Walker whacks them for day one lead...

2/13/2009 7:13:56 AM

WALKER LEADS $1.1 MILLION CHEVY OPEN ON LAKE GUNTERSVILLE

Team BP pro David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., crossed the stage Thursday with the largest opening-day weight in FLW Tour history, a five-bass limit weighing 29 pounds, 3 ounces to lead day one of the Walmart FLW Tour’s Chevy Open on Lake Guntersville. Walker now holds a 3-pound, 8-ounce lead in the $1.1 million tournament featuring anglers from all across the United States, Mexico, Canada and Japan.
 
“There’s no way those two (big) fish that I weighed were 8-pounders,” said Walker, who has won more than $636,000 in FLW Outdoors competition. “They were 6-pounders. I’m floored with that weight.
 
“I thought I had a legitimate shot at 20 pounds,” Walker said. “The big ones are bad about getting in that grass and coming off. The smaller ones want to come up and try to jump, but the big ones like to bury up and tear loose. I’m just floored at that weight.”
 
Walker estimated he caught 10 to 15 fish in a number of areas Thursday. He said most of his fish came on a lipless crankbait, although he did throw a jig a few times.
 
“I have a lot of places I want to fish,” Walker said. “It’s not like there’s just a few good spots on this lake. There’s a lot of good territory here that has what you’re looking for — that green grass around points where the bass are spawning. And there’s literally miles of that here.”
 
Walker said he hopes to boat 20 pounds Friday and then spend the rest of his time looking for fish to help him during the final two days of competition.
 
“Today I just got in a groove,” Walker said. “I felt like I was throwing it in the right spot and the bait was feeling good. And when that happens, you’re going to get bites. And it just started to click for me after about 10 a.m. I just felt like I knew where I could catch them.”
                                                        
Rounding out the top five places are Team Tums pro David Fritts of Lexington, N.C. (five bass, 25-11); Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga. (five bass, 25-5); Team National Guard pro Brent Erhler of Redlands, Calif. (five bass, 24-9); and Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla. (five bass, 24-9).
 
Mann Jr., earned the day’s $1,000 Folgers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 9-pound, 3-ounce bass.
 
Overall there were 558 bass weighing 1,976 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 149 pros Thursday. The catch included 72 five-bass limits.

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