 1: 5   18-08     Day 2: 2   03-14
25. Mark Davis             Mount Ida, AR           10  22-03    0
Day 1: 5   09-06     Day 2: 5   12-13
26. Greg Hackney           Gonzales, LA             7  21-14    0
Day 1: 4   14-15     Day 2: 3   06-15
27. Gerald Swindle         Warrior, AL             10  21-10    0
Day 1: 5   08-13     Day 2: 5   12-13
28. Bill Lowen             Brookville, IN           9  21-04    0
Day 1: 4   07-11     Day 2: 5   13-09
29. Randall Tharp          Port St. Joe, FL         6  20-11    0
Day 1: 2   04-08     Day 2: 4   16-03
30. Aaron Martens          Leeds, AL                8  20-11    0
Day 1: 3   07-09     Day 2: 5   13-02
31. Matt Herren            Ashville, AL             9  19-10    0
Day 1: 4   08-01     Day 2: 5   11-09
32. Edwin Evers            Talala, OK              10  19-04    0
Day 1: 5   07-04     Day 2: 5   12-00
33. John Crews Jr          Salem, VA                7  17-12    0
Day 1: 2   07-08     Day 2: 5   10-04
34. Cliff Prince           Palatka, FL              7  17-11    0
Day 1: 2   03-09     Day 2: 5   14-02
35. Cliff Pace             Petal, MS                7  16-14    0
Day 1: 2   04-05     Day 2: 5   12-09
36. Andy Young             Mound, MN                7  16-09    0
Day 1: 2   03-08     Day 2: 5   13-01
37. Brandon Gray           Bullock, NC              8  15-10    0
Day 1: 3   06-07     Day 2: 5   09-03
38. David Walker           Sevierville, TN          5  14-15    0
Day 1: 4   12-03     Day 2: 1   02-12
39. Scott Rook             Little Rock, AR          8  14-12    0
Day 1: 3   04-13     Day 2: 5   09-15
40. Stephen Browning       Hot Springs, AR          5  14-02    0
Day 1: 1   02-13     Day 2: 4   11-05
41. Chad Pipkens           Holt, MI                 6  13-14    0
Day 1: 3   07-09     Day 2: 3   06-05
42. Shin Fukae             Palestine, TX            8  13-03    0
Day 1: 5   06-14     Day 2: 3   06-05
43. Andy Montgomery        Blacksburg, SC           5  11-08    0
Day 1: 5   11-08     Day 2: 0   00-00
44. Kevin Short            Mayflower, AR            7  10-08    0
Day 1: 5   08-04     Day 2: 2   02-04
45. Chad Morgenthaler      Coulterville, IL         5  10-00    0
Day 1: 2   03-04     Day 2: 3   06-12
46. Cliff Crochet          Pierre Part, LA          3  09-14    0
Day 1: 1   02-12     Day 2: 2   07-02
47. Brian Snowden          Reeds Spring, MO         5  09-06    0
Day 1: 4   08-08     Day 2: 1   00-14
48. Jeff Lugar             Cross Junction, VA       4  09-02    0
Day 1: 1   02-04     Day 2: 3   06-14
49. Paul Elias             Laurel, MS               3  08-08    0
Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 3   08-08
50. Brett Preuett          Monroe, LA               2  07-11    0
Day 1: 1   03-00     Day 2: 1   04-11
51. Teb Jones              Hattiesburg, MS          3  07-09    0
Day 1: 3   07-09     Day 2: 0   00-00
52. Morizo Shimizu         Suita, Osaka JAPAN       2  05-13    0
Day 1: 1   01-05     Day 2: 1   04-08
53. Brandon Palaniuk       Rathdrum, ID             3  05-04    0
Day 1: 1   01-07     Day 2: 2   03-13
54. Steve Lund             Glendale, AZ             1  04-15    0
Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 1   04-15
55. Troy Diede             Sioux Falls, SD          0  00-00    0
Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 0   00-00
55. Van Soles              Haines City, FL          0  00-00    0
Day 1: 0   00-00     Day 2: 0   00-00
———————————————————————–
Totals
Day   #Limits    #Fish      Weight
1        24       195       490-09
2        31       208       571-05
———————————-
55       403      1061-14