Klinger in Havasu heaven

Nevada resident grabs top spot after accurately predicting huge weights for FLW Series National Guard Western Division field

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – Heading into the first Walmart FLW Series Western Division event of the 2009 season, Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev., said that this week’s tournament had the potential to smash nearly every FLW Outdoors record at Lake Havasu. As it turned out, Klinger was spot on.

In fact, a quick read of today’s weigh-in results suggests that Klinger should put down his rods and immediately head to Vegas. Yes, his predictions were that good.

Ironically, the only outcome that Klinger didn’t accurately predict was that he’d be standing alone in first place at the end of today’s competition.

“If I win this thing, I’ll be jumping out of my shoes,” said Klinger, who hauled in a mammoth 19-pound, 5-ounce stringer to kick off the start of competition. “It really feels great to be in first place. But I’ve got three more days to go.”

Just before the start of today’s action, Klinger remarked that FLW Outdoors had finally hosted an event at Lake Havasu at the peak time – meaning there were plenty of huge spawning females to be had throughout the lake. He also predicted that Lake Havasu – usually known for its fickle fishing conditions – could give up a few stringers in the 18- to 20-pound range and that it would take 13 to 15 pounds a day to make the top-10 cut.

As it turns out, Klinger’s prognostications were right on target.

“Lake Havasu is full of bass, but we’ve always just come here too early in the season,” said Klinger, citing previous FLW Outdoors tournament schedules. “When the water temperature is 55 to 60 degrees, the fish will start biting everywhere. And that’s what happened today.”

A comparative look at the 2007 FLW Series Lake Havasu event backs up Klinger’s assessment. That year, the top weight after the first day of competition was 13 pounds, 13 ounces with only eight stringers reaching into the double digits. Today, every one of the top 10 pros recorded at least 15 pounds, 10 ounces, with 86 anglers recording stringers weighing at least 10 pounds.

The early message to anglers: It looks like it’s going to take 13 to 15 pounds to qualify for the top-10 cut.

However, Klinger has much more than a top-10 cut on his mind.

“I know I have a long way to go, but I really want to win,” said Klinger. “I want to win so badly I can taste it.”

Like the majority of the field, Klinger spent most of his day focusing on the sight-fishing bite.

“I pretty much sight-fished all day,” said Klinger, who used a combination of approximately eight different baits to land his catch. “I’ve grown up on the Colorado River, and I’ve been sight-fishing here for a long time, so that helps. I caught about 10 total keepers today, and I definitely left enough fish to catch another good stringer tomorrow. Overall, I’m having a lot of fun right now.”

Goodwin ready to make a charge

While Klinger’s banner day on the water was something to celebrate, the Nevada native knows that this event is far from over. In fact, Klinger’s main rival at this point is none other than local favorite Mike Goodwin of Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Buoyed by a catch of 17 pounds, 15 ounces, Goodwin now stands in second place, 1 pound, 6 ounces off the lead.

However, Goodwin is not merely a savvy veteran angler with plenty of local knowledge, he’s also the 2007 FLW Series tournament title holder at Lake Havasu. In short, barring a major meltdown, Goodwin is going to be a force to be reckoned with for the next three days.

“It feels great to be where I’m at,” said Goodwin. “Any time you have a shot after day one, you have to be thrilled. But this is just one day of fishing. We have a long way to go at this point.”

Like Klinger, Goodwin said that sight-fishing was his primary tactic. However, unlike Klinger, Goodwin had to overcome a difficult start to the day that could have easily derailed his chances for a title.

“This is a crazy game,” said Goodwin. “At about 9:30 a.m. I only had one bite, and I foul-hooked it and had to release it. So it was a rough start. But over the next 40 minutes, I rolled them up pretty good. Knowing the lake has a lot to do (with my success). I fish here all the time.”

Goodwin said that he primarily targeted smallmouth bass in today’s competition.

“This is the only time of the year where I really focus on smallmouth bass, because at this point they are bigger than a lot of the largemouths,” said Goodwin. “The big smallmouths move up first. The quality largemouths are just starting to move up. But I’ll tell you what, the real big fish haven’t even started biting yet. I have a 7- or 8-pound largemouth upriver that I haven’t been able to (land) yet. Hopefully I can get that fish to bite in the next few days.”

Goodwin also agreed with Klinger that Lake Havasu is one of the most underrated lakes in the western United States.

“During March and April, the fishing is off the hook here,” said Goodwin. “This lake is just phenomenal. In the Southwest, there is nothing to compare it to this time of year.”

Best of the rest

After recording a healthy 17-pound, 7-ounce stringer, veteran pro Mike Folkestad of Orange, Calif., found himself in third place.

“I can’t complain,” said Folkestad. “It’s basically what I’ve been catching in practice.”

Rounding out the top five pro competitors after the first day of competition were Kevin Hawk of Ramona, Calif., (fourth place with 17 pounds, 2 ounces) and R.J. Bennett of Roseville, Calif., (fifth place with 16 pounds, 15 ounces).

Wayne Carey won the day’s Big Bass award after netting a largemouth bass weighing in at 6 pounds, 1 ounce. Carey also finished the day in sixth place overall in the pro standings.

Martin nets co-angler lead

For someone who has never fished an FLW Series event before, David Martin is more than holding his own. Using a total catch of 14 pounds, 5 ounces, the Lake Havasu City native landed in the top spot in the Co-angler Division heading into the second day of competition.

Not surprisingly, he couldn’t have been happier.

“This is awesome. I’m having a great time,” said Martin. “It doesn’t get any better than this. And it sure beats working.”

Martin said that he used a combination of Texas rigs and a slip-shot Roboworm to land the majority of his catch.

“I worked pretty hard out there today. We’re targeting beds off the reef in about 6 to 10 feet of water,” said Martin. “I wound up catching all of my fish before 10 a.m. and didn’t upgrade once.”

Martin credits his local experience with at least part of his success today.

“I’m out on this lake every week,” said Martin. “I really like Lake Havasu, and I like it even more after today.”

Best of the rest

Lester Albury of San Marcos, Calif., grabbed second place overall after netting a 13-pound, 1-ounce catch.

Meanwhile, Christopher Ricci of Bend, Ore., recorded third place overall with a total catch of 12 pounds.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Hideki Maeda of Sakai-City, Osaka, Japan, and Aaron Reitz of Soda Springs, Calif., who both turned in identical catches of 11 pounds, 8 ounces.

Steve Lindner of Lakewood, Calif., won the Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division after netting a 4-pound, 6-ounce bass.

Day two of Lake Havasu competition begins at 6:30 a.m. PDT at Lake Havasu State Park, located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.