Championship Bites: FLW James River, Day 1

2003 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship
James River, Richmond, Va.
Opening round, Wednesday

The Kilby strategy … While it doesn’t mean much in terms of the tournament outcome because of the bracket format, Rob Kilby caught the day’s biggest stringer to open the 2003 FLW Championship. Weighing in at 11 pounds, 12 ounces, his five-bass limit gave him more than a 7-pound lead over his opening-round opponent, Tim Carroll, who weighed in three bass for 4-8. “It’s not the same as what I caught at Old Hickory, but it’s a good sack,” Kilby said, comparing Wednesday’s stringer to the impressive 23-pound limit he caught at Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake in 2002 FLW competition. “It was tough because the water was extremely high, but the fish bit. When I was around them, they were pretty aggressive.” Kilby mainly followed the tide Wednesday and caught eight bass. “I actually had a couple of different patterns working,” he said. “Today I just made good decisions, and I kind of surprised myself.” … Speaking of Old Hickory, after Kilby caught that 23-pound stringer on day one of that tournament, he sandbagged on day two and caught zero keepers, ostensibly in an effort to save his fish for the finals. However, on day three, Kilby only mustered four bass and finished in 11th place. So, given his big lead over Carroll already here, will we see some more sandbagging Thursday? “Tim’s had a great year and is a great fisherman,” he said, “so I’ve got to catch them. I can’t sleep in tomorrow.”

Roll, tide, roll (right out of here) … The prevailing theme at Wednesday’s competition was the tide. It came up – way up – and flooded most of the anglers out of the holes they pre-fished. “The tide never did go out for me today,” said pro David Cooke, who fell behind Stanley Mitchell by just over 3 pounds. “I couldn’t see the structure I was fishing in practice because of the tide.” Dion Hibdon, who caught 3-9, concurred: “It felt like they let a dam loose up there. It confuses the heck out of me. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going.” It wasn’t a dam, however, that kept FLW anglers high and wet Wednesday; it was combination of a full moon and a strong northeast wind caused by a tropical depression hovering over the Atlantic Ocean, which held the tide up even more than usual. Kilby, who obviously made the most of the situation, said: “It all depends on what that tropical storm does. As soon as that thing passes, it’s going to drain every bit of water out of this river.”

Hot brackets … After the first day, it appears the premier head-to-head matchup of the opening round is going to be Greg Hackney vs. Bill Chapman. Both of them caught limits Wednesday and placed in the top six in overall weight. Hackney caught 9 pounds, 14 ounces while Chapman caught 8-9. Both are known for their flipping technique as well as their laid-back demeanor. “I’m really enjoying where I’m fishing and what I’m doing. I’m chilling,” Hackney said. “I figured we should just start back at zero tomorrow and have another tournament” … The other bracket to watch on day two is Shad Schenck vs. Matt Herren. Schenck, who won the big-bass award with a 4-11 largemouth, landed the second-biggest limit with 11-5, and Herren caught 8-5. Said Schenk: “It was a good day. We might as well give the fans what they want.”

Down, but not out … While most of the other matchups were more lopsided than these two, several head-to-head anglers had the same kind of troubles Wednesday and remain in a tight race despite low catch weights. The highly touted matchup of Rick Clunn vs. John Crews sits with Clunn at 2 pounds, 4 ounces and Crews at 2-12. “I don’t think either one of us intended to do that. That’s just the way it turned out,” Clunn said, adding, “But my history here is to struggle, struggle, then pop a big bag.” Additionally, Wesley Burnett (3-5) and Mickey Bruce (3-2) are within 3 ounces of each other. “I can’t believe I’m in the lead right now,” said an excited Burnett. “Hey, any lead for me is a big lead.”

The bigger they are … While almost every angler said that they “struggled” on day one – even the weight leaders – it’s true that some of the bigger names have fallen by the wayside on the James River. In addition to Clunn, Kevin VanDam, Dan Morehead, Tommy Biffle and David Dudley all admittedly had off days. Dudley pointed out that a lot of these guys are known as “fast” fishermen, and the James is apparently only surrendering bass to those who slow down.

There’s a sports show, sure, but does it have daycare? … Believe or not, a pair of championship pros have bigger little things on their minds this week than the prospect of winning a half-million dollars. Both Dudley and Aaron Martens became new daddies within the last two months. Dudley’s son arrived July 23 while Martens almost had to skip this event because his baby was born just eight days ago.

She’s a mean angler … Co-angler Mary Parnell had the lead for big bass until Schenck beat her late in the weigh-in (pros and co-anglers compete against each other for big bass in this year’s championship). The lone female angler fishing here this week, she posted a kicker largemouth weighing 4 pounds, 5 ounces and placed seventh on day one. Parnell, if you’ll remember, caught an enormous meanmouth bass at the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake in April. The unusual hybrid fish, which weighed 5-4, was recently certified as the Arkansas state meanmouth bass record.

Sound bites

“I think his had dirt on it.”
– Mickey Bruce, explaining how Wesley Burnett’s catch outweighed his by a mere 3 ounces. As Burnett weighed his bass, one of them jumped out of the scale and hit the deck.

“I think we both stink pretty bad, really, but this is a pretty neat concept because we’re both still in it.”
– Dion Hibdon, who caught 3 pounds, 9 ounces and remains locked in an epic opening-round bracket battle with John Sappington, who caught 4-3.

“It’s a ploy. I take it off and I fish hard when I get out there.”
– Larry Nixon, who is competing this week with a brace on his arm due to wrist problems.

“I’ve never been so happy to see a 12-ounce fish.”
– Paul Elias, who caught the smallest bass of the day on the pro side. It was his only catch.

Quick links, Day 1:

Photos
Results
Brackets
Tomorrow’s pairings
Press release
`Heavyweights’ title hopes disappearing with the tides’
`Kitchens is cooking’