From blanking to bling

Two FLW Series pros score a top-10 despite zeros

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – One positive aspect of extremely tough fishing tournaments is that one bad day on the water can be completely made up for with one phenomenal day.

As proof of that, two pros who made the top-10 cut at the FLW Series BP Eastern event on Lake Dardanelle did so after zeroing one of the three qualifying days.

The most inspirational tale of such a feat belongs to pro Nate Wellman of Jenison, Mich., who did not weigh-in a keeper on day one and managed to turn things around with an 11-4 catch on day two and a 13-4 catch on day three to qualify 9th with a three-day total of 24 pounds, 8 ounces.

Before day-four takeoff this morning, Wellman recounted his story.

“In my four-year pro tournament career, I have never zeroed on a tournament day and when that happened on Wednesday, I was pretty devastated,” Wellman said. “That night I called my dad and told him about the depressing day and he lit a spark under me to get me ignited again. He told me that I was just as good as anyone of the other pros fishing out there and that he believed in me and to go out and redeem myself the next day. Man, he got me going again and the whole next day was just completely opposite. It was like everything bad that happened to me the first day was replaced with everything that went completely right next day.”

But the best was still yet to come for Wellman when in the last 15 minutes of the day on day three, with just three keepers in the livewell, he boated a heavy three-pounder and a four-pounder within minutes of each other.

“I had been pitching a jig all day and for some crazy reason I just decided to pick up my crankbait (Lucky Craft RC 1.5) and I immediately caught those two big fish,” Wellman said. “It was amazing – I just went crazy with excitement.”

Wellman said the difference from the first day was that he got the fish in the boat on the last two days. He had plenty of bites on day one, but missed them all.

“They would thump my jig pretty good, I’d set the hook and they’d just come off – it was so frustrating,” Wellman said of the first day. “But on day two, I really started feeding the jig to them. I’d let them eat it and then actually let them swim out away from the cover with it before I set the hook and it worked like a charm.”

The other pro who made the top-10 with a zero beside is name is Kevin Snider of Elizabethtown, Ky. But Snider’s woes happened on day three when, like Wellman, he did not convert his keeper bites.

After catching a total of 25 pounds, 7 ounces the first two days, Snider figured he needed at least one solid keeper to make the top-10 yesterday.

“When I zeroed yesterday I figured there was no way I’d make it,” Snider said this morning. “I figured I was headed home, I was so dejected.”

But Snider had banked enough weight the first two days by fishing offshore with a Texas-rigged 12-inch worm to hang on in 8th place and fish again today.

Both Wellman and Snider were extremely relieved to score a top-10 at Dardanelle, but they now have a long way to go to catch leader Iams pro Vic Vatalaro who starts the day with about a 12-pound advantage over them.

But in fishing, never say never. Who would have thought two guys could zero on a qualifying day and still catch enough to make a top 10 over just two days? As Wellman and Snider proved, anything is possible in this game.

The day four weigh-in of the FLW Series BP Eastern event on Lake Dardanelle begins at 4 p.m. at the Russellville Walmart store located at 2409 E. Main St in Russellville.

Saturday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:30 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 69 degrees

Expected high temperature: 91 degrees

Water temperature: 83 degrees

Wind: NE 5 to 10 mph

Day’s outlook: Sunny