What to do to improve
Solid catches mean little at Wheeler Lake catchfest
DECATUR, Ala. – Imagine, for a moment, coming to the weigh-in scales at Wheeler Lake with a solid 10-pound limit of bass.
Pretty good catch for Wheeler, right? After all, in past FLW Outdoors events on Wheeler, 10 pounds would have been a shoo-in for a top-20, maybe even a top-10.
But after examining a day-one standings sheet from the Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern, you would learn that 10 pounds would have only been good enough for 75th place. That’s right, 75th.
It’s a humbling realization that many pros had to face yesterday. Nearly 50 anglers caught solid limits landing in the 9- to 11-pound range, and it left them short of the coveted 50th-place position, where the big money gets paid out.
Ultimately, it leaves anglers in quite a quandary: They are catching solid fish – and plenty of them – yet they are still behind. What’s a pro to do to improve?
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing,” said Prilosec pro Koby Kreiger, who had an 8-pound, 3-ounce limit yesterday, which left him in 128th place.
“Sure, I’ll make some minor adjustments,” he said. “I might not fish in the river today – I did waste some time there yesterday. Once I get a limit, I might go to a big jig a little sooner today. But overall, I’m just going to keep cranking my little homemade crankbaits and hope for a big bite.
“I do think the weights will come down quite a bit today,” Kreiger added. “Yesterday 
was just one of those days where they bit for everybody. I think that will change today.”
Down the dock, Greg Bohannan pondered his day-one catch of 9 pounds, 1 ounce, which put him 100th.
“I had my chance yesterday; I lost about a 6-pounder on my second cast of the morning,” Bohannan said. “That’s the difference in 80 spots in a tournament like this. Then a few minutes after that, my co-angler caught a solid 5-pounder. So I’m going right back there this morning to give it another go.”
Bohannan is pinning his day-two hopes on a Carolina-rigged Berkley Power Lizard fished on ledges.
At the other end of the spectrum is tournament leader Jake Deeds of El Dorado, Ark., who had a spectacular day one with 18 pounds, 3 ounces.
Deeds is fishing a 1/2-ounce football-head jig in depths of 15 feet.
“I’d prefer to be on the bank flipping and pitching to targets,” Deeds said this morning. “But that’s not working here, so I’ve backed off the bank a bit and I’m dragging that jig out a little deeper.”
As of this morning, Deeds seemed confident that his pattern would hold up.
“I know it’s supposed to be a little windier today, but I don’t think that’s going to hurt me too much,” he said. “I just want my number of bites to go back up to what I was getting in practice. I got half as many bites yesterday as I did in practice, and I want to figure out why that is today.”
The day-two weigh-in will begin Thursday at 3 p.m. at Ingalls Harbor located at 802 Wilson St. N.W. in Decatur.
Thursday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:41 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 55 degrees
Expected high temperature: 74 degrees
Water temperature: 60 degrees
Wind: SSW at 15 to 25 mph
Day’s outlook: breezy