Morehead marches closer to Wal-Mart Open title

Red-hot pro Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., caught five bass weighing 13 pounds, 13 ounces to establish a 9-ounce lead in the lucrative $1.26 million Wal-Mart Open Photo by Jeff Schroeder. Angler: Dan Morehead.

April 11, 2003 • Gary Mortenson • Archives

Hutson only 9 ounces behind heading into Saturday’s finals

ROGERS, Ark. – Can anybody slow down Dan Morehead? To be sure, that seems to be the most pressing question facing FLW Tour anglers of late. After registering his third top-10 appearance of the year after yesterday’s competition, Morehead found himself back in the headlines once again. Using a catch of 13 pounds, 13 ounces in today’s competition, Morehead catapulted atop the leaderboard and perfectly positioned himself for a tournament-title run on Beaver Lake.

And he made it look easy.

“I had a limit by 9 a.m.,” said Morehead, who has a third-place finish at Lake Okeechobee, a 23rd-place finish at the Atchafalaya Basin and an eighth-place finish at Lake Murray already under his belt in the first three tournaments of the 2003 season. “I knew I had about 10 pounds early on so it really allowed me to relax. It just keeps getting sweeter every day.”

Already leading the 2003 FLW Angler-of-the-year race heading into the Beaver Lake event, Morehead said he would love to cap off this week by winning his first FLW title of the year. Not surprisingly, he likes his chances.

“I feel darn good about this tournament,” he said. “I really think I’m on a tournament-winning pattern. I’m not targeting any one species. And knock on wood, I didn’t lose any fish today. Overall, I feel pretty good about my chances.”

Morehead said that his lure of choice has been a Mann’s Minus-8 crankbait in a green and brown crawdad color.

“Basically, I’m keeping the boat parallel to the banks and using a slow retrieve,” said Morehead, a resident of Paducah, Ky. “I’m targeting any transitional rock changes and making extremely long casts with light line. Most of my fish are coming out water between 8 and 9 feet.”

Morehead, who seemingly continues to exceed all expectations with each passing tournament, says that his goal is to land another healthy five-fish stringer weighing between 12 and 14 pounds in tomorrow’s finals.

“Tomorrow I’m going back to my primary spot and I’m not leaving. And more than likely, I’ll be throwing that crankbait again,” he said. “I really think I have a good shot at this tournament because it’s really hard to do a lot of catching up on this lake once you get behind.”

At this point, not many people would argue otherwise.

Hutson serves as Morehead’s primary obstacle to title

Perhaps the best hope of derailing the Morehead tournament train rests with soft-spoken Randall Hutson of Washburn, Mo. Bolstered by a catch of 13 pounds, 4 ounces in today’s competition, Hutson has a great chance of walking away with his first FLW title of the year.

“I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would be doing at this point,” said Hutson. “Now, I’m right where I want to be. And you can’t ask for more than that.”

Hutson said he landed the majority of his catch with a combination of Rogue jerkbaits and Lucky Strike jigs. However, he believes that he will have to turn in an even better performance in tomorrow’s competition if he is to wrest the title away from the rest of the field.

“I think I’ll probably going to need about 14 pounds to win tomorrow,” he said. “But I think I’m in good shape.”

Meanwhile, day-one leader Russ Moran of Murfreesboro, Tenn., used a 9-pound, 15-ounce performance to finish the day in third place and remain in striking distance of the leaders.

Other top competitors included Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., who used a catch of 8 pounds to grab fourth place heading into the finals and Rock Monteith of Columbia, S.C., who finished in fifth place with a catch of 7 pounds, 14 ounces.

Best of the rest

Rounding out the top-10 finalists were Scott Martin (sixth) of Clewiston, Fla., with a catch of 7 pounds, 3 ounces; Aaron Martens (seventh) of Castaic, Calif., with a catch of 5 pounds, 15 ounces; Rick Clunn (eighth) of Ava, Mo., with a catch of 5 pounds, 1 ounce; Jim Eakins (ninth) of Nixa, Mo., with a catch of 3 pounds, 5 ounces and Wesley Burnett (tenth) of Hot Springs, Ark., with a catch of 2 pounds, 9 ounces.

Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. at the Prairie Creek Marina, located at 1 Prairie Creek Marina Drive in Rogers, Ark.

Click here for a preview of day four.