Ben Halcombe and Aaron Hayes take the Day 1 lead at the 2023 Mid State Northside Marshall Fishing Cup presented by Josh Workman with Best Virginia Heating and Cooling. Halcombe and Hayes weighed a five bass limit of smallmouth that went 9.80 pounds, giving them a 1.51 pound lead over second place Ben Nowalk and Sam Nowalk.

And while it looked good on paper. It was no easy task to catch that leading bag.

“We didn’t catch our first one until 10:30 and then by 1:00 we had three and by 1:45 we had our limit,” said Halcombe. “We ended up catching twelve keepers in total and just kinda culled our way up to what we had.”

Halcombe and Hayes finished up fourth last year during The Cup but this time they want to seal the deal. After Day 1 of the tournament in 2022, they found themselves in 6th but jumped to 4th on the final day. They might hold onto the lead now, but they their lead isn’t safe.

“Look who is behind us,” said Halcombe. “If you see who is behind us our lead isn’t safe.”

“But we’re ready for tomorrow, we are already in the Top 10 and that is what we sat out to do,” said Hayes.

Hayes and Halcombe were tight lipped and rightfully so when asked about a few keys that helped them find success.

“We’ll dig into that tomorrow if we pull it off,” said Halcombe.

“I’d just about giving anything to win those trophies,” Hayes said.

And they’ll have the chance to tomorrow, stay tuned on DockTalkWV.com to find out how it all shakes down at the 2023 Marshall Fishing Cup.

2nd – Sam Nowalk and Ben Nowalk, 8.29 pounds

3rd – Cody Huddleston and Zach Horrocks, 7.94 pounds

4th – Luke Long and Nathan Harper, 7.75 pounds

5th – Travis Heater and Erick Lipscombe, 7.43 pounds

6th – Mike Samples and Luke Stewart, 7.11 pounds

7th – Charlie Hanshaw and Jeffrey Hanshaw, 6.97 pounds

8th – Brian Fitzgerald and Dylan Fitzgerald, 6.87 pounds

9th – Lane Ashley and Tim Ashley, 6.67 pounds

10th – Brenton Davis and Frankie DeLong, 6.53 pounds