GALLATIN, Tenn. – Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark., landed an impressive five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 1 ounce Wednesday to kick off the Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop on Old Hickory Lake – Tennessee’s most lucrative professional bass fishing tournament.
At stake in the $550,000 tournament presented by Snickers is a top pro award of $110,000 cash and a top co-angler award of $15,000 cash. The field comprises 175 pros who fish from the front of each boat and 175 co-anglers who fish from the back of each boat. More than 30 states and Japan are represented in the tournament, which runs through Saturday.
Kilby’s limit ranks as the heaviest opening-day catch this season, putting him in good position to make Thursday’s semifinal-round cut to the top 20 anglers in each division. Pros who make the cut start from zero Friday and fish for one day to qualify for Saturday’s all-important final round of 10 anglers. Co-angler competition ends Friday.
“This lake has not been real good to me in the past,” said Kilby, a Wal-Mart FLW Tour veteran with three top-10 career finishes. “There is a lot of shallow cover, and there are a lot of different ways to catch fish. Sticking with one lure while fishing here has been my Achilles heel, and I told myself that I wouldn’t let that happen again.”
While he wouldn’t talk specifics, Kilby did say that he is using at least four different lures and covering a lot of different depths. He also hinted that he is targeting post spawn bass that are heading to deep water. “I fished about as good as you can fish,” he said. “I didn’t miss anything.”
Following 4 pounds, 2 ounces behind Kilby is FLW Tour rookie David Womack of Gallatin, Tenn., with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 15 ounces. Yamaha pro Rusty Rust of Hermitage, Tenn., the local favorite, is 7 pounds, 9 ounces out of the lead with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces.
Frank Ippoliti of Mount Airy, Md., (five bass, 15 pounds, 6 ounces) and Roger Crafton of Boca Grande, Fla., (five bass, 15 pounds, 2 ounces) rounded out the top five pros.
Big Bass honors and $750 went to Womack for a 6-pound, 15-ounce largemouth. If the weight holds up Thursday, he will receive the Snickers Big Bass award and an additional $1,000. At the end of the seven-tournament, $5.1 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour season, Snickers will award another $5,000 to the angler who caught the heaviest opening-round bass at any event. Currently that distinction goes to Jim Nolan of Bull Shoals, Ark., who caught an 8-pound, 9-ounce largemouth on Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita in March.
Co-angler Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo leads his division with four bass weighing 12 pounds, 14 ounces followed by Jason Abram of Bluff City, Tenn., (five bass, 12 pounds, 10 ounces) and Mitch Pierson of Newton, N.J., (five bass, 9 pounds, 10 ounces).
Furusawa landed co-angler big bass honors and $500 with a 6-pound, 11-ounce largemouth.
A total of 674 bass weighing 1,461 pounds, 9 ounces were caught Wednesday, including 44 five-bass limits. More than 99 percent of the fish were released alive. If the tour maintains a 98-percent live release rate throughout the season, Energizer will donate $25,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network.
Competition on Old Hickory continues at 7 a.m. Thursday at Bull Creek Marina in Gallatin followed by a 3 p.m. weigh-in at the same location. Friday’s semifinal-round takeoff from Bull Creek starts at 8 a.m. followed by a 5 p.m. weigh-in at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 1112 Nashville Pike in Gallatin. Saturday’s takeoff begins at 6 a.m. followed by a 2 p.m. weigh-in at Wal-Mart.
A Family Fun Zone in the Wal-Mart parking lot opens at 3 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. The Fun Zone offers fishing enthusiasts a chance to meet some of the nation’s top anglers, collect autographs and receive expert fishing advice. There are also plenty of children’s games to entertain the family. Admission to the Fun Zone and weigh-ins is free. Weigh-ins and a portion of the Fun Zone are housed inside a heated or air conditioned tent in case of inclement weather.