Daniels emerges from the fog to take lead in $500,000 FLW tourney

Difficult fishing conditions rule the day; only five anglers produce stringers greater than 10 pounds

D’IBERVILLE, Miss. – Chris Daniels of Clayton, N.C., shook off a two-hour fog delay at the start of takeoff and some stingy fishing conditions to take the overall lead in the Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on the Pascagoula River. Despite some of the smallest catch totals recorded by a group of anglers at an FLW tournament in recent memory, Daniels managed to fight his way to the top of the leaderboard with a 13-pound, 14-ounce catch.

However, it wasn’t easy. Daniels had to run his boat nearly 80 miles upriver to find one of his favorite practice spots. But because of the two-hour fog delay, Daniels had only about an hour to fish before he was forced to turn around and head back to the weigh-in.

“If I only had one hour to fish, I was going to make the run,” said Daniels. “I had to put all my eggs in that basket.”

Pro Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., used an 11-pound, 2-ounce catch to finish in second place. However, Biffle agreed that big fish were hard to come by.

“It’s tough fishing here,” said Biffle, who finished in second place at the 2000 FLW Championship last September. “If you catch five fish of any kind (of size), it’s a good day.”

Jim Carnell of Muskogee, Okla., was in third place after the conclusion of the day’s competition after recording a catch of 10 pound, 9 ounces. Dale Teaney of Williamsburg, Ohio, also tied for third place with an identical catch.

“For being as crowded as it was out there and with the conditions as they were, I feel like I did a pretty good job,” said Teaney, who is fishing on the FLW Tour for the first time this year. “The key is that you’ve got to figure out the little tricks to get them to bite.

Chuck Economou of Redington Beach, Fla., rounded out the top 5 performers with a catch of 10 pounds, 6 ounces.

Dick Bowman of Thornville, Ohio, won the Big Bass award and a check for $750 for landing the largest fish of the day in the Pro Division at 4 pounds, 11 ounces.

Little beats out male counterparts to take Co-Angler Division lead

Beverly Little of Greensboro, N.C., showed everyone that professional fishing doesn’t have to be a male-dominated sport. Using a catch of 5 pounds, 3 ounces, Little used a gritty performance to vault atop the leaderboard in the Co-Angler Division after the first day of competition.

“Given the conditions, I was just hoping for one fish,” said Little, who is in her fifth year on the circuit. “And when I caught my second fish, I was so excited that I almost had to sit down.”

However, Little’s competitive juices kept flowing throughout the day as she landed two more fish – an accomplishment good enough to beat out 174 fellow co-anglers.

“I far exceeded my own expectations today,” said Little, who has never finished higher than 11th place in any FLW event. “It feels great. My birthday is Friday and things couldn’t be going much better right now. Hopefully, it will continue.”

Andrew Arnold of Princeton, Ky., finished in second place with a catch of 5 pounds, 6 ounces. Arnold won the first 2001 FLW tour event on Lake Okeechobee just two weeks ago.

Rodney Chmolack of Phenix City, Ala., was in third place with a catch of 5 pounds, 3 ounces heading into tomorrow’s competition. Tommy Szwankowski of Hope, Ark., was in fourth place with a catch of 5 pounds, 1 ounce. Gary Mullins of Wagoner, Okla., rounded out the top 5 with a catch of 4 pounds, 13 ounces.

Thursday’s takeoff will start at 6:30 a.m. at Indian Point Marina located off I-10 in Gautier, Miss., followed by a 3 p.m. weigh-in at the same location.

Day-one related links:
Photos
Results
Press release
Quick Bites