Newport Beach’s Ehrler Still Holding Bassmaster Classic Lead

Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

Newport Beach’s Brent Ehrler still is the leader in the clubhouse (fish house?) as the final round of the Bassmaster Classic at Lake Conroe in Houston, Texas.

Here’s B.A.S.S. with the day two update:

Brent Ehrler is trying his best to stay grounded.

He’s saying all the right things.

But after two big days, there’s just no denying that he’s one step away from the biggest accomplishment of his professional bass fishing career.

The 40-year-old California angler caught five bass Saturday that weighed 20 pounds, 1 ounce and pushed his two-day total to 43-4 in front of a giant crowd at Minute Maid Park, home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros. That was good enough to lead the 47th annual GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods on Lake Conroe by more than 2 pounds going into Sunday’s final round.

“I didn’t know what I could catch today in the area where I’ve been fishing,” Ehrler said. “I thought I could go in there, and if I caught a limit, they’d weigh 15 to 16 pounds. You just don’t know what’s there until you start pulling on more of them.

“I could go in there tomorrow and not have a limit. I could go in there and catch 13 or 14 pounds, or I could have 25 pounds.”

Unlike Day 1 when the winds blew 20- to 30-mph, things were relatively calm on Conroe Saturday. Ehrler said that helped his cause — even though his weight was slightly lower than the 23-3 he caught Friday.

“I think it was better,” said Ehrler, who still hasn’t been open about how he’s catching his fish with one more day to go. “I would prefer to have less wind.

“I think in the best-case scenario, if it was slick calm, I could probably really catch them.”

Good luck to the Orange County angler as he attempts to win the Super Bowl of bass fishing.