Leading the pro field is Matthew Jones of Spokane, Mo., who caught a limit weighing 20 pounds, 4 ounces. Hauling in the day’s only 20-pound bag, Jones fished a Texas-rigged green-pumpkin Zoom Critter Craw with a 5/16-ounce tungsten weight. Jones said that close attention to fish positioning during provided the insight he needed for effective tournament presentations.

“The key was to mark the beds and try to remember where they’re at so I could stay off of them (during the tournament),” he said. “If you can stay off of them, they’ll usually bite on the first pitch.

“In practice, I covered a ton of water with my trolling motor. I didn’t find a ton of big fish, but the biggest fish I found, I caught today, luckily.”

Although he was pleased with his opening performance, Jones expressed concern over the likelihood of more anglers locating key fish on day two. Cloud cover will increase from midday on, but partly sunny skies will allow plenty of morning reconnaissance.

“My weight and probably a lot of other weights will probably drop tomorrow, but today I was fortunate enough that nobody found the fish I had found and I caught them,” Jones said.

Bever gets “lucky” for second

A Lucky Craft Pointer 100 in ghost pearl ayu color was the bait of choice for second place pro Cary Bever of Rhinelander, who caught a limit of 19 pounds, 11 ounces. His total, he said, could have been significantly higher had fate not robbed him of his golden opportunity.

“I was flirting with 25 pounds today,” he said. “I had another 6-plus on and I had her to the boat twice, but it was so big, it ran under the boat and jumped off on the other side.”

Bever said he covered a lot of water today. “If you looked at my GPS, you could follow the trail – I was everywhere today. I caught fish all day. I had my limit by 8 a.m.”

Bever said that his choice of positioning is intrinsic to the game plan he hopes to continue on Day Two. “I’m doing something different – I don’t have a lot of company where I’m fishing. I’m getting the fish coming and going.”

Blaylock trails close in third

Benton, Ark. pro Stetson Blalock trails Bever by an ounce at 19-10. Noting that the bite seemed tougher today than it had been in practice, Blalock caught his fish by flipping a Berkley Power Craw onto beds. The key for him was to focus on the areas that were most likely to hold quality fish.

 

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“I think it was just knowing where the big ones live,” Blalock said. “Instead of going into the backs of creeks, I’ll fish the mouths of bigger creeks. I think that’s where some of the bigger ones stay instead of going all the way in the back.

“This is a really good lake and the big ones aren’t everywhere, but there are so many of them here. On some of my areas, some of the big fish moved in today, so hopefully, they’ll keep moving in.

Roy Hawk of Salt Lake City, Utah, took fourth place with a limit of 18-2. He started his day fishing a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD and then moved shallow to flip a green-pumpkin Yamamoto craw.

“I caught some fish bed fishing, I caught some fish around the beds and then I caught some fish out on points,” Hawk said. “I just tried to mix it up today and play the conditions as they came.”

In fifth place with 17-13, Gabe Herington of Malvern, Ark. found success by fishing a Carolina rig over points and offshore structure. He ducked in shallow at day’s end and caught a 3 ½-pound bass off the bed.

“I’m fishing a little deeper (than most),” Herrington said. “A lot of people are fishing the 8-foot-to-the-bank range and I’m fishing 8-20.”

Best of the rest

Rounding out the top-10 pro leaders at the FLW American Series Central Division event on Lake Ouachita:

6th: Keith Green of Arkadelphi, Ark., 17-9
7th: Dennis Bean of Hot Springs, Ark., 17-7
8th: Cody Bird of Granbury, Texas, 17-3
9th: Roger Harp of Huntsville, Ark., 16-12
10th: Eddy May of Valley Center, Ark., 16-9