Carroll crushes 28-1, leads at Lake Murray
Big bass abound on day one; Correia lands FLW’s biggest yet
COLUMBIA, S.C. – They said they were going to catch them big at Lake Murray, and that’s just what Tim Carroll did Wednesday. The pro from Owasso, Okla., caught one of the heaviest five-bass limits in Wal-Mart FLW Tour history – 28 pounds, 1 ounce – to lead opening day of the Chevy Open.
“It feels awesome,” Carroll said. “You don’t get chances like that very often, and I was fortunate enough to capitalize on every bite I had today.”
But the leader wasn’t the only one taking advantage of Lake Murray’s huge quarry. The top six pros each weighed in more than 20 pounds on day one: Hometown favorite Anthony Gagliardi posted 26-14, Jay Yelas 26-8, Terry Segraves 22-3, Katsutoshi Furusawa 21-11, and Jeremiah Kindy 21-4.
In fact, so many big bass in the 6-, 7- and 8-pound ranges came in today that it was no surprise when pro Danny Correia of Marlborough, Mass., weighed in a 9-5 kicker that not only won the day’s $750 Snickers Big Bass award but took over as the heaviest bass caught in FLW competition yet this year.
Carroll’s 28-pound, 1-ounce stringer – which contained all solid fish, including two nasty largemouths that respectively weighed 7-14 and 6-8 – tied him with Stanley Mitchell for fourth-heaviest single-day weight in FLW Tour history. Mitchell’s catch, not coincidentally, came on day two of the tour’s last visit to Lake Murray, in 2003 – the same day that Darrell Robertson set the record for heaviest opening-round weight, 49-8.
Carroll’s eye-popping day came as a sort of continuation of his practice round. Fishing deeper rock piles with a bait he doesn’t want to reveal so early in the competition, he’s been having success mining the big ones.
“It seems like they’re in schools, and you can kind of tell when it bites if it’s a big fish,” said Carroll, who caught 10 bass total Wednesday. “For three consecutive days in practice I caught over 29 pounds. I was able to catch one over 9 pounds all three of those days, plus an 11-pounder. Today, I caught three of those fish back-to-back-to-back.”
Carroll, and others, took advantage of the colder weather and low lake levels. The drop in temperature seems to have piled up groups of bigger fish on points. Grass cover is pretty much a nonfactor this week since there’s very little of it, and that has put a lot of anglers on main-lake points where the fish have huddled up to get out of the cold. Carroll said he’s targeting about five different areas situated within two or three miles of each other.
“It’s positioned these fish to where we can get at them. When it was warm, they were getting shallower every day, which kind of concerned me. Then it got cold again,” Carroll said. “The key for me was when they drew the water down last month. The fish pulled off what structure they were on and gathered on points. That narrows the search down.”
Gagliardi handles pressure, takes second
Everyone had their eye on Gagliardi coming into this event. Hailing from Prosperity, S.C., this is his home lake, and he’s one of the hottest guns on tour at the moment. Three years ago at this event, he just missed the cut in 11th place, which might have been the leading motivation behind his second-place, 26-pound, 14-ounce catch Wednesday.
“I felt like I had chance to do this coming into this tournament. At the same time, you feel a lot of pressure,” he said. “But what the fish are doing right now for me is what I like to do.”
Gagliardi said he caught his fish on jigs and worms fishing deep-water points Wednesday. While the cold weather and water drawdown has thrown some pros off their game plans, he said it helped him overcome the home-lake jinx.
“The problem with local anglers is they tend to fish only the places they know,” Gagliardi said. “But I probably only fished 5 percent of my day in places that I knew from before. The cold weather helped me to stay in touch with these fish as they started moving. I’m just looking for points that have a drop into fairly deep water. I’ve caught some shallow, but I know there are going to be fish out deep, especially this time of year.”
Yelas lands third-heaviest career limit, takes third
With an 8-pound, 6-ounce kicker largemouth plus another one weighing 7-5, Yelas’ 26-8 landed him in the third position on the pro side. It was also, he said, the third-heaviest limit he’s ever caught in competition.
