Dion dials in 20, tops limit heap at Champlain
97 percent of pro field catches a full sack, catch records fall again
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Out of 1,000 possible bass they could weigh in collectively, anglers in the Pro Division brought in an amazing 984 fish during the first half of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s opening round at Lake Champlain Wednesday. Of those, the five heaviest belonged to veteran Dion Hibdon, who led all comers with the day’s only limit weighing more than 20 pounds.
The pro from Stover, Mo., caught 20 pounds, 13 ounces, putting a relatively large lead of 1-9 between himself and second-place Tony Couch. While the lion’s share of the 194 pro limits that crossed the scale Wednesday consisted of smallmouth bass, perhaps it’s no coincidence that Hibdon’s bag contained all largemouths.
Hibdon made the long run south to the Ticonderoga, N.Y., area of Lake Champlain in order to capitalize on the big bucketmouth bite in the warmer, shallower waters there. At more than an hour away by boat, the Ticonderoga end of the lake can be a daunting destination for tournament anglers launching out of Plattsburgh. But Hibdon, sitting in 75th place in the yearly standings, decided Wednesday to go for broke in order to move up in the standings and qualify for the championship.
“I have to whack them to make the championship, so I’ll be down there one way or the other,” he said. “If there’s any way a Ranger can get me down there, I’m going.”
Day one presented no problem for Hibdon or many others as far as the traveling went on big Lake Champlain. Sunny skies and calm water prevailed throughout the day, so running around was a snap, not to mention the sight-fishing for smallies.
Hibdon eschewed the smallmouth sight bite, however, focusing instead on batches of big largemouths he found on the south end.
“That’s a whole different pond down there,” he said. “Ninety percent of the fish down there are spawned out, and they’re just sitting where they’re going to be all summer long. They’re postspawn fish, and they’re eating. I just spent all my practice time down there looking for big fish.”
Hibdon said that he hooked “maybe 30 fish” total Wednesday and that he was “throwing a big bait.” While he had hoped to catch a big bag to increase his chances at a championship berth, he wasn’t sure if another 20-pound sack was in the cards tomorrow. The weather is forecast to take a turn for the worse Thursday, and that could make any long runs on the big water a dicey affair. But it doesn’t mean he’s not going to try.
“There’s no telling. We’ll just have to wait and see,” he said. “This is just such an awesome fishery.”
Couch second, takes big bass
Landing the day’s $750 Snickers Big Bass award with a 5-pound, 12-ounce largemouth was Couch, a veteran pro out of Buckhead, Ga. He claimed second place with a mixed-bag limit of two smallmouths and three largemouths weighing 19-4.
“I had a largemouth pattern and a smallmouth pattern, and they were two totally different things,” Couch said. “I started on the largemouths and then switched to the smallmouths later. I had three places where I felt like I had some pretty good smallies. I did a whole lot of fishing today and not a whole lot of running.”
Couch said he caught his largemouths, including his big kicker, on a Zoom Super Hog and his smallies on a Zoom Super Fluke.
“Yeah, I’m happy with it,” he said “I just hope I can do it again tomorrow, but I’m afraid the weather’s going to bite me in the butt.”
2004 champ Martin third
Seemingly unable to do any wrong at Lake Champlain, Clewiston, Florida’s Scott Martin earned the third spot in the Pro Division after catching a limit of smallmouths weighing 18 pounds, 13 ounces on day one. Martin is the defending FLW Tour champion at Champlain, having won here in 2004.
“It’s mainly a sight-fishing program for me again,” he said. “Thank God for technology. I don’t know where I’d be without that Garmin (GPS unit). The fish I’m catching are extremely deep; I can’t even see them, so that GPS is really important.”
Martin said he’s using basically the same strategy he did to win here two years ago, fishing mainly spawning smallmouth beds and even using the same tube bait in a “special color.” He has switched from 10-pound line to 8-pound Berkley Vanish, however, in an effort to work deeper.
