Herren wows at Ouachita

Alabama pro nets almost 25 pounds, leads FLW day one

MONROE, La. – They said this place was going to be tough and it was – for a lot of anglers not named Matt Herren. The pro from Trussville, Ala., astounded fans and fellow anglers alike at weigh-in with a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 14 ounces to lead Wednesday’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour action at the Ouachita River.

“You hear the locals around here talking up their fishery,” Herren said, “but I had no idea about the caliber of fish that are here.

“You know, I owe (FLW tournament director) Bill Taylor an apology. Before the tournament I called him up and said, `Bill, who exactly picked this lake? Because it’s a mess.’ Man, was I wrong. I was shaking (the fish) off in practice, and I had no idea that they were that big.”

Big, as in 6-7, 5-12 and 5-0 – the respective weights, in pounds and ounces, of the three biggest bass that Herren caught on day one.

Herren wasn’t the only one with big fish Wednesday, either. The Ouachita River surprised a lot people by coughing up no fewer than 95 limits, a number of which contained some very sizable bass. The big bass of the day went to Takahiro Omori for a 6-pound, 12-ounce largemouth on the pro side and co-angler Roy Altman Jr. caught a 6-9 largemouth for the co-angler big-bass award.

But Herren’s string of 5-pound-plus fish took the cake by well more than 4 pounds over everybody else. The leader locked up into Arkansas’ Felsenthal pool with about a hundred other boats this morning. There, he did what people were saying couldn’t be done here in the swamp: He fished a pattern.

“A lot of the problem here is there are so many targets that it’s hard to narrow it down,” he said, understandably reluctant to reveal exactly what his pattern was Wednesday. “Today I could call my shot. I literally knew on which pitch and flip I was going to catch a bass.”

Herren said that he caught mostly prespawning largemouths and had the luxury, unlike many others, of culling out four fish today, including one that weighed as much as 2 pounds, 15 ounces.

“It was a blessed day,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for this day for three years fishing this tour.”

Like Herren’s, a lot of good sacks came from the Felsenthal pool. Does he plan on making the long run back up there Thursday?

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I guarantee it.”

Walker mystified by his 20

The pro who landed second place couldn’t have had a more dissimilar day than Herren, in fishing terms, and ultimately achieved nearly the same result. David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., caught a limit weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce and didn’t really seem to know how it happened.

“There’s a lot of water out there, but most of it stinks. You definitely have to fish an area; this is not a pattern lake,” Walker said. “This morning I woke up thinking that I couldn’t catch crap here. So I went to a spot where I caught a single 2-pound fish yesterday, and this morning I caught one right away that weighed 2 1/2 pounds. I was ecstatic about it. I spent all day in there on the trolling motor and I didn’t get a lot of bites, but after I caught that first fish, I had no desire to go anywhere else.”

Unlike Herren, Walker said that he not only fished an area – as opposed to a pattern – but he fished in the Monroe pool here in Louisiana. He caught seven fish total, sporadically, landing one on a spinnerbait and the rest by flipping. His limit, the only other sack to top 20 pounds, consisted of five 4-pound largemouths.

“You know, I’ve fished seven tournaments this year at places like (Lake) Guntersville and Florida, and I come here and catch 20 pounds. It’s my biggest stringer this year,” he said. “It blows my mind that it even happened.”

Like many people, Walker was astounded not just by his own sack of fish today, but by everyone else’s atop the leaderboard. Before the tournament, pros were saying that 12 to 14 pounds a day would be good enough to make the cut. But with almost 16 pounds sitting in 10th place after day one, you can throw that theory out the window.

“The scary part is that I’ve got to catch them again tomorrow if I want to make the cut,” Walker said, admitting that he thought he would be leading easily with 20-1. “This has got to be the biggest weigh-in ever on this body of water. I just can’t believe they caught that many fish.”

Tako third

Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas, took third place in the Pro Division with the help of his big bass. His limit weighed 19 pounds, 13 ounces.

“I’m really happy with what I had today, especially since I only had two days of practice,” said Omori, who caught four fish flipping and one on a spinnerbait. “I didn’t have a lot of fish, just five quality bites. I missed one 4-pounder on a spinnerbait, too.”

Ary fourth

Pro Todd Ary of Birmingham, Ala., placed fourth with a five-bass weight of 18 pounds, 7 ounces. Like Walker, he was surprised by his haul Wednesday.

“I didn’t have a bite in practice and I ended up culling through today,” he said.

Pace fifth

Keith Pace of Monticello, Ark., grabbed the fifth spot in the Pro Division with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 11 pros on day one at the Ouachita River:

6th: Todd Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, five bass, 17-6

7th: Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas, five bass, 17-0

8th: Jeremiah Kindy of Benton, Ark., five bass, 16-8

(Tie) 8th: Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., five bass, 16-8

10th: William Davis of Russellville, Ark., five bass, 15-13

(Tie) 10th: Alvin Shaw of State Road, N.C., five bass, 15-13

Altman’s ugly bait leads co-anglers

With his 6-pound, 9-ounce kicker fish, Roy Altman Jr. led the Co-angler Division with a four-fish stringer weighing a total of 12-2.

The Augusta, Ga., native, known for his line of Spot Remover jigs, surprisingly found fish with a different bait Wednesday: a spinnerbait, and a flashy one at that.

“It’s red with magnum willow blades and a chartreuse trailer,” he said. “I pulled it out last night to show my neighbor at the hotel and he said, `Boy, you’ll throw anything.’ But the fish seem to like it; it’s the only thing I can catch them on here.”

Fishing with pro Gary Yamamoto, Altman caught his fish in the Felsenthal pool, including a stretch where he caught two on exactly the same spot.

“It was quite a day,” he said. “I had a good time. All I’ve got to do is get another good partner tomorrow.”

Second place on the co-angler side went to Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala., for five bass weighing 12 pounds even.

Merle Wells Jr. of Hammond, N.Y., placed third for the co-anglers with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 13 ounces.

Sondra Rankin of Paducah, Ky., took fourth with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 1 ounce.

Kenneth Chapman of Woodlawn, Tenn., grabbed the fifth spot with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 13 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers on day one at the Ouachita River:

6th: James Davis Jr. of Ferriday, La., four bass, 9-14

7th: Chris Koester of Winston-Salem, N.C., five bass, 9-2

8th: Mark Everett of Tyler, Texas, five bass, 8-14

9th: Russell Burroughs of Jacksonville, Ala., three bass, 8-12

10th: Joe Cooper of Smithville, Texas, five bass, 8-12

Day two of FLW Tour competition at the Ouachita River begins as the full field of 200 boats takes off from Forsythe Park at 7 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second half of the opening round. Following tomorrow’s action, both fields will be cut to the top 10 anglers apiece based on two-day total weight.