Quick Bites: FLW Tour Wal-Mart Open, Beaver Lake, Day 1

Pro Clay Dyer of Hamilton, Ala., was the toast of the Beaver Lake crowd for being able to overcome a severe handicap - Dyer has no legs and only part of one arm - and finish day one of the Wal-Mart Open tied for 116th place. Dyer is being interviewed by Keith Lebowitz of FLW Outdoors television. Photo by Gary Mortenson. Angler: Clayton Dyer.

April 5, 2006 • Gary Mortenson • Archives

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

2006 Wal-Mart Open

Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ala.

Opening round, Wednesday

Anything but Dyer straits … While the crowd thoroughly enjoyed today’s opening-round weigh-in, the biggest applause were saved for FLW Tour pro Clay Dyer. You see, Dyer was born with no legs and only part of one arm. Yet that hasn’t deterred him from pursuing his lifelong dream of becoming one of the nation’s top fishing pros. And today, Dyer didn’t disappoint – turning in a remarkable catch of 6 pounds, 6 ounces to finish the day in 116th place and within 5 pounds or so of the overall leaderboard. “Clay’s my hero,” said FLW Tour pro and fishing legend Jay Yelas. “If he had regular arms and legs, he’d be as good as Kevin VanDam.” Two-time Wal-Mart Open champion Clark Wendlandt agreed. “He’s just an inspiration to everyone.” However, Dyer will never ask anyone to feel sorry for him. “I came here to win $100,000,” he said. “And I know the first thing I have to do to make that a reality is to start by catching five fish.” As it turns out, that was no problem at all as Dyer beat out 82 other pros in today’s competition alone. So how does he do it? Well, you have to see it to believe it. But the short answer is that Dyer holds his rod between his shoulder and his chin and supports the rod with the remainder of his one arm. Then, almost like magic, Dyer works his rod and reel like a symphony orchestra. Impressed? Well, if that’s not enough, rumor has it that Dyer also plays a mean game of football.

Kreiger finally shines … By his own admission, the first part of the 2006 FLW Tour season has been an unmitigated disaster for seasoned pro Koby Kreiger. Kreiger, one of the most thoughtful and likable pros on the tour today, began the season by finishing 182nd (Okeechobee), 147th (Lake Murray) and 138th (Pickwick Lake) during the FLW Tour’s first three events. Finally Kreiger said he had had enough. So during today’s competition, Kreiger completely turned it around, netting a 15-pound, 13-ounce catch good enough for second place overall in the Pro Division. “I’m just glad I finally caught a bass,” he said. “I had to clean up my act. I’ve had a really tough year.”

Y-E-A-H! T-E-A-M! … If you weren’t there in person at today’s Wal-Mart Open weigh-in, chances are that if you lived anywhere within a 100-mile radius, you still heard the crowd. And that was mostly due to one of the loudest and most enthusiastic group of kids ever to grace an FLW Tour weigh-in. The culprits? A group of Central Junior High School students from Springdale, Ark., who are part of the school’s “Hooked on Fish, Not on Drugs” club. But not only did they muster cheers for hometown favorites, they applauded each and every angler who walked up onstage no matter how small their catch. And while their applause did raise the decibel levels to sometimes extraordinary levels, the anglers seemed to get a real kick out of it. “I feel like I just won the FLW Championship all over again,” said Arkansas native George Cochran, who seemed to be reliving his magical run at the 2005 FLW Tour Championship title while the students erupted in thunderous applause.

No repeat … 2005 Wal-Mart Open Champion Andre Moore all but lost his bid for back-to-back titles on Beaver Lake after turning in a disappointing stringer weighing less than 3 pounds total in today’s competition. “I was waiting for the fish to really move up today,” Moore said. “And I kind of went for broke.”

Quick numbers:

0: Total number of fully functional arms and legs FLW Tour pro Clay Dyer was born with.

82: Total number of world-class bass-fishing pros Clay Dyer beat out in today’s opening round of competition at the 2006 Wal-Mart Open.

155: Average overall finish in the first three FLW Tour events of the year for Koby Kreiger.

1: Total number of pros who posted a better catch than Koby Kreiger during the first day of competition on Beaver Lake.

124: Total number of limits caught by the pros in today’s competition.

29: Total number of limits caught by co-anglers in today’s competition.

15: Total number of pros and co-anglers who caught 11 pounds or more on the first day of Wal-Mart Open competition.

Sound bites:

“Oh, I still have a lot of it left.” – George Jeane Jr., responding to a question from FLW Tour host Charlie Evans concerning how much of his $100,000 in winnings he still had in the bank after his amazing FLW Tour win last month on Pickwick Lake.

“I catch more fish.” – Third-place pro Takahiro Omori, expounding on the differences between his stellar day on the water today and his general futility on Beaver Lake over the past few years.

“Four degrees of water temperature.” – 2005 Wal-Mart Open winner Andre Moore, describing the differences between last year’s magical run and his 179th-place finish in today’s competition after only landing a 2-pound, 12-ounce sack.

“It’s like (the fish) look at you and laugh.” – Co-angler Mike Todd, discussing his sight-fishing woes in today’s competition.

“I didn’t catch them today the way I like, but if I have a good second day, I should be right there in the hunt.” – Current FLW Tour Angler of the Year pro leader Anthony Gagliardi, on his 67th-place finish in today’s competition and his ability to regroup to remain in the 2006 AOY race.

“I’m still on Cloud Nine.” – Soap opera star and FLW Tour co-angler Real Andrews, on recently being named to Team Gain and getting to fish his first full year on a professional tour.

Day two of FLW Tour action on Beaver Lake continues at Thursday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. CDT at Prairie Creek Marina, located at 1 Prairie Creek Drive in Rogers, Ark.