Keith Poche (center) climbed from 20th place into the lead on Day 2 of the Toyota Series Championship at Wheeler Lake.
November 08, 2024
By MLF Communications Staff HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Some flip-flopping on the leaderboard was expected on Day 2 of the 2024 Toyota Series Championship at Wheeler Lake. However, the move from 20th to first with a limit of bass weighing 27 pounds, 5 ounces by Keith Poche of Pike Road, Ala., was not on the board. Of course, Poche rarely conforms to the norm, and his big day remade the tournament, putting him in the lead with a 42-13 total going into the final day of competition.
Day-1 leader Hayden Marbut of Birmingham, Ala., tallied 19-10 to bring his total to an even 41 pounds and finish the day in second – more than 5 pounds clear of third place.
On Day 1, Poche caught a solid 15 pounds and change – nothing to write home about, but a good start. According to him, 27 pounds wasn’t in the picture at all.
“That was unbelievable,” Poche gushed. “You know, after yesterday and the bites I had in practice, I thought maybe upper teens, 20 – if everything goes right, and I get lucky. But 27 pounds, I don’t even know, I mean, I don’t even know if the scales are right,” he said. “I mean, I know they were big, but that was unbelievable. That’s the biggest bag I’ve ever weighed in in my life.”
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Considering Poche has fished around the country as a pro for years, it’s a wild statement, and true or nearly true, it’s a testament to just how amazing a day he had. Catching 27 pounds of largemouth is not something that’s supposed to happen at Wheeler this time of year. To top it off, he caught almost all of them in about 40 minutes and was done by 10 o’clock.
Poche said he doesn’t have company, and that there are fish left – he saw them busting and chasing bait at the end of the day. He’s just not sure what the difference between the first and second days was.
“Execution was part of the difference between having upper teens or 20,” Poche said. “But today, I really don’t know – that’s what we battle all the time as fishermen. These fish are like us. I mean, we’re moody. We have feelings. The big ones just didn’t bite as well yesterday, they were nipping at it, and I guess the big ones were just going crazy today.”
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From the sounds of it, a limit shouldn’t be a problem, but to stay ahead of Marbut, Poche likely needs another strong day. Today, Poche may have figured out how to go from good to very good.
“There’s so many fish in this area,” he said. “There’s hundreds of fish. Yesterday, there were fish blowing up everywhere. Most of them small, but there’s key little places in there where I’ve noticed that I’m getting the bigger bites.”
Maybe he does it again – or even in the ballpark – and he’ll get what he came for: the $200,000 winner’s check.
“I want the money,” he said. “Show me the money; that’s what I want.”
Here are the totals for the 25 anglers who advanced to the final day
1st: Keith Poche, Pike Road, Ala., 10 bass, 42-13
The remaining competitors will take off Saturday at 7 a.m. CT from Ditto Landing, located at 293 Ditto Landing Road in Huntsville. Saturday’s Championship weigh-in will also be held at the landing and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend the takeoff and weigh-in and also follow the action online through the MLF Live weigh-in broadcast and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The MLFNOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action live on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. CT. MLFNOW! is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app and Rumble.
