Lytle, Namiki, Yamamoto top 20 pounds, lead at Kentucky Lake

Big limits abound on turbulent FLW Tour day one

BENTON, Ky. – Despite some nasty thunderstorms and heavy rain in the morning, Wal-Mart FLW Tour anglers managed to catch some nice, big, Kentucky Lake limits Wednesday to open the fifth tour stop of the year. While a bunch of pros are still within striking range, nobody caught more weight than Curt Lytle, who hooked into a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces.

The biggest question coming into the day was whether a shallow or deep pattern would prevail this week. Well, that remains unanswered since many top contenders alleged they caught fish both ways: fishing deep points and ledges and flipping shallow bushes.

Lytle, however, didn’t have to deal with such decisions.

“I had a great day,” the pro from Zuni, Va., said. “I was just fishing shallow, stained water in Barkley Lake. I didn’t catch anything deep. Fortunately, there’s a lot of stained, shallow water in Barkley.”

Lytle moved around a lot Wednesday, plucking the shallows of Barkley Lake with his flipping stick. He didn’t catch a lot of keeper bass – only six – but the ones he caught were quality fish, especially from his main area.

“I just caught one here and one there,” he said. “I started this morning not knowing whether I’d even catch five fish. It could just as easily have gone for a weight of 10 pounds. More than anything, I don’t know why the big ones moved in there today.”

And while some pros struggled with the adverse weather in the morning, Lytle seemed encouraged by it.

“The weather was really up-and-down this morning, but I’ll adapt and do whatever I have to. It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I love coming here because, with the seasonal patterns and flooding it has, it lays out just about like Buggs Island (Kerr Reservoir in Virginia and North Carolina). That’s why guys from out there, like David Fritts and his crankbait, tend to do well here.”

Namiki goes versatile, takes second

Toshinari Namiki of Mineola, Texas, caught a limit weighing 20 pounds, 1 ounce and slid into second place for the pros behind Lytle.

Like the leader, Namiki said the inclement weather helped him Wednesday. Unlike Lytle, he said he fished both deep and shallow.

“It was a very good day. The weather really helped me because it made the fish get active today,” Namiki said. “I fished both shallow and deep, mainly in two areas today.”

Namiki said he worked a jig on his shallow pattern in the morning and a crankbait deep later in the day.

Yamamoto shallow for third

Gary Yamamoto, also of Mineola, started the day throwing a crankbait in deeper water, but headed for the bank when that pattern proved unsuccessful.

“At first I was going to fish deep, but after two hours I had nothing,” he said. “I had one keeper deep and one keeper shallow. So I went to the back of a cut and caught a 4-pounder just swimming a bait.”

Ultimately, Yamamoto caught seven keepers and filled out his limit with five solid fish weighing 20 pounds even. The third and final limit at the 20-pound mark for the day, it earned him third place.

“I love it here because there are a lot of bushes to flip,” said Yamamoto, who added that he caught the bulk of his fish on a new prototype of a cut-tail worm. “People think I’m a deep-water fisherman, but I like to flip bushes, too.”

Newton loses big one, still fourth

Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala., grabbed the fourth spot in the Pro Division with a limit weighing 19 pounds, 14 ounces.

“I lost a really good fish early this morning that’s still haunting me, but I really can’t complain,” he said.

Fishing a crankbait on deeper ledges in Kentucky Lake, Newton said he caught 10 keepers and filled out his limit by 8 a.m.

“I get burned every time I try to flip bushes here, so I learned the ledges, and that’s what I tried to do,” he said. “It’s tough to get them to bite crankbaits right now, because they’re all postspawn fish and they’re not really active yet. Give them another week and this place’ll be fun.”

Bolivar fifth, makes run at standings

Pro Gabe Bolivar of Ramona, Calif., caught the fifth-heaviest limit of the day – 19 pounds, 12 ounces – and edged closer to a possible FLW Tour Angler of the Year title in his rookie season.

Bolivar came into this week ranked fourth, some 54 points off the standings leader, Darrel Robertson. But Robertson and No. 2 Anthony Gagliardi came up short on fish Wednesday, each placing below 100th place. Ray Scheide, currently ranked third in the points standings, started the week with an 84th-place weight. Barring a huge day-two catch from any of them, each will have trouble maintaining their rank at big-fishing Kentucky Lake.

That leaves the door open for Bolivar.

“This whole season has been a dream season for me,” said Bolivar, who weighed a 6-pound, 9-ounce kicker largemouth with his stringer. “I don’t know why I’m catching them, but I’m just going with it and trying not to think about it.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 11 pros on day one at Kentucky Lake:

6th: Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, Ky., 19-0

7th: Dean Rojas of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 18-5

8th: Morizo Shimizu of Osaka, Japan, 17-11

9th: Brian Hensley of Edwardsburg, Mich., 17-8

10th: Randy Blaukat of Lamar, Mo., 17-7

10th: Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., 17-7

Each of the top 11 pros caught limits Wednesday. In fact, a stout 123 pros out of the field of 200 caught limits.

The Snickers Big Bass of the day was landed by pro Ralph Laster of Lees Summit, Mo., who earned $750 for his 7-pound, 5-ounce fish.

Christian leads co-anglers

James Christian of Dickson, Tenn., put his local knowledge to work and landed the top spot in the Co-angler Division with a limit weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces.

“I live on the south end of Kentucky Lake, and I’ve really been looking forward to this one,” he said. “I put in a lot of practice on the south end, and that kind of bled over into what we were doing today.”

Fishing with pro Brian Hensley, Christian said he caught most of his fish shallow on a Spot Remover jig.

“The whole thing, as a co-angler, is finding your spot to throw your bait,” Christian said. “Brian really gave me an opportunity to throw today.”

Just behind him in second place is co-angler Terry Chapman of Prosperity, S.C., with a limit weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces.

“I just flipped a Senko all day, got lucky and caught some good fish,” Chapman said.

Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon, Mich., earned third place for the co-anglers with a limit weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces.

Co-angler Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., placed fourth with a limit weighing 15 pounds even.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers is Bill Guillory of Jasper, Texas, with a limit weighing 13 pounds, 13 ounces. Guillory also earned $375 for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division with a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:

6th: Matt Scheipeter of St. Louis, 13-4

7th: Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., 13-0

8th: Tyrone Phillips of Little Rock, Ark., 12-15

9th: John Cantale of Davie, Fla., 12-14

10th: Billy Smith of Murray, Ky., 12-1

Each of the top 10 co-anglers also caught a limit Wednesday.

Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour at Kentucky Lake begins as the full field of 200 boats takes off from Kentucky Dam Marina in Gilbertsville, Ky., at 6:30 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second half of the opening round. Following tomorrow’s action, both fields will be cut to the top 10 anglers apiece, based on two-day total weight.