Quick Bites: FLW Old Hickory Lake, Day 1

Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Old Hickory Lake, Gallatin, Tenn.
Opening round, Wednesday

Heavy day … Prior to the tourney, many prognosticators said that anglers might have a tough time catching fish here at Old Hickory. All the indicators were there: It’s a smaller fishery with heavy pressure from Nashville bassers plus it’s the FLW’s first-ever stop here, which should mean that the anglers are generally less familiar with it. But just when you think you know something about fishing, the sport surprises you. The pros caught a total weight of 1,039 pounds, 14 ounces Wednesday, making day one at Old Hickory the third heaviest day of the year. Only the first two days at Lake Okeechobee – where the bass are all on steroids – were heavier (in the opening round there last January, pros collectively caught over 1,400 pounds both days). As a matter of fact, Wednesday’s pro leader Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark., caught the heaviest one-day stringer of the year Wednesday. His five bass weighing 23-1 pushed the mark well past former leader J.T. Kenney‘s Okeechobee final-round weight of 21-13. So much for prognostication.

Kilby’s key … So what happened out there? Several factors contributed to the big day: Many bass are in a reachable post-spawn, shallow-cover pattern and anglers are able to catch them using a wide variety of techniques. But Kilby said the key was the water movement. Due to the heavy rains in the area, the TVA has been pulling water out of Old Hickory reservoir like crazy over the last day or two. Anglers reported the water level had dropped up to a foot since practice. That has the big largemouths huddled up near the bank where anglers can really get at them. “If they quit pulling water,” Kilby said, “those big fish will fan out. The chances of (the TVA) pulling water for the next three days are pretty slim.”

What a difference a day makes … At registration early Tuesday evening, FLW rookie David Womack of Gallatin was waiting for his co-angler number to be called so he could meet up with his pro partner to discuss their plan for Wednesday. Upon learning, however, that a few spots in the Pro Division were still open, he ponied up the extra registration money and entered as a pro. He then went out and landed the second-heaviest stringer of day one – 18 pounds, 15 ounces – plus the biggest bass of the day – 6-15 – worth $750. “This is definitely a dream come true,” said Womack, a plant manager by trade who is competing in his first FLW ever. “My legs are still shaking.” Not only that, he edged out the best in bass fishing Wednesday despite having no real pre-fishing time on the water. “I worked all week and didn’t even practice,” he said. “I just went to an area where I thought (the fish) would be.” Was he nervous? “I was tore up, but then I caught that 7-pounder 10 minutes after I blasted off. From there on, it was all downhill. If I would have come in with just 7 pounds, I would have been happy.”

Back to catching fishy fish … Pro Rusty Rust is back in FLW business. After a strong 17th-place finish at Lake Okeechobee (he notched the third heaviest stringer of the year there with 21 pounds, 11 ounces on day one), the Hermitage, Tenn., native has wallowed below the 100th-place mark in successive tournaments. But he rebounded today on his home lake with a third-place weight of 15-8. Rust, a veteran of team tournaments who is fishing his first full year at the FLW level, has found this circuit to be a bit more of a challenge than his usual fishing competitions. “It’s been a heck of a learning experience for me,” he said. “When you follow these guys, they really pick the bank clean. You really have to find some alternate patterns. I’m an old dog, but I’m having to learn some new tricks on this one.”

Quick number

64,280: Value, in yen, of co-angler Katsutoshi Furusawa’s 6-pound, 11-ounce big bass. The Tokyo native collected $500 for the lunker award.

Sound bites

“When you catch a big sack like that, pretty much everything you do is right.”
– Rob Kilby, on what he did to catch his 23-pound stringer.

“That’s the way it is sometimes. My partner gave me a fishing lesson today.”
– Pro Alton Jones, reexamining the mentor-student dynamic between a pro and a co-angler. His back-boat partner, Tee Watkins, caught three more keeper bass than he did Wednesday.

Quick links, Day 1

Kilby overwhelms pro field on Old Hickory
Photos
Results
Tomorrow’s pairings
Press release