JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. – After a substantial fog delay, the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Presented by MillerTech pros in Stop 4 Presented by Phoenix Boats hit Douglas Lake hard. Dylan Nutt had more than 13 pounds in seemingly minutes, and he wasn’t the only one to blitz out ahead of the pack early. By day’s end, though, the flurries leveled out and some other pros hit hot stretches of their own. All told, 27 anglers weighed in at least 13 pounds with 3-10 separating first place from 39th.
In the lead with 15 pounds, 10 ounces, Aaron Yavorsky got solidly ahead of the pack. Carter Nutt slid into second with 14-13, and Ott DeFoe tallied up 14-12 for third. Behind Carter Nutt, there are 10 other pros within a pound, and there’s a lot going on. Within the Top 10, there are at least two very distinct game plans, ranging from running up the river and fishing in the dirt to getting crankbaits as deep as humanly possible in the main lake. Plus, some of the pros are really mixing things up with diverse strategies fitted for their time with and without modern sonar.
If you liked Day 1 on MLFNOW!, you might want to keep watching, because it’s only going to get more interesting from here.
Yavorsky stays deep for the lead
Yavorsky is right in his offshore wheelhouse after putting in some serious idle time in practice.
“My first time on the lake was Day 1 of practice, it was really good for me,” he said. “I probably had almost 17 pounds, just catching one here, one there, finding some groups offshore. The next two days, I really didn’t even find much. It was kind of frustrating. I knew I could catch fish, but finding those 2 3/4-pounders and anything bigger than that was going to be a little bit of a struggle.”
Sitting in the fog in the morning, Yavorsky devised a plan that would put him fishing at his peak efficiency while others were running back to weigh-in. As boat 112, he wasn’t going to get to pick his starting hole, but he knew he’d have a lot of room to work in the afternoon.
“I kind of like the fog delay with the three hours of ‘Scope,” he said. “As time was going by, I was thinking I’d probably just turn it on later. I didn’t start on what I thought was my best stuff because I knew someone was probably going to be on it.
“I no-‘Scoped my offshore stuff for the first few hours,” he said. “I think I turned it on at 1:05, and I was due in at 4:45. When I turned it on, I had like 11 pounds. I caught one dragging that was a 2.80, I knew that one could come to weigh-in, but the rest were 2-pounders.”
Moving and grooving, Yavorsky started to hit a number of offshore spots, and finally hit one that was firing.
“My next spot, I caught a 3.85, and I hadn’t caught one that big all week,” he said. “Then, I ran around (with 13 pounds) for a while and pulled back up to a place I started on this morning at about 3:30. I had caught a limit there in the morning, but I really wasn’t even fishing the right spot. They had moved. I was missing it, and then I relocated them and caught a lot of little ones, and then a 2.90. They were pretty fired up – I caught probably 20 fish in 30 or 40 casts.”
Shortly after wrapping up his forward-facing sonar period, Yavorsky caught another near 3-pounder, throwing at his lineup on the bank. He then called it a day with at least one good school in his back pocket that he might have to himself on Day 2.
“I don’t think anyone found the place I started on and ended on,” he said. “It’s a sneakier spot, but there’s 60 or 80 fish down there and they act like they’ve never seen a bait before. There’s a lot of big fish on all the other places people are fishing, but they’re really hard to catch.
“I think it’s going to get tough as the week goes on. There’s a lot of people fishing the same stuff. I might have to do some different stuff throughout the week, but I feel good about the start. I need to stay locked in.”
Nutt fishes his strengths
An expert offshore on the Tennessee River, Douglas is not far from Carter Nutt’s favored stomping grounds. However, while Yavorsky had a late number and a great plan, Carter Nutt’s early number didn’t do him any favors.
“It was a dumpster fire,” he said of the day. “I had an early number and I figured I could start on a really big school and catch them, but I didn’t. There was one place I wanted to start at and I bounced around and ended up there.”
Tomorrow, he’s still all-in on the deep game, but he’s not going into it sure of success.
“I think it’s going to be really bad,” he said. “All the fish are pretty beat up and the groups are pretty scattered. There’s a couple places where they’re really grouped up, but they just won’t bite. So, it’s super tough.”
Unofficially in the lead for 7 Brew Angler of the Year after Day 1, Carter Nutt isn’t eyeing a win just yet. He’s very much after points.
“I’ve got a bunch of places to run, so I’m going to run around and try to land on biting fish,” he said. “I felt like (deep) was my best shot to have a consistent finish, and that’s what I’m looking for – for points. That was the goal, to catch them pretty good, hopefully have a Top 20, Top 10 here, and give myself a little more of a cushion going into Eufaula and Champlain. It worked out pretty well today.”
Big afternoon puts DeFoe in contention
The ultimate local in this event, DeFoe entered as the favorite, and he’s pretty disappointed in his start. That should probably have everyone else in the field worried.
“Today was a weird day,” said the Tennessee legend. “The fog delay, we’ve had two raining, nasty days where the fish really bit. Today was extremely postfrontal, no wind, bright skies, cold, all the things that make for hard fishing – we had ‘em all today. So that made the day weird.”
Weird is maybe an understatement as, around noon, DeFoe had two in the box. Then he pulled into a backwater and caught fish fast.
“My timing was good,” he said. “That’s all it was. Drew Boggs, he caught three or four; I just got in there 30 minutes before he did, and I feel like the side I was on was the better side.”
Today, DeFoe fished deep and shallow, and he might do the same thing on Day 2, but, he’ll be doing it with some more data – even if he’s not settled on the winning pattern yet.
“I’m completely unsure; I’ll try to take the day as it comes,” he said. “I’ve got a place I would like to start now, but I know another guy fished it a lot today before I did. I’d like to start on it, but it’s pretty much just take it as it comes and fish what’s open. You don’t want to be right behind somebody. If you let an area rest for an hour, you can go behind somebody and possibly still get a bite – you just don’t want to be in somebody’s propwash.”
In it for the win, DeFoe wanted a lot more out of Day 1.
“As bad as the day was, I found myself on a steep bank throwing a shaky head just to catch something. I was like, ‘Dude, what are you doing? You’re just here to win.’ Sometimes, just trying to get bites is what you need to do, because it was so hard,” he said. “I expected Day 1, there to be a handful (of bags) over 15. I didn’t expect it to be that low – my weight ended up being pretty good, but I was not happy with my day. I’ve never been so upset about being in third place, less than a pound off the lead, on the first day of the tournament.”
Top 10 pros
1. Aaron Yavorsky – 15 – 10 (5)
2. Carter Nutt – 14 – 13 (5)
3. Ott DeFoe – 14 – 12 (5)
4. Mark Condron – 14 – 9 (5)
5. Brent Chapman – 14 – 8 (5)
6. Bobby Lane – 14 – 7 (5)
7. Dylan Nutt – 14 – 6 (5)
8. Brody Campbell – 14 – 4 (5)
8. Clint Knight – 14 – 4 (5)
10. Miles Burghoff – 14 – 2 (5)