COLUMBIA, S.C. – With temperatures hovering near freezing at takeoff early Wednesday morning, a majority of the 200 pros fishing the $1.25 million Chevy Open on Lake Murray headed straight for main-lake points and deep-water rock piles in search of big bass. At the end of the day, however, the biggest bite belonged to Tim Carroll of Owasso, Okla., who led the field with a staggering five-bass limit weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce.
The impressive catch is tied as the fourth heaviest one-day weight in FLW Tour history. The other 28-pound, 1-ounce catch also came from Lake Murray during the tour’s last visit in March 2003 and was caught by pro Stanley Mitchell of Fitzgerald, Ga. During that same tournament, Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., set the tour’s opening-round weight record at 10 bass weighing 49 pounds, 8 ounces after leading the tournament with 26 pounds, 13 ounces on opening day. Robertson’s record, which topped the previous record set by Peter Thilveros on Kentucky Lake in 1998, now appears to be in serious jeopardy.
“I feel awesome right now,” said Carroll, who needs 21 pounds, 8 ounces to break Robertson’s record. “You don’t get chances like this very often. I practiced 15 days for this tournament, and for three consecutive days, I had over 29 pounds. I also had a 9-pounder each day and one over 11 pounds one day. I’m definitely going after them again tomorrow to make sure I make the top 10.”
In 2003, it took 35 pounds even to make the cut under similar low-water conditions. The one exception this time around, however, is that there is no grass in the lake.
“The majority of anglers were fishing grass last time we were here,” said Robertson, who is currently in 60th place with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 13 ounces. “I fished the same areas up river that I fished in 2003, and so did a lot of other boats, but the quality fish were not there. It was a rough day, but you can make up a lot of ground on this lake because there are a lot of 20-pound limits swimming around.”
Carroll caught his limit shallow early and then started fishing deep, ultimately catching a total of 10 bass. His biggest fish, a 7-pound, 14-ounce largemouth, came off a deepwater rock pile, but he understandably declined to comment on the bait he his using.
“The fish are in schools,” he said. “When you catch one good one, there are several more with it. Three of my fish came on back-to-back casts.”
Carroll said he has five spots that he feels can produce 20-pound-plus limits, and he only hit one of those spots on opening day.
Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., and Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas, trail Carroll by 1 pound, 3 ounces and 1 pound, 9 ounces, respectively.
“I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than this,” said Gagliardi, who calls Lake Murray his home water. “People talk about the local jinx, but the way I practice, I always look for something new, and that is what I’ve done here.”
Gagliardi caught five bass weighing 26 pounds, 14 ounces after hitting 25 spots with a black, 1/2-ounce All-Terrain jig. Like Carroll, he also put in about two weeks of practice.
Yelas, who weighed in five bass that tipped the scale to 26 pounds, 8 ounces, estimates his catch to be the third heaviest of his 19-year career.
“When you catch a 7-pounder and an 8-pounder on what was really a pretty tough day of fishing, it’s just one of those days where everything goes right,” Yelas said. “It’s a thrill to catch one of the biggest stringers of my career in one of the biggest tournaments of the year.”
Unlike Carroll and Gagliardi, who are fishing deep, Yelas is fishing in less than 5 feet of water. With $200,000 on the line, however, his lure and specific presentation will remain a secret for now. “It’s really a big-fish technique, and I was fortunate to catch five of them,” Yelas said. “It’s mostly an early bite, and the lure is key.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla. (five bass, 22 pounds, 3 ounces) and Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo, Japan (five bass, 21 pounds, 11 ounces).
Danny Correia of Marlborough, Mass., landed the day’s Snickers Big Bass award and $750 in the Pro Division with a 9-pound, 5-ounce largemouth.
Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 7 ounces followed by Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces.
Israel, the first woman to ever win an FLW Tour event and the tour’s leading female money winner, earned Snickers Big Bass honors and $500 in the Co-angler Division with an 8-pound largemouth that she caught on a trick worm while fishing with Gagliardi.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are David Brunaugh of Carbondale, Ill. (five bass, 16 pounds, 4 ounces); Mike Bell of Nampa, Idaho (four bass, 14 pounds, 2 ounces) and John Manis of Tullahoma, Tenn. (three bass, 14 pounds, 1 ounce).
Overall, 1,274 bass weighing 2,907 ounces were caught Wednesday, including 155 five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 7 each morning from Jake’s Landing. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at Jake’s Landing beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 2401 Augusta Road in Columbia beginning at 4 p.m.
The community is invited to attend the free Family Fun Zone Friday and Saturday outside the weigh-in tent in the Wal-Mart parking lot. The Family Fun Zone, which opens at 2 p.m. Friday and noon Saturday, features interactive displays, product samples and games for the entire family to enjoy.
Pros are competing on the 50,000-acre lake for $200,000 cash and valuable points that could qualify them for a trip to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala., for a shot at $500,000 cash – the sport’s biggest award. Two hundred co-anglers are competing for a top award of $40,000 cash and a trip to the championship. Overall, 37 states, Japan and Canada are represented.
Anglers compete in the two-day opening round for one of 10 slots in Friday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for day three, and co-angler competition concludes following Friday’s weigh-in. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers.
Coverage of the Chevy Open, hosted by Capital City/Lake Murray Country Regional Tourism Board, will be broadcast to 78 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television programs airing March 12 and March 19. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sundays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 300 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoor-sports television show in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $36.9 million through 241 events in 2006.