Quick Bites: FLW Series Eastern, Pickwick Lake, Day 1

Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern

Pickwick Lake, Florence, Ala.

Opening round, Wednesday

Grass growth brings better fishing… Pickwick Lake’s rapidly expanding grass beds mean good things to bass and the anglers who seek them. Those who caught their fish on Pickwick no doubt noticed conditions that have improved dramatically in recent years. “Grass is absolutely the key to everything,” said Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill., who sits in fifth place with 15-6. “It’s the key to the baitfish; it’s the key to bass being healthy and having ambush spots; it’s the key to having clean water in your system. It’s just crucial to every aspect of this game.” George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La., agrees, adding, “(Pickwick’s grass expansion) started on the north end near Pickwick Dam, and it has worked its way south over the last two to three years.” Estimating that some 70 percent of Pickwick now holds grassy bottom, Jeane predicts, “If they’ll leave the grass alone, they’ll be calling this `Little Guntersville’ in a couple of years.”

Locking and looking … Although most of the tournament’s 179 boats fished on Pickwick Lake, about a quarter of the field made long runs upriver. Reports from anglers who made the trek indicated approximately 45 boats locked through to Wilson Lake, and about 10 of those continued on to Wheeler Lake. Terry Baksay of Easton, Conn., ran to Wheeler and came back with a single bass weighing 3 pounds, 8 ounces. Noting that his fish had moved from heavy cover during practice to scattered structure on day one, Baksay said that running far to escape the crowd is a calculated risk with no room for error. “Everything has to be perfect – you only have three hours to fish. You have to make every bite count, and you have to be able to adjust really quickly. It’s all about time management.”

Timing is everything … Sitting in second place, Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., took a go-with-the-flow strategy en route to his 16-pound, 7-ounce limit. “Right now, the fish on the Tennessee River are just roaming around, but when (the TVA) pulls current through the Pickwick Dam, the fish will pull up on places and bite,” Bolton said. “So, if you happen upon them when they’re up on the structure, you can catch them. It’s all timing, and you have to be fortunate.” Stover, Mo., pro Dion Hibdon weighed 16 even for the third-place spot. He pointed out that a tournament one week earlier had inflicted significant pressure on Pickwick’s bass. “There was a 200-boat tournament last weekend that bruised up a lot of these fish. So it’s a little more difficult for us this week.” Working a jig most of day one, Hibdon said he observed clear trepidation in the bass he encountered. “I’d pitch into a spot and think, `There should have been a fish there.’ I’d work my bait on out and he hits me (near the boat). He was standing in there – he was just hesitant about biting. He was like, `Uh-uh, I’m not biting that again.'”

Sponsor participation … Wal-Mart plays a huge role in the big picture of FLW competition, but there’s also plenty of grass-roots involvement. Case in point: Todd Raspberry, who manages the local Wal-Mart in Florence, attended Tuesday night’s pretournament meeting and signed up on the spot. “There were some openings on the boater side, so I decided to join up and give it a whirl.” Raspberry only managed 3-8 today, but hopes to find the right formula on day two. “I was on some good fish (in practice), but with this wind, they didn’t bite that good, so I’ll try to get them tomorrow.”

Quick numbers:

2.5: The lead, in pounds, that Mark Rose holds over second-place finisher Terry Bolton.

40: The total weight, in pounds, that George Jeane Jr. caught during two days of practice. The Evans, La., pro finished 60th on day one with 7-11.

36: Number of pros who caught 10 pounds or more in day-one competition.

37: Total number of limits caught by the pros in day-one competition.

1: Total number of limits caught by co-anglers on day one.

8: Total number of legs on Yamaha pro Gary Yamamoto‘s boat (two are his, two belong to his co-angler, and four support his 2-year-old long-haired Chihuahua named Isabella, who joins him on every trip.)

Sound bites:

“I got `em here alive, but I had to check on them about every five minutes.”

– Larry Nixon, describing the challenge of keeping his limit catch healthy with a malfunctioning aerator.

“4-14.”

– The prediction that Takahiro Omori made just seconds before tournament official Tim Porter called out the weight of his big-fish entry, which weighed exactly 4 pounds, 14 ounces.

“I’m fishing way out of my league right now.”

– Pro Dion Hibdon, describing his elation at placing third after a very meager practice, which yielded only a handful of fish over several days.

“Uh-huh.”

– The bashful response of 2 1/2-year-old Evan Mabrey, when tournament director Chris Jones asked if he was enjoying watching his father Kyle Mabrey catching fish. Moments later, the elder Mabrey secured big-bass honors for day one with a 5-pound, 4-ounce largemouth.

“Pickwick Lake is back!”

– Tim Porter’s exclamation, in response to the quantity and quality of fish that came from local waters on day one.

“Arf, arf, arf, arf!”

– The spirited cheering of Louie, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier who really digs watching his daddy – otherwise known as Steve Kennedy – weigh in fish.

“They call it a `Jack Attack’ – when they first see you, they get very excited.”

– Kennedy, explaining the breed-specific behavior that Louie exhibits at every tournament.

Day two of FLW Series action on Pickwick Lake continues at Thursday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. Central at McFarland Park Marina, located at James M. Spain Drive in Florence, Ala.