Quick Bites: FLW Series Old Hickory Lake, Day 1 - Major League Fishing

Quick Bites: FLW Series Old Hickory Lake, Day 1

Image for Quick Bites: FLW Series Old Hickory Lake, Day 1
Pros Wesley Strader, Luke Clausen, and Stacey King search for a fish that got loose in the bump tank. King caught the bass, which weighed roughly 4 pounds, for a second time. Photo by Brett Carlson. Anglers: Wesley Strader, Luke Clausen, Stacey King.
May 31, 2006 • Brett Carlson • Archives

Wal-Mart FLW Series

Old Hickory Lake, Gallatin, Tenn.

Opening round, Wednesday

Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., is in 11th with 13-6.Just fishing … Don’t feel bad for Paducah, Ky., pro Terry Bolton. After a heartbreaking defeat at the recent Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake, Bolton is back with a vengeance. Proving that that tournament is squarely in the past, Bolton sits just 1 ounce outside the top 10 with a five-bass total weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces. What does he credit his recent success to? The answer is confidence. While confidence might be the most overused word in professional bass fishing, it undoubtedly plays a factor in determining success on the water. “Confidence means the world in this game,” Bolton said. Beyond confidence, Bolton mentioned the importance of sneaking up on these highly pressured Old Hickory bass. “I’m basically trying to drop it on their head.”

Pro Stacey King holds up part of his five-bass limit that weighed 14 pounds, 9 ounces. After day one, King is tied for fifth place.Destined to be caught … Stacey King was the only pro Wednesday who could honestly say that he caught the same fish twice in the same day. With less than an hour before his check-in time, the Reeds Spring, Mo., pro boated a 4-pound smallmouth on a jighead-worm combination. King’s smallmouth went down as the heaviest brown bass of the day. If that wasn’t impressive enough, consider that King caught the fish again about an hour later. While holding it up for the Lindner Media crew, the feisty smallmouth slipped out of his hand and found a new home in a bump tank. At that point, King was next in line to weigh in so he quickly reached in and was able to lip the fish in the nick of time. “I just reached in there and nailed him again,” said King, who had a little help from pros Wesley Strader and Luke Clausen in cornering the smallmouth.

Jerreth Bain shows off the biggest bass he caught on day one of the Old Hickory Lake FLW Series event.He can fish too … Most people familiar with FLW Outdoors know Jerreth Bain as a sponsor representative for Yamaha. The affable young man can be seen at most all FLW Outdoors events, spanning the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Stren Series and FLW Tour. But today, Bain made his mark as a competitor and not a businessman. While he has competed in prior Wal-Mart BFL tournaments, this was his first upper-level event, and he made the best of the opportunity. On day one, Bain caught three bass that weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces, which put him in 20th place in the Co-Angler Division. One of his keepers nearly won the Snickers Big Bass award, which ultimately went to James Key for a 5-pound, 10-ounce brute.

Bass fishing fans attempt to avoid the heat by sitting in one of the few shady spots at WednesdaySmoking hot … If 100-degree weather wasn’t bad enough, there was nary a breeze in the Nashville area Wednesday. Most of the fans that attended the weigh-in wisely chose to sit in one of the few shady areas. Compounding the sweltering heat was high humidity that surpassed the 70-percent mark. Amazingly, 95 percent of the bass that were caught on the pro side were released back into Old Hickory Lake alive. That kind of performance is a true testament to FLW Series anglers caring about the health of a host fishery.

Woo Daves finished day one on Old Hickory Lake in 12th place on the pro side.Wooing them again … Veteran pro Woo Daves was able to persuade four hefty bass to bite via a finesse-jig presentation. However, that wasn’t the only thing the Spring Grove, Va., pro was wooing. With only a few minutes remaining in the day, Daves attempted to start his engine. Alas, his batteries had gone dead, and he was in some serious trouble. Help arrived in the form of pro Clark Wendlandt, who gave up 10 minutes of his valuable fishing time to help Daves. Both anglers finished well despite the mishap. Wendlandt sits in 12th place with 13-5, while Daves sits in 14th with 12-5.

Quick numbers

5-13: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of the heaviest bass brought in today, one caught by pro Sam Lashlee and the other 5-13 caught by pro Ashley Hayes.

18: Number of co-anglers who brought five keeper-sized bass to the scale Wednesday.

2: Number of Israels to finish day one with a total weight of 3 pounds, 1 ounce – husband and wife co-anglers Abbie and Judy.

41: Number of pros who cracked the 10-pound mark on day one.

Sound bites

“The key is to sneak up on these fish.” – eighth-place pro Matt Herren, explaining how to catch highly pressured bass.

“I kind of figured something out late in the day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.” – 2005 FLW Tour Championship winner George Cochran, who is primed for a big move on day two after catching 10 pounds, 3 ounces on day one.

Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 6 a.m. Central time at Bull Creek Marina, located just off Highway 109 on Odoms Bend Road in Gallatin.