Joseph Webster of Fulton, Mississippi retained his overall lead today, but the margin of his lead was cut in half, from five pounds, down to just under 3 pounds. Webster weighed just 6.06 on day two and only managed three keepers. He said there are still plenty of quality fish in his area, but today they were just pushing his bait out of their way, and not really trying to eat it. As a result, a lot of his bites ended up coming off before they got to the boat. Falling water levels around the area are making the bites harder to come by each day. However, with one day of fishing left, almost two thirds of the 94 anglers still are within 5 pounds of the top two qualifying spots in each state. That is just one bite away from possibly going to the Federation National Championship next spring. It is going to be a shootout tomorrow at the final day weigh in.
There were only three limits weighed in today and only two of them were double digit weights. 
Tyler Fisher of Texas weighed in the largest limit of the day with 11.11 pounds.
Hoyt Akins, of Arkansas followed suit with a limit weighing 11.10 pounds.
In all there were three limits and 66 of 94 anglers weighed at least one fish on Thursday.
The daily big bass award on Thursday went to David Sherrer of Louisiana with a nice 4.07 largemouth.
Special Guest Emcee “Mayor Cecil Belle” of Aberdeen was on hand on day 2 to help conduct todays weighin ceremonies.
With one day of fishing left, here are the top two leaders in each state:
Oklahoma: Johnny Babb 16.09 & Mike Zachery 12.05
Kansas: Jason Benjamin 15.02 & Jayce Newell 10.09
Mississippi: Joseph Webster 19.02 & Jamie Long 10.01
Arkansas: Hoyt Akins 16.03 & Josh Ray 10.02
Texas: Tyler Fisher 14.10 & Dennis Hastings 9.05
Louisiana: Seth Leblanc 12.07 & Mark Brasher 7.12
Missouri: Cole Findley 7.14 & Brian Maloney 6.10
Nebraska: Terry Hussey 7.15 & Ben Milliken 7.09
Day 3 will be the hottest day of the week and conditions will be even tougher as more and more people will be on the water for the weekend events. And with so many anglers within five pounds of the top two spots in their state, a single bite can change everything on the final day. Regardless, of the tough conditions, sixteen anglers will advance to the 2016 Federation National Championship at the conclusion of tomorrows weigh-in.
