Thomas goes big, hits over 16 ½ at Beaver Lake

Fair number of limits caught Wednesday at Wal-Mart Open

ROGERS, Ark. – The stormy weather that threatened Wal-Mart FLW Tour anglers in the morning never really materialized into much Wednesday. In fact, conditions were downright balmy at Beaver Lake by afternoon. But it stayed overcast enough for Jeffrey Thomas to pull out the power baits and crank his way into the Pro Division lead on opening day of the Wal-Mart Open.

A good chunk of the pro field – 124 out of 200 – managed to catch five-bass limits on day one. Thomas, a pro from Broadway, N.C., caught the biggest of the day with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 10 ounces.

“I only caught six keepers, all largemouths,” Thomas said. “I was pleasantly surprised by that weight, myself. I came here not fishing for points because I had a bad tournament at Pickwick. So I just picked up a big bait and went power fishing.”

Unconcerned about just filling out his limit, Thomas said he went running-and-gunning, using crankbaits and “power baits,” focusing on isolated cover like docks and stumps in shallow water. With cloudy conditions all day, that strategy seemed to work to a tee.

“I think it helped,” he said. “The water’s so clear that, when it’s overcast, it really helps out with those big baits. Yesterday, when it was calm and sunny, I couldn’t catch a thing. There are some pretty big fish in this lake, and it seems like you can get two or three big bites a day doing what I’m doing. Today, I just got lucky and got five.”

Beaver Lake is notorious for its tendency to cough up big bags to an angler one day and stifle them the next. Thomas admitted that he’s not sure he can repeat Wednesday’s success Thursday, but he’s not putting down his action baits even though a lot of fish were caught on finesse techniques Wednesday.

“I don’t know how or if these fish are going to replenish themselves,” he said. “I’m just going to do what I’ve been doing. I’m going to go for it all tomorrow and try to make the top 10.”

Kreiger sights in on second

Despite cloudy conditions, sight-fishing was a factor Wednesday as bass moved up to spawn. When that happens, look out for second-place pro Koby Kreiger.

Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., came in just under a pound behind Thomas with a limit of largemouths weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.

“You know me. When it’s this time of year and it’s warm and the fish start coming up, I do a whole lot better,” said Kreiger, a renowned sight-angler. “It’s when it’s cold and they’re deep that I stink.”

Fishing shallow, clear water near Beaver Dam, Kreiger threw a green-pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm to catch a few of his big keeper fish early, then went looking for filler fish the rest of the day.

“I got pretty lucky. I pulled into a pocket and got three pretty good fish in 10 minutes. That helped out a lot,” he said. “Then I went and caught some more keepers and came in.”

Omori third

Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas, grabbed the third pro position with a limit weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces.

“This is my best day on Beaver Lake,” said Omori, who won the FLW Tour event at Lake Martin in 2001 and the Bassmaster Classic in 2004.

Omori said he “moved all over the lake” and that he “fished for big bass” Wednesday. While he added that he only caught six keeper fish, he said low lake levels helped him refine his big-bass targeting.

“This year the lake is so low that the fish are all ganged up in small areas,” he said. “So you can pinpoint the big bite.”

Powers fourth

Because they basically fish as a team, it was no surprise that Craig Powers came in just two spots behind Kreiger, especially here at Beaver Lake. The pro from Rockwood, Tenn., caught a limit weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces and placed fourth.

“Yeah, we practiced together, so that’s a good thing,” said Powers, who placed second at the 2004 Wal-Mart Open in no small part because of the information he and Kreiger shared at that event. “Obviously, Koby’s a whole lot better at that sight-fishing junk than I am. I mean, if he can see them, he’s going to catch them. I just caught a bunch of fish on a jerkbait. The way I’m fishing, I think I’m going to get some bites, and I’m just going to try and put them in the boat. I mean, today I fished three or four areas I’ve never seen in my life. I’m not smart enough to figure all that stuff out. I’m going to pull up on a spot that looks good, and I’m just going to go fishing.”

Rose fifth

Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., took the conventional approach and grabbed the fifth position with a limit weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.

By far, the prevalent bait this week is the Shaky Head worm as anglers try to coax these prespawn and spawning fish out of the clear water. In the top five, Rose was no exception to that approach.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I caught them on a little worm,” he said.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros on day one at Beaver Lake:

6th: Toby Hartsell of Livingston, Texas, 13-12

7th: Aaron Martens of Leeds, Ala., 12-10

8th: Brent Chapman of Lake Quivera, Kan., 12-2

9th: Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla., 11-13

9th: Rusty Trancygier of Hahira, Ga., 11-13

All of the top 10 pros caught limits Wednesday.

Chapman’s kicker fish, a 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth, won the $750 Snickers Big Bass Award in the Pro Division.

Carabello, Parks tie for co-angler lead

Tying for the lead in the Co-angler Division with 10 pounds, 4 ounces each were Jess Carabello of Danbury, Conn., and Chad Parks of Memphis, Tenn.

“We were just fishing main-lake points, catching fish that are staging to spawn,” said Carabello, who fished a Shaky Head worm in 5 to 25 feet of water. “The fish were just coming along and picking it up as they moved up. It was so easy for me. Actually, I thought everybody else was doing well, too, because it was so easy. I guess I just happened to get bigger bites.”

Paul Addi of Las Vegas grabbed the third position for the co-anglers with a five-bass weight of 9 pounds, 15 ounces.

Fourth place went to co-angler Todd Lowe of Greensboro, Ga., for four bass weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers was Richard Strother of Tyler, Texas, who caught five bass weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:

6th: Frank Meyer of Marianna, Fla., five bass, 8-8

7th: Ben Pitts of Pea Ridge, Ark., five bass, 8-5

8th: Larry Carter of Little Rock, Ark., five bass, 8-2

9th: Chris Koester of Winston-Salem, N.C., five bass, 7-15

10th: Kenneth Chapman of Woodlawn, Tenn., five bass, 7-14

There was a three-way tie – among Addi, Robert Mulleins of Cumberland, Va., and Johnny Taylor of Kodak, Tenn. – for Snickers Big Bass on the co-angler side, with each fisherman catching a 4-pound, 2-ounce kicker. They each earned $167.

Day two of the Wal-Mart Open at Beaver Lake begins as the full field of 200 boats takes off from Prairie Creek Marina in Rogers 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.