The need for consistency

With strong bite, anglers will need to duplicate day-one efforts

BRANSON, Mo. – Despite being brutally cold, the fishing on day one of the Walmart FLW Tour event on Table Rock Lake surpassed everyone’s expectations. An eye-popping 26-pound stringer leads the tournament and the 50th-place check weight is 14-10. Most anglers believe the bite will weaken today, but by how much is the big question.

Day two launched under similar conditions as temperatures barely reached 30 degrees. In the forecast once again are cloudy skies, which greatly aided the Wiggle Wart bite on day one. Jerkbaits certainly accounted for some fish, but not nearly as many had the sunny come out.



“Of all the times I’ve fished here over the years, yesterday was just the weirdest, freak deal,” said pro Randy Blaukat. “There were still some fish shallow from the warm weather we had during practice and they were real aggressive. Guys who were not expecting to catch them had really good days.”

Blaukat expects a lot of changes on day two.

“Typically the largemouths aren’t as strong the second day. I think the guys that were catching mix bags out deeper will do better today. What really surprised me was how strong the weights were all the way down. To get a check right now you need 15 pounds. That’s crazy. A lot of us thought 15 pounds would be a top-20 weight.”

Blaukat caught roughly 20 keepers on day one and finished with 15 pounds, 6 ounces. His limit consisted of all cookie-cutter 3-pounders. If he gets a kicker or two today to accompany his 3-pounders, he would launch up the leaderboard and possible have the opportunity of fishing over the weekend. On the last day of pre-practice, the Jasper, Mo., native landed a 9-pound bass.

“It’s definitely still possible,” Blaukat said of making the cut. “I was looking for about 20 pounds yesterday and I was just missing the 6-pounder. That’s the whole key for attaining separation. With the largemouths likely being less aggressive, I think the top-10 cut weight is going to drop about 2 pounds today. That puts us at about 34 or 35.”

Logistics

The two-day, opening-round cut will be made following Friday’s action. The full field competes in the opening round for one of 10 slots in Saturday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Look for the pro cut weight to hover around 33 to 35 pounds, and the co-angler cut weight to settle in around 19 to 21 pounds.

Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Saturday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

On the Web

For those who can’t catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:27 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 30 degrees

Expected high temperature: 46 degrees

Water temperature: 41-46 degrees

Wind: ENE at 9 mph

Maximum humidity: 42 percent

Day’s outlook: mostly cloudy