Jones takes over

Smallmouth bite continues to be leading ticket at Wal-Mart FLW Tour event in Knoxville, Tenn.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Playing with TVA smallmouths is like playing with fire: They can eventually burn you.

Just ask Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., day-one leader of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Fort Loudon-Tellico lakes, who took Thursday’s lead with a sack full of smallmouths.

Today, Grigsby’s smallmouths scorched him, leaving him with an empty livewell at weigh-in.

Others, however, continued to gamble on smallmouths today, and it paid off big time.

Yesterday, National Guard pro Derek Jones of Chicago coaxed four keeper smallmouths and one largemouth off the nest for a day-one catch of 17 pounds. And when he returned to his primary spot today, he discovered that his area had replenished overnight with a whole covey of nesting smallmouths.

By 10:30 this morning, Jones had sacked five smallies for 20 pounds, 4 ounces.

“My area must have replenished,” Jones said. “I thought I had picked them over pretty good yesterday, but when I got there this morning, it was on fire – I caught two immediately and then caught one off the same bed where I caught one yesterday.”

Jones now has a dominating lead of 37 pounds, 4 ounces, some 11 pounds more than what he needed to make the cut. The question now burning in his mind is this: Did he catch too many since the weights start from zero tomorrow?

“Maybe I did, but I wasn’t taking any chances,” he said. “That’s one of the lessons I learned as a co-angler several years ago at Lake Toho. I was well into the top 10 on day one, caught a decent limit on day two and then quit fishing to give my pro a break, and I ended up missing the top-10 cut by ounces. I’ll never forget that experience, and I told myself I’d never leave anything on the table ever again.”

Jones is casting a drop-shot and a Reaction Innovations Smallie Beaver to catch his fish. He can’t see the fish, but he can see the beds – dark spots on the bottom in 4 to 5 feet of water.

“At times I’m using a swimbait to find the fish,” he said. “I’ll swim it through the area, and the fish will come up and show themselves. Then I pick up the drop-shot or Beaver and pitch it back in there.”

Lefebre second

Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa., hit his stride today.

After catching 13 pounds, 10 ounces yesterday, he sacked 17 pounds, 9 ounces today for a two-day total of 31 pounds, 3 ounces for second place.

One day one, Lefebre spent the day sight-fishing in the lower end of Fort Loudoun.

“Yesterday, I spent the whole day fishing for six fish on beds,” he said. “I knew that deal was over, so I went to completely new water today. I decided I had enough sight-fishing, and I just went fishing secondary points. I caught a limit doing that, and then I decided to make a long run to check an area I found in practice, and that’s where I struck gold.”

Rather, he struck bronze.

“Several days ago in practice, I found a place that had three empty beds,” he continued. “When I went back there today, there were big brown fish laying everywhere. I counted nine smallmouths on beds and caught two of them. I almost caught one or two more, but gambled on making it in (the top 10) with what I had.”

Lefebre, usually calm in demeanor, was visibly excited by his afternoon discovery.

“I’m pretty excited about what I found this afternoon,” he said. “I had one giant fish eat my bait twice, but I let her swim to save her for tomorrow.”

Davis third

Moving away from the sight-fishing department for a moment, Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., is in third place with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 4 ounces.

Davis has chosen to ignore the sight-fish frenzy over the last two days and focus on one of his strengths: catching suspended fish over deep water.

“It warmed up so fast that some of these fish have just moved vertically in the water column instead of horizontally to the bank, so to speak,” Davis explained. “The fish I’m catching are suspended over deep water and feeding on shad. It’s a classic prespawn deal in clear water. They just move up into the upper 5 feet of the water column and feed on shad schools, which are also enjoying the warmer water.”

Davis noted he is using topwaters and swimbaits to do his damage.

“The biggest problem I’m having is that they’re pretty finicky about eating the bait,” he said. “I lost five or six fish in the 3-pound class today. They were not biting my bait as well as they did yesterday.”

Robertson fourth

Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., is in fourth place with a two-day total of 29 pounds, 1 ounce.

In the last two days, Robertson has sight-fished a total of three bass off beds and is catching the rest of his fish on a wacky worm.

“I’m fishing an area that has a lot of beds and cruising fish,” he said. “If I see a good one on bed, I’ll fish for it, but mainly I’m throwing a wacky worm. With the sun and light breeze the last couple of days, it’s been perfect conditions for a wacky worm.”

Le fifth

Thanh Le of Las Vegas went back to his primary area where he sight-fished for 18 pounds, 10 ounces yesterday and picked through the leftovers for 8 pounds, 9 ounces today.

He is now in third with a two-day total of 27 pounds, 3 ounces.

Le has an uncanny ability to catch fish behind other anglers. Yesterday, he caught his monster bag among a flotilla of some 15 boats and managed to catch his two biggest ones after other boats had already gone through the area.

Today, Le returned to that same spot, as pressured as it was, and scraped up his limit sight-fishing again.

“I’m from Southern California,” Le offered for an explanation. “I’ve spent my life fishing 3,000-acre lakes where folks are fishing elbow to elbow all day long. I’m just used to having to wait my turn to try an area, so it doesn’t bother me at all to fish around so many boats.”

Big bass

Dwayne Horton of Knoxville, Tenn., caught the day-two big bass in the Pro Division weighing 6 pounds, 3 ounces. Horton’s bass was also the largest bass caught in the first two days of competition, earning him the Snicker’s Big Bass award worth $1,750.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros who will go on to fish day three:

6th: Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas, two-day total of 26-13

7th: Harmon Davis of Marlow, Okla., two-day total of 26-10

8th: John Sappington of Willard, Mo., two-day total of 26-5

9th: Keith Williams of Conway, Ark., two-day total of 26-4

10th: Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas, two-day total of 25-15

Barrett leads co-anglers

John Barrett of Fayetteville, N.C., now leads the top 10 co-anglers into day-three competition with a two-day total of 18 pounds.

Barrett caught a five-bass limit today weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces, which propelled him into the lead.

“All I’ve thrown for two days is a green-pumpkin-and-watermelon Senko,” Barrett said. “I’ve been casting it to any little sticks, stumps or tiny bluffs along the bank. I’m fishing it weightless and pretty much dead-sticking it.”

Kimura, Valentine tied for second

Kenta Kimura of Livingston, Texas, is in second place in the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 16 pounds, 8 ounces.

Kimura’s 13-pound, 6-ounce limit he caught today was anchored by the co-angler Snickers Big Bass of the day weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce and worth $500.

“I caught the big one on a drop-shot,” Kimura recounted. “I saw a big stump in the water and figured there might be a bed beside it; I never saw the fish. I pitched the drop-shot in there, and that big fish bit it.”

Kimura then finished out his limit with a white Zoom Fluke.

Ryan Valentine of Jonesboro, Ga., is tied for second place with an opening-round weight of 16-8.

Rest of the best

J.B. Young of Deer Park, Texas, is in fourth place with a two-day total of 15 pounds, 13 ounces.

Day-one co-angler leader Aaron McManaway of Altamont, Ill., is in fifth place with 13 pounds, 8 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers who will fish the finals on day three:

6th: Kevin Olivet of Greenback, Tenn., two-day total of 13-3

7th: Eddie Griggs of Richmond, Va., two-day total of 12-13

8th: Thomas Helton of Charleston, Tenn., two-day total of 12-0

9th: Terry Chapman of Stanley, N.C., two-day total of 11-13

10th: David Hudson of Jasper, Ala., two-day total of 11-10

The top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers take to the waters of Fort Loudoun-Tellico lakes Saturday at 7 a.m. to begin final-round competition.