Most of the older guys came from the deep south and are really good at pitching in heavy cover for the largies. In addition they are tough as nails and elected to do the brutal 70 mile trip to the south end of the lake. One guy has already swamped his boat and must have busted it up because they had to put him in a new boat. The smallies are post spawn and aren't concentrated right now so all the old times are doing what they do best fishing for the larger greenies. They must be finding them because the largemouths have dominated the past 2 tourneys held this year. KVD and some of the other young guys have the strategy of qualifying with the smallies because they are closer to the launch and are still abundant to the pro fishermen. They are shooting for a 16-18 pound bag for making the cut then they will go after the largies they found in practice to try and win it. Taking the trip south can be an all or nothing deal if the wind comes up. On flat days it takes them about an hour and when the wind comes up that time can extend to 3 hours or more and bust them up. I can't imagine the stress put on those guys looking at the forecast the night before and making the decision to go for broke by taking the long trip when there are so many 4 pound smallies within a couple of miles of the launch. I stood at the dock this morning and watched the guys that elected to come north. I could hear them coming for over 5 minutes. I had my camera but they were all racing single file out in the middle. Big rooster tails on a flat calm surface…nothing quite like it.