Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Kentucky Lake, Benton, Ky.
Opening round, Wednesday
Trophy catch … In April, several FLW Tour pros participated in a charity tournament following the Beaver Lake Wal-Mart Open. The Children’s Miracle Network event benefited the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and pro J.T. Kenney and a representative from Berkley won the tournament, but Kenney didn’t exactly take home the trophy. Seems the Florida pro was itching to get back to the home folks, and he drove away from Arkansas, leaving the sizable trophy behind. “I hadn’t seen Stephanie in a month,” Kenney said of his better half. “I just weighed in my fish and left. I’m glad to get my trophy.” … The Children’s Miracle Network charity tournament is an annual event held on Beaver Lake following the Wal-Mart Open. Participants pay a $1,500 entry fee, with all proceeds going toward the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. There are also silent and live auctions in conjunction with the event, the proceeds of which all go to the hospital. Wal-Mart vendors donate prizes to the winners, who also receive trophies.
Dandy Randy … Randy Blaukat ended day one tied for 10th place with 17 pounds, 7 ounces, putting him in contention for a final-round slot should he continue his success tomorrow. His lofty standing is also significant on a day when almost all of the 200-pro field caught fish. However, a sack full of bass and a top-10 position did not look too promising even an hour before weigh-in. Blaukat was making a 60-mile run, and with an hour and a half to go, he caught his first two bass. In the last hour, he caught the other three to round out his limit. With a trip that long back to the launch ramp, Blaukat literally caught his stringer at the last minute. “I came this close to having a bad day,” he said. … Blaukat hasn’t scored an FLW Tour top-10 since 2004, but he is currently ranked 32nd in the points standings thanks to a consistent season.
Darrel barrels down the leaderboard … If the points leaders perform tomorrow like they did today, the FLW Tour Angler of the Year standings could be in for a shakeup this week. Leader Darrel Robertson is currently far, far down the leaderboard in 164th after day one, but expressed confidence for day two. “I still think I’m going to catch them tomorrow,” he said. No. 2 Anthony Gagliardi had similar woes, ending day one in 148th. “I may have closed the door on Angler of the Year today,” Gagliardi said. No. 3 point man Ray Scheide sits in 84th after day one on Kentucky Lake, but it’s No. 4 Gabe Bolivar – an FLW Tour rookie – generating talk after bringing in more than 19 pounds today to land in the fifth spot. However, he claims visions of AOY are far from his head. “If I start thinking about winning Angler of the Year, I’ll have a bad tournament,” he said. Clearly, then, he is not doing much thinking about it, if his day-one performance is any indication.
Local mojo … The Kentucky Lake area boasts a considerable number of well-known local pros who competed today with varying success. Topping the list of locals is Ramie Colson Jr. of Cadiz, who is currently in the sixth position with 19 pounds. “I’ve been looking forward to this all year,” Colson said. Terry Bolton, who won last year’s Stren Series event on Kentucky-Barkley, is currently in 13th with 17-2. The rest of the Kentucky heavy hitters didn’t fare quite as well, with Billy Schroeder of Paducah in 39th with 14-11 and Paducah’s Dan Morehead in a surprisingly low 84th place with 11-3. “I had a really good practice shallow on Barkley and a really good practice deep on Kentucky,” Morehead said. “I made a mistake today and tried to do both.” … On the co-angler side, three Kentucky competitors are in the top 15: Billy Smith of Murray in 10th, Brian Hickey of Cadiz in 11th and Sondra Rankin of Paducah in 14th.
Practice makes perfect? … Just last week, a number of FLW Tour anglers competed in the Wal-Mart FLW Series event on Lake Cumberland, and quite a few of the top 10 pros at that event are competing here this week. So did the lack of practice time affect them? Cumberland winner Mike Hawkes currently sits in 20th place with 16 pounds, certainly not too shabby. “My thoughts have been focused on not giving up,” Hawkes said of the tendency to slack off after a major win. “I’ve worked hard these last three days.” Sean Hoernke, on the other hand, finished fourth at Lake Cumberland but is languishing in 156th place today on Kentucky Lake. “I think it did affect me,” Hoernke said of the back-to-back events. “With only two days to practice, I only concentrated on one area, and they didn’t really bite. It’s kind of hard to adjust.” … How other Cumberland finalists fared: Luke Clausen, second at Cumberland, currently 65th on Kentucky; Jay Yelas, sixth there, 69th here; Clark Wendlandt, seventh there, 99th here; Mike Surman, eighth there; 80th here; and Jacob Powroznik, ninth there, 60th here.
The old-fashioned way … Though Bolton may have performed well today, it didn’t come without a great deal of frustration. Not only was the weather getting to him before takeoff even began, but he quickly ran into equipment trouble, with his transducer going out at 9 a.m. Two hours later, out went the cranking battery. “I had a really difficult day,” Bolton said. “Every time I moved, I had to jump my battery, turn my depth finder around, and run to the next place, turn my depth finder back around, and start all over.” The troubles, however, did lead to the biggest bass of his five-fish, 17-pound, 2-ounce stringer. “I had to start using more marker buoys,” he said. “My marker buoy didn’t unwind. I reeled my bait up off the bottom about 6 feet, and the big one ate it on the way back up. That was the good thing that happened to me today.”
Quick numbers
197: Number of pros in the 200-member field who caught fish today.
123: Number of pros who caught a five-bass limit.
7-5: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of the heaviest bass brought in today, caught by pro Ralph Laster Jr.
2: Number of top five pros with a Mineola, Texas, address – Gary Yamamoto and Toshinari Namiki.
3: Number of top 10 pros of Japanese origin – Yamamoto, Namiki and Morizo Shimizu.
6: Number of top 10 pros with a Kentucky Lake top-10 finish already on their resumes.
Sound bites
“At least you could use the lip balm.” – Banana Boat pro Kevin Vida, on how his primary sponsor can still be of help even on a day like today, when no sunscreen is needed.
“They were eating the rod tip off in that rain.” – Pro Andy Morgan, on bass behavior during the morning’s downpours.
“I got a big, fat piece of humble pie this morning.” – Pro Art Berry, who had a run of bad luck on Lake Cumberland last week but thought the tables had turned after a productive practice. He ended day one in 171st place.
“I want to say hi to Jessica Simpson.” – Co-angler cutup Rob Newell, who claims he heard the pop star has taken to watching bass fishing on the Internet after breaking up with Nick Lachey.
Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. Central time at Kentucky Dam Marina, located at 466 Marina Drive in Gilbertsville.