Yelas goes to school for Wal-Mart Open lead
Early-morning schooling fish emerging as top pattern at Beaver Lake
ROGERS, Ark. – It’s almost summer, but school is still in at the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake. Schooling fish, that is.
The top three places are now held by pros who are catching schooling fish first thing in the morning. Most of the schoolers being weighed in are largemouths, but the problem is the bite dies after about 9 a.m., and then things get as tough as algebra.
In fact, Jay Yelas and Andy Montgomery, first and third, respectively, are sharing the same schooling hole and have been for the last two days.
“It’s basically a large boat dock with about eight boat slips, just right around the corner,” said Yelas, who now leads with 23 pounds, 10 ounces. “And for about the first hour, the fish are busting shad all around the dock.
“I pulled in there yesterday – Andy took the right side and I took the left side – and most of the fish were on his side; today they were more over on my side.”
Yelas is catching his fish on a mixture of swimbaits and topwaters early, but once the fish are done schooling, Yelas is at a loss as to how to catch them.
“It’s typical schooling fish,” he said. “In the morning there are fish everywhere, and by 9 o’clock you would swear there is not a fish that lives there. The first hour of the day is worth more than the other seven hours of the day combined. It’s just gets really hard to get a bite other ways.”
This is now Yelas’ third FLW Tour top-10 in a row in 2007.
Morgan second 
Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., is in second place with 21 pounds, 2 ounces.
Morgan, too, is catching some schooling fish, but he is not fishing the same place as Yelas and Montgomery.
“My best spot is a big saddle between two islands,” Morgan said. “It’s an obvious schooling spot, but it only works for about 45 minutes. Once the sun gets up, it’s over on top. When they go down, I can catch a couple more from the school off the bottom, and then it’s over for good. After that it gets tough.”
Montgomery third
Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., only brought in four keepers today and now sits in third place with 20 pounds, 13 ounces.
Montgomery is sharing the “schooling dock” with Yelas, and the fish seemed to favor Yelas’ “side of the dock” more today, leaving Montgomery short of his limit.
“I’ve been waiting all week for the shad spawn to start here,” Montgomery said. “Yesterday morning, while we were waiting to take off, I looked down along the floating docks here in Prairie Creek Marina and saw hordes of shad spawning on the floats. That’s when I completely changed my game plan and decided to go looking for floating docks.
“The first one I pulled up on is the one Jay and I are fishing; shad were spawning all around it, and bass were busting those shad under the dock. Today the fish kind of pulled out away from the dock and starting schooling more out in the middle.”
To catch his fish, Montgomery is using a spinnerbait, a ChatterBait, a swimming jig and a topwater.
Browne fourth
Berkley pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., moved up to the fourth-place position today with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 15 ounces.
Browne caught a limit early on topwaters yesterday and then culled up with a shaky head. Today his topwater bite failed him, and he caught everything on the shaky head, which consists of a Berkley Wacky Crawler on a Gigi head.
“I’m fishing deep trees, as deep as 25 feet, and I’m catching all species,” Browne said. “Today I had two largemouth, a spot, a meanmouth and a smallmouth – I don’t discriminate.”
Beehler fifth
Before the whole shooting match is over, local pro J.R. Beehler of Bella Vista, Ark., maybe the one to watch.
Yesterday he weighed in all smallmouths for 10 pounds, 6 ounces, and today he weighed in all spotted bass for 9 pounds, 9 ounces for a two-day total of 19 pounds, 15 ounces.
Beehler has an upper hand due to his local knowledge of Beaver’s deep-water bass.
“I’m fishing way offshore,” Beehler said. “Most of the time my boat is sitting in 60 to 100 feet of water, and I’m targeting fish in the 25-foot range. But the fish are real boat-shy; I can’t get right over top of them or they’ll spook from underneath me. So I have to sit way off and make long casts to where the fish are suspended.”
Beehler is using tubes and grubs on 6-pound-test line to coax his fish into biting.
Big bass
Jeffrey Thomas of Broadway, N.C., caught the day-two Snickers Big Bass in the Pro Division weighing 4 pounds, 4 ounces, worth $1,000. The fish bit a Berkley Beast creature bait.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros, who will fish the final two days of the Wal-Mart Open for a shot at $200,000:
6th: Dwayne Horton of Knoxville, Tenn., two-day total of 19-5
7th: Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark., 18-15
8th: Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., 18-14
9th: Alfred Williams of Jackson, Miss., 18-13
10th: Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill., 18-13
Koester leads co-anglers
In the Co-angler Division, day one’s entire top 10 were replaced by new names today, a rarity in FLW Tour events.
Now leading the Co-angler Division is local Chris Koester of Rogers, Ark., with a two-day total of 15 pounds, 11 ounces.
Being a local does have its rewards. Koester fishes Beaver frequently and knew of a hot schooling fish spot, which he offered to his pro partner this morning.
“We decided to give it a try, and after about 20 or 30 minutes, they came up schooling,” Koester said. “I caught four on topwaters early and then finished out my limit with a shaky head later in the day.”
Grubb in second
Another local, J.R. Grubb of Hamburg, Ark., sits in the second place position with a two-day total of 14 pounds, 14 ounces.
“I got off to a good start with a Zara Spook this morning, catching two good keepers, and then I finished out my limit with a worm,” Grubb said.
Rest of the best
Andrew Lemle of Perrysburg, Ohio, is in third place with a two-day total of 13 pounds, 9 ounces.
Dino Caporuscio of Coto De Caza is in fourth place with a two-day total of 13 pounds, 6 ounces, and Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark., is in fifth place with a two-day total of 13 pounds, 5 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers, who will compete tomorrow for $40,000:
6th: Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., two-day total of 13-5
7th: Sammy Orr of Maryville, Tenn., 13-3
8th: James Green of Lincoln, Ala., 13-1
9th: Arch Cornett of Huntsville, Ala., 12-2
10th: Mark Meyers of Cedar Falls, Iowa, 12-0
Big bass
Steven Meador of Bella Vista, Ark., caught the day-two Snickers Big Bass in the Co-angler Division weighing 5 pounds, worth $500.00. Meador caught the bass on a crankbait.
Day three of the Wal-Mart Open begins Saturday at 6:30 a.m. at Prairie Creek Marina where the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will take to the water for the final round.