“It’s just a thrill to catch one of the biggest stringers of my career in one of the biggest tournaments of the year,” the pro from Tyler, Texas, said. “To put it into perspective, I’ve been doing this for 19 years, so I’m pretty excited about it.”
Yelas said he took a little different approach than the deep-water anglers Wednesday. He targeted shallow fish exclusively and only caught the five bass he weighed in, albeit very big ones, in less than 5 feet of water.
“I was fishing a big-fish technique, and I was fortunate to catch the five that I did,” he said. “It’s just such a thrill when you can catch big fish and, all the while, see them swimming around down there. There are a lot of bass in this lake. I think every morning there should be a few good bites.”
Segraves fourth
Segraves, who hails from Kissimmee, Fla., grabbed fourth place for the pros with his 22-pound, 3-ounce limit.
“I had one of those days where everything just goes right,” he said, adding that he caught his fish on crankbaits and jigs. “My practice really hasn’t been all that good, but this morning I worked it pretty methodically. Still, I only culled one fish today.”
Katsu fifth
Furusawa, a former FLW winner on the co-angler side, grabbed fifth place for the pros with his 21-pound, 11-ounce catch.
He caught 10 keeper bass Wednesday, and said he landed the bulk of them on crankbaits and Yamamoto grubs fishing stumps and brush piles.
“I don’t have a secret, but I am using Japanese crankbaits this tournament,” he said. “I’ll do the same tomorrow.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 11 pros on day one at Lake Murray:
6th: Kindy, Benton, Ark., five bass, 21-4
7th: Terry Tucker, Gadsden, Ala., five bass, 19-11
8th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 18-13
9th: Steve Kennedy, Auburn, Ala., five bass, 18-11
10th: David Fritts, Lexington, N.C., five bass, 18-9
10th: David Wolak, Warrior Run, Pa., five bass, 18-9
A total of 120 pros caught limits Wednesday.
Thrift keeps rolling, leads co-anglers with 19-7
Bryan Thrift doesn’t take a day off, apparently. The young co-angler from Shelby, N.C., hammered a 19-pound, 7-ounce limit from the back of the boat to take over yet another lead in FLW Outdoors competition.
“I feel pretty good,” said Thrift, who added that he caught six keepers fishing deep with a 1/2-ounce Outlaw jig. “Hopefully, I can go out and catch them again tomorrow.”
One gets a sense that it doesn’t matter who Thrift’s partner is or where he’s fishing. So far in 2006, he’s already won the Stren Series Southeast Division opener at Lake Okeechobee – fishing as a pro – and claimed sixth place there on the co-angler side in the FLW Tour opener.
“I’ve been really fortunate. I haven’t really lost any fish, and it feels like everything’s just clicking. I’m just fishing with a lot of confidence right now,” he said. “I feel like, if I can get around some fish, I can catch them.”
Second place on the co-angler side went to another former champion. Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., a past co-angler winner on the FLW Tour, caught a limit weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces.
Israel also grabbed $500 for the Snickers Big Bass award from the back of the boat. Her kicker largemouth weighed in at a hefty 8 pounds even.
David Brunaugh of Carbondale, Ill., placed third for the co-anglers with a five-bass weight of 16 pounds, 4 ounces.
Co-angler Mike Bell of Nampa, Ind., grabbed fourth place with a four-bass weight of 14 pounds, 2 ounces.
John Manis of Tullahoma, Tenn., rounded out the top five co-anglers with a three-bass catch of 14 pounds, 1 ounce.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:
6th: Gary Haraguchi, Brentwood, Calif., five bass, 14-0
7th: Frank Divis Sr., Fayetteville, Ark., five bass, 12-15
8th: Jeff Stegner, Fair Grove, Mo., five bass, 12-11
9th: Mark Cummings, Pembroke, N.C., three bass, 12-9
10th: Truman White, Myersville, Md., five bass, 11-14
Thirty-five co-anglers caught limits.
Day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Chevy Open at Lake Murray begins as the full field of 200 boats takes off from Jakes Landing at 7 a.m. Eastern time Thursday for the second half of the opening round. Following tomorrow’s action, both fields will be cut to the top 10 anglers apiece based on two-day total weight.