Fritts first at Kentucky Lake

Crankbait king lands almost 21 pounds

BENTON, Ky. – He’s done it here before, and he’s putting himself in position to do it again. David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., took the Pro Division lead out of the chute in Wal-Mart FLW Tour action at Kentucky Lake Wednesday with a five-bass weight of 20 pounds, 12 ounces.

Fritts, the FLW Tour’s winningest pro with four prior victories under his belt, chalked up one of those wins here at Kentucky Lake in 1997.

“I don’t know. I just have a knack for catching fish here,” he said. “As long as I can find some coves and some points, I can catch some fish.”

Fritts said he has caught a few fish on a jig in practice, but everyone knows – and he admitted – that he landed his best bass on day one with a crankbait, his trademark technique. He, like many pros Wednesday, had some trouble when the wind picked up and started tossing boats around. Since it’s hard to pinpoint what stage of the spawn the good bass are in right now in Kentucky and Barkley lakes, Fritts said he had to work his crankbait in a lot of different types of water at varying depths to fill out his limit. He caught 10 keeper fish, all largemouths.

“I have a lot of different areas and two different patterns,” he said. “In some areas, the fish are really shallow and in some areas they’re in 10 to 12 feet of water. I don’t think the bigger fish have spawned and moved deep yet. They’re just sort of going in and out.”

While the wind wreaked havoc with many anglers, including Fritts, at least they didn’t have to contend with the forecasted thunderstorms, which haven’t yet materialized. Fritts, though he’s currently in the lead, said his biggest problem was losing a few good fish Wednesday.

“I lost about three of them the size of my biggest one this morning,” he said. “It’s just hard to fish when the wind’s blowing so hard. It hurt everybody because you couldn’t fish exactly the way you want to fish. I’ve been catching them on a jig (in practice), but I couldn’t even do that today.”

Segraves withstands winds, claims second

Pro Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla., also battled through the blustery conditions and followed Fritts in second place with a limit weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces. Using a Carolina rig and soft plastics, Segraves didn’t catch many keepers, but he found a solid bay area with just enough good bites.

“The fish are just kind of moving in and out of that deep water from time to time,” he said, echoing Fritts. “It’s like they have an attitude about it. You have to slow way down, concentrate and just about have to count every rock that you come across.”

Hackney third, Bailey fourth, Gagliardi fifth

Fourth-ranked Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., looks like he will continue his red-hot 2004 season at Kentucky Lake. He claimed third in the Pro Division with a limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces.

Coming in fourth for the pros was Lee Bailey Jr. of Amston, Conn., with a limit weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces, but it wasn’t easy. At midday, a big wave crashed into his rear motor and knocked out all but one of its mooring bolts. Stranded about an hour upriver from Kentucky Dam, he enlisted the help of a local marina, which pulled some bolts out of a dock to reattach his motor.

“It isn’t a pretty ride all the way back from there with just two bolts in the motor,” he said.

Fifth place for the pros went to Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., for a limit weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 in the Pro Division are Stanley Mitchell of Fitzgerald, Ga., with 15 pounds, 14 ounces (6th place); Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., with 15-13 (7th); Todd Ary of Birmingham, Ala., with 15-8 (8th); Rob Kilby of Hot Springs, Ark., also with 15-8 (8th); and Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, with 15-5 (10th).

All of the top 10 pros caught five-bass limits. The Pro Division brought in a total of 89 limits.

Rick Marsh of High Point, N.C., caught the Snickers Big Bass in the Pro Division Wednesday, earning $750 for his 5-pound, 15-ounce largemouth.

Tosh tops co-anglers

Stephen Tosh Jr. of Waterford, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division with an opening-day catch of five bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces.

Tosh, the son of California pro Steve Tosh, used a decidedly West Coast method – drop-shotting slowly with a 7-inch Roboworm – to catch his limit of bass Wednesday.

“The guys are fishing shallow in dead-end creeks,” said Tosh, an FLW Tour rookie. “Some of the fish are still staging, so I’m concentrating on the end of the yellow flowers in 5 to 7 feet of water. This lake is loaded with those yellow flowers. It’s scary because I’m using 6-pound-test, but I’m throwing into open water. I pre-fished with Sam Newby; he was flipping, so I concentrated on finding another pattern. And it’s working.”

Closely following Tosh was co-angler extraordinaire David Hudson of Jasper, Ala., in second place with a five-bass weight of 13 pounds, 9 ounces. Hudson has already finished in the top 10 eight times fishing from the back of the boat in his FLW career.

Third place went to co-angler Kevin Langill of Gastonia, N.C., who caught a limit weighing 13 pounds even.

Johnny Taylor of Kodak, Tenn., placed fourth for the co-anglers with a limit weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces.

Co-angler Todd Lee of Jasper, Ala., took the fifth spot with a limit weighing 12 pounds, 5 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 in the Co-angler Division are Jeff Stegner of Fair Grove, Mo., with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 4 ounces (6th place); Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., with five bass weighing 12-1 (7th); Donald Cox of Rochester, Ind., with four bass weighing 11-15 (8th); Elden Cox of Lexington, Ky., with four bass weighing 11-6 (9th); and Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa., with five bass weighing 10-7 (10th).

Alessandro Debbi, who hails from Italy, claimed co-angler Snickers Big Bass honors and $500 with a 5-pound, 5-ounce bass.

The opening round of FLW Tour competition at Kentucky Lake continues with its second half Thursday as anglers take off from Kentucky Dam Village Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky., at 6:30 a.m. CST. The full fields will be cut down to the top 10 anglers apiece following tomorrow’s action.