PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Stretching more than 100 miles from Whitehall, N.Y., across the Canadian border to the Richelieu River in Quebec, Lake Champlain is an impressive body of water famous for its exceptional smallmouth bass fishing, and Wednesday it proved that its world-class reputation is well deserved by shattering the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s single-day catch, weight and limits records.
With 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 38 states, Japan and Canada in the field, Lake Champlain yielded 1,878 bass weighing 4,887 pounds, 11 ounces on opening day of the tour’s final qualifier of 2006. Additionally, 347 competitors (194 pros and 153 co-anglers) caught five-bass limits. These are all new FLW Tour records, and the number of fish weighed also ranks as an overall FLW Outdoors record. The weight ranks second overall behind the 2006 Stren Series tournament on Lake Amistad in which anglers weighed 5,071 pounds, 8 ounces of bass. The number of limits also ranks second overall, trailing the 2006 Stren Series tournament on Lake Shasta, which produced 349 limits.
Lake Champlain’s largemouth bass fishery also took center stage Wednesday as Chevy pro Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., grabbed the lead with five largemouths weighing 20 pounds, 13 ounces.
“In order for me to even have a shot at making the championship, I knew I would have to take some chances,” said Hibdon, a former FLW Tour champion who entered the tournament ranked 75th in the standings. “I’m swinging for the fence and hopefully it won’t be a foul ball.”
Hibdon figures if he makes the crucial top-10 cut Thursday he has an outside chance of finishing the season ranked 48th or better, thus earning a trip to the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 2-5 for a shot at a top award of $500,000 cash – the sport’s largest.
While most of the field targeted chunky smallmouths, Hibdon rolled the dice, making an hour-long run south of the launch to catch largemouth bass on a jig. “I caught at least 30 fish today,” he said. “And there is no doubt I’ll have to whack them again to make the cut. This lake is too good.”
Asked how the wind might affect his game plan, Hibdon said he would make his run regardless. “I don’t have a choice,” he said.
Trailing Hibdon in by 1 pound, 9 ounces is Tony Couch of Buckhead, Ga., in second with three largemouth bass and two smallmouth bass weighing 19-4.
Couch also made a long run south, but unlike Hibdon, he says he’ll stay close if the wind blows. He caught his largemouth bass while flipping matted grass with a Zoom Super Hog. His smallmouth bass came on a watermelon red Zoom Super Fluke.
Rounding out the top five pros are BFGoodrich Tires pro and defending Lake Champlain champion Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (five bass, 18-13); RJ Bennett of Roseville, Calif. (five bass, 18-10) and Thanh Le of Davie, Fla. (five bass, 18-8).
If history is any indication, it will take exactly 32 pounds, 13 ounces to land a spot in the top 10. That is the exact weight it took during the tour’s last two stops on Lake Champlain, in 2002 and again in 2004. Interestingly, the top-50 weights were the same each of these years as well at 29 pounds, 12 ounces – a testament to the stability and consistency of the quality smallmouth fishery.
There is a lot at stake this week in the regular-season finale presented by Kellogg’s and hosted by the Champlain Shores Visitors and Convention Bureau. Not only is the final $100,000 winner’s check of 2006 on the line, but so are trips to the FLW Tour Championship and the prestigious Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title, which carries its own hefty reward of $65,000, including a new Ranger boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha.
“I feel pretty good,” said Team Folgers pro Anthony Gagliardi, who led the Angler of the Year race coming into the tournament and is poised to capture the title Thursday after landing five smallmouth bass weighing 16-1 and finishing 48th on opening day. “Things are kind of bunched up right now and that’s fine by me.”
The Prosperity, S.C., pro notched a $200,000 win at the Chevy Open on Lake Murray earlier this year and has yet to finish below 49th place this season. As long as he finishes at least 35 places ahead of veteran Tyson pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., and 36 places ahead of Yamaha pro Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., he’ll earn enough points to win.
To his credit, Moynagh has earned top-10 finishes in two out of his last three tournaments and is no stranger to the top 10 on Lake Champlain. In fact, he finished third on the lake in 2002, and he is currently sitting in 62nd place with five bass weighing 15-11. Herren has also earned two top-10s this season and is currently in 33rd place with five bass weighing 16-8. Gagliardi’s best finish on Lake Champlain is 81st.
Tylenol Extra Strength Rapid Release Gels pro Gabe Bolivar, who made his mark in the Stren Series Western Division before qualifying for the FLW Tour, is on pace to win the Gain Rookie of the Year award. He also had an outside shot at the Angler of the Year title. He is currently in 121st place, however, with five bass weighing 13-12.
In the Co-angler Division James Schneider of Albany, N.Y., leads the field with two smallmouth bass and three largemouth bass weighing 17-3. He fished with pro Gerald Beck of Lexington, N.C., who caught five bass weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces and is currently in 67th place.
“This is my first time in the lead, and it’s exciting,” said Schneider, who works as an orthopedic surgeon when he’s not chasing bass. “Having a good first day gives you a lot of confidence, but I’m going to have to have another good day to make the cut. There are a lot of good co-anglers here.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Bill Gift of Alix, Ark. (five bass, 16-6); Rob Newell of Tallahassee, Fla. (five bass, 16-5); Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla. (five bass, 16-2); and Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md. (five bass, 15-13).
Israel is the first woman to ever win an FLW Tour event and the tour’s leading female money winner.
Couch earned the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $750 in the Pro Division with a 5-pound, 12-ounce largemouth while Jeff Stegner of Fair Grove, Mo., claimed the Snickers Big Bass award and $375 in the Co-angler Division with a 5-pound, 4-ounce bass.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Plattsburgh Boat Basin located at 5 Dock Street in Plattsburgh. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at Plattsburgh Boat Basin beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 25 Consumer Square in Plattsburgh 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.
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 Lake Champlain tournament will be broadcast to 81 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) subscribers in the United States on Aug. 27 and Sept. 3 as part of the “FLW Outdoors” television program. “FLW Outdoors” airs Sunday mornings at 11 Eastern time. “FLW Outdoors” is also broadcast internationally to more than 350 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 presented by Abu Garcia, Stratos Owners’ Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses exceeding $37.9 million through 249 events in 2006.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Wal-Mart.com.