Beck nets 40 pounds, Stren Series lead on Lake Erie

Guilliams continues to crush co-angler competition

CLEVELAND – Veteran pro Gerald Beck of Lexington, N.C., demonstrated once again why consistency is everything in tournament bass fishing. After hauling in a day-one catch of 20 pounds, 13 ounces, Beck followed up his stellar outing with a 19-pound, 3-ounce catch in Thursday’s Stren Northeast competition – a feat which allowed him to grab the top qualifying position heading into Friday’s semifinals.

But while most anglers would be ecstatic with such a wonderful start, the low-key Beck seemed to take everything in stride.

“It feels good,” said Beck. “Any time you can lead a tournament, it’s a good thing. But the important thing is to be leading when the tournament is over. I just go out there and go fishing. I’ve got a couple of areas, and I’ve just figured out a little bite in there. I probably could have caught some more fish today, but I didn’t want to beat them up too much.”

While Beck is soft spoken by nature, his voice rises just a bit when the discussion turns to the weather – the one variable that can torpedo an angler’s chances on Lake Erie in a matter of minutes.

“I really hope the weather lets us fish tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve got to make a 30-mile run (each way), and I really don’t have any spots close by. It gets rough out there. I’ve been leaving about an hour and a half just to make sure that I can get back in time.”

Beck said he is targeting isolated structure like most anglers, particularly small rock piles on large flats.

“I bought a new Lowrance unit just to fish this lake,” said Beck of his high-end purchase. “It’s (sensitive) enough so that I can find these rock piles. The rock piles are the key.”

In addition, Beck said he’s using a drop-shot technique, fishing tubes, Goby imitation baits and 8-pound-test line.

As far as tomorrow’s competition goes, Beck said he promises that he won’t hold anything back.

“My first objective was to make the (top-20) cut, and I did that,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’m going to go out there and catch everything I can because you never know when that wind is going to blow on Lake Erie. If the weather holds up, I should be all right.”

Vatalaro, McCrone trail Beck by ounces

Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio, and David McCrone of Minnetonka, Minn., both recorded mammoth, two-day stringers weighing 39 pounds, 9 ounces to qualify for the semifinals, tied for second place.

“It was tough out there today,” said Vatalaro, who is facing some hometown pressure of his own. “I was really nervous; I lost a couple of fish, and I didn’t have my limit until 1 p.m. But then I started to calm down, and that seemed to help. In the last 15 minutes alone, I was able to cull three fish.”

Vatalaro said he’s fishing isolated rock piles near current and deep-water (at least 30 feet) dropoffs. Like Beck, Vatalaro is also using a drop-shot technique and fishing lighter line than usual – a trend among many anglers who qualified for today’s cut.

“I was fishing 10-pound-test line the first day of the tournament and wasn’t catching anything. And then I switched to 6-pound-test line, and bingo, I started catching them,” Vatalaro said. “Today, I used nothing but 6-pound-test line.”

So what is the game plan for the semifinals?

“Tomorrow I’m going right to my best three spots,” he said. “It’s where I fished on the first day. And hopefully, I’ll catch them.”

Meanwhile, McCrone not only qualified for the semifinals in impressive fashion, but also walked away with a check for $525 for winning the day’s big-bass award in the Pro Division after landing a 5-pound, 9-ounce smallmouth.

And then there was one … Lucarelli

On the strength of a 38-pound catch, Joe Lucarelli of New Hampton, N.H., qualified for the semifinals in fourth place. Unfortunately for Joe, however, was the fact that his father, Steve, missed out on the cut by nine places. Steve Lucarelli had been in third place overall heading into Thursday’s competition, but lost out when he only managed to bring 4 pounds, 7 ounces to the scales today.

Another hard-luck candidate was day-one leader Bryan Coates of Amherst, Ohio. Although it appeared he’d have an easy path to the semifinals after landing the biggest catch of the tournament on the first day of competition, Coates zeroed on the second day, dropping him out of contention.

Rounding out the top five pro semifinalists was Stren Series veteran Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa., who recorded a two-day catch of 36 pounds, 10 ounces.

Guilliams unstoppable … so far

Perhaps the most dominating performance of the tournament so far belongs to one of the most unlikely anglers: co-angler Gary Guilliams of Troutville, Va. Not that Guilliams isn’t a good angler, it’s just that few would have predicted that any co-angler would have outfished virtually the entire pro field after two full days of competition. When all was said and done, Guilliams recorded a two-day catch of 39 pounds, 10 ounces – the second-largest stringer in the entire tournament.

And to think, this is only Guilliams’ fourth Stren Series event of his career.

“I told you yesterday that it was the luck of the draw, and I’m sticking by it,” said a modest Guilliams. “My pro partner was kind of out of the tournament, so he let me fish where I wanted. He was very professional, and that helped me a lot.”

Guilliams, who said he is fishing breaklines and humps with a drop-shot technique, tubes and Gobys, remains confident heading into tomorrow’s semifinals.

“So far, so good,” said Guilliams, who has now qualified for a top-20 cut in 50 percent of the Stren Series tournaments he’s fished. “There’s plenty of fish out there, and plenty of big fish. I felt good in practice. And as long as the weather holds up, we should be in good shape.”

Best of the rest

Rounding out the top five co-angler semifinalists at the Stren Series Northeast Division Lake Erie event:

2nd: Tim George of Kittanning, Pa., 34-2

3rd: Marc Strini of Saltsburg, Pa., 32-8

4th: Jeff Domonkos of Middleburg, Ohio, 30-1

5th: Doug Caldwell of Kane, Pa., 29-0

Larry Drewett of Sterling, Va., earned $205 for the big-bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound, 14-ounce bass.

Day three of Stren Series action on Lake Erie continues at Friday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. EDT at Voinovich Park Marina, located at East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland.