Lane leads Walmart FLW Tour Potomac River event

Jarabeck nets co-angler lead

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces Friday to capture the lead on day two of the Walmart FLW Tour on the Potomac River presented by the National Guard. His two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 11 ounces gives him a 2-pound, 2-ounce lead heading into the third day of the tournament. There were 154 pros and 154 co-anglers from across the United States and Canada that started the tournament. The top 20 will fish day three and the top 10 will compete for the title on day four.

“This river has been good to me,” said Lane, who was in fifth place after day one. “The key factor in being successful on this river is learning the tides. For me there is an hour-and-a-half window when the high tide starts rolling in that gives me my opportunity. All my big fish came in that hour-and-a-half window.

“There is not one area that is going to produce consistently year after year,” Lane went on to say. “The traffic on the river is so heavy that it puts a lot of pressure on the fish and they tend to move to new areas. I have had a lot of success in many different areas on the river. This week I have been fishing some new water. The area I am fishing now seems to be where the brim are spawning and the bass are coming back to feed.

“Basically I am flipping mats with Havoc soft plastic baits,” continued Lane. “I can’t wait to go knock `em dead tomorrow.”

Mike Iaconelli of Pittsgrove, N.J., is in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33-9.

Rounding out the top 20 pros that will fish Saturday on the Potomac River are:

3rd: Iams/Pringles pro Vic Vatalaro, Kent, Ohio, 10 bass, 33-2

4th: Chevy pro Luke Clausen, Otis Orchards, Wash., 10 bass, 32-3

5th: Cheez-It pro Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas,10 bass, 31-13

6th: Chad Morgenthaler, Coulterville, Ill., 10 bass, 31-9

7th: Lance Vick, Mineola, Texas, 10 bass, 31-6

8th: Band-aid/Neosporin pro Glenn Browne, Ocala, Fla., 10 bass, 31-3

9th: Clifford Pirch, Payson, Ariz., 10 bass, 30-9

10th: Castrol pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 30-6

11th: AMP pro Stetson Blaylock, Benton, Ark., 10 bass, 30-1

12th: Cory Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, 10 bass, 29-14

13th: Straight Talk pro JT Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 10 bass, 29-10

14th: Michael Williamson, Fort Smith, Ark., 10 bass, 29-3

15th: John McGoey, Omemee, Ontario, 10 bass, 29-3

16th: Kyle Mabrey, McCalla, Ala., 10 bass, 29-0

17th: Pete Thliveros, St. Augustine, Fla., 10 bass, 28-15

18th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 28-13

19th: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 10 bass, 28-9

20th: Robert Pearson, Herndon, Va., 10 bass, 28-4

Final results for the remaining field can be found on FLWOutdoors.com.

Cheez-It pro Shinichi Fukae caught the Snickers® Big Bass weighing 6-3 on the pro side to win $500.

Overall there were 631 bass weighing 1,597 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 153 pros Friday. The catch included 106 five-bass limits.

Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, the world championship of bass fishing. The top five anglers in the point standings from the four 2011 Walmart FLW Tour Open tournaments will qualify.

David Dudley’s 21-year-old nephew Philip Jarabeck of Lynchburg, Va., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 26 pounds, 11 ounces, followed by Cory Leonard of Castalia, N.C., in second place with 10 bass weighing 25-12.

“I understand the tide,” said Jarabeck, who grew-up fishing with Dudley. “The tide positions the fish differently so you need to adjust to the bass.

“Grass fishing is always going to win on the Potomac,” Jarabeck went on to say. “As a co-angler it is a lot easier to adjust to your pro because the grass rotates 360 degrees around the boat and no matter where the pro is casting you can always find an area that is as equally as good to cast into. I have been flipping soft plastic creature baits to get all my fish so far this week.”

Rounding out the top 20 co-anglers are:

3rd: Matt Stoupa, Colonial Heights, Va., nine bass, 25-5

4th: Mark Banks, East Aurora, N.Y., 10 bass, 24-9

5th: Kermit Crowder, Matoaca, Va., eight bass, 24-3

6th: George Kapiton, Inverness, Fla., 10 bass, 23-14

7th: Kenny Kash, Indian Head, Md., eight bass, 23-8

8th: Ben Due, Mauston, Wis., 10 bass, 23-4

9th: Bill Spindler, Turnersville, N.J., 10 bass, 22-8

10th: James Schneider, Watervliet, N.Y., seven bass, 22-7

11th: Andrew Roberts, Spotsylvania, Va., 10 bass, 21-15

12th: William Shelton III, La Crosse, Va., eight bass, 21-12

13th: Skip Bennett, Mt. Vernon, Ill., nine Bass, 21-7

14th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 10 bass, 21-6

15th: Richard Peek, Centre, Ala., eight bass, 21-5

16th: Frank Divis, Sr., Fayetteville, Ark., nine bass, 21-3

17th: David Hanson, Welcome, Md., nine Bass, 20-2

18th: Charlie Evans, Gilbertsville, Ky., eight bass, 19-12

19th: Anthony Moscato, Aberdeen, N.J., six bass, 19-0

20th: Jeff Zeisner, Arva, Ontario, nine Bass, 18-15

Final results for the remaining field can be found on FLWOutdoors.com.

Kermit Crowder caught the Snickers® Big Bass weighing 6-13 in the co-angler division to win $250.

Overall there were 355 bass weighing 834 pounds, 6 ounces caught by 145 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 26 five-bass limits.

Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week plus valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top five co-anglers in the point standings from the four 2011 Walmart FLW Tour Open tournaments will qualify.

Anglers will take off from National Harbor Marina located at 137 National Plaza in National Harbor at 6:30 each morning. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 4 p.m.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Outdoors Expo at National Harbor Marina on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. prior to the weigh-ins. The Expo provides the opportunity for fans to interact with professional anglers, ride Ranger boat simulators, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

Coverage of the Potomac River tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors” will air Aug. 7 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to more than 500 million households worldwide.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW Outdoors on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.

About FLW Outdoors

FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.