Quick Bites: FLW Old Hickory Lake, Day 3
Lefebre wallops the pro field, ‘Katsu’ brings home the yen and Hackney, Clunn and other top pros search for answers
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Old Hickory Lake, Gallatin, Tenn.
Semifinals, Friday
Sophomore surprise … Fishing in only his second full season on the FLW Tour, Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa., proved yet again that he deserves some serious consideration when it comes to discussing the upper echelon of the sport of professional bass fishing. Using a catch of 15 pounds, 2 ounces, Lefebre distanced himself from his next closest competitor – Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. – by more than 6 pounds heading into Saturday’s finals. Lefebre, who is already making a serious run at the 2004 FLW Tour Angler of the Year title, said he was extremely pleased with the outcome of the day’s events. “I’m excited,” said Lefebre, whose best finish on the tour to date was a third-place performance at the Atchafalaya Basin in 2003. “I’m excited. I can’t wait until tomorrow.” To make matters more daunting for the rest of the pro field was the fact that, according to Lefebre, he hasn’t even fished his prime location yet. “I left my best stuff alone,” he said. “Today I did a little more cranking than I expected and it worked out pretty good. I caught nine keepers and I could have had a bunch more. But I decided to save my flipping bite for tomorrow.” Although Lefebre is in great position for his first tournament title, he knows he can’t rest on his laurels in the finals. “The best guys in the world are onstage so I still have to go out and catch them tomorrow,” he said. “But overall, I feel pretty good about my chances.”
Yen master … Katsutoshi Furusawa of Toyko, Japan, once again demonstrated the fact that the FLW Tour is no longer just an American-dominated tournament trail. It truly has become an international exhibit. Using an outstanding catch of 9 pounds, 9 ounces, “Katsu” won the Co-angler Division title with relative ease – outfishing his nearest rival by nearly 6 1/2 pounds to take home a check for $15,000. “It was very, very fun,” said Katsu, who also had the chance to fish with his idol, Rick Clunn, in today’s competition. “I’m very happy.” Although he hasn’t yet mastered the English language, his performance on Old Hickory Lake was more than fluent. Katsu, one of only two co-anglers to bring fish to the scales at today’s weigh-in, used a jig, worm and crankbait to land his three-fish catch. In keeping with the international spirit, Katsu also gave the crowd a taste of what his prize package is worth back home. “About $2 million Japanese yen,” he said.
Pro field left scrambling … Although Glenn Browne (8 pounds, 14 ounces) and Mickey Bruce (7 pounds) had some moderate success today, the remainder of the top 10 pros were left scratching their heads by the time weigh-in had concluded. In fact, to illustrate how difficult today’s fishing conditions really were, when all was said and done, the bottom seven pros only managed a combined weight of 17 pounds, 15 ounces. And six of those pros didn’t manage one stringer over 3 pounds. However, most of the pros, to their credit, didn’t blame the conditions for their poor showing. “Today, I swung for the fences instead of trying to catch a limit,” said Hackney, who only managed a disappointing 1-pound, 13-ounce catch today. “Lefebre is probably the only one of us who really adjusted today. Give him credit.” Bass-fishing icon Rick Clunn of Ava. Mo., who only brought in a 2-pound, 5-ounce catch in today’s competition, agreed. “You need to fish every day like it’s a new day. The problem is that (past) success really closes your mind, and I think that’s what my biggest bugaboo was today,” said Clunn. “The conditions out there definitely made it tougher. But there was one guy who caught 15 pounds. So, it just goes to show you that we weren’t doing the right things. If nobody caught anything, I’d say the fish weren’t biting. But that just wasn’t the case.”
Quick numbers:
49-9: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the pros Friday.
12-13: Total weight, in pounds and ounces, of fish caught by the co-anglers in today’s finals.
9: Number of pros co-angler champion Katsutoshi Furusawa bested in today’s competition.
8: Number of co-anglers who blanked in the finals.
7: Total number of pros who caught less than 4 pounds, 10 ounces in today’s competition.
1: Total number of limits caught by the pros in the semifinals.
0: Number of co-anglers who caught a limit in today’s final.
Sound bites:
“Not catching them for the most part.”
– FLW Tour pro Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., responding to tournament host Charlie Evans’ question: `What were you doing out there today?’
“I don’t know.”
– FLW Tour co-angler Katsutoshi Furusawa of Tokyo, Japan., when asked if he knew how much he won for netting the co-angler title on Old Hickory Lake. The correct answer was $2 million yen or $15,000.
“It was my toughest day by far. I’m going to have to make some changes.”
– FLW Tour pro Rick Clunn of Ava., Mo., lamenting his 2-pound, 5-ounce catch in the semifinals.
“It was like a rollercoaster ride out there.”
– FLW Tour pro Marcel Veenstra of Brighton, Mich., on the difficult fishing conditions that plagued nearly everyone during Friday’s competition.
“I don’t know what happened out there.”
– FLW Tour pro Tracy Adams of Wilkesboro, N.C., echoing the sentiments of nearly every angler in today’s competition.
“I thought going for two big bites was better than trying to get a small limit. I guess I was wrong.”
– FLW Tour pro Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., admitting his strategy error after only recording a one-fish catch weighing 1-pound, 13 ounces.
FLW action continues at Saturday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. CST at Bull Creek Marina, located at 200 Odoms Bend Road in Gallatin, Tenn.