Photo by Dustin King
Day one of the Bassmaster Classic threw some anglers a slow curve they couldn't hit, and other guys knocked it out of the park. But the leaders proved there is some good fishing in the the backwater pools of the Red River in Shreveport, La. Keith Poche has the narrowest of margins over Greg Vinson. Poche of Troy, Ala., weighed five bass that went 17-13 while Vinson of Wetumpka, Ala., weighed five that went 17-12.
Poche and Vinson both found the fishing pretty easy today catching numerous keepers in areas with and without boat traffic. The story of the day seemed to be catching them in crowds and catching them by yourself. While Poche fished around other boats, another top of the leader board, Vinson didn't have anyone else close to him all day. Here is what the top five said about the fishing today:
Keith Poche (5 bass 17-13)
"Some of your best fisherman can struggle here. You get in one little place, and it takes so long to idle in and out. And then you get in there, and the mud and cold water has it all messed up. That's just the way it is on this river. It's all on decision making. And you really don't until you get there. At the end of the day, someone has to be leading, and I was just fortunate that today it was me. Some guys are going to make some big comebacks tomorrow. It will happen. I'm just trying to stay calm. You grow in each tournament. You learn to stay calm. You got to learn how to crawl before you can walk, and walk before you run.
"My roots are from here. It's good to be here, leading the Bassmaster Classic. But this is special with my friends and family getting to see me weigh in here."
Greg Vinson (5 bass 17-12)
"My day didn't go according to plan; it was actually better. It's kind of unusual for a tournament day to go better than you expected from practice. I locked down to Pool 4. I found this area in practice on the most miserable day of practice. If we have a cold night, I still feel like we can catch them. I got quality bites in practice but not very many. Today I got a lot more bites, 15-20 keepers. I had no crowding issues today. I had one competitor first thing this morning in my area with me, but he left. Then another later that was about 300 yards later in the day. I don't think I caught a non-keeper all day.
"I lost a few fish, but I don't know if they would have helped me. My big fish was 5-6. The fish weren't biting real aggressive. They were a little finicky. I think they just moved into the particular part of the area I was fishing today, so that's probably why the bite was a little funny.
"I like the area because it's protected from all sides, and it's good clean water in there. There has been no pressure on it. I'm living my dream. I had a good mentor in Mark Menendez that really helped me early on in my career about how to handle this type of pressure and work on this like a career not just fishing.
"The warm weather expanded my area where I could get bit in a lot more places where I hadn't been getting bit. The water temperature was 62 degrees."
Dustin Wilks (5 bass 16-9)
"I fished in a backwater area today with a whole bunch of other boats. I just fished a little homemade crankbait back there and winged it around. I probably caught 80-percent of my fish on that one and 20 percent on other stuff. I had 20 keepers today. But I'm a little skeptical if that area can hold up with that much pressure in there. I might end up going somewhere else.
"The area got 6 degrees warmer. It's only a mile long and there were 8-10 other boats in there with me. It's a backwater area in pool 5, but I might make the big run and go to Pool 3. I did that in 2009 and ran out of gas on the way back. So I'm not decided yet.
"The river is fishing weird, and a lot of folks that got information probably aren't able to make that work here because of the conditions. I feel comfortable fishing in this type of fishery and I don't. I like to fish shallow like this, but there are so many stumps. I mean it's hard just to get around here.
"I had a 5-14 today and I never lost a fish today, so that really helped."
David Walker (5 bass 16-8)
"I really want to just keep myself in position and just keep bringing the fish in. I'll look at the leader board on Sunday. I'm going to go back to my area. I have a few back up places, but I really don't want to think like I need to be somewhere else than where I'm fishing. This place is not a run and gun place. It's too hard to get in and out of a good place and back to another one. It's doable, but it's not efficient. It's notorious for being a place where you catch them in one spot. It's always been that way here. In years before I learned that if I try to run a pattern I end up finishing mediocre.
"I think the fish are there and coming to me. I don't see why not. When I went in there in practice, I just got that feeling. It's like fishing anywhere, sometimes you just think to yourself that a place has a lot of potential. It may not happen immediately, but you just keep that positive attitude and more times than not you make it work.
"I made a long run, and I had it mostly to myself. One other boat was in there for a little while and then he left and I had it to myself. I wish I had caught that 7-pounder they said I did. My marshal entered a 2-pounder as a 7-pounder. Later he told me how it happened and I said, "Man is my wife gonna be mad at you."
Ott Defoe (5 bass 16-6)
"I stayed in pool 5, but ran for about 10 minutes. The weather didn't really change much from practice. The wind made it difficult to fish like I wanted, just because it was blowing you around, on and off of stumps and such. The water didn't get too stirred up. The water temps were around 57-59. There are several boats in my first area, and I'm going to go in there and spend some time in there tomorrow. I caught the majority of my fish in that area. I caught a lot of fish this morning, but my weight all came this afternoon. The only other top 10 guy in there was Dustin Wilks."
Editor's Note: We'll have part two from the competitors as well as the Bassmaster Communications press release from today in the next little while as well as some more shots from the weigh-in.
Day One Bassmaster Classic Standings
1 Keith Poche 5 17-13
2 Greg Vinson 5 17-12
3 Dustin Wilks 5 16- 9
4 David Walker 5 16- 8
5 Ott DeFoe 5 16- 6
6 Chris Lane 5 16- 4
6 Bobby Lane 5 16- 4
8 Edwin Evers 5 16- 3
9 Jamie Horton 5 14-15
10 Bill Lowen 5 14-13
11 Matt Reed 5 14- 8
11 Terry Scroggins 5 14- 8
13 Greg Hackney 5 13-15
14 Aaron Martens 5 13-14
14 Takahiro Omori 5 13-14
16 Alton Jones 5 13-13
17 Keith Combs 5 13- 9
18 Davy Hite 5 13- 8
19 Marty Robinson 5 12- 8
19 Andrew Upshaw 5 12- 8
21 John Crews 5 11-15
21 Stephen Kennedy 5 11-15
23 Brent Chapman 5 11-14
24 Randy Howell 5 11-11
25 Stephen Browning5 11- 3
25 Josh Polfer 5 11- 3
27 Kevin VanDam 5 11- 0
28 Allan Glasgow 5 10-15
29 Timmy Horton 5 10-11
30 Fred Roumbanis 5 10-10
31 Michael Iaconelli 5 10- 7
31 Tom Jessop 5 10- 7
31 Chris Price 5 10- 7
34 Jeff Kriet 5 10- 6
35 Fletcher Shryock5 10- 3
36 Ishama Monroe 5 9-10
37 Todd Faircloth 5 9- 9
38 Kevin Wirth 4 8-15
39 Denny Brauer 3 8-13
40 Gerald Swindle 5 8-12
41 John Diaco 4 6-12
42 Jared Lintner 3 6- 8
43 Dean Rojas 2 6- 0
44 Mark Tucker 2 5- 7
45 Shaw E Grigsby 2 4- 5
46 Matt McCoy 1 1-14
47 Kelly Pratt 1 1-13
48 Casey Ashley 1 1-11
49 Brandon Palaniuk0 0- 0
