Quick Bites: FLW Tour, Lake Okeechobee, Day 2
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Tour Stop #1
Lake Okeechobee, Clewiston, Fla.
Day 2, Opening Round
Ladies on the leaderboard … We don’t know if it’s a first on our circuit, but it certainly might be. Two women made the cut into the semifinal round today in the Co-Angler Division. Tammie Muse of North Little Rock, Ark., placed third with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 13 ounces, and Wanda Rucker of Cocoa, Fla., edged into 10th place with a two-day total of 11-14. Rucker, who only caught two fish today – but two good ones – also nearly won the co-angler Big Bass award with a 6-pound, 9-ounce fish. (Art Johnson of Enon, Ohio, eventually beat her with a 6-pound, 15-ounce bass.) Remarkably, Muse is fishing in her first-ever FLW tournament. Operation Bass host Charlie Evans went out on a limb to say she has a good shot at winning the whole thing – which certainly would be a first for the FLW Tour.
Achieving bass fishing excellence from the Great Lake State … The top two finishers on the pro side after the opening round both hail from Michigan. Leader Kevin VanDam is from Kalamazoo and runner-up Kim Stricker resides in Howell. Stricker explained there may be more to today’s Michigan dominance than mere coincidence, “(Lake Okeechobee) is a natural lake and we’ve got a lot of natural lakes back home.” … In fact, in an unlikely twist, there were no Floridians to make the semifinals in the Pro Division. It’s a rare event on the FLW Tour that not one angler from the host state advances to the second round.
Look out at Lake St. Clair … VanDam admitted that he has only fished Lake Okeechobee once before this tournament. With his powerful performance the first two days – on an unfamiliar lake, no less – and his proven fishing record, you can bet we’ll hear from the Michigan native again when the FLW Tour visits Detroit in June, if not before.
Stricken by luck … Stricker came in with the last flight of anglers today, and it was a good thing he did. He didn’t catch his first fish until 3:05 p.m. His first two bass just squeaked over the 14-inch lake-minimum length. Then he caught the big one – a 7-pounder – that put him over the top, and then one more. He caught a total of four fish weighing a lucky 13 pounds, 13 ounces today – all after 3 o’clock.
Backed up in mud … While VanDam, Stricker and a handful of others had success on the Big O the last two days, other notable pros struggled due to the low, muddy water and the wind. For instance, past FLW winners and Clewiston residents Scott Martin and Steve Daniel respectively placed 64th and 55th. And 2000 Angler of the Year Clark Wendlandt ended up in 84th place. “You just can’t catch them on Okeechobee when the water’s muddy,” said Wendlandt. And then there was Randy Howell of Trussville, Ala., a perennial top-10er who finished in 115th place. He joked that the reason he only caught two fish for 6 pounds, 1 ounce today was because his back was sore from pushing his boat all day yesterday, which had run aground.
Rose on the rocks … Speaking of running aground, pro Mark Rose had a frightening encounter with a rock wall today that could have spelled disaster. His motor trim broke down at top speed, sending the Marion, Ark., native onto the piling at roughly 50 mph. Somehow, he was unharmed except for a bruise on the arm. Fortunately following him on the water was yesterday’s pro leader, David Walker, who helped him out. Walker said Rose, who was carrying in a big five-fish stringer that ended up weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces, bounced right back into action following the incident. “That bunch of fish was enough adrenaline for him that he trimmed it back down, held his arm, and away he went,” said Walker.
Walk on the wild side … Walker, who helped out Rose, was also on the receiving end of some aid today when he had an encounter with an alligator. All eyes were on the day-one leader when he brought his three fish to the scale today. “I only caught three fish, an alligator and a turtle,” he said of his day two on Lake Okeechobee. That’s right, he hooked a gator. Fortunately, his co-angler, a Tallahassee native named David Mock, had some experience with the toothy reptiles – he works for the Fish and Wildlife Service. Mock grabbed the gator, held its mouth shut and worked it loose, which was a relief for Walker, a Kentucky native. “I didn’t want anything to do with it,” Walker said lightheartedly. “I thought it was about 6 or 7 feet long, but he said it was only 4.”
Maybe that’s why he married her … Just when you thought it was safe to say that Walker’s 9-pound, 10-ounce Big Bass from day one just might eventually take the 2001 Big Bass of the Year award, Dale Teaney comes along. Teaney brought a bass to the scale today that looked just as big, if not bigger, than Walker’s behemoth yesterday. Before Charlie Evans weighed it, he turned to the crowd and asked Walker’s wife, Misty, who was sitting in the front row, what she thought the fished weighed. She called out “9-9.” Whether it was a knowledgeable prediction or just a wishful guess to keep the fish’s weight underneath her husband’s Big Bass, we’ll never know. But, wouldn’t you know it, Teaney’s fish – which won today’s pro Big Bass award – weighed in at exactly 9 pounds, 9 ounces. Thus, Walker held his grip on the biggest bass of the year by 1 ounce – and his wife called the shot.
Quick Numbers:
3: Number of bass – caught in just two days at Lake Okeechobee – that have already topped last year’s FLW Big Bass of the Year, an 8-pound, 10-ounce largemouth caught by Quentin Stacy on Lake Murray, S.C. The hefty three fish: 9-10, David Walker, day one; 9-9, Dale Teaney, day two; 9-0, Joel Baker, day two.
13: Unlucky number for pro Rob Kilby. This morning at takeoff, his boat number was 13. Then he came in and weighed only one fish for the day and it weighed 1 pound, 13 ounces. He finished the tourney in 88th place and out of the money.
Sound Bites:
“If anybody wants to come by the Fun Zone tomorrow, I can tell you where a real nice catfish hole is.”
– Pro Steve Daniel, who won last year’s FLW event on Lake Okeechobee. He only caught two bass today weighing 4 pounds, 8 ounces, but he did catch a mess of catfish. Daniel placed 55th for the tourney.
“I think she’s got a good chance with me.”
– Pro George Cochran, responding to Charlie Evans’ prediction that Tammie Muse might win the Co-Angler Division. Cochran, in third place, is paired with Muse for the semifinal round.
“One a day, just like multi-vitamins.”
– Charlie Evans, employing a one-of-a-kind metaphor to describe pro Tracy Adams‘ fish. Adams caught only one bass each of the first two days.
Quick Links, Day 2: