The TourneyX leader board will go dark an hour before this tournament concludes today. It’s a fun way to build suspense until the awards presentation this evening when we find who all won what.
But Brian Nelli has done all he can to drain any drama from the final round of the 2022 Hobie Bass Open Series Tournament of Champions anchored by Power-Pole on Caddo Lake, just a friendly drive from Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana.
Nelli started with a lead of better than 10 inches on what will be the slowest day of fishing this week. He was already hard to catch, but even if this was a 1-day tournament Nelli would command a dominant lead. He has posted his best total of the week during just the first couple of hours this morning with a 98.75-inch performance.
Nelli has put 3 bass on the Ketch board that are bigger than anything the rest of the field has caught – all just over 20 inches.
Brain Nelli’s biggest bass this morning, courtesy of TourneyX
Nelli’s total for the week now stands at 291.75 and gives him a lead of exactly 21 inches over his nearest competitor, on the leader board and on the water, Nolan Minor.
Minor has been sharing water with Nelli all week. It’s a spot they both found in practice and now that the final morning has arrived, we here at Bass365 can describe it in more detail. According to Minor it’s a 100-yard-long stretch of patchy grass where bass are schooling at first light and then sporadically pushing bait up throughout the day. The guys have done most of their heavy lifting with topwater lures, regardless of air and water temperatures though Minor said he might have to drag a worm before this thing is over with.
Then again, Minor said he would bail on the spot if need be and join his brother, Ewing Minor in another area. As the brothers Minor are locked in a heated duel for 2nd place, it will be interesting to find out which stretch of water they each went to.
photo courtesy of Hobie BOS
Theirs is just one of the many suspenseful story lines yet to play out today, even if Nelli runs away with the top spot. For instance, the Angler of the Year race is on and it’s heated.
In any event, this TOC is one for the ages and when the dust settles, we here at Kayak365 will break it all down.
Y’all stick around!
