Long leads FLW Tour event on Lake Guntersville
Jacobs leads co-angler competition
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Brent Long of Cornelius, N.C., caught a five-bass limit weighing 25 pounds, 8 ounces Thursday to capture the lead on day two of the FLW Tour event presented by Ranger on Lake Guntersville. His two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 51 pounds, 3 ounces gives him a lead in the tournament featuring anglers from across the United States.
“Yesterday where it took me six casts … this morning it took me an hour to get my limit on my little spot,” said Long, who has never led an FLW Tour event. “Of course, I ended up culling them again, luckily. I fished my deep spot from 9 o’clock until 2:30 and I only caught like eight fish. Yesterday I caught 10 keepers there in three hours.”
Long said his first spot was an underwater point holding a school of baitfish in 15 feet of water. Long said he found the spot in practice and caught his first limit of the second day of competition there on a soft-plastic worm. Long said his deep spot is a 100-yard horseshoe-shaped underwater hump next to a river ledge. Long said he concentrated on fishing the deep bend of the hump and caught one of his weigh fish on a Norman DD22 crankbait, one on an Ernest Langley jig and the rest on a Strike King Shadalicious swim bait. Long said three of his weigh fish came over a five-minute span on the Shadalicious.
“Where I’ve caught my big fish … that’s where I’m going again tomorrow,” Long said. “I’ll either catch them or I won’t. But if I don’t go there, I’ll regret not going there, so I’ve got to go.”
Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., is in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 49-15.
“I tried to hit a different spot first thing this morning and it didn’t really work out for me,” said Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio, who led the first day of competition, but sat in 20th place after the second day of competition. “I hit all of the spots at the same time as I did yesterday, but they just weren’t there. So, I think it’s a timing thing for what I’m doing and I know there’s lots of 5-pounders out there, because yesterday I had five of them. So hopefully I can go get them tomorrow.
“Hopefully I can duplicate what I did yesterday and get the big ones to bite,” Vatalaro added.
Rounding out the top-10 pros after day two on Lake Guntersville are:
3rd: Jim Moynagh, Carver, Minn., 10 bass, 44-6
4th: Keith Combs, Del Rio, Texas, 10 bass, 44-1
5th: Damiki pro Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 43-3
6th: Jason Reyes, Huffman, Texas, 10 bass, 41-9
7th: David Walker, Sevierville, Tenn., 10 bass, 41-8
8th: Chevy pro Luke Clausen, Gainesville, Ga., 10 bass, 41-5
9th: Chevy pro Jay Yelas, Corvallis, Ore., 10 bass, 41-2
10th: Chevy pro Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla., 10 bass, 40-15
Overall there were 650 bass weighing 2,206 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 135 pros Thursday. The catch included 121 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup which will be held Aug. 5-8 at Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Ga., where they could win as much as $600,000 – the sport’s biggest award.
John Jacobs of Birmingham, Ala., leads the Co-angler Division with an opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 39 pounds, 9 ounces, followed by Mike Devere of Berea, Ky., in second place with 10 bass weighing 36-0.
Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Moo Bae, West Friendship, Md., 10 bass, 34-9
4th: Chad Hillis, McMinnville, Tenn., 10 bass, 34-4
5th: Chuck Bellerby, Croydon, Penn., 10 bass, 33-14
6th: Keith Honeycutt, Temple, Texas, 10 bass, 33-2
7th: Van Roy Foster, Dalton, Ga., 10 bass, 32-0
8th: National Guard co-angler Adam Lock, Metropolis, Ill., 10 bass, 31-15
9th: Eric Schultz, Minnetonka, Minn., 10 bass, 31-9
10th: Billy Brindle, Calhoun, Ga., 10 bass, 31-9
Overall there were 529 bass weighing 1,441 pounds, 5 ounces caught by 133 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 72 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week plus valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off from Lake Guntersville Resort State Park located at 7966 Alabama Hwy. 227 in Guntersville, Ala., at 6 each morning. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Lake Guntersville Resort State Park beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Von Braun Center located at 700 Monroe St. in Huntsville, Ala., beginning at 4 p.m.
Fans will be treated to the FLW Outdoors Expo at the Von Braun Center on Friday from 5-9 p.m. and Saturday prior to the final weigh-in from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. The final weigh-in will be held at the Von Braun Center. There will be a drawing for a Can-Am ATV compliments of the Huntsville Times and rod and reel combos will be given to the first 300 kids under 14 in attendance on Saturday compliments of WDRM. The FLW Outdoors Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.
Coverage of the Lake Guntersville tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors,” will air Oct. 3 from 12:30 to 1:30 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.