Quick Bites: Wal-Mart Open, Day 2

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Wal-Mart Open

Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark.

Opening round, Thursday

The one that got away … In fishing, you win some and you lose some, but in recent memory, no one’s lost one quite the way Greg Hackney did today. On a day when angler after angler recounted tales of the lost fish, Hackney lost one – in his livewell. Not realizing he had left it behind, he originally thought he’d lost it in the bump tables waiting to weigh in. “I didn’t know where it was,” he said. Hackney weighed in four of his five-bass catch, with those four coming in at 9 pounds, 12 ounces. He estimates the one he left behind was a 2-pounder, which would have bumped him up from 46th to about 21st. … “The thing about it is, I threw back 20 keepers today but only weighed in four,” he said. “It wasn’t going to put me in the cut, but points-wise, I’ll have to make it up. I’m fishing with a handicap now.”

Hero to zero … Yesterday’s king of the hill Guido Hibdon was nowhere to be found today, as the legendary pro went from 18 pounds, 4 ounces Wednesday to zero today on Beaver Lake. Even with nothing weighed in today, Hibdon finished the tournament in 47th place, good for $10,000.

Quantum leap … Replacing Guido Hibdon at the top of the leaderboard is Clifford Pirch, who appears to have swapped karma with Hibdon. While Hibdon fell from grace today, Pirch made an astonishing leap from 105th to first with a 19-pound, 8-ounce limit today that brought his two-day total to 27 pounds, 9 ounces. His explanation? “I had a pretty good practice and just choked yesterday.”

Big-bass trifecta … Jason Kilpatrick, the last angler to weigh in today, stole the Pro Division big-bass award away from not one, not two, but three pros who had each caught a 4-pound, 12-ounce bass. Kilpatrick’s 4-pound, 14-ounce big bass trumped the three 4-12s brought in by Andre Moore, Alton Jones and Clifford Pirch.

Back to back … Four pros have earned their second consecutive top-10 finish this week on Beaver Lake. Darrel Robertson, Jeremiah Kindy, Alvin Shaw and Jason Kilpatrick also made the final round at the last FLW Tour event, held in March on the Ouachita River in Louisiana.

Points shakeup? … Points leader Bobby Lane fell far short of achieving four straight top-10s, finishing the tournament in 96th. His nearest competition, No. 2 pro J.T. Kenney, appeared to be heading for a major points loss as well, having finished day one in the 110th spot. But Kenney rebounded in a big way today, catching 12 pounds, 10 ounces that bumped him up to 20th. No. 3 pro Matt Herren also fared well, finishing the tournament in 25th. The official points tally will be posted after Saturday’s final weigh-in.

Quick numbers:

199: Number of pros, out of 200, to catch fish on day two.

22-8: The pro top-10 cut weight, in pounds and ounces.

18-1: Weight, in pounds and ounces, required to earn $10,000 on the pro side. Ten grand is paid through 50th place.

5: Number of Beaver Lake top-10 anglers who have already posted one top-10 this season, including co-angler Rob Newell of Tallahassee, Fla.

Sound bites:

“The girls are kicking butt.” – Co-angler Kim Bain, commenting on the remarkable success of her fellow female anglers this year, including co-angler Mary Parnell, who finished eighth in the opening round.

“It’s tough getting beat, especially by a lady.'” – Pro Simon Morrow, who fished in front of Mary Parnell today. Make no mistake, Morrow’s comments were purely tongue in cheek – he had just finished encouraging all aspiring female anglers out there to make a go of it.

“I actually got to fish for eight hours today, so that helped.” – J.T. Kenney, whose mechanical woes yesterday nearly cost him in the points race. He rebounded to finish 20th.

“I think he even stuck his tongue out at me.” – Co-angler Matt Scheipeter, referring to one of the two “beautiful” bass that got away from him yesterday. He won the battle today, tying for co-angler big-bass honors with a 4-pound, 5-ounce fish.

“He talked all day long. I turned my back on him one time and said, `Jimmy, please. Please stop talking.'” – Co-angler Charles Pearson, who fished today with Jimmy Houston, a man never at a loss for words.

“I’ve suffered the worst humiliation the last 30 days in that my sister is ahead of me in points for the first time ever.” – Co-angler Troy Cox, brother to fellow co-angler Pam Wood. Cox entered the event ranked 108th in the co-angler points standings, while Wood stands in 93rd.

“I looked up to the sky to see if I was still paying for those past sins.” – Pro David Lauer, looking for a reason to explain his paltry catches. Lauer finished the tournament in 123rd.

“My mama said, `I’m coming to that weigh-in tomorrow, and you’d better have some fish.'” – Pro Mark Goines, who zeroed yesterday but caught 8 pounds, 1 ounce today.

Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. CDT at Prairie Creek Marina, located at 1 Prairie Creek Marina Drive in Rogers.