Central Open Practice Begins

I started practicing on site today for the second central open.  I have a certain degree of trepidation going into this event just knowing I'm competing against the likes of Rick Clunn, Greg Hackney, Preston Clark, Byron Velvick, Dave Wolak and on and on and on.....  It's very hard to convince myself that I'm really vs the fish instead of the other guys fishing this event but really that is the reality of it.  Things have changed so much since my pre practice period here two weeks ago.  The lake has cooled by 5 or 6 degrees, its down 4+ feet just a foot above winter pool and a month early.  The bait is way back in the backs of the cuts and so are the schoolie bass.  Best five for today went MAYBE 12 lbs, still waiting on that 'right bite'.  There was a local tournament weighing in at Paris this afternoon and I asked a local what kind of weight it took to win and he told me 14 to 15 so I'm abit off pace and that will need to be fixed.  I have a good bait getting lots of blowups but having a difficult time getting hooked up, Ill keep messing with hook size and so on to get it figured out, top water is not my speciality but it is what the fish want right now so Ill oblige.  More time behind the trolling motor is needed and I'm confident Ill get this thing figured out.