Houston hops shallows for day-one lead at FLW Series

Decades of Dardanelle experience deliver early lead to legendary Chevy pro

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – If bass lakes could commit crimes, Lake Dardanelle might be under investigation for cruel and unusual punishment for roughing up bass pros on day one of the Walmart FLW Series BP Eastern event.

Consider that Dardanelle doled out 30 zeros on the pro side and 80 zeros on the co-angler side Wednesday. And the big names were not immune either. Proven sticks such as David Fritts, David Dudley, Scott Suggs and Scott Martin all recorded zeros. Cruel and unusual indeed.

But do not tell that to Chevy pro Jimmy Houston as he came to the scales all smiles and giggles with a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 3 ounces, which pushed him to the top of the leaderboard.

The legendary pro from Cookson, Okla., now enjoys nearly a 3-pound lead going into day two.

While Houston was able to scoot over a vast, silted-in flat to tap a remote backwater, other leaders’ patterns are all over the board including schooling fish, offshore drops and just plain beating the bank. The best way to explain the productive pattern on Dardanelle right now is to say there is no pattern.

Houston put decades of fishing experience on Dardanelle to use in the practice round to access an old backwater that used to be productive 40 years ago, but has since silted in and been forgotten about. With that, he is taking quite a risk to get in and out of his place and noted that it’s entirely possible that he could get trapped back there if the water recedes during the day.

“One reason no one else has found this place is because you couldn’t even get in there one of the practice days,” Houston said. “I know I can get in there when the water level is 337.70. I called the gauge just before takeoff this morning, and it was at 337.81, so I said, `What the heck? We’re going.’ My (heat) alarm went off all the way back in there. But we made it in and made it out with no problems.”

Houston’s backwater is undoubtedly loaded, as his co-angler, Matt Krekovich, is in second in the Co-angler Division with three bass for 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

As for his area holding up, Houston noted that he has a lot of factors working against him, starting with water level.

“I might not be able to make it back in there tomorrow – or for the rest of the tournament for that matter,” the well-known pro laughed. “Plus, it’s a very small, little area, maybe only 400 or 500 yards long, and I’m not sure how long it will hold up even if I could get in there every day. But I’m thinking, realistically, it might last three days before it gives out of fish. But getting in – and getting out – are the first steps.”

Parrish second

Russell Parrish of Riesel, Texas, is in second place with four bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces.

Parrish is fishing approximately 2 feet of water, but his best spots are immediately adjacent to 10 to 12 feet of water.

“I caught my first fish about 9:30, and then we had a flurry until about 11 o’clock, and I did not get another bite after that,” the FLW Series rookie said. “I might not be able to catch my fish in the exact same spot tomorrow, but I’ve got seven other places that are very similar to it that they may show up on, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Martin third



Offshore specialist Tommy Martin of Hemphill, Texas, put his depth-finder skills to work during the practice rounds, scouring the drops and ledges of Dardanelle, and the effort paid off today with a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce for third place.

Martin is keying on drops from 8 to 15 feet of water and casting Zoom Texas-rigged plastics to submerged cover on those drops.

“I just had the perfect fishing day,” Martin said. “I was actually just hoping for three keepers today and ended up catching three by 9 o’clock and then caught two more by 11 o’clock. After I got five, I backed off my better places and went and checked some of my secondary places, but they didn’t help any.”

Like other pros, Martin noted that the fish are extremely unaggressive on Dardanelle right now.

“I had two bites today that I did not even know I had,” Martin said. “My line just got kind of funny, and I set the hook, and sure enough, they were good fish. But I’m having to throw at pieces of cover eight or nine times before I even get a peck, so the fish really do not seem interested in eating right now.”

Kweekul fourth

Daniel Kweekul of North Little Rock, Ark., is in fourth place with four bass weighing 12 pounds, 2 ounces.

Kweekul said he is not fishing the bank nor fishing drops, but instead targeting fish that are relating exclusively to shad.

“They are shad-related bass, and they are very picky,” Kweekul said. “If you don’t have just the right lure, they won’t bite. I caught my first one this morning, and it was barely hooked and fell off in the net. Then I lost the next two, and that’s when I finally made a critical bait adjustment that allowed me to catch three more. I can’t believe how particular these fish are – if the bait is not just right, they will not eat.”

Palmore fifth

J.T. Palmore of Gasburg, Va., wrangled five bass from Lake Dardanelle weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces to take the fifth-place position.

Palmore is working three different schools of bass with a jerkbait.

“They’re not really schools,” Palmore said. “They’re more like little wolf packs of bass that are ganging up on shad in about 2 feet of water – sometimes I can actually see the bass – but they’re not popping the surface. They’re just chasing the shad.”

Big bass

Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., caught the Folgers Big Bass in the Pro Division on day one weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros in the Walmart FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Dardanelle after day one:

6th: Chris Martinkovic of Liberty Township, Ohio, four bass, 10-13

7th: Clint Brownlee of Tifton, Ga., four bass, 10-3

8th: Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., five bass, 10-2

9th: Kevin Snider of Elizabethtown, Ky., three bass, 10-0

10th: Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., five bass, 9-14

Yasinski leads co-anglers



Derek Yasinski of Senoia, Ga., leads the Co-angler Division of the FLW Series Eastern on Lake Dardanelle after day one with four bass weighing 10 pounds, 15 ounces.

Yasinski fished a big worm behind BP pro Shin Fukae on offshore structure to catch his leading weight.

Krekovich in second

Matt Krekovich of Granite City, Ill., is in second place in the Co-angler Division with three bass weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces.

Krekovich got treated to a trip to pro leader Jimmy Houston’s honeyhole today, where he made his big haul.

Rest of the best

Bill Lawrence of Russellville, Ark., is in third place with three bass weighing 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga., is in fourth place with three bass weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces.

BP Co-angler Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark., is in fifth place with four bass weighing 7 pounds, 8 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the Walmart FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Dardanelle after day one:

6th: Alan Hults of Gautier, Miss., three bass, 5-11

7th: T.R. Fuller of Auburn, Ala., two bass, 5-9

8th: George Bryant of Hampton, Va., two bass, 5-8

9th: Todd Kuipers of Middletown, Ohio, two bass, 5-4

10th: David Davis of Paron, Ark., two bass, 5-0

Day two of the FLW Series Eastern on Lake Dardanelle will begin Thursday at 6:30 a.m. at Lake Dardanelle State Park.