Quick Bites: FLW Series East-West Fish-Off, Day 2

Wal-Mart FLW Series

East-West Fish-Off

Lake Amistad, Del Rio Texas

Thursday, Day 2

Rebounds and turnarounds … With much less wind on day two of the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off on Lake Amistad, pros could get on their deep spots and really pinpoint bass easier today, and the results showed with bigger weights coming to the scales. Some pros took advantage of the calm conditions and turned around their miserly day-one catches in a big way. Lake Amistad all-star Derek Remitz had a much better day two, besting his 10-pound, 12-ounce start yesterday with a 23-pound, 13-ounce bag today to take the lead away from his matchup, Western pro Zack Thompson, by 2 pounds, 9 ounces. Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt righted the shipwreck of his 11-pound, 3-ounce day-one catch with 20 pounds, 15 ounces today to go ahead of his bracketed competitor, National Guard Western Division pro Tim Klinger by over 9 pounds. After weighing in 18 pounds, 10 ounces on day one, Western pro Joe Lyon zeroed today and let BP Eastern Division veteran George Cochran go right by him with a 10-pound, 15-ounce catch. But the biggest upset of the day came from Western Division pro Clayton Meyer, who sacked up the tournament’s biggest limit today weighing 34 pounds, 5 ounces. Consider that Meyer started the day nearly 14 pounds behind his matchup, Mark Rose. Yesterday, Rose had 26 pounds, 1 ounce to Meyer’s paltry 12 pounds, 15 ounces. But after Meyer laid his massive Amistad limit on the scales today, he went ahead of Rose by almost 8 pounds.

Kenney’s revenge … Speaking of comebacks: On day one it was reported that Western Division pro Clint Johanson gave Eastern Division pro J.T. Kenney a taste of Western big-bass medicine when Johanson weighed in an 11-pound, 9-ounce bass to box Kenney in with 21 pounds, 7 ounces compared to Kenney’s 15 pounds, 8 ounces. Well, apparently the BP pro did not like being taunted with the Amistad beast, so he went out and caught a few of his own Amistad monsters for a little revenge on Johanson today. Kenney’s bag weighed in at 27 pounds, 4 ounces and sent him whizzing past Johanson by 8 pounds, 6 ounces after day two.

Too close for comfort … After two days of competition in the East-West Fish-Off, here’s a look at a few brackets that are being fought tooth and nail. Forrest Wood Cup berths are just down to a couple of pounds in these heated matchups. Thanks to his huge comeback today, Derek Remitz is just 2 pounds, 9 ounces ahead of Zack Thompson. Western Division pro Bobby Barrack of Oakley, Calif., has a 2-pound, 10-ounce lead over Eastern Division BP pro David Walker. Just a pound separates Koby Kreiger from the East and Ted Holverson from the West. Eastern pro Steve Kennedy went ahead of Western pro Joe Uribe by only 13 ounces today. And 13 ounces is also what now separates Eastern pro Kyle Mabry from Western pro Shaun Bailey.

A career-best bass … One of the greatest draws of the great Lake Amistad is a chance to catch a 10-pound bass, which is exactly what happened to Prilosec co-angler Jess Caraballo today when he landed a 10-pound, 2-ounce lunker. “That’s the biggest bass I’ve ever caught in my life,” said an elated Caraballo. “I have to thank Tammy Cox from Berkley for this bass. She overnighted some of those new Berkley Powerbait Hollow Belly swimbaits to me, and that’s what I caught the fish on.”

Bohannan’s berth bodes well for one lucky loser … Eastern Division pro Greg Bohannan is the only pro in the East-West Fish-Off field that has already qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup. He earned that berth through his performance in the Stren Series Championship back in November. But this brings up an interesting issue: What if Bohannan wins his bracket against Western pro Roy Hawk? That means Bohannan is essentially double-qualified for the Cup. When the scenario was presented to Tournament Director Chris Jones, Jones said that if Bohannan should win his bracket then the next available slot is going to go to the losing pro with the heaviest weight. Currently, Bohannan is 3 pounds, 1 ounce behind Roy Hawk. Should Bohannan advance past Hawk on day three, as things stand now, Mark Rose would get the extra berth into the Cup based on his highest-losing weight in the event.

Quick numbers

14: Number of Western Division pros who lead their brackets after day two.

16: Number of Eastern Division pros who lead their brackets after day two.

7: Number of ounces that separate tournament leader Clayton Meyer from second-place Neil Russell.

52: Number of five-bass limits weighed in on the Pro Division on day one.

58: Number of five-bass limits weighed in on the Pro Division on day two.

Sound bites

“I’m not going to lie; I’d like to beat him to get into the Forrest Wood Cup. But if I should lose, he is welcome to stay at my house on his way through to the Cup.” – M&M’s pro Pat Fisher, extending an invitation to his competitor Rob Riehl, demonstrating the kind of competitive class that exists in the sport of professional fishing.

“I’m about to be a lot farther behind.” Snickers pro Chris Baumgardner’s last words before his competitor, Western pro Neil Russell, put another 19 pounds, 10 ounces in the weigh-in basket to go ahead of Baumgardner by 21 pounds.

“I feel like crawling under a rock right now.” Mark Rose’s response after his competitor, Clayton Meyer, laid 34 pounds, 5 ounces into the scales to erase Rose’s lead and go ahead of him by 8 pounds.

“I swung for the fences and lost, but I’m OK with it, though.” Brett Lyon’s response after zeroing on day two.

“If Brent’s tires are slashed in the morning, I didn’t do it.” Eastern pro Art Ferguson, having fun with Western pro Brent Ehrler after Ehrler weighed in 23 pounds, 4 ounces to go ahead of Ferguson by 11 pounds.

Day three of the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off begins Saturday morning at 7 a.m. at the East Diablo boat ramp at Lake Amistad Marina.