Le favorite
Lefebre takes commanding lead in Old Hickory finals
GALLATIN, Tenn. – On what can only be described as an extremely tough day of fishing for Wal-Mart FLW Tour anglers at Old Hickory Lake, Erie, Pennsylvania’s Dave Lefebre showed why he is considered one of the fastest-rising stars on the pro circuit. Of the 10 pros remaining, he caught the only five-bass limit of the day Friday and leads his closest challenger, Glenn Browne, by more than 6 pounds heading into the second half of the final round Saturday.
Lefebre caught his limit – which weighed a total of 15 pounds, 2 ounces – by 12:30 Friday. It was an effort consistent with his performance in the opening round where he also weighed in around 15 pounds each of the first two days. All week long, he said he has started the day by using a crankbait to put three bass in his livewell, then he would switch to chasing toads by flipping.
However, Lefebre didn’t even get around to using his flipping stick today. He didn’t need to since he caught his entire limit fan-casting his crankbait in weedy flats. In a bad sign for the other nine pros tomorrow, Lefebre said he caught fish in areas today that he hadn’t even practiced before.
“Today, I didn’t flip at all. I was fishing that pattern,” he said. “It feels good, and I left my best stuff alone, too.”
If he really did save his best fish for last this week, Lefebre is going to be hard to beat. This is only his second time fishing at fickle Old Hickory Lake, but he seems to know something about the waterway that other anglers don’t. His first appearance here was at the EverStart Series Championship last November and he finished that tournament in third place.
“It’s not the (fishing) spot. I just have a ton of confidence here. I feel like I have something figured out about this lake right now,” he said. “It’s kind of similar to what I fish back home. It’s just shallow, cold-water, prespawning fish.”
Friday, Lefebre was understandably reluctant to reveal exactly what he knows about catching the big Old Hickory prespawn bass – or, more precisely, exactly how and where he’s catching them. Even with a 6-pound lead, he knows that Saturday is another day and that this lake has a penchant for producing anomalously huge stringers anytime. Any edge he has, he wanted to hold onto it.
“These are the best (anglers) in the world up here,” he said. “Greg Hackney proved (Thursday) that there are 26- to 30-pound bags out there. So I’ve still got to catch them tomorrow.”
Browne, Bruce have best chances
If anybody, second-place Browne, of Ocala, Fla., and third-place Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., have the best shots at overcoming Lefebre’s daunting lead. It’s going to be a tall order, however, if Saturday’s bass bite is the same as Friday’s.
“I’m going to go to the same place (tomorrow) that I was at today,” said Browne, who caught three bass weighing 8 pounds, 14 ounces by flipping a Gambler 4-inch tube around flooded trees. “There are some big fish in there. I’ve just got to get them to bite.”
Bruce, with four smaller bass weighing a total of 7 pounds even, sits more than 8 pounds behind the leader. He, too, returned to fish areas of submerged wood that produced some bigger bass earlier in the week, but found that his fish were either gone or just not hungry Friday.
“I’ve had several big catches in logjams and stuff,” he said. “I thought (the areas) would replenish (themselves), but I just didn’t get any good bites today.”
Hibdon fourth, Veenstra fifth
Each of the remaining seven finalists caught no more than a third of Lefebre’s weight Friday. None of them had limits, and only fourth-place Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., caught as many as three keepers. His total weight stands at 4 pounds, 9 ounces.
“I kind of junk-fished all week long, but I was fortunate enough to land a few big ones every day,” said Hibdon, who remains optimistic about the possibilities on Old Hickory. “That’s the neat thing about this lake; you can catch a big old sack of fish anytime.”
Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mo., who did catch a sack worth more than 23 pounds and led on day one, slid into fifth place with two bass weighing 3 pounds even.
“It’s like a roller coaster out there,” he said. “The water seems to be warming up a little bit. I’m just throwing a Rat-L-Trap and covering a lot of water.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 in the Pro Division are John Murray of Phoenix with two bass weighing 2 pounds, 12 ounces (6th place); Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., with one bass weighing 2-5 (7th); Morizo Shimizu of Osaka, Japan, with one bass weighing 2-3 (8th); Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C., with one bass weighing 1-15 (9th); and Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., with one bass weighing 1-13 (10th).
Hackney, whose 26-pound sack of fish stunned the crowd Thursday, probably best summed up Friday’s action on Old Hickory. “Today, instead of catching that limit, I swung for the fences, and I just missed,” he said.
The final day of FLW Tour competition at Old Hickory Lake begins Saturday at 7 a.m. CST as the 10 pro finalists take off from Bull Creek Ramp in Gallatin. The heaviest two-day weight from Friday and Saturday combined will determine the tournament’s $100,000 winner.