ESPN Elite Series

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. — Timmy Horton had already weighed in a whopping 24 pounds, 12 ounces of largemouth bass on Day Two of the Champion's Choice presented by Toyota Tundra. But until Day One leader Steve Kennedy weighed his stringer, it could have been considered a hollow lead.

So by the time Kennedy arrived and made his way through the snaking weigh-in line, Horton was seated on a small stepladder in front of a TV backstage.

When Kennedy's 17-14 limit hit the scales, and Kennedy was telling the audience he missed the big bites he had on Day One but still "had a blast," Horton cut a figure straight out of the World Series of Poker. Stoic behind sunglasses, blond hair tucked under a blue cap, Horton betrayed no emotion, even though he suddenly had a lead of 6-10 over his nearest competitor.

With only one top-10 finish in the first six Bassmaster Elite Series events, Horton finds himself two days from his first BASS tournament win since a 2004 Open event.

Asked whether his huge lead — equivalent to the gap between second-place Kennedy and 13th-place Edwin Evers — would affect his plan on Day Three, Horton said he's still playing offense.

"It'd be easy for me to catch 16 and one of these guys catch 23," he said. "And it would be right back on.

"If I get 20 pounds, I'll ease off until Sunday. That's a big if."

Horton's biggest concern right now appears to be tiring his fish. On Friday he threw a jig at largemouth grouped in grass to hit his limit by 9:30 a.m., culminating with a 4-6 that allowed him to cull a 3-12. He then spent the rest of the day "practicing."

"What a lake," he told the audience, who sat through three separate rain showers during the weigh-in. "That is some of the most fun I have had in a long time."

While Kennedy fell off the pace he set on his huge Day One — the difference, he said, came down to a lack of a 5-pound kicker — Fred Roumbanis (3rd, 37-4) also broke the 20-pound barrier with a limit of largemouth that moved him into solid contention.

Like Horton and Kennedy, he followed the same pattern he ran on Day One, bombing grass for largemouth. He relaxed when he had 20 pounds by 9 a.m., but like Horton, he was worried about managing his fish — his cue to leave his spot, he said, was when his co-angler caught a 5-pounder.

"Apparently I need to step it up," Roumbanis said. "I didn't know Horton was going to catch 24 pounds."

Other big movers on a day when weights dipped slightly overall included Steve Daniel (4th, 35-1), who's on the verge of riding the smallmouth bite to his best finish of the season, and Rick Clunn (5th, 34-4), who's fishing close to the launch point in hopes that rough weather will impede the many anglers making the long run south down the lake. On Day Two, under lightning and beautiful/terrifying skies, a total of six boats suffered breakdowns.

Scott Rook slipped to sixth place with the smallest Day Two bag of anyone still in the top 20. Like many, he left the day in awe of Horton's lead.

"Champlain has always been an ounces game," Rook said. "(Deficits are) hard to make up."

Editor's note: Check in daily during the tournament for live video of the weigh-ins and a realtime leaderboard at 3 p.m. ET Thursday through Saturday. ESPNOutdoors.com will air Hooked Up, the live Internet shows, on Sunday at 8 a.m., 10 a.m. and noon ET on Sunday. The 45-minute Hooked Up show begins at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, leading into the final live weigh-in and a realtime leaderboard at 3:45 p.m. ET.

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