Haynes ‘homes’ in on early lead at Stren Series event
Locals infiltrate top positions on Pickwick
FLORENCE, Ala. – If you happen to frequent local tournaments on Pickwick Lake, chances are you might recognize a few names atop the Stren Series leaderboard after day one.
Local advantage was the name of the game today as a contingent of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama pros used their vast experience of TVA ledges to take a stronghold among the top 10.
Simply put, TVA bass are on their typical deep-water ledges for the summer, and those who know these waters well are tapping the deep schools of largemouth and smallmouth bass with ease.
Randy Haynes of Counce, Tenn., opened the event with a limit weighing 19 pounds, 9 ounces to take the early lead.
In fact, as several other locals descended the weigh-in stage today, their first question was, “Is Randy leading?”
“This is my home lake,” Haynes said. “This is just like fishing a big local tournament here. Several of my other friends who I fish against regularly are here this week as well, so it’s going to be fun.”
Haynes said he has about 35 spots on Pickwick, and he only hit about 10 of them today.
“The ones I did fish, I hit pretty hard,” he said. “There were other boats all around us, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave anything behind before I left a spot.”
Haynes appears relaxed about his fishing the next few days.
“We’re looking pretty good,” he said of his chances for a top-10 finish. “Things shouldn’t change much over the next few days, and I’ve still got plenty of water to visit.”
Rigsby second
Ryan Rigsby of Hixson, Tenn., is in second place with a limit weighing 19 pounds, 
5 ounces. His catch was anchored by a 5-pound, 1-ounce largemouth, which took the Snickers Big Bass honors in the Pro Division on day one.
Rigsby lives about four hours from Pickwick, and this is only his second time fishing the lake, but he noted that he feels right at home.
“My home water is the Tennessee River,” he said. “And I’ve been fishing up on Wilson, which lays out just like Chickamauga and Watts Bar back home. I’ve got two primary spots up there. One is a community hole that others pretty much know about, but the other is a little secluded spot I found that produced my two biggest fish today. I haven’t seen anyone else around that spot, so hopefully it’s something I can have to myself.”
Rigsby did not want to give up his key bait just yet, but did mention that it’s a “big bait.”
“I probably caught 15 or 20 fish today, but my co-angler caught a lot more than I did,” he revealed. “He was throwing more finesse-type stuff. In fact, he had a limit before I even caught a keeper. So I went to the finesse stuff until I got a limit and then switched back to the bigger baits to cull up.”
McGuire third
Curt McGuire of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., holds down the third-place position after day one with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces.
Though McGuire has not had time to fish Pickwick much this year, he does consider the lake his home turf.
“I’ve got schools of fish located in both lakes – Wilson and Pickwick – and I fished both lakes today,” he said. “Most of them are offshore schools of fish, and I probably have 15 to 20 of those type places to fish, but I only hit three today.”
McGuire noted that his strategy is to fish new places each day.
“I don’t plan on repeating water much this week,” he added. “The only problem is I don’t know who has found what. I might get to some of my `new’ places tomorrow and find boats on them. But if I can, I prefer to fish fresh water each day instead of going back to the same spots over and over again.”
Garrison, Perrigo round out top five
Local pro Bob Garrison of Baldwyn, Miss., finished day one in fourth place 
with 17 pounds, 1 ounce. Garrison stayed on the lower end of Pickwick to catch his fish.
And rounding out the top five is Shawn Perrigo of Rienzi, Miss., who sacked up 16 pounds, 7 ounces in Pickwick to nab the No. 5 spot on day one.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros in the Stren Series event on Pickwick Lake after day one:
6th: Todd Rasberry of Florence, Ala., five bass, 16-4
7th: Michael Murphy of Gilbert, S.C., five bass, 15-1
8th: William Davis of Russellville, Ala., five bass, 14-12
9th: Ronald Yurko of East Point, Fla., five bass, 14-10
10th: Derek Hicks of Rocky Face, Ga., five bass, 14-6
Gasaway leads co-anglers
Scotty Gasaway of Dennis, Miss., leads the Co-anger Division of the Stren Series 
event on Pickwick Lake with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 12 ounces.
Gasaway’s leading weight was anchored by a 6-pound, 3-ounce largemouth, which took the Big Bass honors in the Co-angler Division on day one.
“That 6-pounder was my first bite of the day,” Gasaway said. “That got my day going on the right foot.”
High five co-anglers
Mike Morris of White, Ga., is in second place with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 10 ounces. Morris noted that he dragged depths to 20 feet with Carolina rigs, jigs and crankbaits for his catch.
Daniel Costley of Memphis, Tenn., is in third place in the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.
James Sharp of Leesburg, Ga., holds down the fourth-place spot among co-anglers with five bass for 13 pounds, 8 ounces.
Perry Kennedy of Florence, Ala., rounds out the top five co-anglers with five bass for 13 pounds even.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the Stren Series event on Pickwick Lake after day one:
6th: Daniel Cramer of Van Wert, Ohio, five bass, 12-11
7th: Brian Smith of Cadwell, Ga., five bass, 12-4
8th: Bradley Gooch of Florence, Ala., five bass, 12-0
9th: Joel Ross of Brandon, Miss., five bass, 11-11
10th: Chris Weldon of Florence, Ala., five bass, 11-10
10th: Greg Hamblin of New Albany, Miss., five bass, 11-10
Day two of the Stren Series Southeast event on Pickwick Lake will begin Thursday at 6:30 a.m. from McFarland Park in Florence.