Quick Bites: FLW Atchafalaya Basin, Day 2
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Atchafalaya Basin, Morgan City, La.
Opening round, Thursday
Laissez les bons temps rouler … They’re gearing up for Mardi Gras down here on the Mississippi Delta, and far be it for fun-loving Indiana pro Wes Thomas to miss out on the party. Thursday, Thomas worked himself into the second-place qualifying spot with an opening-round weight of 30-13. He credits much of the 15-pounds-plus of bass he caught each of the first two days to a little Cajun good-luck charm he wore around his neck while fishing. “The lady from the tourism department said to wear these Mardi Gras beads while I’m fishing because they bring you good luck,” he said. “Well, I forgot them in my truck yesterday and my co-angler said, `Go get those beads.’ So I did.”
Give him some air … Prior to the FLW season, if you would have asked opening-round leader Dave Lefebre which tournament would give him the best shot at winning this season, he would have said the Atchafalaya Basin. “I can’t remember who it was, but I told one of you guys (in the press) that this would be the lake,” the rookie out of Pennsylvania said. “I picked this one simply because a lot of these pros haven’t fished here before. It’s an advantage because it usually takes a few days just to try and learn your way around. Besides, this (kind of fishing) is what I do: It’s bass heaven. I love flipping and I love muddy water.” Lefebre came to the FLW this year by way of a tight race for the points title in the EverStart Northern Division in 2002, which he finished in second place. But, given his fast start to the 2003 FLW season (he finished 27th at Okeechobee), he’s forgotten all about that. “If I would have made Angler of the Year (in the Northern Division), I wouldn’t have passed out or anything,” an excited Lefebre said. “But if I would win here, I’d probably fall right down on these rocks.”
Bouncing back … Like many predicted, the fishing picked up for anglers on day two at Atchafalaya. In the Pro Division, the field caught 220 pounds more bass Thursday than it did Wednesday. Contributing to that trend were several pros who, for whatever reason, caught small-to-middling weights on day one but bounced back with big, five-bass limits on day two. Leading the pack was Kim Stricker, who posted a weight of 6-4 Wednesday then led all anglers with a 20-4 stringer Thursday. 2002 FLW Championship winner John Sappington caught 6-2 Wednesday and 18-11 Thursday; Mike Wurm went from 6-6 to 17-5; and Tom Monsoor went from 6-9 to 15-8. Monsoor said the about-face was due to the fact that his trolling motor was down on day one, and Stricker said he made some kind of “adjustment.” Sappington returned to the same area he fished yesterday, but said he “just got the bites today.” Unfortunately for them, it wasn’t enough for these four pros, who all finished in the top 35 but missed the top-10 cut.
Champions return … Three pros who didn’t need any day-two heroics to make the cut were a trio who’ve done this before. Gary Klein, Andre Moore and J.T. Kenney qualified for the semifinals in fourth, fifth and sixth place, respectively, and each have a prior FLW title to his credit. In fact, Klein has two; he won at the Mississippi River in Memphis in 1999 and 2000. Moore won the Wal-Mart Open at Beaver Lake in 2002 and Kenney won at Lake Okeechobee in 2002.
No local advantage … Conspicuously absent from the pro leaderboard this week are any home-state favorites. Admittedly, there weren’t many Louisiana pros in the field to begin with, but it’s rare in fishing when no locals even make the top 50. The highest-finishing Louisiana pro was Greg Hackney, a favorite coming into the event, who finished in 58th place. Hackney said he fell prey a little bit to the expectations he had coming into this week. The water level dropped in the basin prior to the tournament, and that cut him off from a lot of places he planned to fish. “When I got here, it really was a new body of water,” he said. “If you stayed within 50 miles of (Belle River Boat Launch), all you had to fish were canals. You know, sometimes you think you know too much.”
Sound bites
“If I fish tomorrow, I’m going to go out there and rip some faces off.”
– Pro Andre Moore, who is fishing Friday, describing how he’s not going to hold back in the semifinals.
“We’d ask him how he caught them, but we don’t have the next 20 minutes to talk about it.”
– FLW weighmaster Charlie Evans, referring to pro Wesley Burnett, who has been known to tell the long versions of his stories from time to time. Burnett caught a nice stringer weighing 15-9 Thursday, but missed the cut in 15th place with a two-day weight of 25-14. The reason: He lost a big bass Thursday. Ask him and he’ll tell you all about it.
Quick links, Day 2:
Photos
Results
Tomorrow’s pairings
Press release
Lefebre leads FLW pros into semifinals at Atchafalaya Basin