Frittskrieg

Crankbaiter still king at Kentucky Lake; Fukae finds second

BENTON, Ky. – David Fritts says that Kentucky Lake is one of his favorite places to fish. It’s easy to see why. The North Carolina crankbait king caught another decent limit of bass with his Rapala Thursday and held onto his lead in the opening round of Wal-Mart FLW Tour competition at Kentucky Lake. He topped all pros with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 9 ounces.

“I’ve fished here a lot over the years,” said Fritts, who won the FLW event at Kentucky Lake in 1997. “I’ve got a lot of confidence here. I know how to position the boat in relation to the fish. Lake Eufaula (in Alabama) and here are my two favorite lakes.”

Boat positioning is key for the crankbait specialist from Lexington, N.C., but windy conditions made it tough for most FLW competitors on big Kentucky Lake Thursday, including Fritts.

“It was a lot tougher today. The cloud cover hurt and the wind was tough. Almost every wave broke over the front of my boat,” he said.

Fritts said he didn’t return to his best locations from day one – where he caught almost 21 pounds of bass. Instead, he “just sort of messed around a little bit” looking for new areas with his crankbait. Even though he lost two fish again early, he caught seven keepers and eventually culled out his five-bass limit to 13 pounds, 13 ounces. He said his best bass came from 8 to 12 feet of water.

“I didn’t go to a couple of the places I caught them yesterday,” he said. “It was (catch) one here, one there.”

Heading out in boat No. 1 for the semifinals, Fritts said he hopes to catch around 25 pounds of fish Friday. With just over 20 pounds setting the mark as the heaviest stringer so far this week, that may seem like a lot. But the leader knows the potential of this productive fishery.

Alluding to several fish that he lost on day one, he said: “In all honesty, I should have caught 27 pounds yesterday.”

Shin still rolling

With the FLW Angler of the Year title in his crosshairs, Osaka, Japan’s Shinichi Fukae made a sizeable comeback on day two and slid into second place in the Pro Division with an opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds even. After placing 30th Wednesday with 12-15, he moved up 29 spots Thursday with a limit weighing 20-1.

Fukae, who entered the Kentucky Lake event ranked second in points, has unofficially taken back the standings lead by making the cut. Just one regular-season tournament, Lake Champlain, remains.

It was a barnburner for him, however. After catching his limit early on day one, he struggled to catch keepers until later on day two. Fukae, who is meticulous about every fish he catches and their exact locations, went to his main crankbait spot and found that it yielded few fish – much less keepers – on two passes. Later in the day, he went to his secondary, Carolina-rig area and nailed his 20-pound limit, which included a kicker largemouth that weighed 6-11.

“It was a super-miracle!” he said about the fish.

Maybe, but there’s obviously more to it than that for the standings leader. This week marks Fukae’s third top-10 appearance in just five FLW tournaments.

Gagliardi third

Pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., grabbed the third qualifying spot with an opening total of 10 bass weighing 32 pounds, 6 ounces.

Like many of the leaders, he has caught his best bass both days by using a deep-diving crankbait and keeping mobile.

“I’m just running a handful of spots,” he said. “As soon as they quit biting in one area, I’m bouncing around and going to the next one. I’m just trying to pace myself, basically. It feels good.”

Jones makes a run, claims fourth

Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, landed the fourth pro qualifying spot with 10 bass weighing 31 pounds, 6 ounces in the opening round.

“I’ve fished new water every day,” said Jones, who is making the long run down to the southern end of Lake Barkley and mainly flipping Yum plastics in creeks. “I had four keepers on on a buzzbait, but they just won’t eat it right. I’m just trying to find areas to get six to 10 good bites a day. I have one stretch (of water) left that I found in practice that I haven’t fished yet.”

Segraves fifth

Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla., landed in the fifth position after posting a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 31 pounds, 7 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros to make the cut are Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., with an opening-round weight of 31 pounds, 4 ounces (6th place); David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., who made a huge comeback from 75th place on day one, with 30-15 (7th); Brennan Bosley of Benton, Tenn., with 30-7 (8th); Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., with 30-3 (9th); and Morizo Shimizu of Osaka, Japan, with 29-15 (10th).

Marty Fourkiller of Sylva, N.C., earned $750 Thursday as the Snickers Big Bass winner in the Pro Division with a 7-pound, 15-ounce bass. He also earned another $1,000 from Snickers for catching the heaviest bass of the tournament.

Divis does it again

Taking the lead co-angler spot heading into Friday was an angler familiar with the FLW top 10. Frank Divis Sr. of Fayetteville, Ark., placed first with an opening-round weight of 22 pounds, 12 ounces. He caught a limit weighing 16-15 Thursday and rebounded from 51st place to make the cut. Divis already has seven prior top-10 finishes – including a win – fishing from the back of the boat on the FLW Tour.

Divis caught the bulk of his fish in 8 to 15 feet of water using a 1-ounce, football-head jig that he designed himself. Armed with the knowledge that he’ll likely be fishing at similar depths in Friday’s co-angler finals, Divis said he looked forward to fishing with Fritts in boat No. 1.

“I’m assuming that Mr. Fritts is crankbaiting tomorrow,” Divis said. “If that’s the case, I feel comfortable. It’s probably going to take 10 or 11 pounds to win and, what I’m doing, I’m not going to catch a lot of little fish. There are 10-pound fish in this lake that are out there in the postspawn and suspended. It’s just a matter of getting it in front of them.”

Second place for the co-anglers went to day-one leader Steven Tosh Jr. of Waterford, Calif., for a two-day weight of 22 pounds, 3 ounces.

“I lost a big one at the boat that was about 4 1/2 pounds,” he said. “Otherwise, I would have had a really big sack today.”

Greg Gulledge of Monticello, Ark., placed third in the Co-angler Division with an opening-round weight of 21 pounds, 9 ounces.

Jeff Stegner of Fair Grove, Mo., took fourth place for the co-anglers with 20 pounds, 7 ounces. David Hudson of Jasper, Ala., placed fifth with 19-14.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers to make the cut into Friday’s finals are Troy Cox of Bono, Ark., with an opening-round total of 18 pounds, 15 ounces (6th place); Alex Ormand of Bessemer City, N.C., with 18-9 (7th); David Gee of Plymouth, Tenn., with 18-4 (8th); Darrell Stevens of Roseland, Ga., with 17-3 (9th); and Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala., with 17-0 (10th).

Divis also took co-angler Snickers Big Bass honors and $500 with his 6-pound, 7-ounce kicker bass.

Into the cut

The top 10 anglers in both divisions advanced to Friday’s competition, which begins at the 8 a.m. CST takeoff from Kentucky Dam Village Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky. Weights are cleared for Friday’s competition, and co-anglers will fish for one day with the $20,000 winner crowned at weigh-in. The 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the $100,000 winner determined by the heaviest two-day weight.

Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 W. Fifth St. in Benton beginning at 5 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.