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Lucas extends lead over Elite Series field on the Potomac

Posted at 9:05 AM, Aug 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-13 09:08:10-04

This is starting to look awfully familiar.

After the second day of the Bassmaster Elite at Potomac River presented by Econo Lodge, the top spot on the leader board still had the name Justin Lucas next to it.

Lucas brought in 19 pounds, 14 ounces to increase his lead of nearly six pounds over Brent Erhler on cut-down day.

Last year on the upper Chesapeake, Aaron Martens went wire-to-wire and if things keep up, Lucas will do exactly that. And he's done it so far by fishing only one area about the size of four football fields. He says that spot is unlike any other he's found during his professional career.

“I’ve fished tournaments for seven years, and I’ve never had a spot like this — especially to myself,” Lucas said. “The crazy thing is that I just stumbled into it. (Thursday) morning, I had no clue. Then I got a couple of 3-pound bites early that clued me in on what was happening.”

The only question that remains is whether that spot will hold through the weekend. Lucas says he hasn't seen any other anglers there the first two days and believes he'll be able to land 15 pounds from it on Saturday and Sunday.

“I hope the local guys will be respectful, but obviously they can fish where they want,” Lucas said. “I think what I’m doing is different enough and off the beaten path enough that I should be OK.”

You can watch the tournament live on Bassmaster.com to see whether that holds true and then head to the weigh-ins. They will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Indian Head Pavilion on Village Green.

If you find your way to Charles County for this weekend's tournament, email me  (jeff.herman@wmar.com  ) or tweet me (@JeffABC2News  ) a few pictures and we'll put up a slideshow of the festivities.

*Jeff Herman is the assistant news director at WMAR | ABC2. His main passion while not at work is fishing. This column is part of a series of columns he writes for our outdoors page. You can read more of his columns here. Follow him on Twitter @JeffABC2News   and @TightLinesABC2