SOMERSET, Ky. – Following a three-hour fog delay Wednesday morning, pro Johnny Crase of Lexington, Ky., caught a five-smallmouth bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 3 ounces to lead day one of the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Lake Cumberland near Somerset, Ky. The four-day event has a total purse of $900,000, with $100,000 cash going to the Pro Division winner and $20,000 awarded to the co-angler winner.
Many anglers are running from General Burnside State Park to the dam, which made a short day even shorter, considering it takes nearly an hour to travel that distance by boat. On top of the fog delay, several aspects are affecting the bite. Recent rains caused the lake to rise considerably and washed in a lot of wood debris into the lake. Bass were already spawning when the water level increased, which made beds much deeper than they were several days prior. The debris is also getting in the way of anglers sight-fishing. Despite the tough conditions, dozens of smallmouths weighing between 4 and 5 pounds were caught.
Crase, who has a strong Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League record on Lake Cumberland with three top-10 finishes, leads by about 1 1/2 pounds.
“I’m targeting smallmouths, but smallies on this lake are tough,” Crase said. “They are there one day and gone the next. I culled once today.
“I’ve got about 10 spots, and I fished about four or five today,” Crase explained. “I caught a couple on a drop-shot, and all of them came on finesse baits. I’m using 8-pound line. The fish are spawning about 15 feet deep. If it rains tomorrow, it could help me.”
Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, one of the most accomplished anglers in the sport, caught a limit consisting mostly of smallmouths weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces.
“I like this lake; it fits my style,” Wendlandt said, who has never fished Cumberland prior to this event. “The lake reminds me a lot of Beaver Lake, and I do well there.
“I caught two that I could see, and the others were bedding also, because I shook off the same type of bite in the same exact places in practice, but I couldn’t see then. I’m catching them on a unique bluff, and the fish are bedding in the cracks of the bluff.
“I’d like to say I could catch 16 pounds again tomorrow, but I don’t think I can. I can probably do 10 pounds each day, but I’m not sure I can do much more than that. I’ve got some big largemouths on beds, but it is unreal how hard the largemouths are to catch in this lake when they’re on the bed.”
Wendlandt caught seven keepers Wednesday.
Rounding out the top five pros are Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas (five bass, 14 pounds, 11 ounces); Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas (five bass, 14 pounds, 4 ounces); and Rusty Salewske of Alpine, Calif. (four bass, 13 pounds, 3 ounces).
Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., landed the day’s Snickers Big Bass in the Pro Division, a 6-pound largemouth worth $750. He caught the bass sight-fishing with a white lizard.
Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark., winner of the season’s first FLW Series event on Lake Lanier, leads the Co-angler Division with three bass weighing 10 pounds, 1 ounce. Koone, a rookie co-angler in the professional ranks, is a senior at Arkansas Tech University.
“I was using the same finesse worm that I used at Lanier,” Koone said. “I’ve just been getting good draws. I only caught three smallmouths and broke off two big fish. Light line, big rocks and big smallmouths just don’t mix. I caught my fish in 10 to 12 feet of water.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jim Smith of Georgetown, Ky. (five bass, 7 pounds, 11 ounces); Ken Cothran of Locust Grove, Ga. (four bass, 7 pounds, 3 ounces); Arch Cornett of Huntsville, Ala. (three bass, 6 pounds, 1 ounce); and Matt Arey of Shelby, N.C. (two bass, 5 pounds, 11 ounces).
Mike Miller of Somerset caught the day’s biggest bass in the Co-angler Division with a 5-pound, 5-ounce smallmouth and earned $250.
Overall, 531 bass weighing 1,084 pounds, 14 ounces were caught Wednesday, including 32 five-bass limits.
The new $6.5 million FLW Series features five $900,000 qualifying tournaments, each with a top award of $100,000, that advance anglers to the $2 million, 2007 Forrest Wood Cup in Hot Springs, Ark., where the winning pro will earn as much as $1 million cash.
Anglers fishing the FLW Series tournament on Lake Cumberland will take off each morning at 6:30 from General Burnside State Park. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 177 Washington Drive in Somerset beginning at 4 p.m. Children will be treated to the Fujifilm trout pond and rides in the Kellogg’s Ranger boat simulator beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday prior to the final weigh-in at Wal-Mart. All events are free and open to the public.
The entire field competes for the first three days of FLW Series events. Co-angler winners are determined on day three by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.
In FLW Series competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers.
Coverage of the Lake Cumberland FLW Series tournament will be broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program airing June 4. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to approximately 350 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely viewed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006. FLW Outdoors also recently announced the addition of a striped bass circuit, which will debut in May.