Quick Bites: FLW Tour, Lake Travis, Day 1

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Lake Travis, Austin, Texas

Opening round, Thursday

Intercontinental casting … Most fishing fans who follow the FLW Tour are familiar with international fishing stars Takahiro Omori, Shin Fukae and Toshinari Namiki, all from Japan. Indeed, Japan has taken the lead in exporting top-ranked bass pros into America. But it looks like a few more international stars are on the horizon from other countries. Fishing in the Co-angler Division of the Lake Travis FLW Tour event this week are Joan Arnal of Barcelona, Spain, Guillermo Gomez Ribe of Logrono, Spain, and Alessandro Debbi of Italy. Debbi, who sits in 24th place in the Co-angler Division with four bass for 6 pounds, 8 ounces, comes to the United States twice a year to fish FLW Tour events, something he eagerly looks forward to. “It’s amazing here in America how many anglers can fish full time as a pro,” Debbi said. “In Italy, there is no such thing as fishing as a pro for a full-time job. We do have fishing matches. And we can win money and boats in fishing matches, but there is not enough sponsor money to do it full time. So it is quite an experience to come here and see how many pros fish full time.” Debbi, however, is as well-versed as a full-time pro in his fishing methods. He used a shaky-head worm to catch his fish today. “We don’t have big lakes like this in Italy,” he said. “They are very small. And I like to power fish – crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs are my favorites – but when it is tough like this, I can adapt and finesse fish.” The Italian angler plans to continue visiting the States several times a year and someday hopes to be the first full-time professional angler from Italy.

Intercontinental casting continued … Guillermo Gomez Ribe is fishing his first tournament in the United States and had the pleasure of fishing with world champion Woo Daves today. “He doesn’t know any English, but he knows the word `net,'” Daves joked. “I’ve been to Spain several times and fished Lake Caspe. Those guys keep tabs on what we do over here; it’s serious. In fact, a lot of their lakes look a lot like Lake Travis – steep and deep – and they know how to use the light line and finesse stuff.” Ribe ended up catching two bass behind Daves today for 2 pounds, 4 ounces.

Have rod, will travel … In other international fishing news, co-angler Masa Yanase of Japan fished with pro Tim Johnson of Dallas, Ga., today. That would not be any big news, except Yanase practiced with Johnson all week. “I came down to practice Thursday morning, and he was standing there at the ramp in the cold,” Johnson recounted. “And all he could say was `Go fishing?’ So I took him fishing all week. Then at the meeting last night, we got paired together. Well, as you can tell by his catch, he paid pretty close attention to what we were doing during practice.” Yanase sits in 12th place in the Co-angler Division with a limit weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces.

Toto, I don’t think we’re in Florida anymore …Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., is a well-known angler in the Sunshine State, where the water is warm (most of the time) and bass live in about 3 feet of water all year. He won the first Stren Series Southeast event on Okeechobee in January and then posted a 15th-place finish at the FLW Series Eastern event two weeks later. Admittedly, Browne is out of his element here on a clear, deep impoundment in Texas. But the Floridian fared pretty well today with a limit weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces for 23rd place. How did he do it? “I’m fishing deeper this week than I’ve ever fished in my life – 30 to 40 feet of water,” he said. “I’ve caught more fish on a drop-shot the last two days than I’ve ever caught on one before. And it’s kind of fun. It’s been exciting to take a technique I hardly know anything about, study it and put it to work in a tournament. What I’ve realized is that drop-shotting is really just like flipping; I’m just trying to flip to an object that’s a lot deeper on a lot lighter line. But just like with flipping, when you make just the right presentation to the cover, you get the bite.”

The jig is up … A deep jig bite is starting to surface as one of the more productive techniques after day one. FLW Tour roommates Kevin Vida and Chip Harrison, currently second and 10th, respectively, let the cat out of the bag during a dispute after the weigh-in about a particular lure. “You caught you’re biggest fish on the jig you stole from me this morning,” Vida said accusingly to Harrison. “No I didn’t,” Harrison responded. “I thought you caught that big fish on a football head?” Vida fired back. “I did, but I caught it on one I stole from Koby Krieger,” Harrison revealed. By the way, Kreiger is tied with Harrison for 10th.

Always a first for everything … Co-angler Timothy Bridges of Cherryville, N.C., is fishing his first FLW Tour event. This is the first time he has ever been to Lake Travis. And on his first cast this morning, he caught a 5-pound bass.

Quick numbers

3-13: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of Clark Wendlandt’s lead over second place.

110: Number of limits caught on the pro side.

29: Number of limits caught on the co-angler side.

65: Number of pros who caught between 7 and 10 pounds today.

10: Layers of clothing co-angler Janet Parker said she had on to stay warm.

Sound bites

“Anytime you look down and there is ice all over your stuff, it’s cold.”

– Darrell Stevens, commenting on the day’s frigid start.

“Has anybody come through weigh-in with a nose redder than mine?”

– Sammy Orr, describing the color of his frozen snout.



“His one fish was bigger than my whole limit.”

– Pro Joel Richardson’s remark after weighing in behind co-angler Clint Bridges, who caught the biggest bass of the day weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces. Richardson’s limit weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces.

“In the last two weeks, I’ve been home a grand total of about seven hours – just enough time to wash some clothes, repack the truck and grab a nap.”

– Inspirational pro angler Clay Dyer, on his whirlwind season as a full-time pro.