Quick Bites: FLW Old Hickory Lake, Day 1
Cold weather puts damper on weights, Veenstra makes pitch for first top-10 finish and Rojas guns for angler-of-the-year title
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Old Hickory Lake, Gallatin, Tenn.
Opening round, Wednesday
Select few avoid pitfalls… While the top 10 pros had little trouble successfully navigating the frigid and fickle waters of Old Hickory Lake, the same could not be said for the rest of the field. Although 400 pros and co-anglers set an optimistic course at the day’s outset, by the end of weigh-in, only 28 anglers (pros and co-anglers combined) had managed to bring in a full five-fish limit. “It was tough as nails today,” said pro David Walker, a native of Tennessee who seemed to echo the sentiments of many during today’s weigh-in. “I don’t know what lake the top 10 (pros) were fishing in.” In fact, only an additional 20 pros even managed a four-fish stringer, making the first day of tournament action on Old Hickory Lake easily one of the most difficult days of fishing of the entire 2004 season.
Top-10 or bust … With two years of experience in the Pro Division on the FLW Tour, Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mich., will be the first to tell you that he still has a long way to go before becoming a household name in the sport of professional bass fishing. After all, with four finishes greater than 108th place, a 95th-place finish, a 56th-place finish and a 48th-place finish to his credit on the FLW Tour, Veenstra hasn’t exactly had much to cheer about lately. In fact, his 21st-place finish in 2003 represented the closest he’d ever come to cracking the top 10 … until today. Using some Old Hickory magic and a thoroughly impressive catch of 23 pounds, 9 ounces, Veenstra landed atop the leaderboard for the first time in his FLW Tour career. Could a tournament title finally be in the offing? Stay tuned.
Rojas putting a vice grip on early AOY lead … Already the highest ranking angler in the year-end standings, Dean Rojas of Grand Saline, Texas, significantly improved his chances of winning the prestigious and highly competitive 2004 FLW Tour Angler of the Year title. In fact, Rojas’ 15-pound, 12-ounce catch in today’s competition virtually assures that he will maintain his overall lead over the rest of the pro field heading into the Beaver Lake tournament in April. “I had a great day today,” said Rojas, who finished the day in eighth place. “My goal all along is to win the Angler of the Year competition.” Rojas not only positioned himself for a shot at a third-consecutive top-10 finish – which has only been done one other time in the history of the FLW Tour – but he also put some significant distance between himself and the top-five AOY leaderboard. Although Shinichi Fukae entered the Old Hickory tournament a mere two points behind Rojas, his 101st-place finish in today’s competition was definitely a setback. Mark Rose (third place in the AOY race) finished the day in 84th place. Scott Martin (fourth) finished today in 74th place. And Billy Bowen Jr. (fifth) finished in 66th place.
Quick numbers:
1,082-12: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the pros Wednesday.
355-10: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the co-anglers Wednesday.
431: Total number of fish caught by the pros in today’s competition.
159: Total number of fish caught by co-anglers.
28: Number of anglers (both pros and co-anglers combined) who caught limits today.
2: Total number of pros who broke the 20-pound barrier.
1: Number of co-anglers who broke the 10-pound barrier.
Sound bites:
“I was fishing slowly for the first three hours, but, after I didn’t catch anything, I panicked. So I started fishing faster. And that didn’t work either.”
– FLW Tour legend Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., discussing his dismal one-fish, 3-pound, 8-ounce catch in today’s competition.
“I really struggled out there today. I only had six keepers.”
– FLW Tour pro Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mich., raising some eyebrows after greatly understating his magnificent first-place finish on the opening day of competition on Old Hickory Lake.
“You go from a hero to a zero really quick in this sport.”
– FLW Tour pro Sam Swett of Covington, La., comparing his first-place finish at the previous FLW Tour event at the Atchafalaya Basin with his disappointing 153rd-place finish in today’s competition.
“I can’t catch any fish. The (top 10) pros didn’t go to the same lake as I did.”
– FLW Tour pro Gary Yamamoto of Mineola, Texas, joking about his less than stellar 3-pound, 4-ounce catch and 121st-place finish.
“I’ve been dreading this lake all year long. And here I am.”
– FLW Tour pro Steve Tosh of Waterford, Calif., living a self-fulfilling prophecy after finishing the day in 157th place.
“I started yelling, `Get it, get it.’ But the fish came off right at the boat. My co-angler swoops the net in the water but it was so dirty we couldn’t see anything. Then he pulls up the net and there’s the fish.”
– FLW Tour pro Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., describing the harrowing moments preceding his only catch of the day.
FLW action continues at Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. CST at Bull Creek Marina, located at 200 Odoms Bend Road in Gallatin, Tenn.