Once again, some surprises lead the charge on day one of FLW Tour competition. Like at Lake Toho last month, Smith Lake has given some fresh faces a chance to make a splash on the first day.
Here’s your All-Surprise Team:
1. Terry Baksay 14-14
2. Brandon Coulter 13-13
3. Clark Smith Jr. 13-10
3. Mike Todd 13-10
15. Danny Pierce 12-6
18. Glenn Browne 12-4
19. Danny Correia 12-2
19. Aaron Hastings 12-2
28. Scott Canterbury 11-8
31. Nate Wellman 11-7
A few notes on this list: A few of these names are no surprise to people familiar with the Alabama bass-fishing scene. Guys like Smith and Canterbury are locals, and while they might not be very familiar names on the national tour, they evidently took full advantage of that perk today. Hastings is a surprise because he tends to hammer them at smallmouth venues, and Florida’s Browne has no business catching fish in a clear-water lake. (He outsmarted them, though, it seems. He said he ran a long way upriver to flip some stained water Thursday.) And Baksay, also noted for his smallmouth prowess, is a big surprise. I worry, though, about his ability to maintain pace this week. I assume he’s sight-fishing, and he not only caught a really big bag, his co-angler hammered them, too. I wonder if he left enough fish behind to last through the tournament.
Your No-Surprise Team:
5. Alvin Shaw 13-6
6. Sam Newby 13-5
7. Mark Hardin 13-1
8. Tracy Adams 12-14
8. Jacob Powroznik 12-14
10. Michael Bennett 12-13
11. Chad Grigsby 12-12
12. Jimmy Millsaps 12-11
13. Jay Yelas 12-10
14. David Dudley 12-9
Very capable sight- and finesse-fishermen, all, and each likely had a bunch of picks. Many fantasy players happy to see this.
Your All-Disappointment Team:
179. Dave Lefebre 1-13 – He’s really off his game to start this FLW Tour season.
179. Sean Hoernke 1-13 – The returning Smith Lake champ is killing many fantasy players right now.
175. Matt Herren 2-0 – You could see on his face how much this hurt the Alabama favorite.
174. Brett Hite 2-2 – I’m not one to say “I told you so,” but …
128. Jeremiah Kindy 4-8 – He normally loves these clear-water tournaments.
122. Tom Mann Jr. 4-14 – Usually an ace with the slow worm.
110. Dan Morehead 5-10 – Like Hite, Morehead is showing how difficult it is to maintain excellence in tournament fishing.
102. Jonathan Newton 6-6 – Another local favorite coming up short.
83. Shinichi Fukae 7-11 – Borderline disappointment here. He can definitely make up the ground tomorrow, but he needs to catch 15-inchers.
81. Larry Nixon 7-14 – Also borderline because he can come back easily tomorrow. But that’s two events in a row on this list for the General. He needs to pick it up.
Keep in mind, though, that the weight difference between the guys on the All-Disappointment Team and those atop the leaderboard really isn’t all that big. Basically, one big catch tomorrow puts those guys right back in the thick of it. This is a small-fish event, and that means the anglers will be bunched up tight up and down the results sheet all week. That also means there will be heavy movement on the leaderboard tomorrow.
As predicted, this has become a sight-fishing contest. And the fish basically began moving up to bed just as the tournament started. And they’ll move up daily throughout the week, most likely. The question here is whether the anglers who posted leading weights today burned out their fish on day one. I’m guessing yes and no. They caught a good chunk of their bigger fish, but many anglers are banking on the fact that more will follow in behind them. With the weights this tight, look for the pros to pull out the stops tomorrow and bring in even bigger sacks than today. I’d keep my eye on those guys down in the 15th- through 40th-place range – guys like Dudley, Koby Kreiger, Clark Wendlandt, Luke Clausen, Andre Moore – who are proven sight-fishing fiends. They’re dangerous from that position in a tournament like this, and I’m betting they’re saving the best fish for when they really need them.
Here’s my next question: Who lit a fire under Vic Vatalaro? If he keeps up at this rate, he’ll win Angler of the Year before we even get to Lake Erie, his home lake. Scary good so far. Kudos to him.
Here’s a full list of your day-one results.