Tournament News | Colson Holds onto Slim Lead at FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Tourney
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6/18/2011 7:41:32 PM |
Kentucky pro angler struggled on day three but held a slight lead; shootout eminent on Sunday
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 Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, Ky., caught two bass weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce Saturday to maintain his lead at the Walmart FLW Tour on Kentucky Lake presented by Kellogg’s and advanced to the top 10 as the crucial No. 1 seed. With a three-day catch of 12 bass weighing 51-12, he now holds a 1-pound, 4-ounce lead in the tournament going into the final day of competition.
“I made a bad call this morning,” said Colson, who now has led the first three days of competition even after stumbling a bit Saturday. “I had some shallower ledges that I went and fished this morning that I hadn’t fished and I thought they would hold some fish.
“Typically when it gets cloudy and rainy the fish go up shallower on the drops,” Colson added. “I spent a little too much time trying to catch them on the shallow drops. When I finally decided to go back into the creeks, I ended up catching them and I wished I’d have just done that.”
Colson’s baits for the tournament have been homemade ½- and ¾-ounce Arkie-style jigs with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk trailer as well as a plum-colored Zoom Ol’ Monster worm.
“I was pleased with where I caught my fish because that’s where they should have been,” Colson said. “I’m just disappointed I didn’t make that decision earlier. I should have just fished a spot or two and vacated it and gone back to my creeks so I would have had time to hit my other stuff in the back of the creeks.
“Now it’s anybody’s ball game,” Colson added. “Like I said, anybody can catch a 25-pound sack of fish. I need to catch at least 20 pounds tomorrow to feel comfortable.”
Chevy pro Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore., advanced to the final round of 10 pros in the No. 2 spot with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 50-8.
“Ask all of these guys and they’ll say they’re shocked I’m in second place flipping bushes in the middle of June,” Yelas said. “I’m catching 30 or 40 a day. There’s so many bass and nobody’s been fishing for them all week. They’re not schooled up, though. You just hunt and peck when you’re flipping bushes.”
Yelas said he has been fishing the south end of Barkley Lake and has caught most of his fish on a ½-ounce Berkley Gripper Jig in both black and blue or black and brown and either a black and blue Berkley Havoc Craw Fatty or a green pumpkin Berkley Chigger Craw as a trailer. Yelas said he’s also caught a few fish on a buzzbait and a spinnerbait.
“What helped me today was this weather,” Yelas said. “Any time it rains really hard and the wind blows it’s just terrible conditions for ledge fishing. Just the worst. But it’s some of the best for fishing shallow. You can just catch them. The weather just played into my hands and kept the weights down. I’ve had progressively smaller stringers each day, but I’ve been moving up. So the fishing’s really gotten tough with the weather and the fishing pressure on those ledges.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros and advancing to the final day of competition are:
3rd: Goodwill pro Chad Grigsby, Maple Grove, Minn., 15 bass, 50-6
4th: Kevin Snider, Elizabethtown, Ky., 15 bass, 49-8
5th: Diet Mt. Dew pro Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla., 14 bass, 48-8
6th: Tom Mann Jr., Buford, Ga., 15 bass, 48-3
7th: National Guard pro Mark Rose, Marion, Ark., 14 bass, 45-14
8th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 45-9
9th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 14 bass, 45-5
10th: Cheez It pro Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas, 15 bass, 45-2
Finishing in 11th through 20th are:
11th: David Young, Mayfield, Ky., 15 bass, 44-15, $11,837
12th: Blake Nick, Adger, Ala., 12 bass, 44-8, $11,837
13th: John Cox, Debary, Fla., 15 bass, 44-7, $11,837
14th: David Kromm, Kennewick, Wash., 14 bass, 43-15, $11,837
15th: EverStart pro Ron Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 15 bass, 43-1, $11,837
16th: Glenn Chappelear, Acworth, Ga., 12 bass, 41-10, $11,360
17th: National Guard pro Brent Ehrler, Redlands, Calif., 15 bass, 41-8, $11,360
18th: Richard Lowitzki, St. Charles, Ill., 18 bass, 41-2, 11,360
19th: Folgers pro Scott Suggs, Bryant, Ark., 15 bass, 40-7, $11,360
20th: Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi, Prosperity, S.C., 12 bass, 35-10, $11,360
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 82 bass weighing 212 pounds, 14 ounces caught by pros Saturday. The catch included 11 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, the world championship of bass fishing. This year’s Cup will be in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 11-14 on Lake Ouachita where pros are competing for a top prize of $600,000 – the sport’s biggest award. Pro anglers are also vying for the prestigious 2011 Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors with the winner receiving $100,000 for their accomplishment.
Richard Peek of Centre, Ala., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 47 pounds, 2 ounces followed by Tony Dumitras of Winston, Ga., in second place with 14 bass weighing 46-14 worth $7,134.
“I’m speechless,” said Peek, who won the EverStart Series Southeast Division event on Pickwick Lake presented by Mercury last weekend. “I’m having a great year already, and I hope to keep it going. I’ve been on the road for 40 days straight.
“It kind of threw me for a loop today drawing Ramie because he got out of the Tennessee River system, and it was a little more tough on me to figure out,” Peek added. “I’m just thankful it worked out the way it did.”
Peek said he “junk fished” a lot during the week with baits like 10-inch ribbon-tail worms, Carolina rigs and jigs and attributes his win to getting the “right bites.” Those bites helped contribute to Peek’s fifth FLW Outdoors top-10 finish of the season.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Dakota Lucy, Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 38-13, $4,750
4th: Patrick Bone, Cleveland, Ga., 13 bass, 37-5, $3,797
5th: Justin Sward, Birmingham, Ala., 15 bass, 36-13, $2,844
6th: Sean Stepp, Stafford, Va., 15 bass, 36-6, $2,367
7th: Matt Hults, Gautier, Miss., 14 bass, 36-3, $1,890
8th: Rob Hicks, Lula, Ga., 14 bass, 35-13, $1,700
9th: Billy Brindle, Calhoun, Ga., 15 bass, 35-12, $1,604
10th: Dan Thill, La Crosse, Wis., 15 bass, 35-9, $1,509
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Overall there were 64 bass weighing 148 pounds, 13 ounces caught by co-anglers Saturday. The catch included six five-bass limits.
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