Quick Bites: Wal-Mart Open, Day 1
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Wal-Mart Open
Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark.
Opening round, Wednesday
David’s goliaths … Sevierville, Tennessee’s David Walker came through with the biggest bass in the Pro Division Wednesday with a 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth, netting himself a tidy $1,250 for the fish. “That one was a rocket, man,” he said. “I set the hook and my rod really bowed up. I was surprised it was a bass. I thought it was a drum or something.” However, Walker, in 10th place with a three-bass total of 9-12, still wasn’t satisfied with his fishing on opening day. “You’re never satisfied when you’re not catching a limit,” he said. “The guys who win get more bites than that.” He would know. Walker, a former FLW Angler of the Year, has no fewer than 25 top-10 finishes in BFL, EverStart and FLW tournaments over his career. He has 11 top-10s in the FLW alone. However, he has yet to reach the brass ring. His highest FLW finish is fourth and his only FLW Outdoors victory came on the BFL circuit in 1998. Walker’s also no stranger to big-bass awards. He won the award for biggest bass of the year in 2001 for a 9-pound, 10-ounce largemouth he caught at FLW Lake Okeechobee.
Movin’ on up … Pro Mark Rogers could be poised to make his – ahem – mark at the FLW level. The fishing guide out of Naples, Fla., set himself apart from the field on opening day at Beaver Lake with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 8 ounces. The next closest was second-place Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., with a weight of 10-14, and the rest are tightly bunched from there on down. Rogers, who was last year’s EverStart Series Eastern Division standings champion, said he felt good about his fishing coming into this tournament – only his fourth on the FLW Tour – especially his fishing during practice. “I wasn’t catching a lot of fish in practice, but I covered a lot of water,” he said. “I think what I’m flipping is key because there’s so much cover.” For the record, he was flipping a watermelon-seed lizard into bushes at a depth ranging from 5 to 11 feet Wednesday. … Rogers and co-angler partner Wanda Rucker of Cocoa, Fla., teamed up for the most weight caught out of one boat Wednesday. Seventh-place Rucker added 5-15 to Rogers’ 12-8 for a total of 18-7. Interestingly, the two have teamed up for a strong dual performance before. In a 1998 BFL (then Red Man) Gator Division tourney on Lake Okeechobee, Rogers held the lead with a weight of 14-14 until the final angler came across the stage with 16-4. That angler was Rucker, who went on to become the first woman ever to win an FLW Outdoors (then Operation Bass) tournament.
David Dudley, Inc. … Ranger M1 winner David Dudley of Manteo, N.C., had a respectable first day with a five-bass, 7-pound, 11-ounce performance good for 30th place. But the Manteo Machine, who prides himself in his sight-fishing ability, said he had a tough time catching those fish. “Mountain lakes are the hardest lakes to sight-fish on,” he said. “This is the toughest lake to sight-fish on. It was a humbling experience.” Dudley explained that due to the high water on Beaver Lake, the spawning beds he focused on were way deeper than normal. He fished a depth of 8 to 10 feet today. “You pitch your bait over to sight-fish and it would just keep dropping,” he said. “It’s even a challenge just to put the bait on the bed. Even though the water came up, (the bass) are still spawning on the outside edge of the trees.” … Perhaps you’ve noticed in the standings that Dudley’s name now ends with an “Inc.” No, the $700,000 M1 win hasn’t gone to his head. After that tournament, Dudley incorporated himself in order to save on taxes. Not a bad idea for anyone who makes his or her living fishing tournaments. Now Dudley has a legitimate way to expense all those pricey chainsaws.
Does that mean we’re 0-for-2? … Former Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green, now a fishing analyst with FLW outdoors, and current Arkansas Razorbacks assistant basketball coach Brad Dunn are fishing the Wal-Mart Open as co-anglers. However, both zeroed Wednesday.
Quick Number
157: Out of 175, number of pros who weighed in at least one fish Wednesday – or 90 percent of the field.
Quick Links, Day 1:
Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood
Photos
Results
Tomorrow’s pairings
Press release