Quick Bites: FLW Lake Okeechobee, Day 2
McCall overcomes tragedy, an Aussie makes waves and a member of the Ranger Special Operations Unit turns in a stealthy performance
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Lake Okeechobee, Clewiston, Fla.
Opening round, Thursday
Of hardship and the record books … Just as he crossed the weigh-in stage Wednesday with one of the biggest stringers of his career, Chris McCall of Jasper, Texas, got the tragic news that his mom had passed away. Suddenly, McCall’s 27-pound, 3-ounce sack didn’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. However, McCall, to his credit, persevered. With everyone cheering him on and a few family members on hand for emotional support, McCall gutted out the second day of competition under the most difficult of circumstances. And, as fate would have it, he was greatly rewarded. When all was said and done, McCall turned in a mammoth two-day stringer weighing 46 pounds, 6 ounces to grab hold of the top pro qualifying position heading into Friday’s semifinals. However, it clearly wasn’t easy. “It’s really been tough for me. But the whole staff at FLW Outdoors, (EverStart representative) James Key … everybody here has just been wonderful.” For the record, McCall’s two-day stringer was the third largest in FLW history – only trailing Darrel Robertson’s 49-pound, 8-ounce opening round stringer at Lake Murray in 2003 and Pete Thliveros’ 47-pound, 5-ounce stringer at Kentucky Lake in 1998.
The General continues his march to the finals … Bass-fishing legend Larry Nixon used a two-day catch of 39 pounds, 4 ounces to easily qualify for the top 10 in today’s pro competition. However, despite his massive catch in yesterday’s event, Nixon said he was far from confident heading out onto Lake Okeechobee today. “Florida bass aren’t like northern bass – they only bite when they want to. You have to be patient and sometimes, in the past, I’ve not been patient enough. And I almost did it again today.” However, because Nixon has decades of experience, he was able to calm his nerves, settle down and have another stellar day at the Big O. “I could have bombed out there today. But I think my experience really helped me. I’m just glad I caught what I caught.”
From a land Down Under … Co-angler Kim Bain of Brisbane, Australia, has had quite the experience fishing in the very first FLW tournament of her career. Although she struggled a bit yesterday, landing only a 1-pound, 5-ounce catch, Bain turned it around today with a much more respectable catch of 6 pounds, 3 ounces. But the real story wasn’t necessarily her fishing prowess, but why she decided to travel thousands of miles to fish in Clewiston, Fla., in the first place. “I just love it here. I’ve been fishing since I was 4 years old, and I’ve been coming to the states for the last two or three years.” According to Bain, her father convinced her to come to America to try her hand on the professional bass-fishing circuit. “I really love to fish. So, I just loaded up my backpack with my fishing rods and came over. The people at Ranger Boats were very nice and helped me to get into this tournament. I’m having a great time.” Ironically, Bain – who also stars in her own fishing show (“Escape with E.T.”) back home – drew Japanese native Masaki Shimono for today’s competition. So how was it fishing with Shimono, who doesn’t have that good of a grasp of the English language? “We were pretty focused in the beginning so we didn’t talk a lot at first. But when we were coming back to the marina, we wound up talking nonstop the whole time.” According to Bain, she will be spending the rest of the year traveling back and forth from Australia so that she can continue working on her television show back home while also allotting enough time to fish the entire FLW Tour season.
Special Operations officer slips into Clewiston … Joseph Van Cleave of Savannah, Ga., isn’t your typical co-angler on the FLW Tour. In fact, few people ever see him in the daytime under any circumstances. And that’s because he’s a member of the U.S. Army Ranger Special Operations unit – a unit that usually earns its paycheck scouring for bad guys under cover of night. Needless to say, fishing on the FLW Tour was a welcome respite for Van Cleave, a 14-year veteran of the U.S. Army who has already seen much action in some of the most difficult and dangerous countries in the world, including recent stints in both Afghanistan and Iraq. “This is actually a dream come true,” said Van Cleave, who acknowledged that he could get a call from his commanding officer at any time and be expected to head to another part of the globe within 18 hours. “I always wanted to be a tournament fisherman, but I gave it up in 1996. Obviously, I’m just having the greatest time right now.” Although Van Cleave only managed a two-day catch of 4 pounds, 6 ounces, he said, not surprisingly, that it was the least of his worries. “For me, it’s just a pleasure to wake up alive every day. But to get to fish in a tournament of this caliber as well, it’s been an unbelievable experience.” Van Cleave, who is based in Savannah, Ga., credits his brother John with helping him to get into the FLW Tour. “My brother helped set this up. When I came home, I knew something was up. But I never expected this. It’s just been a blast.” For the record, Van Cleave received numerous standing ovations throughout the week as well. “The people here have been so nice to me,” he said. “It sure beats running around at night looking for bad guys.”
Quick numbers:
2,054-1: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the pros Thursday.
1,002-10: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the co-anglers Thursday.
471: Total number of limits caught in two days on Lake Okeechobee.
200: The number of pros who recorded catches in each of the first two days of competition.
200: The number of pros fishing the Lake Okeechobee tournament.
10: The weight, in pounds, of the largest fish caught on Lake Okeechobee this week.
3: The number of co-anglers who failed to record a fish at weigh-in over the first two days of the tournament.
Sound bites:
“I’ve got to ask you this, doesn’t she talk funny?”
– FLW host Charlie Evans asking Masaki Shimono, a Japanese native who doesn’t have the best grasp of the English language, whether or not it was difficult for him to understand his partner, Australia native Kim Bain.
“I did a couple of things different today. I got better fish in the boat and I managed to keep my pants on.”
– FLW Tour pro Curt Lytle explaining to FLW host Charlie Evans that it’s a lot easier to catch fish when your boat doesn’t shoot out of the water at full speed onto dry land.
“Well, I almost had four. Luckily three other people were right there to tackle it.”
– FLW Tour pro Randy Blaukat admitting to FLW host Charlie Evans that his five-fish stringer in today’s competition was almost one fish lighter after a renegade bass jumped out of his sack while walking up the marina toward weigh-in.
“That’s my goal going into this year.”
– FLW Tour pro Clark Wendlandt responding to a question on whether he is gearing up this season to win an unprecedented third FLW Angler of the Year title.
“I didn’t think it was possible to catch a limit smaller today than I did yesterday.”
– 2003 FLW Tour Angler of the Year Dan Morehead joking about his measly 4-pound, 15-ounce five-fish limit in today’s competition.
“I thought everyone else would zero today.'”
– FLW Tour pro Bobby Curtis explaining why, after being within striking distance of the leaderboard after day one, he only managed a 6-pound, 7-ounce stringer in today’s competition to fall from 36th to 95th place.
Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. EST at Roland Martin’s Marina, located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston, Fla.