“I’m catching them in 12 to 15 feet of water, and that 8-pound line allows me to get the bait deeper,” he said. “I’m doing that for two reasons: A) Ninety-five percent of the field isn’t fishing that deep, and B) I think that makes them easier to catch. There are just so many fish in this lake.”
Bennett fourth
Young R.J. Bennett of Roseville, Calif., took the fourth pro position with a mixed limit weighing 18 pounds, 10 ounces.
“Right now, the fish are primarily on beds,” said Bennett, who threw everything from a drop-shot and a Senko to jerkbaits and swimbaits to catch his fish Wednesday. “I’m keying on beds for big ones, but others are coming up, too, that are even bigger.”
Bennett was aided Wednesday by his brother, Michael, who helped him find fish after R.J.’s GPS unit died on him. Michael Bennett had a good day, himself, placing 27th with a weight of 16 pounds, 10 ounces.
“My brother came through for me today,” he said. “He could have had a bigger bag than he did, but he passed on a bigger fish to me. We’ve been wanting both of us to make the cut at the same time for a long time, so hopefully we can make that happen.”
Le fifth
Thanh Le of Davie, Fla., placed fifth for the pros with a limit of smallies weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces.
“I’ve been here for three and a half weeks, and I have those sight-fish,” he said. “When it’s calm, I know I can catch some of the bigger ones I have.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 11 pros on day one at Lake Champlain:
6th: J.T. Kenney of Daytona Beach, Fla., 18-3
7th: Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich., 18-2
8th: Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, 18-1
9th: Curt Lytle of Zuni, Va., 17-13
10th: Thomas Lavictoire of West Rutland, Vt., 17-12
10th: Keith Williams of Conway, Ark., 17-12
Without question, each of the top 11 pros caught limits Wednesday.
Local Schneider leads co-anglers
Outpacing 152 other five-bass limits in the Co-angler Division, James Schneider of Albany, N.Y., took top honors from the back of the boat with his five bass weighing 17 pounds, 3 ounces.
“It was awesome. We fished staging fish in the morning and spawning fish in the afternoon,” said Schneider, who was partnered with pro Gerald Beck. “I caught them on a Lil’ Hustler spinnerbait with chartreuse blades, and they were just pounding it. Then we flipped weeds, and I caught some on a 3/8-ounce Lil’ Hustler jig. I probably caught 10 good fish.”
Second place for the co-anglers went to Bill Gift of Alix, Ark., for a limit weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces.
Rob Newell of Tallahassee, Fla., earned third place for the co-anglers with a limit of smallies weighing 16 pounds, 5 ounces.
Co-angler Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., took fourth place with a limit weighing 16 pounds, 2 ounces.
In a three-way tie for fifth place were co-anglers Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md., Richard Rhodes of Calvert City, Ky., and Doug Weiser of Springdale, Ark. They each caught a limit weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:
8th: Ronald Aikin of Valley Station, Ky., 15-8
9th: Dana Perrotte of Winooski, Vt., 15-7
10th: Chad Parks of Memphis, 15-6
Each of the top 10 co-anglers also caught a limit Wednesday.
Another record day at Champlain
In total, Lake Champlain yielded 1,878 bass weighing 4,887 pounds, 11 ounces on opening day of the tour’s final qualifier of 2006. Additionally, 347 competitors (194 pros and 153 co-anglers) caught five-bass limits. These are all new FLW Tour records, and the number of fish weighed also ranks as an overall FLW Outdoors record. The weight ranks second overall behind the 2006 Stren Series tournament on Lake Amistad in which anglers weighed 5,071 pounds, 8 ounces of bass. The number of limits also ranks second overall, trailing the 2006 Stren Series tournament on Lake Shasta, which produced 349 limits.
More to come
Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour at Lake Champlain begins as the full field of 200 boats takes off from Plattsburgh Boat Basin at 6:30 a.m. Eastern 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.